Exclusive interview: Merila Zarei

In an exclusive interview with ifilm, Iranian actress Merila Zarei talks about her acting career.

Below is a rough translation of selected parts from the interview conducted by ifilm in Persian:

ifilm: You won your third Crystal Simorgh from the 35th Fajr Film Festival for ‘Under the Smokey Roof’, how did you feel about this?

Zarei: Thank God… nobody gets sad when applauded, especially me; I love being applauded (laughing) and I am happy that the people and judges were impressed by me. I must admit that winning the Crystal Simorgh together with Leila Hatami made this win twice as pleasing. Leila is my favorite actress and I adore her performance. Acting in ‘Under the Smokey Roof’ was a hard and joyful experience but the role was very different from my own personality.

ifilm: The awards that you have so far won, have been for your realistic roles, like portraying the mother of a martyr or your role in this movie which is about a woman who is facing problems in her personal life. Did you choose your recent roles for the social aspects?

Zarei: The roles must be realistic so I can get a good grasp on them. Obviously, the more realistic a role is, the easier it will be to get in touch with but after all cinema is the magic of imagination and picture; a place to experience what has not been experienced before and a place that makes wonders happen. For instance, if one day I will be offered a fantasy role in a project about aliens I might accept it since it is a new experience and I think people will also like it. But the truth is that people relate better to works that talk about lives of ordinary people and the society and since I respect people, I am more inclined to accepting these projects. I am interested in works that are challenging for me and help me develop new abilities.

ifilm: Many great actors believe that acting is a whirlpool and traps the actor forcing them in one single direction. However, it seems this has not happened to you and we see you in a very different role each time. How did you mange this?

Zarei: Well, I am not fond of whirlpools (laughing). Being stuck in a routine takes one’s soul into a vicious circle. If actors do not try new roles, they will become like an officer who goes to work and returns home without having enjoyed their work; acting becomes more like a profession than art. If this happens, you will no longer enjoy your work and cannot prepare yourself for difficult projects and this whirlpool destroys the actor. Acting is very complex, especially in our country; we have to study and carefully select out roles. Sometime, no matter how long you want, you never get a fresh offer and will have to continue a repetitious path. But I thank God that for me this has not happened and I was able to try new roles; thank God.

ifilm: Let us talk about theater, we know that most of your stage works have also been welcomed by audiences. Despite success in cinema in recent year, would it be possible for you to work in theater too?

Zarei: Believe me sometimes the number of offers I recieve for theater is more than cinema. I am very interested in theater but theater has a unique feature which is you need to plan for six months in advance and I cannot do that; I cannot even plan for tomorrow because I have no idea what might happen then. As a professional silver screen actress, I need to protect the professional path that I have travelled so far and make wise decisions. Yet, I am thinking about theater these days and I might begin next year by performing on stage. Theater is a turning point for actors and an opportunity to examine themselves, to begin practicing again, to rebuild themselves. In spite of all my cinematic works, my interest in theater has not shrunk at all.

ifilm: You were great in a number of comedies where you worked with Reza Attaran but your presence in comedies suddenly stopped…

Zarei: A very interesting question… I love comedies and basically in personal life I love to have good laugh and have fun. This is a very strong feeling inside me and since there are no possibilities for me to act in comedies at the moment that I am worried this feeling might become frozen inside me. My acting career is currently overshadowed by serious works and this has resulted in gradual fading of my presence in comedies which is alarming to me but I want to announce, loud and clear, that I love comedies and I will be successful. Ladies and Gentlemen, please offer me comedy roles; if the script is good, I will accept it.

ifilm: And if no offer comes…

Zarei: I will do it myself. It is not far-fetched. The feeling is so strong in me that I will start writing a script and I may even produce it but I hope that I will get a good offer.

ifilm: Some of your fans might not know that in the past you worked in the radio. For you, a person who is always looking for something new, working at the special and old medium should have been interesting.

Zarei: Radio is great and has a colorful world. I enjoyed working at the radio very very much. It began with ‘1001 Nights’ and I went on to work as a host. I was very happy those days and interestingly enough, my family is also very interested in the radio and always listens to it at home or in the car and so do I. But radio is harmful to actors as their voices become monotonous and cannot change it because the voice is only way to communicate with the listeners. To tell you the truth, this made me scares and I decided to leave but I admit that it was a great experience.

Interview Conducted By: Ghazal Nahani

To read more about Merila Zarei click here.

HY/HY