Mahershala Ali Explains Why He Won't Do Sex Scenes in Movies
Oscar winner Mahershala Ali will not do these types of scenes in movieshttps://t.co/xYJ0Z8NQ0P
- JustJared.com (@JustJared) November 21, 2020
As a guest on Rapper Common's Podcast Mind Power Mixtape, Mahershala Ali (46) states that "simulating a love scene would go against his Islamic religion".
The topic came up as he was talking about his role in the 2008 film The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button. Ali talks about getting a call from his agent about getting the role of Tizzy saying:
So my old agent called me and said, ‘Mahershala, you got the part.’ And I said, ‘There’s just one thing…There is that one sex scene where they kiss…If there’s a sex scene, I can’t do it.’
He added, I don’t do simulated sex.
Ali did accept the role and explained to Common how director David Fincher managed to construct the scene while still respecting Ali's beliefs. Ali stating:
Taraji and I begin to kiss, and we fall out of the frame…It wasn’t clear if [Fincher] was trying to have like some bumping and grinding … which I doubt he was. But for me even … at that time, 15 years ago, I was still like, ‘OK, I can only go up to this point,’ just because of - just trying to hold a space of respect for my religion.
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