Palestinian actor Ali Suliman just might emerge as the defining face of Dubai International Film Festival 2015 – it is his image that is plastered on the back of every copy of the official programme, after all.
That portrait is an omnipresent advert for Zinzana, the Emirati thriller which was released in cinemas across the UAE on December 10, the same night Suliman strolled the red carpet to launch the film regionally alongside director Majid Al Ansari.
Fittingly, it was the UAE where Suliman was convinced to take the project. In town last year to sit on a jury at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival – and promote the world premiere of last year's biggest Emirati blockbuster From A to B, in which he also stars – producer Rami Yasin handed the Palestinian actor the Zinzana script. The five-week shoot in Jordan was just two months later. The clock was ticking.
“I had a tiny, tiny time to prepare and read, I had two days to answer whether I was in, or out,” says Suliman, sparking up a cigarette on a sun-soaked terrace at the festival headquarters in Madinat Jumeirah.
“I read the script on the plane, and as soon as I finished, I knew I had to do it.”
It was a wise move – Suliman offers a staggeringly accomplished performance as Dabaan, a classic movie psychopath who takes over a rural jail “somewhere in Arabia” to play a torturous game of cat and mouse with its sole occupant. Suliman is in nearly every scene, and it’s his manic portrayal that carries the movie the distance.
Citing both Jack Nicholson's and Heath Ledger's iconic portrayals of Batman baddy The Joker as key influences, Suliman ranks the role among his proudest achievements, which include roles in Hollywood blockbusters Body of Lies and Lone Survivor.
“I try to pick roles which offer me a new challenge,” he says.
“For me, Dabaan was so far from my life – it was so interesting to see a guy who is killing and is having [intense physical pleasure] doing it. It’s something very sick, schizophrenic, and for me it’s challenging as an actor to probe these extremes – I enjoyed every moment, from beginning to end. This role was like a gift to me.”
Midway through our interview, Zinzana director Majid Al Ansari walks by, grabs Suliman's face affectionately, turns to me and proclaims "I love this guy" and walks on.
Suliman is quick to return the favour, showering the first time Emirati director with praise.
“Majid Al Ansari is really talented, he knew exactly what he wanted, he was sure about every movement of the camera, how to build the light and the location, everything was calculated,” he says. “To build this character to the end was the work and talent of Majid Al Ansari.”
Suliman will be back on our screens next year, with shooting just having wrapped on The Worthy, the latest from Emirati cinema giant Ali F Mostafa (City of Life, From A to B).
Otherwise, the 38-year-old is tight-lipped about future projects. A night earlier I'd spotted the actor at the opening party chatting to his fellow countryman Hany Abu-Assad, the first Palestinian director to be nominated for an Oscar, and the only director whose work has been picked to open Diff twice, with both 2005's Paradise Now and 2013's Omar. The former, which starred Suliman, won a Golden Globe and put both men on the map. Suliman also features in Abu-Assad's latest, the Mohammed Assaf biopic The Idol, which premieres at Diff on Friday, December 11.
“Hany is really one of my favourite Palestinian directors, I love him so much, and admire his work so much,” says Suliman, when asked if he might also star in the follow-up.
“Sure we are talking about the future all the time, and he’s telling me many ideas. I hope we can do it again soon.”
• Zinzana is out in cinemas now
rgarratt@thenational.ae
