Daniel and Matthew Kooman’s upcoming feature, “Daniel”, is set to serve as an adaptation of the 2nd-century BC biblical text “The Book of Daniel”. Starring Mena Massoud (“Aladdin”), Elijah Alexander (“Mr. & Mrs. Smith”, “The Chosen”), and British-Pakistani actor Zaki Ali, whom I had a chance to catch up with ahead of the film’s upcoming release.
In this conversation, we get into Zaki’s experience on set, the challenges that come with tackling a tale as old and rich as “The Book of Daniel”, and why audiences should come out to see the film. I thoroughly hope you enjoy it.
Hayyan: I’d like to start in the deep end. I’m curious to know about the challenges that come with tackling a role and a tale that already holds such meaning and value to the world. As you’re not dealing with a blank canvas story that has come from the minds of the creatives involved, but rather, you hold the weight of expectation and responsibility to do your character of Azariah justice. How did you go about preparing to tackle those challenges head-on?
Zaki Ali: That’s a really fabulous question, and it was imperative that I understand what the character was straight away. Obviously, he was a real person, and he holds this historical influence and has a huge amount of meaning to a lot of people. So, as an actor, it was about making sure I did my due diligence and became this character as much as I possibly could.
That meant doing all my research, living as Azariah would’ve lived, and also, for me, I didn’t really know too much about religion. You know, in school, we get basic religious studies, but you never really go deeper into the stories. And I come from a spiritual background, and I’m very open and receptive to all religious types, so the first thing I did was buy a Tanakh, as Azariah’s story stems from Judaism.
Though this is a Christian film, I studied the Tanakh, read it all, and on Fridays and Saturdays, I would go to the synagogue, which was wild and a beautiful experience. You know, I had never really done that before, praying in a social setting or even really praying at all, but I started to pray every single day. In the morning, before I ate, and when I went to bed.
I basically just practised Judaism (laughs), and I followed all the Kosher rules, which meant I couldn’t eat meat with dairy, so my steak was looking bland because I’m not throwing any butter in there. I wasn’t eating the way I usually would; I had to rearrange my diet, which was super fun but also challenging. But challenges I find to be achievements, almost, like I have to do this thing to become the role. And I find that super fun. So yeah, full method on this one.
Hayyan: Is that a process that you typically adopt in preparation for a role? Or was this a new experience for you to have to dive so deep into a character to attempt to become the person you’re portraying?
Zaki Ali: I do usually try to take on a sort of method approach, just because I find it allows you to really act on impulse, and be as real as possible. But I found it especially imperative for Azariah, because he is such a real character, and there’s so much information about his life and how he acted. You know, he’s essentially a prophet in the most profound book, the most influential book in our lifetime, and probably forever. So, to understand the way he thought and moved, I had to really merge Zaki and Azariah together and find what that meant for me.
Hayyan: And like you say, with how formative a text this is and how important it has been to humanity, how vital was remaining faithful to the source material throughout this process?
Zaki Ali: This film really honours the scripture to a T. For my director, producer, and everyone on board creating this film, the most important thing was being authentic and being real. Everyone had a bible, everyone was eating together, and everyone was praying together, and the people who wrote and directed this have read the bible more times than they’ve probably said their own names, you know. They have been literally chosen by God to create this rendition, so it was really important that every character had the right accent and looked like they really came from this place.
Hayyan: And with this film being shot entirely in India, how did that compare to your experiences working on shoots back in the UK?
Zaki Ali: Yeah, the environment is a lot different. We shot in Jaisalmer, in the fort, and we’re surrounded by real people just living their lives in their homes. You just never know what’s gonna happen if you shoot outside, you know, we had cows walking in and out of the shoot, eating from the bins, and locals just walking into the shoot.
Hayyan: Why was that important? To be shooting in the fort and in amongst it all.
Zaki Ali: So, this shoot had a budget of about $2.8 million, so the use of practical sets and being there with ancient ruins and structures was important, one for money, but two because it looks real. When you watch it, you’re not going to think, oh, this is a set; you’ll be like, wow, this looks real, because it is.
