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Tahar Rahim’s international fame happened overnight.
The film that changed his life is Jacques Audiard’s crime drama “A Prophet”, winner of the Cannes Grand Prix in 2009. It is remarkably Rahim’s first feature film.
“Long live French cinema,” said Rahim on stage a year later at the prestigious César de France, stunned after receiving both best male actor and best actor for the role – a first in the history of the movie. series. The 39-year-old, then 28, also won Best Actor at the European Film Awards.
Rahim played the mesmerizing protagonist Malik El Djebena, a young inmate navigating the structure, hierarchy – and savagery – of prison. “A Prophet” brought him immediate recognition, impacting his career as well as the trajectory of his personal life. In 2010, he married French actor Leïla Bekhti, who played his wife in the film. (The celebrity couple, both of Algerian descent, share a son and daughter.)
Applauded by critics, Rahim has been dubbed the Frenchman Al Pacino. What sets Rahim apart is that, unlike many French actors, he was not confined to French cinema. This is in part thanks to his talent for languages - he is fluent in English and does not have a stereotypical French accent, despite being born and raised in the Belfort region of France.
Since its inception, he’s been involved in nearly 30 projects, working with a roster of international show directors and creators – including French duo Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano; Japanese Kiyoshi Kurosawa; Iranian Asghar Farhadi and Englishman Jack Thorne. In the United States, Rahim’s Hollywood experience began very early with “The Eagle”, the 2011 drama directed by Kevin Macdonald. He’s been at “Mary Magdalene”, across from Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix; Hulu’s “The Looming Tower” with Jeff Daniels; Lone Scherfig’s “The Kindness of Strangers” and Netflix’s multilingual miniseries “The Eddy”, released last year.
His latest project is “The Serpent” – premiering today – a limited series co-produced by BBC One and Netflix, in which he plays 1970s French serial killer Charles Sobhraj alongside Jenna Coleman. He also stars in “The Mauritanian” with Jodie Foster and Shailene Woodley, now available. Rahim reunited with Macdonald for the latter, taking on the role of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a Muslim and author of the 2015 prison memoir “Guantanamo Diary” who was tortured for 14 years at Guantanamo Bay without charge. After a long and heart-wrenching battle, he was released in 2016. The role earned Rahim his first Golden Globe nomination, and he is up for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the upcoming BAFTAs on April 10.
Tahar Rahim as Mohamedou Ould Slahi in “The Mauritanian”.
Courtesy of STX Entertainment
Here, calling from Paris, Rahim delves into his experiences on the two projects and discusses what’s next.
WWD: These two roles are similar in that you’re playing real people, and there’s a responsibility there. But, of course, the two characters couldn’t be more different. Starting with “Le Mauritanien”, after working for two years with the script and the book, what was it like to meet Mohamedou for the first time? Was it on video while you were shooting “The Serpent”?
Tahar Rahim: Yeah, I was filming in Thailand, so we met through Skype. It was an incredible moment. I expected to meet someone resentful, maybe angry, and it was exactly the opposite. I mean, man has life. He seeks forgiveness, peace, and he makes jokes all the time, wonders about you, your family, plays music, sings songs. It’s almost unbelievable that he lived through this horrible ordeal.
WWD: How did you approach the interaction?
TR: I didn’t want to introduce myself and talk [to Slahi] like an actor working on a role, you know, like, “How long have you been around? And what happened to you? It was all in the book. I must have asked him a few questions, and when it comes to the tricky questions and the torture, he suddenly changed physically. And then I realized the trauma was still there. He somehow managed to hide it or just live with it. I felt that and stopped talking about it. We started to share simple chatter, conversations about life. We really made friends. And over the course of our conversations, I was able to observe him, his way of speaking, his way of answering questions, because that was an important part for me. And he has a great sense of humor. I wanted to catch her, her spirit, her kindness.
WWD: How was the first day on set?
