Bilal star hopes film can build bridges between cultures

Akinnuoye-Agbaje believes that audiences will look beyond current tensions to see the universal truth that lies behind the story of Bilal.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, lead actor in Bilal. Sarah Dea / The National

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje was in high spirits when we caught up with him at DIFF on Thursday, having been nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best cast for Trumbo the previous evening. However, the British actor was not oblivious to what has been a strange week in his current home, the United States, during which presidential hopeful Donald Trump had called for a ban on Muslims entering the country.

Akinnuoye-Agbaje was in town to promote the Dubai-produced animated feature Bilal, in which he plays Bilal Ibn Rabbah, a key figure in Islamic history, and he clearly hopes the movie can play some role in settling a currently divided world.

“This type of movie is more important than ever because it breaks down cultural barriers,” he said. “We need stories like this more than ever, because a lot of the opinions we are hearing in the West now are founded on a fear that is based on ignorance and lack of understanding of different cultures.

“The more we see films that really show other cultures, create an understanding and ultimately create a dialogue, the more we can accept people’s differences, even though we may never agree.”

Akinnuoye-Agbaje believes that audiences will look beyond current tensions to see the universal truth that lies behind the story.

“I hope they will really embrace the universal theme of this story, which is humanity,” he said. “You can really enjoy this story wherever you come from because of the themes.

He’s a slave overcoming oppression. Courage, justice, morality, humanity, these are themes that run across our lives no matter where we come from. That is the purpose of this movie, and that I would hope would be what draws people in, as well as the excellence of the animation. Forget the subject matter — just as entertainment, this is the very highest quality.”

The actor admits that he wasn't familiar with Bilal's story when he was approached for the role, but some initial investigation, alongside meeting the producers, soon convinced him. "I did my research and obviously it's a true story and he's a cultural and historical icon. They wanted to bring this rich cultural story to a modern audience through the medium of animation. I'd been wanting to delve into animation, and this is my first animated feature. Being of African origin it spoke to me from that point of view as Bilal was obviously a slave from Africa.

“When I saw what Barajoun were trying to achieve with their production, I was blown away. Here was a take on animation that was almost as real as you can have it without it not being animation. I was intrigued, impressed and inspired by their vision. It’s epic, a real epic story. Its expanse and its audience is far broader than kids. It will cast a net and bring in the adults and the families and the teenagers, and it speaks to them because there’s the adventure, the action the huge soundscores. The word really is epic because it speaks the same language as The 10 Commandments or Ben Hur. Those are the films that inspired me to be part of the industry, so being able to be a part of that was really exciting.”

Akinnuoye-Agbaje seems to have developed a habit of attaching himself to quality projects recently. His Screen Actors Guild Award sits alongside his role in Oscar-tipped Concussion and his forthcoming appearance in 2016’s heavily hyped comic book adaptation Suicide Squad, and the actor is clearly in a happy place at the moment.

"What's special is it's varied. It's everything from animation like Bilal to superheroes in Suicide Squad, and really meaningful, powerful projects like Concussion and Trumbo. I'm just happy with the quality of the stuff I'm doing and the quality of the actors I'm working with — Helen Mirren, Brian Cranston, Will Smith. It's just been a great ride."