There’s a history, and where we shoot needs to emulate that. And it’s really awesome as an actor to walk in and look around, and see things hanging from the ceiling and windows, and to see donkeys walking around. It’s almost as if you’ve really walked into Babylon. It allows you to live in the immersion; it makes all the difference, and being in India, you know, it’s 37 degrees, and you can feel the dust and the heat on your skin. You can hear all the ruckus, the noise, the laughter; you just can’t compare it.
Hayyan: You mentioned as well, in preparation for this conversation, that you had some experiences on set that you just couldn’t quite explain. Could you expand on that a little further?
Zaki Ali: Yeah, for sure, for sure. For a start, because we filmed in these real locations, the desert, the ruins, abandoned sites, the fort, you know, it holds so much real history. It has a presence; it holds the souls that lived there, and you could really feel that, and it affected everyone’s performances.
Specifically, for example, we shot in a village, Kuldhara, and I’ll tell you the story of this village. It’s a 13th-century abandoned ghost town, where all the villagers allegedly vanished overnight in 1825 to escape the tyranny of the chieftains. We shot there, at night, and people were saying they could hear things, and that there was an eeriness and a gloom. It was spooky.
One of the other main things that comes to mind is a scene where Jeremiah walks in to warn the king of an oncoming assault, and he delivers this prophetic speech, and all of a sudden, the power cuts out. All the lights go out, and we’re in this open-roof hall, and it starts to thunder and lightning, where it’s actually written in the script that it thunders and lightning.
Obviously, you’d put that in post, but it’s happening in real time, which, by the way, wasn’t forecast. We’re in the middle of one of the hottest countries in the world, 36 degrees, sunshine 24/7, it never rains, and yet it’s thundering. How Bizarre. Another instance was a scene in which Daniel is interpreting a dream that the king has had, whereby the king is walking through the forest, the mountains are hitting him, and a storm is brewing. And as soon as he says that, a storm starts to come, and it’s blowing the entire set off its hinges, we can’t believe it.
Obviously, we had just done two hours of hair and makeup, so the hair and makeup team is going ballistic. And they’ve spent 5 hours setting up the scene, and all of a sudden, the set is blowing up, and there’s rain and all the mics and stuff, but it was really awesome.
For continuity, it’s pretty detrimental if we have a rainy scene and then it’s sunny, so we decided to keep shooting and use the elements to our advantage, and it really boosted our performance. All of a sudden, we were conducting the wind, and the king’s hair would blow in this really cinematic way; it was so atmospheric, it was great, yeah.
Hayyan: I watched the behind-the-scenes footage, which is available on YouTube, and one of the directors, Daniel Kooman, mentions that filmmaking is “Like climbing a mountain, and independent filmmaking is like climbing Mount Everest”, and despite working with a lower budget on an indie production like this, the film still manages to feels so grand, even just from the trailer. From someone who was able to be present on set, technically, just how much of a marvel was this?
Zaki Ali: Well, I just have to give my utmost respect to Daniel and Matt, because it’s not an easy feat. Something like this can only be done with immense preparation and dedication, and confidence and composure. Otherwise, it’s gonna crumble and flop. And of course, you need a really solid team, too.
Hayyan: Thematically, this is a story that is rooted deep in faith. But for anyone who may find themselves without faith in their life, why should they go and see this film?
Zaki Ali: That’s a really important question, and first of all, it’s a cinematic marvel, it’s gonna look beautiful. But, really, the story is all about people who don’t have faith. King Nebuchadnezzar, he doesn’t have faith in the Lord. The Jewish people who are exhiled into Babylon have lost their faith. So when someone comes into this film, and they don’t believe, I think it will give them hope. And it will show that no matter what religious beliefs you hold, whether you even hold any at all, there’s still hope for some divine intervention or just your own belief in the greater good of what’s to come next. It’s really about pushing on, pushing forward, moving forward, and taking the right steps in life.
I feel like it’s really easy, especially now with social media, to fall into darkness. And to suffer and feel alone, but you have to find the light in yourself, and you have to be strong and keep going. And this is a story not just about religion, but hope.
Hayyan: When and where can we expect to see “Daniel”?
Zaki Ali: When? It’s either going to be released this Easter or in September, but either way, it’s going to be 2026. That I can say for certain.
Where? So it’s going to be released in American cinemas, and we’re still getting information about hitting worldwide cinemas, and then after its theatrical run, it’ll be distributed to a streaming service.