TR: The first day of filming is a whole different story. What happened is that Jodie [Foster] fell ill and had to postpone her first day of filming. Usually the schedule is made in such a way that you can settle in slowly. Since she was sick, Kevin came to me and he said, “Look, we’re going to start the first day of filming with your monologue, the last. And I’m like, “Oh man.” And he said, “Yeah, sorry. We do not have the choice. “I say to myself:” How can I describe what he went through in Guantanamo, the torture, his philosophy, all that, the first day? ” There is a line in this monologue that says, “I always wanted to be in a courtroom, and now that I’m here I’m afraid of dying.” It was exactly how I felt. I’ve always wanted to be in these kinds of movies, to play with great actors, and now that I’m here I’m afraid of dying. So I introduced myself and played with genuine feelings, and that really helped me dive in. It set the tone that day.
WWD: How did you find the state of mind to immerse yourself in the intense torture scenes?
TR: To get there, it was very difficult. Why recreate when you can create? So I needed to get as close as possible to his real state. I asked them to chain me in real chains, to make the cells as cold as possible, to waterboard me for real. I wouldn’t put myself in danger. We had a trainer in case it could be too dangerous. But Kevin started to worry because I had bruises on my ankles. I was very weak. I followed a very drastic diet. I lost 10 pounds in a short time. I’m like, “Dude, listen, don’t worry. I know exactly what I’m doing, but I have to go further and further, out of respect for Mohamedou, for the people who are still going through this and for the public. Sometimes when you are an actor suffering feels good because you are looking for the truth. It is very difficult to reach it. And this time, I felt like I was touching him.
WWD: How do you get out of it after filming is finished?
TR: This is the first time in my life as an actor that I have found it very, very difficult to come out. I couldn’t get out of my character for at least three weeks. I can’t explain why, but it happened.
WWD: Didn’t you go back to filming “The Serpent” at the end of those three weeks? How was this transition?
TR: A strange mental gymnastics. Came from [serial killer] Charles [Sobhraj] to Mohamedou is almost a treat [laughs]. But the reverse is more difficult. I asked the production to send me episodes and edited footage, so I could get back to Charles. It helped me get back to it. And I had to gain weight to adapt to Charles’ face. It was a bit of a roller coaster.
WWD: You said you approached Charles’ game with a cobra in mind because you were having trouble relating to the character. Where did the idea come from?
TR: When I was in drama school, you had 50 questions you had to answer before you started building your character. Over the course of my career I’ve come to realize that only five or ten would be enough, otherwise you start to think too much, you think too much about it. And there was this question, “What is your character’s animal?” And I remembered that Robert De Niro did that in “Taxi Driver”, which is one of my favorite movies. And he chose the crab. Now if you remember the movie, every time he spoke to someone or approached someone he would come to the side. It’s very subtle and it worked. Of course, the animal I wanted to choose was a snake. I mean, his nickname is the snake. The cobra must compose with the charm. There is the flute, the dance and something hypnotic and cold. I’ve watched documentaries, and a cobra, when it starts to hunt its prey, it’s very slow, very subtle. Then he waits. And then he bites very quickly. And it’s done. I felt like it was the right animal to choose.
Actors Jenna Coleman as Marie-Andrée Leclerc and Tahar Rahim as crook and killer Charles Sobhraj in “The Snake”, released today on Netflix.
Courtesy of BBC / Mammoth Screen
WWD: What are you working on now? Is it true that this is a musical?
TR: Yes, it’s a musical, but not done the old-fashioned Hollywood way, that is, performances. It’s more poetic, more subtle. It’s a beautiful love story. It’s the story of an actor who plays [Molière’s] Don Juan all his life. His wife threw it out, and he tries to find her in every woman he meets during the film, so the actress will play all the women. It’s a good concept.
WWD: Is there another Netflix project in the works as well?
TR: With Cédric Jimenez, we have a project. I do not know when. These are the two Corsican brothers who, in a way, created what we call the “French Connection”, [the heroin network].
WWD: How has it been to see the recognition right now for “Le Mauritanien”, but practically in the midst of the pandemic, like appearing on a video from France to the Globes? [Rahim wore a bespoke Louis Vuitton suit for the ceremony.]
TR: On the one hand, it’s good, and on the other hand, it’s not good. This is what I call candy time. Usually you have worked so hard and you want to meet the audience and be connected with people, share good times, have dinner, have fun. It is a disappointment. But on the other hand, I had the opportunity to do it with my family and close friends, which would never happen if I had to travel. And I could wear my slippers.
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