‘Camp X-Ray’, an American film, starring Iranian actor Peyman Moaadi and Hollywood actress Kristen Stewart started screening in Tehran on January 6.
While the original film is in English, the version shown on Tehran screens has been dubbed into Persian, said Moaadi who has re-voiced his own character in the film.
“Out of respect for the Iranian audiences wanting to see the film in Persian language rather than with Persian subtitles, it was decided to dub the movie,” ISNA quoted him as saying.
In response to a question on the probable changes in the film or scenes deleted, Moaadi said there were no significant changes for its screening in Iran. “I would not act in the film in the first place if it needed extensive changes [if the rules in Iran deemed so] because my primary goal in accepting the role was to show the movie to the people of my country,” he noted.
A drama based on the temporary detention facility Camp X-Ray at America’s notorious Guantanamo Bay military prison, the film is written and directed by Peter Sattler, his first work. It was premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival in the US and received almost positive reviews by critics, admiring the performances of the two main actors.
Variety magazine said “the two leads are excellent.” The Independent called Moaadi “mesmerizing” and HitFix, an entertainment news website, said: “Make a case for Moaadi as one of the most interesting actors working right now.”
The 2-hour movie tells the story of a young woman (Stewart) who joins the military and ends up as a new guard at the Guantanamo Bay. She finds herself in an unusual friendship with one of the Muslim prisoners (Moaadi).
Renowned young actress Negar Javaherian has lent her voice to the lead female character, played by Stewart, in the dubbed version. The rest of the voice-over artists include Amin Qazi, Vahid Ronaqi, Farhad Atqiani, Behzad Almasi, Fariba Sabeti, Naser Mohamadi and Alireza Varasteh.
Other Movies
Moaadi’s debut movie as an actor in Hollywood, it was followed by the action film ‘The Last Knights’ (2015), in which he played along with Clive Owen and Morgan Freeman, and the TV crime-drama mini-series produced by HBO, ‘Criminal Justice’ (2014) where he co-played with James Gandolfini and John Turturro.
‘13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi’, an American action, thriller directed by famous filmmaker Michael Bay is Moaadi’s newest movie which will be released in US theaters on January 14. He has also lent his voice to a character in a Canadian animation ‘Window Horses’ made by Ann Marie Fleming, which is to be released later this year.
Born in New York, Moaadi, 44, returned to Iran when he was five and grew up in Tehran. An actor, scriptwriter and director, he is best known for acting in Asghar Farhadi’s the Oscar-winning movie ‘A Separation’ (2011). His leading role in the movie brought him a Silver Bear award for Best Actor from the Berlin International Film Festival in 2011. He has also written and directed a feature film and written the script for 5 movies, all of which were among the bestsellers in different years.
Despite the presence of an Iranian actor in ‘Camp X-Ray’, it is a foreign film and as has been the norm for years in Iran, foreign productions can’t have a wide release in the country. The imbalance between the number of movie theaters in the country (about 300 halls) and local productions per year (about 100 works) has been cited as the main reason for not releasing foreign films on many screens.
Therefore, ‘Camp X-Ray’ has started screening in only four theaters in the capital, namely Kourosh, Zendegi, Mellat and Charsou cineplexes.
