Stereotyping from Trek & Being in Syriana

[Takara_Soong 4]

From TrekToday.com:

 

Alexander Siddig discussed his name change, his relationship with ex-wife and ex-costar Nana Visitor and his film projects at the recent Trek Expo in London, laughing that Bashir was the only character from his series to have a hate site on the internet.

 

At the Trek Expo 2005, Siddig also said that he thought Deep Space Nine was both relevant to the modern world and "deeply human", and cited among his least favourite episodes "Profit and Lace", which he directed but labeled "a stinker" according to a report at his official web site, Sid City.

 

In answer to a fan question about his connection to Visitor, who played Kira on DS9 and had a child with Siddig during the show's run, the actor said that they had remained good friends and he had recently visited her and his son and stepson in New Mexico where she is filming Michael Piller's Wildfire, which he recommended to viewers.

 

Siddig laughed that his relationship with costar Colm Meaney (O'Brian) was more adversarial, as Meaney is an Irishman and considers Siddig an Englishman. He related a story in which Meaney took him out to get him drunk, only to have a bartender tell Siddig that he was not welcome. Siddig told Meaney that the man was racist, and "Colm calmly replied, 'No, it’s because you’re English.' He obviously enjoyed taking me to places where they would hate me. Anyway, eventually our friendship and time spent in bars off the set ended up being written into the show and they put us in bars on the set."

 

Though Meaney played DS9's senior engineer, Meaney was "hopeless with anything technical" and had to get advice from Walter Koenig (Chekov) on the use of original series communicators during the episode "Trials and Tribbleations." Siddig said that over the course of the series he was happy with his character development, calling the producers brave for creating an unpopular character whom they then made popular, standing up to the studio which wanted to get rid of "the nerd, geek, jerk."

 

"Sid", who went by the name Siddig El Fadil during his first several years on the series before changing his name to Alexander Siddig, said that in his experience, the Arab world does not consider the Sudan to be Arabic, but the African world does not consider the Sudan to African, so he may be considered either Arabic or African, or neither. He found that people had trouble pronouncing "Siddig El Fadil" and changed it to something western to honour his mother, deeming the name Alexander "pre-religious".

 

Ironically, Siddig was offered a part in the recent film Alexander, only to have the offer withdrawn when director Oliver Stone discovered that he had been on Star Trek. Ridley Scott, who cast Siddig a few weeks later in Kingdom of Heaven, fortunately considered having been on Star Trek an asset. He joked that his character's genetic enhancements were based on his own, and reacted with horror when told that Bashir and Ezri had divorced in the novels based on Deep Space Nine.

 

Siddig also talked about his upcoming film Syriana and his desire to work with his uncle Malcolm McDowell, who is of course infamous among Star Trek fans as the man who killed Captain Kirk.

 

After reading this, I'm glad Alexander bombed at the box office. I'm not an Oliver Stone fan but it will be a cold day in hell when I go see one of his movies in the future. Ridley Scott, however, has gone up in my estimation.

 

I had no idea that Alexander Siddig was related to Malcolm McDowell. That's cool!

[Theunicornhunter 2]

Oliver Stone, boo, hiss,

[gul_nodrog 2]

Oliver Stone hasn't had a decent flick since .... ??? I can't remember the last good flick he had!

 

That's just stupid to not cast someone because they were on Star Trek! There've been some really good actors on each of the series. Stone's loss. Plus, I can't stand that Colin Farrell guy (wasn't he "Alexander?") If it's the one I'm thinking of, the Siddig is lucky to have escaped that particular film

 

I didn't know he was related to Malcolm MacDowell either ... that is cool!

[VaBeachGuy 12]

Stone is a nut case, I've seen a few of his movies and didn't care for any of them. I woudn't even waste my time downloading one of his films much less paying to go see one.

 

As for Siddig, it is an interesting read. I've always enjoyed him on DS9, even when he wasn't "popular".

[Matt 0]

Ridiculous reason for dismissing an actor. He did well in 'Kingdom of Heaven' and don't think he's in the least bit type-cast.

