Alexander Siddig on Being in Ruba Nadda’s Fantasies

Writer/Director Ruba Nadda is not shy about saying that she views Alexander Siddig as “the quintessential Arabic man”, and wrote to movies specifically for him. At the Toronto International Film Festival promoting their latest project, Inescapable, the National Post asked Sid about being in her fantasies:

“We met on the set of Cairo Time. It’s a strange story and I’m not sure if I believe it. Many moons ago I did Star Trek as a youngster — 25 in Hollywood. She was a young Canadian girl in school watching Star Trek because her parents enjoyed science fiction. I think she had a fantasy at one point and said I one day am going to direct him. She wrote movies with me in them. She asked my agent if I wanted to be in Cairo Time. I read the film and thought, ‘This is just a beautiful part.’

I went onto the set and Patricia Clarkson was there and we shot one of the hardest scenes in the movie. It was fully dialogued. Ruba watched us rehearse the scene and says, ‘I’m not happy with it.’ It was a really brave thing for her to do with two pros. She said, ‘No I don’t like the script, can you do something else?’ That was the template. Patricia and I got on from that moment because we trusted each other.”