The Judas of 'Mary Magdalene' talks about his upcoming movie, recalling the torture scenes and the jittery at the prospect of working with Jodie Foster.
- Feb 21, 2021
AceShowbiz - Tahar Rahim was initially "a bit intimidated" at the prospect of working with Jodie Foster.
"The Serpent" actor stars opposite the veteran actress in "The Mauritanian" - in which he plays Mohamedou Ould Salahi, who was wrongly held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp without charge or trial for 14 years - and was initially nervous about sharing the screen with her, but she quickly put him at ease.
"I felt a bit intimidated when we first met, but she relaxes you," he told the Daily Mail newspaper's Baz Bamingboye. "I used to compare acting to a tennis match but, with her, it's more of a dance. You try it once or twice. You follow, then she follows and, in the middle of that, something happens."
The movie is based on a true story and the actor felt it was vital he was tortured for real in some of the scenes.
"My job is to make it authentic," he explained. "If I don't taste it, I'm going to fake it - and if I fake it, I can't believe in it. And neither can the audience. I had bruises for weeks after the shoot."
"My ankles and arms were bruised. More the ankles, because they were shackled all day long. I played it for real. The water torture, too."
Tahar met the real Salahi on Skype, and later in person, and was amazed at how relaxed he was until they talked about his experiences of being tortured.
"He was smiling and cracking jokes," he recalled. "I kept wondering how this was possible, after everything he'd been through? But, at some point in the conversation, when the talk came to the tough questions of torture, his face would change, as if he was going back there..."