 

I had no idea that Malcolm McDowell was his uncle, quite surprised by that.

[Kor37 9]

I didn't know that Bashir and Ezri had divorced in the Trek novels. I'm a bit behind on my Trek reading. I wonder whose dumb idea that was... :lol:

[VaBeachGuy 12]

I didn't know that Bashir and Ezri had divorced in the Trek novels. I'm a bit behind on my Trek reading. I wonder whose dumb idea that was... :lol:

Doesn't matter, it isn't canon.

[Dark Reality 0]

Wow, a bit harsh on Oliver Stone, guys! Actually, when I read that, I said "Well screw Oliver Stone then!". I haven't seen many of his films, but I did like Natural Born Killers, and maybe a couple others. I won't slam his films because he doesn't like Star Trek, and his opinion of Trek actors differs from mine. I do, however, credit Ridley Scott, even though I like a few of his movies (such as Gladiator, Hannibal) regardless of his feelings about Trek actors. I have been meaning to see Kingdom of Heaven; I'll have to look for Siddig.

 

And I did know that Malcolm McDowell is his uncle.

 

I liked Bashir. Maybe not at first, but both he and Mirror Bashir turned out really cool. And it was a (pleasant) surprise to see the interview with him, it's the Mirror Bashir he looks like IRL... not the clean-cut regular Bashir.

Edited November 13, 2005 by Jack_Bauer

[LordOfTheBorg 1]

Oliver Stone= Natural Born Killers? Well, now that WIERDO movie makes sense...

 

stoopid oliver stone!!!

[Kor37 9]

Natural Born Killers really creeped me out when I saw it. Its a very disturbing movie. I never want to see it again.

[LordOfTheBorg 1]

it made no sense. I got scared and destroyed it. I have it on my computer, but in about 2 minutes it will be gone..

[stvoyagerfan 1]

i can't wait to see Syriana for two reason siddig and george clooney. i've seen some of kingdom of heaven and what i've seen is good. i bought the movie and it came with a free book about the movie and it has a nice picture of siddig.

 

stone was wrong for not choosing him. ridley was smart. i've seen a few of his other movies and they were goood.

 

tm

[sea trooper 0]

After reading this, I'm glad Alexander bombed at the box office. I'm not an Oliver Stone fan but it will be a cold day in hell when I go see one of his movies in the future. Ridley Scott, however, has gone up in my estimation.

Same here! I've never been interested in his movies and now I never will be. Plus Scott has always been cool to me . Screw Stone! :)

 

I had no idea that Alexander Siddig was related to Malcolm McDowell. That's cool!

That was a real shocker, but very cool news!

Edited November 14, 2005 by sea trooper

[Stephen of Borg 2]

anyone planning on seeing this movie? A lot of critics have been giving praises to Dr. Bashir in this film. I may go see the film just to see him in it

[Dark Reality 0]

IMDb link

 

I dunno, I just saw it on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. My girlfriend has a subscription, so I may read up on it. I'd like to see a movie with Siddig in it.

 

Oh wow, I have. I saw Reign of Fire, but didn't think much of it.

[Takara_Soong 4]

Here is an interview with Alexander Siddig posted at ComingSoon.net regarding Trek and his latest film Syriana.

 

Alexander Siddig: Life Beyond Star Trek

Source: Edward Douglas December 4, 2005

 

Most people first met actor Alexander Siddig during his tenure as Dr. Julian Bashir on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and unlike many of his co-stars, he has successfully made the transition to film this year by playing two strong Arab characters in high profile films, first in Ridley Scott's Crusades epic Kingdom of Heaven and currently in Stephen "Traffic" Gaghan's political thriller Syriana.

 

In the latter, he plays the son of an emir in a neighboring country to Iran, trying to get the best bid on the oil drilling rights for his country with the help of his economic advisor, played by Matt Damon. Or at least that would probably be a highly simplified description of the complex role that Siddig's character plays in Gaghan's story, loosely based on the exploits of real life CIA agent Bob Baer.

