Rami Malek: ‘I'll Never Play an Arab Terrorist’

Rami Malek accepts his award at the 76th Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California. Reuters file photo
Rami Malek accepts his award at the 76th Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California. Reuters file photo
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Rami Malek: ‘I'll Never Play an Arab Terrorist’

Rami Malek accepts his award at the 76th Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California. Reuters file photo
Rami Malek accepts his award at the 76th Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California. Reuters file photo

The US actor of Egyptian ancestry, Rami Malek, has revealed that he needed to be reassured his character would not be linked to an "Arab terrorist" before accepting his role as the villain in the new Bond film.

Malek, who received an Oscar earlier this year for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, admitted that he had to think twice before agreeing to take on his next role.

The Mirror cited Malek, 38, saying that “he needed a guarantee from the American film director Cary Fukunaga that his character would not be an Arabic-speaking terrorist," stressing that "he will never play an Arab terrorist."

"It's a great character and I'm very excited. But that was one thing that I discussed with Cary. I said that we cannot identify him with any act of terrorism reflecting an ideology or a religion. That's not something I would entertain. But that was clearly not his vision. So he's a very different kind of terrorist," the American-Egyptian actor said.

Rami is playing the primary villain in the latest Bond 007 also starred by Daniel Craig. The new movie is set to be displayed in April 2020.

Rami also admitted that as an actor of Middle Eastern heritage, Hollywood was quick to typecast him into particular stereotypical roles.

However after playing the role of the suicide bomber in the action drama 24, Rami decided that he needed to draw a line with his agents and refuse to play Arab or Middle Eastern characters in a negative light.

He added: '"In the past it was like, 'Oh well, he's an acceptable terrorist! But after I did that I said to myself 'This is not how I want it'."

Rami's role in the TV drama Mr. Robot made him the best candidate for the Freddie Mercury role.



Tourist Coins Pose Giant Problem at N. Ireland's Famous Causeway Site

Tourists are pictured at the Giant's Causeway, a Unesco World Heritage Site, near Bushmills in Northern Ireland, on July 8, 2025. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP)
Tourists are pictured at the Giant's Causeway, a Unesco World Heritage Site, near Bushmills in Northern Ireland, on July 8, 2025. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP)
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Tourist Coins Pose Giant Problem at N. Ireland's Famous Causeway Site

Tourists are pictured at the Giant's Causeway, a Unesco World Heritage Site, near Bushmills in Northern Ireland, on July 8, 2025. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP)
Tourists are pictured at the Giant's Causeway, a Unesco World Heritage Site, near Bushmills in Northern Ireland, on July 8, 2025. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP)

Northern Ireland's Giant Causeway draws close to one million visitors a year but their habit of wedging tiny coins in cracks between the rocks -- to bring love or luck -- is damaging the world-famous wonder.

Now authorities are urging tourists to keep their coins in their pockets to preserve the spectacular landscape.

Some 40,000 columns mark the causeway, Northern Ireland's first UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Geologists say the natural phenomenon was created by an outpouring of basalt lava 60 million years ago.

Legend has it that the causeway was formed by Irish giant Finn McCool.

In recent decades, visitors have pushed thousands of coins into fissures in the rocks.

The gesture is "a token of love or luck", according to Cliff Henry, the causeway's nature engagement officer.

But the coins rapidly corrode and expand, causing the basalt to flake and leaving "unsightly" rust-colored streaks, Henry told AFP.

He pointed to streaks on a rock and gingerly prized out a US cent with a set of keys.

"We get a lot of euros and dollar cents. But coins from literally all over the world -- any currency you can think of, pretty much -- we have had it here," he said.

A report by the British Geological Survey in 2021 revealed that the coins were "doing some serious damage" and something had to be done about it, he noted.

Signs are now in place around the site appealing to tourists to "leave no trace".
"Once some visitors see other people have done it, they feel that they need to add to it," causeway tour guide Joan Kennedy told AFP.

She and her colleagues now gently but firmly tell tourists to desist.

At the exit from the causeway, a US couple said they were "distressed" to hear of the damage the metal caused.

"Our guide mentioned as we came up that people had been putting coins into the stones. It's really terrible to hear that," said Robert Lewis, a 75-year-old from Florida.

"It's kind of like damaging any kind of nature when you are doing something like that, putting something foreign into nature. It's not good," said his wife, Geri, 70.

As part of a £30,000 ($40,000) conservation project, stone masons recently removed as many coins as they could -- without causing further damage -- from 10 test sites around the causeway.

Henry said the trial was successful and is to be expanded across the causeway.

"If we can get all those coins removed to start with that will help the situation and hopefully no more coins will be put in," he said.

"If visitors see fewer coins in the stones and hear appeals to stop the damaging practice, the problem can maybe be solved.

"We know that visitors love and cherish the Giant's Causeway, and many form deep personal connections to it, so we want this natural wonder to remain special for future generations."