It’s been quite a few years for Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani, having been exiled from her home country following her turn in political drama Body of Lies, and a nude photo shoot she did for a French magazine. Having to adapt as a citizen of the world, she can now be seen more regularly in productions in the States, the latest of which is Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson.
Farahani plays Adam Driver’s girlfriend Laura, and she discusses the challenges in ensuring the character doesn’t become too overtly quirky, and remains naturalistic, while also telling us how similar she is to the role. She then speaks briefly about her turn in the forthcoming Pirates of the Caribbean flick, and on her own identity, where she calls home, and what she sees for the future of Iranian cinema.
It’s fair to say that not an awful lot happens in the film – how was it initially sold to you?
The thing is, when you know Jim’s cinema then you know that this minimal script can turn into a masterpiece because nothing is really happening, but when you read it and you imagine his look and perspective of things then you know it can turn into poetry. When I read the script I was sure about that, and my comment to him was that it was about how we turn the most ordinary things into extraordinary. It’s an ordinary script and not much is happening, there’s no drama, but the movie was like a meditation retreat. When you know Jim’s cinema you’ll be reassured it will be great, and I knew, I was already a fan of his since I was 12, so it was like a dream come true.
Jim’s films are so distinctive and obviously his, they couldn’t be made by anybody else. Did you feel that the shoot had that same unique feel about it – did it feel like you were a part of a Jim Jarmusch movie, or does that happen in post-production?
No it felt like that. First of all, it was a very small production which I think most of Jim’s movies are. The atmosphere on set was so calm and so beautiful, working with all these people, everybody, people who had been working for ages together, they’d grown up together and you feel like you’re entering a world that has existed for ages, and you’re just a newcomer, and you feel it. Jim’s talent, his way of looking, his gentleness, his tenderness, and his delicacy, it’s there every day, this fragile, incredible human being that you’re working with. You feel it with your whole body and soul.
Laura is a flawed character, was that part of the appeal?
Yes, but this character could fall into a cliché of a crazy, light-headed person, but that’s what we absolutely didn’t want. I understood her very well because I have points in common with her. I also like to do so many things, I like to paint, gardening, so many things, and she’s so much not in her head, living in the present moment, and at this point in the world people that live like that look odd to us. You have someone on the train paying attention to their surroundings it looks odd because people are prisoners of their own mind, and she’s absolutely not. She’s living her dream, and she has so much love and respect for Paterson, and she gives him space. She’s the extrovert in the house and he’s the introvert outside the house, and they have the most harmonious life, and I think they’re an inspiration for so many couples You just want to be like them. We can learn from them.
Is that quite common for you in your career – do you find yourself taking aspects of your characters you play and try to learn from them in real life?
For me acting is a kind of self-therapy, every part I play they show me some aspects of myself I wasn’t aware of because they open some doors that had been closed. Every character you feel, and when you do that, then you can learn from them, you can become a better person by learning from them. Sometimes you can be a worse person, like some parts have a horrible affect on you even if you’re not aware of it. Laura is a great character to learn from though, one of the best I’ve ever done.
Do you need to like a character you play in order to portray them?
Of course, you have to be loyal to your character. If I didn’t connect to a character, if I don’t like them, how would I then be able to live it? For me it’s impossible. I’m very loyal to my characters and I can defend them like a lawyer, I’d defend them to death, all of them.
You touched upon it before – but when dealing with a quirky character like Laura, it can be so difficult to get it wrong, and have it feel contrived. Was it a challenge to ensure that wasn’t the case?
Yes, and that’s what Jim saw in me, I’m a little bit like her, I didn’t have to pretend to be her. I look a little like Laura in myself, I have aspects of her, so for me she is not an odd character, there is nothing strange about her, for me she’s quite normal and that’s why I was sure, even when Jim was mentioning that he didn’t want her to become a cartoon, I was like, I didn’t even think of her like that, she’s not a cartoon at all. Am I a cartoon? I took it a bit personally, I was thinking, no, she acts how most people should. They should get out of their head, stay positive, try to create, live in the present moment. The world would be better, funnier and quirkier place to live in that way. For me she’s normal.
There’s the great scene when you play the guitar for Paterson – could you already play?
Yeah that was tricky because I know how to play, so I didn’t want to overdo it. I didn’t want to exaggerate not knowing how to play guitar, but at the same time I couldn’t play as I play, I had to stay in the middle. Sometimes you have to play drunk people as being very sober, that is how drunk people are, they try to be sober. So I think it works, it’s funny.
You share pretty much every single scene with Adam Driver – and the dog, too – he’s wonderful in the film, it must’ve been great to work so closely with him on this project?
The dog?
No, with Adam…
[Laughs] Oh my God! Adam is an amazing actor, he’s very professional and sometimes very funny. It was great, he does an amazing job, it’s such a difficult role to play and he does it so amazingly. It’s outstanding. Unfortunately, the parts that get recognition and awards and all that, and the parts that are extremely dramatic, tragic and all that stuff, but one day maybe for us actors we should celebrate this kind of acting, which is the most difficult, it’s much harder than playing a psycho or a drug addict. We had a great time, and with the dog too, who was a she playing a he. She died only a few months afterwards unfortunately. She was the true diva on this set.
Coming up is a bit of a change of pace – it’s the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. How does your character fit into that one?
I play a witch, and it’s been great to enter in to a Disney world, it’s quite exceptional. I’m very happy to be floating between super independent movies with zero money, to great, huge productions, I can’t ask for more, it’s amazing, I’m very blessed and lucky for that.
Has that been a positive to have derived from the controversy dating back to 2012 when you had to leave Iran – has it given you more of a freedom to try new things, and force you to make movies in places you may otherwise wouldn’t have done?
Of course. You see with Iranian actresses they have so many limitations, but men don’t have. Peyman Moaadi is in Camp X-Ray and he’s naked, you can see his arse, and he lives in Iran. But my arse is a huge controversy? So I left. If you want to put one foot in one boat and the other foot in another boat, chances are you’ll fall in the water, so you have to choose one. I knew I wouldn’t be able to live in my country. Working was out of the country, and living there and doing international cinema was impossible, so I knew I had to start considering myself as an international actress and do whatever I believe in without considering the laws of the country I come from. I lost my home country, but now I’ve gained the world.
Have you been back to Iran since?
No, not since 2008 after Body of Lies I haven’t been back. The main problem is that the secret service were thinking it was a plan of CIA to destroy the faith of Islam, so I was interrogated and then I left, and I knew I was not going to go back anymore. I haven’t been back since and at the moment it’s out of the question that I will.
So what do you see for the future of Iranian cinema? Can you see it changing for the better, will there be a time where creatively won’t be stifled?
The pressure is more and more on artists, and more films are being banned more now under the current government than before under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But one day there will be a renaissance when true freedom will come, and there will be amazing movies coming out of there. After me they passed a law that didn’t exist, where any artist who wants to work in any international production they have to have permission from the Minister of Culture, and that didn’t exist before, it was passed because of my case after Body of Lies. But I think Iranian cinema will always have its place in the world.
Would you still call Iran home?
Well, no. Home for me is the biggest question of my life – where is home? Home has gone. Even the home that I left is not the home that I knew, that’s the problem with exile, you don’t belong to even your home anymore, you’re just a floating human being in between languages and cultures and you don’t belong to anything or anyone, which is why I’m much more attracted to international communities around the world that exist, where people choose to go and live because there not a sense of belonging or a sense of patriotism and things like that. Home for is a very big question. One day, if I have a child, the home of my child would be my home.
Paterson is released on November 25th, and you can read our review here, and read our interview with Jim Jarmusch here.
