A legend is back and reborn

Egyptian-born actor Omar Sharif returns to cinema in Francois Dupeyron's Monsieur Ibrahim

It's hard to believe that I'm sitting across from Doctor Zhivago. At 71, Egyptian-born Omar Sharif still has those dark, penetrating eyes and the Valentino sex-appeal that he displayed in David Lean's masterpiece Lawrence of Arabia. His calming demeanour is indicative of a master actor with nothing left to prove and plenty to teach. I'm deeply awed.
Absent from the limelight for nearly 40 years - he quit movies after Hollywood cast him in laughable fare Che! and McKenna's Gold - the handsome actor is back in a small but endearing French movie titled Monsieur Ibrahim where he plays a grizzled Muslim shopkeeper named Abraham who tutors and eventually adopts an orphaned Jewish boy (Pierre Boulanger) in 60s Paris. (Coincidentally, he's also starring opposite Viggo Mortensen in Hidalgo, where he plays an Arab sheik.)
Tandem talked to Omar Sharif when he was in Toronto.

It's so great to see you in a movie again. Why did you stop, and why this, now?
"The reason is very simple. I have had trouble for 25 years now in finding parts, ever since I stopped being a big star in the box office. When I was, they used to write parts for me, or adapt parts to fit me. But when you get older and you are not a box office star, you have to find parts yourself, parts that fit you. They won't ask me to play, for instance, an old American, because they have old American actors who can play those parts. An old Englishman, or an old Italian. They have actors... So why should they ask me? It would be wrong casting. It's the right casting to ask me to play an old Arab, but there are not so many. I did some, but there are lousy films. So I have been doing rubbish for 25 years, and I lost my self-respect, my self-esteem. Even my grandchildren make fun of me. So I decided that I'd better keep some dignity, and wait. If something good happens, I will do it, and if something good doesn't happen, I should spend my time with my grandchildren and my son. I'm very happy living just like that, because I didn't give enough time to my family, I was always busy and travelling. So now, this film came, and I loved it. I loved the script, I loved the idea of it, I loved the message of it. And I put my heart in it. And I'm willing to do as much as I can to sell it, so that people see it, enjoy its gentleness. I hope that some people see it and come out a little bit happy."

How much of you is in Abraham?
"Abraham is like me. He is me, because in my opinion, Abraham doesn't exist. And therefore, I could do what I want with him. Because if you notice in the film, you never see Abraham except when the boy is there. He has no friends, Abraham. He doesn't speak to anybody. He has no family. He's been living 40 or 50 years in this grocery store and he doesn't know anyone. He doesn't seem normal. So he could be somebody in the boy's imagination, really. He exists when the boy comes in. The truth is this, the writer [Eric Emmanuel-Schmitt] who wrote this is a Jew. He is a very good writer. It is autobiographical. So it's about his childhood. But there was no Abraham in his childhood. His Abraham was his grandfather. It was his grandfather who used to talk to him like that and tell him these things. But as it is part of a trilogy, this story is about religions. He is very interested in religions. He is a very tolerant person, and he wanted to put all the religions in his trilogy. And therefore he transformed his grandfather as a Muslim grocer. So you can tell actually this is not a character that actually existed, in the form that he is in. So I had the liberty to decide how to play him."
Did you ever have a similar sort of mentor relationship with anyone in your life?
"With my children. Yes. This is how I brought up my children. You know, I have one son. And he married a Jewish girl, and I have a grandson, from the Jewish woman. Then he married a Catholic woman. A Canadian. He is Canadian, my son and my family. They're from Montreal. So the second one was Catholic, but she didn't have children. And now, he is married to a Muslim girl. He's with his third wife, and I have a little grandson who is Muslim, in principle, but I will bring up everybody with tolerance. I will teach them tolerance. Nobody is better than anybody else."

Abraham is an immigrant in France. I don't want to say exiled. Is it correct to say that you exiled yourself from Egypt?
"I exiled myself for a period. During the Nasser era, because I had a big success with Lawrence of Arabia. Overnight I became a big star, and I was working. You know, Hollywood is almost exclusively Jewish, you work only with Jewish people there. And I was afraid that Nasser would take it out on my parents or something, so I took everybody out, so I would have peace of mind when I was working, so I wasn't worried about what was happening to my family. And for 13 years, I could go if I wanted, but I just didn't go because I had many contracts I had to honour and I was afraid to go back and not be let out. And then I met Sadat at the White House at a dinner, and he hugged and kissed me and he said 'You have to come back. We love you. You are our son. I'm marrying my son in three days time and I want you at the wedding, absolutely.' And I went. And ever since then I go. My son now lives in Egypt. I bought an apartment and gave it to him, so that he has his wife and his child there."

And your home is... ?
"My home is in Paris. More or less. I have this apartment in Cairo when I want. I go to Egypt once or twice a year. I spend three or four weeks. I like to go up the Nile on a boat and go to Luxor and Aswan and the south, and see the ancient temples. I love the south of Egypt, it's so beautiful."

You are a legend when it comes to cinema. There isn't a generation that doesn't look at you with awe. For you, it's your life. But has this brought difficulty for you?
"You know, I don't realize all this. See, I live normally. See, when I was an Egyptian film star, I was perfectly happy. I could have gone on living that life. Perhaps I would have been a happier man, because perhaps my marriage wouldn't have broken up. Perhaps I would have had more children. And what is the difference if I am a star in Egypt, I walk on the street and people love me and they go to my films? Or to be an international star? What difference does it make to my life? Nothing at all. For me, fame is something that is outside the window. It's behind the mirror, like Alice in Wonderland. It doesn't interfere with my everyday life. I have friends, normal people. They sometimes say 'You're an idiot, shut up' to me. So my life is normal."

What about your art? As an artist, there's no question that people have been moved deeply by your performances.
"By my performance because it was in the parts that were well written and well directed. You know, cinema is the art of the director, almost exclusively. And the actor is a tool for the director to express what he wants. I can't judge myself as an actor. I have no idea. You know, they gave me the Proust questionnaire to answer, and they said 'What talent would you like to have?' and I wrote 'Acting.' Because I don't know if I have the talent."

Didn't they just give you an award at the Venice Film Festival?
"Yes, they gave me an award for my career. But these awards are given for living that long. You know, they don't give it to 35-year olds. They give it to 71-year olds. They say thanks for being around. Thanks for the memories. It's because it's my 50th year of being an actor."

Were you generous with young Boulanger in this film?
"Very much, yes. We were friends. You have to be. You can't work a whole film with someone and have that sort of relationship if you don't have it really. I had a very close relationship with Peter O'Toole when we made Lawrence of Arabia and it showed, although we never said anything kind to each other. But people realized that these two love each other."

Monsieur Ibrahim is currently playing in local cinemas.

Publication Date: 2004-03-14
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=3747