 

Obviously, Siddig's character was important enough that the actor was included in a recent New York press junket along with George Clooney and Matt Damon, and he's definitely an actor to keep an eye on in the future, if nothing else than for his outspoken political views.

 

CS: What was it about this movie that drew you to do it?

Siddig: It would be impossible not to be drawn to this movie as an actor, especially as an Arabic actor or someone who works on the ethnic fringe in a small vein of one of the many seams of acting. To pass up or not be interested in someone who seems normal and real would be crazy. I end up speaking so grandly, when I don't know if I have the right to, but to pass up the diplomatic potential of a character like this would be really foolish. I think whether you're in the Middle East or in Europe or America, you can identify with this person.

 

CS: I assume that being of Arab descent, you're careful about what kinds of roles you take. How does it feel to be able to do two of the really memorable Arab characters in one year?

Siddig: I'm one of the luckiest Arab actors on the planet, because I've done, I think, two of the finest Arab roles that have been out in mainstream cinema for a very long time. Apart from that, the personal trip for me has been wonderful. I have an English side called Alexader and a Sudanese side called Siddig, and they're beginning to meet each other in me, let alone the greater picture, and I'm hoping that people from both sides will meet each other. There's a personal journey, which I would love it if it was reflected in the bigger, wider world, because we're all quite good friends. We just don't know it yet.

 

 

CS: And both those characters were called "Prince Nasir", too. That's kind of weird, isn't it?

Siddig: Isn't that a strange thing? I'd already started filming "Syriana" and the "Kingdom of Heaven" one was changed as if they decided that I should be called whatever I was called in "Syriana." It's very odd. He was called [something completely unpronounceable in Arabic] before, who was a real character, a historian for Saladin who wrote his diary for him every night, kind of his ghost writer. For some reason, they thought that was politically uncool, so they changed my name to "Nasir" and I'm "Nasir" in this as well. How d'ya like them apples?

 

CS: Do you consider this Nasir (in "Syriana") to be a heroic figure?

Siddig: He is a heroic figure. If I was in that position, I would love to be that guy, and I'm not even sure I wouldn't mind being shot by the Americans, if that was the case, or the Russians, or the Philipinos, or whomever happens to rule the world at that particular moment in time in my fantasy scenario. Because to live like that, it's Gandhi, it's another form of that but just the Arab version. I think the Arab world doesn't really have a personality cult situation going on that they have in much of the Western world. They are a culture of words and religion, and you won't see many charismatic people on Al Jazeera, except for the ones who are now learned presenters. You see Arab leaders getting on TV looking somnambulant into their microphone, almost as if someone's got a hand up their back, which is very hard working out how to do the part. Bin Laden actually is the most European or westernized of all the leaders. He's the one who is the most polished ironically. He's smart and handsome and rich… and well trained by the CIA. He's a very dangerous man indeed and he now has this franchise called al-Qaida, which rivals Starbucks in its ubiquity. That's not a really cool thing to say, is it?

 

CS: Can you elaborate on the character and his potential a bit?

Siddig: He's the personification of the great missed opportunity. He's the chance that America had to turn things around, if only they hadn't been so angry that he'd given the contract to someone else. Matt Damon's character came along and warned him. Hey, you have to be able to finance what you're planning to do. If you want emancipation, suffrage, you want civil liberties and freedom of the press that crazy liberals like, then you're going to have finance it somehow. And the only way you can do that is not just to sell your oil, but to ship it, and be in all different aspects of it. Understand your business. Don't just give plots of land away willy nilly to people. Own the plots yourself, market it. Be American. Market yourself. Diversify. You can do all these things, and the Chinese know about this stuff, too. That was just dropped in there, and it's one of the most significant points in the film, because China is the Middle East.

 

CS: A lot of this movie seems to come from next year's headlines rather than last year's.

Siddig: That's right. Next year's headlines is going to be "China is the Middle East." The reason why nothing is happening is Dhapur is because China runs Sudan and who's going to mess with China on the Security Council? The Americans are going up against what happens to be some interesting minerals in Dhapur and it all gets very funkadelic. To amplify on that character, he's what we hopes exists.

 

CS: How do you feel about the American CIA and their dealings in the Mideast?

