- And how was your blockbuster experience working with the like of Roland Emmerich?
Great, absolutely fantastic! It was a massive job and there was lots of waiting around but everything is much bigger and there is a lot more money flying around plus there’s lots of blue screen and multi-digital cameras, cranes, big studios... Wow!
This is what you read about and it was great to be a part of that and hopefully there will be other stuff as well but I feel lucky to have been able to do the two.
- It’s been a busy year for you with Exam and It’s A Wonderful Afterlife so how do you go about picking your projects now compared to how you did in the beginning?
In similar ways but in the beginning you are just so full of ambition, of course I still have ambition, but you are always looking always to do something new, different and edgy to make your mark.
I think now I still want to take diverse roles but I’m a lot mellower now than I was as I’m older, yes I think mellow I the word (laughs). I just take every opportunity as it comes and judge it on that, obviously I still want to do good work.
- You have also completed work on West Is West so what made you return to the role off Tariq Khan?
I think mainly because the script was so good but it was something that kick started my career, it’s very dear to my heart. I’m doing more of a guest cameo in it as it’s not about my character but about the young boy this time around but I would do anything for the project and that film.
It was quite emotional returning to doing that and seeing Linda and Om, who played my mum and dad and some of my brothers and sister so it was great.
- It’s been eleven years since East Is East so are you still surprised by how this movie has endured?
Yeah! I’m glad it has but it really had endured it’s a classic of our time and I’m very honoured to have been a part of that.
Most people spend their whole career wanting to get that one thing that they do that people will always remember and, luckily for me, it was one of my first jobs and I can’t ask for anything more than that.
- As and actor who works within the British film industry what are your thought over the axing of the UK Film Council?
I think it’s on the surface it’s quite a worrying development ass I think it’s quite difficult as it is at the moment across the whole board, the economy has effected everything including my job and my industry.
Then you look at the cuts that are being announced and we are being told that there are some painful decisions and then it happens to your industry it kind of makes you think.
How much it will really effect the industry I’m really not sure and we will have to wait and see but it’s obviously not a good thing at all as the movies that it has funded has done very well for the industry.
Now whether it’s, like they say, going to make a difference or are they just cutting the people in between and money will still be available who knows.
All I know up to this point is it worked well and a lot of films have been funded by it so it’s a shame that it’s not going to be there anymore - it doesn’t fill you with joy it actually makes you quite worried about stuff but that is what happening.
- Finally what’s next for you?
Good question, a very good question. At this moment in time I’m not sure, for the first time in a while actually, I have just been enjoying the summer and working out what my next move will be but I’m sure that it will be coming soon. There are a couple of thing that I’m looking at but I haven’t committed to anything so we will just have to wait and see.
Basement is out in cinemas 20th August and DVD 23rd August.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Jimi Mistry