Tahar Rahim

A tidy little Prophet

It might be a little early for some, but we're going to be bold and declare Jacques Audiard's A Prophet a shoo-in for Maxim's Film of the Year. At its core is 19-year-old Malik (Tahir Rahim) – a man with no friends, no enemies, no religion, no-one to phone and no-one to wire him any dough during his six-year stint.

Prime fodder for prison stalwarts then, he's soon the gopher for powerful prison boss, César Luciani (Niels Arestrup), reluctantly murdering at his behest and generally just doing as he is told. Unconnected though he is, Malik is brave and a quick learner. He slowly eduactes himself in the ways of the prison and the outside world – reading, writing, making shit denim and keeping razor blades hidden in his mouth – until he doesn't have to take orders from anyone else any more.

Frankly, it's ace. Tahar Rahim (interviewed below) is just awesome in the central role, playing the part with an engagaing maturity for someone so young and fresh to the movie business. Niels Arestrup is excellent, too. He may look a bit like Celebrity tosspot chef, Anthony Worrall Thompson, but he's infinitely more engaging and handier with a knife

We interviewed Tahar after seeing an early screening of the film. It may be foreign and it may be subttitled but we encourage anyone with a sense of storytelling and drama to give it a go. It's a really well-judged crime epic that'll beat the piss out of anything else you'll see this year, and if you disagree, it'll kick you on the ground until you do.

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Tahar Rahim Q&A

Firstly, congratulations on the film. Your performance binds it all together and we loved it, so well done. The director, Jacques Audiard, says that it: “spotlights people we don’t know and transforms them into heroes”. What interests you most about the script?
Everything is interesting to me in the script: its construction, its characters, its intrigue and above all its intelligence and its reachability. Putting the spotlight on unknown people and turning them into heroes is a very courageous and daring thing to do.

What was the deciding factor on you getting on board?
Choosing to work for Audiard is not even a question, one just runs for it without hesitating. Even if I had not read the script I would have run for it because I have always dreamed of working with him.

What do you like most about Malik? Did you identify with his character in any way?
Above all, I have to be my character's advocate in order to portray him and I have to like him, and on top of that I do like Malik. To me, the most interesting and original thing about him is that he uses his brain rather than his muscles.

Why does Malik smile at the time of the big shootout do you think? Is it the point where he realises he’s changed forever, and he likes that?
Malik smiles because I think he is then free from everything and that precise moment. As a person he feels like being in the skin of a movie character... 

How did you audition for the role?
Like every actor, I auditioned eight times over a period of three months, which was particularly straining and exhausting both mentally and physically.

How did Jacques Audiard get the best from you during filming?
First of all because he is Mr Jacques... hence he's got the ability to adapt his direction according to each actor. One thing that seems simple but is very tough is that he has an answer to every single question one has on the set and he NEVER lets you down because he is extremely demanding yet he gives you freedom.

How would you briefly describe the way in which Audiard works?
He is always questioning things which means he is never satisfied, thus he always goes beyond what is satisfying to you or me. And above all that, he is simply surprising.

How did you research the role?
At first, I watched loads of prison dramas, documentaries and I also looked at a lot of photos and I talked with plenty of ex-convicts, which was useful for the second part of the movie, but I did not have the right idea of the character. But I think, after talking with Jacques, we finally took the right path. Things then took place step by step during the shooting of the movie and I managed to excel myself thanks to Jacques and the whole crew, as well as the quality of the script.

What was it like working with so many real inmate extras? Nerve racking? Tense?
They were clever, instinctive and sweet. It was like walking in a perfume shop: when we leave the place, perfume emanates from us.

How did you prepare for the more intense scenes?
The way I prepared for those scenes was extremely tough because the only way I found was to believe in the situation in order to make it work.

There is plenty of room for a sequel? Are you interested to see how Malik copes on the outside as “a hooligan that doesn’t like hooligans”. Would you be interested in playing him? And what do you think will happen to him?
I would obviously love to work again with Jacques and his team. As for the rest, you should ask Jacques.

Without wanting to get you in trouble with Mr Audiard, is there a scene in the film that you personally would not have included? Or a scene that was editted out that you would have included in the final cut?
To be completely honest, no.

Lastly, what is it that you think makes this film different to anything that has come before it?
The fact that it is a genre movie, set in prison, makes it reachable through its codification as a genre movie as such. What also makes the movie reachable is its humanity.
Finally, I think that the happiness we all felt during the shoot of this movie came out throught the screen and reached people.

	I auditioned eight times over a period of three months, which was particularly straining and exhausting both mentally and physically.