Siddig: That's one of the points this movie is making. Richard Cheney talks about the "dark side" as referring to the secret services, the CIA or whatever they're called. I think that there's something wrong. These government agencies are off the leash in some way and they're supra government now and they really shouldn't be. They're working for the wrong people. They're supposed to be working for the Americans, and according to our movie, there is an insinuation that they're working for corporate America, and we're in incredibly dangerous water.

 

 

CS: Now that the West is so embroiled in the Middle East, our TV shows and films are starting to have more Arabic characters, but they're always the really good or the really bad. Is that just as bad as not having these characters at all?

Siddig: No, that's great, and it's idealistic to think it's ever going to get any better. Even now, we have the good American and the bad American in movies, and the good Englishman and the bad Englishman. We're dealing with archetypes, and we're not going to get these subtle nuanced people unless Ruth whatever-her-name is, who writes all the Merchant Ivory thing, because she's such a beautiful writer. While you've got movies that have to deal with archetypal subjects and stereotypes than good and bad is what we're going to get, and I'm happy with it.

Wasim is my favorite character in the movie and it's very dangerous to big him up, because they're almost idealizing suicide terrorists, but it's a fascinating storyline. Steve Gaghan I put right along Ruth. They can write these nuanced characters. That's just great writers, who I can always do that. The basic lowest common denominator, I'm happy with just good and bad, as long as they're both there. As long as it's not just some guy shouting "Allah Akbar" on a Boeing 747, then it's terrific to see more. It means we're getting to know each other and I like that.

 

CS: Something that few people might know about you is that your mother is Malcolm McDowell's sister. Was he helpful in your decision to become an actor yourself?

Siddig: He made acting possible or as something you can do. One of the hardest things about your profession and my profession is that it seems unattainable to most people. It just seems like something other people happen to have the luck to do. When you have someone in the family who is an actor, you can see that being lazy and doing very little with your life can pay. And you can actually make quite a handsome living from that. I went ahead and got into acting. Actually, I got into directing. I just ended up being an actor, but he was definitely something to do with it, whether it was subliminal or something more conscious than that.

 

CS: So being in these two movies, you've kind of escaped the "Star Trek curse". Were you aware that some actors go into "Star Trek" and never do anything else?

Siddig: Yeah, yeah, I'm aware of that. I'm just in a very bizarre niche and there aren't many people you can go to, but I blame Ridley Scott really, because he was the person who went "I love Star Trek and I'd love it if you were in my movie" and people like Oliver Stone went "I hated Star Trek, and I don't want you in Alexander!" I was really lucky there. But it is Ridley Scott's fault, because he was the one who put me in a grown-up movie. I mean I've been in other movies, but there are different kinds of parts in movies, I found out. There are parts that you can do them all your life, and no one knows you're even acting, and there are other parts which people notice that you're in and you become an actor from the movies and people take you in a whole different way. Whether or not I can keep that ball rolling is another matter. But I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for "Star Trek," so it's pretty great, and it means that I'm a relatively friendly face to a lot of Americans and it's useful for that rather pretentious diplomatic trip I'm on.

 

CS: Any idea what's next for you?

Siddig: The thing I'm most interested is about Hannibal, an epic about Hannibal, but it's a low budget one. It's not the Vin Diesel one. We've only got one elephant. (Note: That last part was probably a joke.)

 

CS: Have any of the Arab or Palestinian directors come to you to appear in their films?

Siddig: They wouldn't come to me yet, because I'm very much a Western actor. Even though I would love to be all kinds of things. I'm definitely a Hollywood person. Not enough yet, but that's where I am.

 

CS: You directed an episode of "Deep Space Nine," so would directing be something you'd want to pursue?

Siddig: If I'm lucky enough and if I ever get smart enough to direct, I'll direct again, but I've gotta write my own stuff, and that means reading a book someday.

 

Syriana is currently playing in select cities, and it opens nationwide on December 9.

 

There are a few images of Alexander Siddig in Syriana with the interview so I'm providing a link to ComingSoon.net's interview as well.