Rami Malek: Playing the new Bond villain wasn't "psychologically easy"

26 October 2020, 16:37

Rami Malek in February 2020. Picture: Dominique Charriau/WireImage/Getty Images

The Bohemian Rhapsody actor has revealed that his latest role made him "start asking questions about what evil is".

Rami Malek says playing the new James Bond villain Safin was not "psychologically easy" for him to take on.

The 39-year-old actor us starring as Bond's nemesis Safin in the forthcoming movie No Time To Die and he admitted that tapping into the mind of the depraved character was difficult.

He told British GQ that the role made him "start asking questions about what evil is. And with this character especially I find him fascinating because he can detach from empathy in order to meticulously carry out his will and I start to wrap myself up in who that person is psychologically.

"I think the fact that he can still find a way to appreciate his own evil is something that is quite petrifying and psychologically something that was not easy for me to tap into."

The actor - who starred as Freddie Mercury in the hugely successful 2018 biopic of Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody - went on: "When I think about Safin I think about someone who is meticulous but measured, and there is something about that that is really unnerving and unsettling.

"He's someone that at times I feel gives you the sensation that you're being watched and that again is quite unsettling. He asks you to question what you think is right, what you think is wrong and is your interpretation of those two things as accurate as it seems to be.

"He's ruthless and that might be – I'm in danger of giving too much away here – a result of something that's happened to him, but even acknowledging that taps into the analytical side of him as well."