Baba

One of the real pleasures of my trip to Iran with the Academy of Motion Pictures' International Outreach Committee, was that it provided me with an opportunity to reconnect with an old and dear friend, the great Iranian actor Homayoun Ershadi, who was so memorable as the suicidal driver in the classic Abbas Kiarostami film "A Taste of Cherry", and with whom I was fortunate to work when he played "Baba", the father of Amir, in Marc Forster's film of "The Kite Runner".

Homayoun trained as an architect, but later in life found his calling as an actor. Hollywood has its legend of Lana Turner being discovered at the counter of Schwab's drugstore, and one of the apocryphal stories of international art house cinema is how Ershadi was stopped on the street at random one day by the great Iranian director Kiarostami, who was looking for somebody to star in his film. 

"One day I was driving in Tehran, and I had to stop at the traffic lights. I was waiting to get to the red light so I could go.

But it takes three or four minutes every time you stop at the traffic lights. I was thinking, and somebody knocked on my windows. I looked, and there was a gentleman. He said his name is Kiarostami. I knew his movies. I had seen them before, but I didn’t know the person. So he said, “My name is Kiarostami. I am going to make a film. Would you like to be in it?”

I said, “Yes. Why not? I think it would be an honor for me.” So the day after, he came where I was working. He said, ‘I have to leave tomorrow night for the Locarno Film Festival. My assistant, who is another Iranian director, is going to take a video from you and bring it to Locarno.”

So the day after that, we did the tape, and after two weeks he came back and called me. He said, “I want to make myself another tape.” So, we went with him. So, we did another tape. A week later, he called me and said, “I choose you for the film.” So, I started from there."

He graciously told me that "Kiaromstami introduced me to movies, "A Taste of Cherry" introduced me to audiences in Iran, and "The Kite Runner" introduced me to movie audiences around the world."

Homayoun and his lovely wife Nilofar live in an apartment in the more upscale (and uphill!) area of North Tehran, with a view of the vast estate of the Shah's former WInter Palace. Over tea and biscuits one afternoon, they showed me their extensive dvd collection comprised of every current American release, easily available from the huge industry of bootleg dvd's available on any street corner in Tehran.

Homayoun joined us for many of our screenings and seminar panels during the week. He is well-respected by his peers and was kind enough to introduce me to many of the talented young actors and filmmakers emerging today in a new generation of Iranian cinema.

It's funny, when we were casting The Kite Runner, Homayoun was one of the first people Marc and I considered for the role of "Baba", even though he is physically quite different from the towering, bear-wrestling, larger-than-life domineering father described by Khaled Hosseini in the novel. The studio was predictably (and perhaps understandably) pushing us to consider other candidates, convinced that having a Western "name" actor in the role would help the marketability of the film, even as we argued that contemporary audiences would not accept such cross-ethnic casting as authentic. But once Marc met Homayoun, he couldn't imagine anyone else in the part.

Homayoun had an inner strength and moral gravitas that instantly made his "Baba" definitive, and it was a testament to his skill as an actor that he was able to fill such large shoes with his presence and his character. Critics compared him to Gregory Peck's portrayal of Atticus Finch in "To Kill A Mockingbird", and for me, the scene in which he stands down the Russian border guards in defense of a stranger's wife as an instructional moment to his callow son, to whom he has at the same time lied to about his own personal history, is one of the most powerful moments in any film I have worked on.

I hope that we get to work together again sometime, but for now, it was great to see him again in his hometown, driving the streets he indelibly captured on film in "A Taste of Cherry"!

william

Comments

[dutchbaby]

"The Kite Runner" is one of a long list of movies on our Netflix queue. Lately we have allowed our queue to be dominated by our teens because we go through great lengths looking for ways to lure them into the same room with us. By definition all movie choices made by parents are lame. I look forward to seeing Homayoun's portrayal of the father; I loved the character in the book. I may sneak this movie up a few notches - I'm very glad it's rated PG-13.

[Paris Parfait]

The Kite Runner is a wonderful film! It must be fascinating to learn about the reception of American films in Tehran. While I've been to all the Arab countries surrounding Iran, I've never been to Iran. You've very lucky to have been made so welcome, I think. Virtually all the Iranians I've met outside Iran are wonderful people and quite open-minded, despite the restrictions currently imposed on Iranian society and particularly on artists.

[Elsita :)]

Homayoun is such a gentlemen, I am so lucky that i got to meet him in San Francisco. What a wonderful person and actor. It is great that you got to see him in Iran. I also hope that you get to make another movie with him.
Love!
Elsi :)