Mo Amer’s ‘Mo’ Is a Love Letter to His Palestinian Heritage and Hometown

Comedian Mo Amer poses for a portrait, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022, in Los Angeles to promote his Netflix series "Mo." (AP)
Comedian Mo Amer poses for a portrait, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022, in Los Angeles to promote his Netflix series "Mo." (AP)
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Mo Amer’s ‘Mo’ Is a Love Letter to His Palestinian Heritage and Hometown

Comedian Mo Amer poses for a portrait, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022, in Los Angeles to promote his Netflix series "Mo." (AP)
Comedian Mo Amer poses for a portrait, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022, in Los Angeles to promote his Netflix series "Mo." (AP)

Up-and-coming comedian Mo Amer was opening for Dave Chappelle in 2014 when the more established comedian made a suggestion: Amer should make a short film to introduce his act.

“I started thinking about the short film. I put it together, I was obsessed. And then I wrote it out and then all my friends were like, ‘This is genius, bro. You need to save this for a TV series.’ And I was like, ‘Word? TV series?’ Since then, I’ve just been kind of accumulating all these stories from my mother, my family… my history, my refugee experience in America, the fish-out-of-water element.”

Amer’s true family history serves as the foundation of his new Netflix dramedy, “Mo.” He describes the series as a love letter to his Palestinian heritage and his hometown.

“Although it’s a refugee story, an immigrant Palestinian story, it’s also a love letter to Houston. It’s also like an everyman struggle (story) — people who are working paycheck to paycheck, they’re trying to take care of family, people that are dealing with addiction,” said the 41-year-old. “It has all these layers to it.”

The debut season, comprised of eight half-hour episodes, was created by Amer and Emmy-nominated actor Ramy Youssef, Amer’s good friend and former roommate. “Mo," along with shows like Youssef’s critically acclaimed “Ramy,” is part of a growing — but still extremely underrepresented — movement in Hollywood bringing Muslim and Middle Eastern stories to the masses.

The series follows Mo Najjar (played by Amer) as his family, including his mother (Farah Bsieso) and brother (Omar Elba) navigate through life in the Houston area in ways many immigrants in America are forced to: seeking employment without citizenship and therefore working odd, under-the-table jobs, as well as maneuvering an often unforgiving health care system and trying assimilate into society.

Similar to the storyline, Amer’s own parents were originally from Palestine before fleeing to Kuwait. Amer was born there, but the Gulf War forced them to leave and eventually settle in Texas. Learning about his family history and their struggles through conversations with his mother, Amer, helped create a blueprint.

In the series, flashbacks give context, and some are pivotal to both the show and his real life; episode seven opens with his mother cleverly hiding money as the family prepares to escape Kuwait.

“My mom started just crying when she saw it. She was just like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe you recreated this like that.’ She’s like, ‘How did you even remember the house, the colors, the things on the walls?’” Amer recalled proudly. “I can’t forget that.”

Houston is known for many things: space exploration, its world-renowned medical center and its slowed down hip-hop music known as screwed music; what America’s fourth largest city is not known for is a film and TV industry. However, Amer was adamant about shooting there, aiming to raise the show's authenticity factor. Despite a couple of major films shot in Houston in the early '90s it hasn’t been a destination for moviemakers.

Local talent throughout Texas was hired for production, and there are a few notable guest appearances, including rising Houston-based rapper Tobe Nwigwe who plays Najjar’s best friend, and cameos from well-known Texas-flag bearers Paul Wall and Bun B of the legendary southern duo, UGK.

“It just really was shocking to me there’s never been a narrative sitcom, native series filmed out of Houston, which is absurd to me knowing what Houston has to offer,” he explained. “Everything is deliberate from the music choice… to the attire, to the accents, to the feel, the picture, the cinematography. There’s nothing that we didn’t think really about.”

“Mo” has become one of 2022’s buzzworthy and binge-worthy shows, attracting viewers from all backgrounds and a deep respect from many Middle Eastern Americans. But he emphasizes the show has been a long time in the making.

“Netflix drops everything all at the same day and it’s just like, ‘BOOM! Here it is.' But those episodes are many, many years of really thinking this through,” he said. “You hope it resonates in that way, and it’s such a relief when it does. It’s like, ‘They get it. I didn’t screw this up.’”



Marion Cotillard and Guillaume Canet, French Cinema Power Couple, Call It Quits

Guillaume Canet, left, and Marion Cotillard appear at the premiere of "Before the Flood" ('Avant Le Deluge') in Paris on Oct. 17, 2016. (AP)
Guillaume Canet, left, and Marion Cotillard appear at the premiere of "Before the Flood" ('Avant Le Deluge') in Paris on Oct. 17, 2016. (AP)
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Marion Cotillard and Guillaume Canet, French Cinema Power Couple, Call It Quits

Guillaume Canet, left, and Marion Cotillard appear at the premiere of "Before the Flood" ('Avant Le Deluge') in Paris on Oct. 17, 2016. (AP)
Guillaume Canet, left, and Marion Cotillard appear at the premiere of "Before the Flood" ('Avant Le Deluge') in Paris on Oct. 17, 2016. (AP)

Oscar winner Marion Cotillard and actor-director Guillaume Canet announced their separation Friday after 18 years and two children together, breaking up a power relationship of French cinema.

Cotillard won an Academy Award in 2008 for her performance as the legendary French singer Edith Piaf in "La Vie en Rose" and is one of France's best-known stars internationally. She starred with Brad Pitt in the World War II romantic thriller "Allied" and Leonardo DiCaprio in "Inception."

Canet has acting, directing and screenplay credits and played in "The Beach" with DiCaprio.

The 49-year-old Cotillard and 52-year-old Canet starred together in the French-Belgian film "Love Me If You Dare" in 2003, a breakthrough box-office hit in France for her.

They began dating in 2007. They announced their separation in a statement to the Agence France-Presse news agency that said they made the split public "to avoid all speculation, rumors and risky interpretations."

It did not give a reason but said they were separating by "common accord" and with "mutual goodwill."

France-based agents for Cotillard and Canet did not respond to emails from The Associated Press.