Omid Djalili: 'I was offered a role in a film with Al Pacino - I reluctantly had to turn it down'
Multi-award-winning actor and comedian Omid Djalili is back on the road with his new show, Namaste.
He has scores of film and TV credits, but he’s totally at home with live audiences. He’s played Fagin in Oliver! and Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, as well as Bridget Christie’s husband in The Change. Omid, 60, also appeared as one of the Three Wise Men in the acclaimed Journey to Bethlehem.
I’m currently reading
I was always a great reader, and I think that I can put that down to my older brother and sister, who loved books as well. Some of the first ones that I remember were the Asterix adventures which I devoured avidly.
And then, for some reason I found Evelyn Waugh, whose prose I adored – in my teens, he came over as so witty and economical. Brideshead Revisited was a complete delight.
It was fascinating for me to find out, many years ago, how many books the British don’t read – I was in the old Czechoslovakia a good few years back, and a guy I met told be that his country had the highest percentage of book ownership in Europe, something like 68.4, while the UK had the lowest, and that was around 2.4.
I was amazed – but I think that he was right. I used to travel with a whole suitcase full of books, and I always meant to read them while on tour, but I sadly never got around to them.
Today, I read an awful lot of local papers and magazines when I get to my destination – for example, what’s been going on, and who is who, in Scarborough.
And I read as much online as I can about the venue, to be as topical as time allows with their current affairs. That makes the gig “bespoke” somehow.
I’ve been listening to
Everything. My support act is a musician, so I always hear them rehearsing and sound-checking. The CD I always play is the soundtrack to Hamilton, the musical, which I think that I first saw back in 2017, and I loved it then.
I love that show because it’s a superb blend of rap and hip-hop, and you are always finding something new.
I’ve been watching
Where’s the time to settle with some TV? I did, however, manage to slip out and catch a screening of the movie I Swear, which has already to be one of the greatest British movies ever.
And it’s written by Kirk Jones. In the cast is the wonderful Maxine Peake, who, in my eyes, can never do wrong. It’s the story of a young man with Tourette’s syndrome, and it isn’t for the faint-hearted.
The live performance I’d recommend is
Bill Bailey, and I’ve been following him for nearly 30 years. The man is a genius, and every time that I see him, I’m blown away by his energy and invention. He’s full of wild ideas.
When did I start to think that I might be a performer? Oh, that would have been a holiday in Paris, when I was about 11, and we were walking around the Les Halles area. There was this bloke doing his act, as a sort of mime, but with trained pigeons.
He was taking them for a walk. It was hilarious, and beautifully timed and thought-through, and the little me thought that I could replicate something like it for the next school concert.
Well, it was a start. I wonder if I should go back to Paris, locate that bloke, and say a warm “thank you”?
My next boxed set or streamed series will be (or was….)
The wonderful Curb Your Enthusiasm, which was created by Larry David back in 1999. I saw the first three series, and I’ve missed out since then, and I think we’re on eleven or twelve now? There’s some considerable catching-up to do.
The App I couldn’t be without is
Just about all the social media ones, and Instagram in particular. I discovered that I could get new, younger audiences, by connecting with them, and it’s something that I really enjoy, even if I do find myself using my phone for an appalling four or five hours every single day. You see, I don’t, and I hope that I never will, take audiences fir granted. Facebook is useful too, and You Tube.
What is right at the top of your “To do” Bucket list?
It’s not to visit anywhere specific, because I’m still touring, and discovering some amazing places en route as part of my job. But I have always admired – beyond belief – that great actor Al Pacino, and to make a movie with him would be the best.
I was, actually offered a small role in one of his current films, but I had to turn it down with great reluctance because of other work commitments. There may be another chance at some point, who knows?
Carlos Santana is another hero of mine. Great performer, and frontman of one of the best-selling bands of all time, still going strong. I’ve grown up with him. Oh, the questions that I want to ask.
Namaste, Omid Djalili, Grimsby Auditorium November 20; Scarborough Spa, November 21; St George’s Hall, Bradford April 06,