Shazad Latif on Lily James, lead role in Toronto Fest romantic comedy "What's Love Got to Do With It"

If you've seen the British satire "Toast of London", chances are that l voiceover engineer Clem Fandango the name still rings in your ears. Now the man behind Fandango, Ash Tyler in "Star Trek: Discovery" and Dr Jekyll/Mr. Hyde on "Penny Dreadful", landed her first romantic role in "What's Love Got to Do With It?"

The acquisition title at the helm of Shekhar Kapur, which will have its world premiere at the gala on September 10 in Toronto, "has a bit more depth than a normal rom-com because it tackles the arranged marriage," Latif said. Lily James plays her character's childhood friend, and complications arise. follow when she decides to make a documentary about the nuptials.

"Lily is one of my closest friends," Latif said. "She's like a sister to me." They met when she performed a play with her former housemate and co-starred in the 2021 BBC miniseries 'The Pursuit of Love'. "I read ['What's Love'] a while ago and then it disappeared, then it suddenly started running towards directing because Lily wanted to be involved. I keep telling Lily that I owe her my whole career now, because she made a movie with me,” he laughed.

This is a pivotal moment for Latif, who will soon play Captain Nemo in "Nautilus," the Disney+ series that tells the origin story of the hero of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". He's about two-thirds into the 11-month shoot in Australia. "Every day a new set is built, which you wouldn't expect," he said. "It's wild, wild work."

Latif's Pakistani immigrant father changed film reels at the cinema, and the obsession with his English/Scottish mother for the film faded on him. "I remember pushing on the pantyhose in 'Romeo and Juliet' when I was eight," the London native recalled. “I knew it was a way out of my situation. My mother was a single mother and we were very, very poor. It gave me a boost, and since I didn't really have any other options, it meant I couldn't fail.

Latif entered Bristol Old Vic Theater School about a year before Low Student Support income does not dry up. He left a year earlier when he landed a role in the BBC One spy drama 'Spooks' in 2009. "I thought it was going to be it, but then I kept trying to break through." In 2015, he had his first big-screen roles in “The Man Who Knew Infinity” and “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” followed by a bigger role in the little-seen 2018 ISIS drama “Profile.”

After experiencing these ups and downs, "I want to create my own work", a-t -he declares. “I'm working on four or five writing projects. Some intense autobiographical family dramas, and then there's absurdist comedy in other things I'm writing with friends — a movie, a 10-part series. It only took me 15 years to start,” he laughed. "But it's happening now."

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