January 31-2014
Peyman Moadi, who starred in “A Separation” and is now playing a Tunisian in a newly released American film, says he will never play an Iranian character in any foreign film project.
In his first American film, “Camp X-Ray,” Moadi portrays Ali, a Tunisian man who has been imprisoned by mistake at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp. “Camp X-Ray” was released in the United States January 17.
In an interview last week with the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), Moadi said, “I will never play an Iranian character outside of my country.”
He said, “I have always refused to play such a character, unless the role depicts a good guy,” which seemed to negate his statement that he would never play an Iranian in a foreign film.
Asked about his first role in an American film, Moadi said that working in the American cinema has never been that attractive for him.
“In my opinion, ‘A Separation’ is still the best film of the past few years. I was selected for ‘Camp X-Ray’ due to my appearance in ‘A Separation’,” he said.
“I still prefer to work with the great Iranian filmmakers, by whose works I fell in love with the cinema,” he added.
Asked whether “Camp X-Ray” could receive a screening license from Iranian cultural officials, he said, “If the film could not be screened in Iran, I would never have acted in it, because the Iranian people are more important to me than people in any other place.”
Moadi will next appear with Morgan Freeman and Clive Owen in an American action adventure by Japanese director Kazuaki Kiriya. The film, titled “The Last Knights,” is in the postproduction stage now.