A cool little story about my little role on Noah Baumbach's new movie #MarriageStory @MarriageStory.
I tried out for the role of Greg. I booked it! But before I accepted, I asked if they could change "Greg" to something Persian. I have never known a Persian guy named Greg.
I thought it'd be cool to not just have a Persian actor in a Noah Baumbach movie, but a Persian *character*. But casting said I had to accept the role first, and then Noah would decide. I agreed.
I got to set, and nervously asked Noah if casting had mentioned--
"Oh the name thing? Yeah man, send me a list of names and I'll just pick one."
I was so delighted that Noah was so open and understanding!
I emailed him a list.
The next day,
He said, "Yeah, that list? I don't know... how bout just Amir? I like Amir."
Um, YEAH THAT IS OK WITH ME TO HAVE A CHARACTER NAMED AMIR IN A NOAH BAUMBACH MOVIE.
And then I realized that at one point, Alan Alda's character refers to Greg in the script.
So now, in a Noah Baumbach movie, @alanalda says the line "I agree with Amir" MEANING ME.
And look, for you people out there named Dave and Mike and Kim and Karen, you might not appreciate this. But growing up, I never heard anyone on TV refer to anyone as Amir, other than like "Amir's men have activated the explosive". So this means a lot. I really appreciate it.
I have almost no lines in the movie. Mostly I just sit next to Laura Dern and Scarlett Johansson. Rough life, huh? ;)
ICYMI, a few years ago I wrote a thing about middle eastern character names. Here it is if you are interested. #RepresentationMatters buzzfeednews.com/article/amirta…
To reiterate-- I had a tiny role in a movie starring Scarjo, Laura Dern, Adam Driver, Ray Liotta, Alan Alda... And yet, I was able to improve the quality of representation in the movie *because I asked*.
Ask for what you want. Sometimes you'll get it.
#RepresentationMatters
Super heartening to see a lot of writers and directors liking this thread. That tells me they think what Noah (and I) did is cool. That's a great sign.
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