Yahoo News How Danish Star Dar Salim Became the Stoic, Steady Hand of ‘Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant’
Jake Gyllenhaal has gone out of his way to let the world know that Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant is not just a Guy Ritchie movie or a Jake Gyllenhaal movie. He’s made it clear that it’s just as much a Dar Salim movie as it is anything else.
The Danish actor — who American viewers might recognize as the Dothraki bloodrider Qotho from Game of Thrones season one — is, without a doubt, the co-lead of The Covenant. The action thriller is inspired by the very real relationships between Afghan interpreters and U.S. Armed Forces during the 20-year war in Afghanistan. Salim’s character, Ahmed, lost a loved one to the Taliban, and so he agrees to interpret for the U.S. Army in order for his family to receive a Special Immigration Visa and safe relocation to America.
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When a mission goes awry, Ahmed takes it upon himself to carry Gyllenhaal’s wounded Sergeant character over 60 miles to safety, before having to go immediately into hiding from vengeful Taliban forces. Once recovered, John Kinley (Gyllenhaal) is racked with guilt and stops at nothing to honor his debt to Ahmed and his family.
Despite having the weight of the world on his shoulders, Salim’s portrayal of Ahmed is unflappable. He stays cool under pressure and maintains his composure, but the actor’s first in-person meeting with Gyllenhaal and Ritchie was just the opposite.
“I actually made a mess of myself,” Salim tells The Hollywood Reporter. “The meeting was in London, and I went to a sauna that morning, before I walked to the place in a turtleneck. And so when I sat down with the legendary Guy Ritchie and Jake Gyllenhaal, sweat started pouring out of my head within 20 seconds. So I felt like this clichéd guy who’s nervous to meet these two big names.”
Fortunately, Salim’s body temperature opened the door for immediate rapport with his new collaborators.
“I had to call it out and say, ‘Listen, guys, I just came out of the sauna,’ and they started laughing,” Salim recalls. “So we had this instant connection and they were very polite, but obviously, I lost all manhood and status within the first 20 seconds of this meeting.”
Since wrapping, Gyllenhaal has sung the praises of his co-star, so much so that it’s become news in Salim’s homeland of Denmark.
“It’s a wonderful feeling, but it’s also very weird and strange. It’s a big story back home,” Salim says. “Every time he posts something [on Instagram], it’ll be in all the newspapers, and now they’ve gotten used to our bromance.”
Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Salim also discusses how a real-life injury on set informed the scenes where he carts Gyllenhaal’s character to safety.
So what’s the story behind your casting? Did you just send a self-tape off into the ether and expect nothing of it?
(Laughs.) Almost! Yeah, I was asked to do a self-tape, and I did. I was then on a shortlist or something, and so I booked a conversation with Guy. It was quite surreal to sit in my kitchen with Guy Ritchie on my laptop, and it was a wonderful conversation. He’s a very intellectual, very intelligent, very philosophical, eccentric man, who’s very knowledgeable about a lot of issues. So it wasn’t a traditional conversation. We talked about everything from philosophy to politics to life, and when we’d finally go back to the script, we’d then go to something philosophical or abstract. At a certain point, he said, “Can you tell me what you think of the story?” And I did. And then he said, “Can you compress that to 30 seconds?” So I did. And then he said, “Let me tell you back what you just told me in 30 seconds.” And once he did that, he asked me to do it again. So that’s just the way he works. When he has an idea or some truth that he knows is there, he kind of works it out with you, which is very fascinating. And when we finished our 40-minute conversation, I felt pretty good, and not long after that, the offer came.
What did your preparation involve? Were you able to get in touch with any interpreters who were able to make it out of Afghanistan?
Well, I’m Danish. I live in Denmark, and I have friends who are veterans of both wars, Afghanistan and Iraq. I have interpreter friends as well, so I’ve heard their stories. I’ve also done a lot of movies back home where I’ve played a soldier. So I’ve done a lot of work with live arms, and I wasn’t worried about that part of it. It was more about learning the language and the dialect. That took a lot of time, and the best way to learn something is just by being around people who do it. So I didn’t need a checklist of how to do this, this and this, but I did need to know the practical stuff. But by being a sponge around people and feeling out how they perceive life, their experiences and their wants, needs and desires, I sucked in all the information I could in the best way.
So your background in The Royal Danish Guard came in handy, I presume?
Yes, I felt pretty confident, and we had some very good Special Ops people to help out on set. It was also important that Ahmed was differentiated from Jake’s character. John Kinley is a master sergeant, whereas my guy is more of a chameleon who’s acquired his skills out of necessity and not in a trained army situation. So the way I held my weapons and the way I did my shooting and movement was different from Jake’s, and I tried to make it more streetwise than military training.
The Covenant is all about the bond between your interpreter character, Ahmed, and Jake’s U.S. Army Sergeant character, John Kinley. When did the two of you first bond as actors?
I think we bonded as human beings during our first meeting. I actually made a mess of myself. I was going to meet Jake and Guy Ritchie for the first time [in-person], and I felt confident or I tried to tell myself that I felt confident and that there was nothing to worry about. The meeting was in London, and I went to a sauna that morning, before I walked to the place in a turtleneck. And so when I sat down with the legendary Guy Ritchie and Jake Gyllenhaal, sweat started pouring out of my head within 20 seconds. My temperature just didn’t regulate because I had just come out of the sauna, and so I felt like this clichéd guy who’s nervous to meet these two big names. And so I had to call it out and say, “Listen, guys, I just came out of the sauna,” and they started laughing. So we had this instant connection and they were very polite, but obviously, I lost all manhood and status within the first 20 seconds of this meeting.
And then we had lunch, and Jake and I stayed longer so we could have a very open and honest conversation. And I found that even though we live in different worlds, we are very like-minded. So I said to him almost immediately, “I know you’re this movie star around the world, but once they say action, I’m confident I know what I’m doing. So I’m here to support you, and if there’s anything you need along the way, just let me know.” And I say that to all actors I work with. But he felt the same way about the project, and he was very generous from day one. So I quickly felt very comfortable with him, and that’s how our relationship evolved.
Jake also complimented your chess-playing skills. When did these matches go down?
There was an infamous chess match between me and Guy Ritchie. First of all, it’s a very wonderful environment to be working in because it’s all about the moviemaking and finding the scenes and the actions on the day. So you have to be very present. You have to bring everything you’ve learned along the way and you have to be confident and you just have to let him move you in different directions. The action is come up with on the day, and it’s not a typical scripted situation.
And in between takes, Guy has his own barbecue that he’s produced himself, which is very special. He likes to cook his meat, and Jake and I would get a little taste after running down the mountains with the dust and all that. We’d be laughing and having a good time. And then I saw that Guy had a chess board, and we started chatting about it. So he said, “Let’s have a game,” and then I beat him the first time we played, which was a big deal, apparently. He was a bit surprised. And then after I did some more stunt movements down the mountains, he beat me the second time we played and we left it at that. But the next day when I came to work, the first twenty people I encountered were like, “Hey, you beat Guy at chess yesterday.” So it was a big deal.
When Jake’s character is incapacitated after an attack, your character carries him 100 klicks to safety. Did you make a point to actually push Jake or his double in the cart yourself, so you could feel the struggle that the character was feeling?
Yeah, Jake was in the cart, and if he wasn’t in the cart, then someone else was. There are all these little gifts that you can get from the topography, from nature, from the environment that you are in, and these things always help. On one of the same days that I pushed the cart, we also had a stunt fight where one of the stunt guys actually landed on my knees and partially tore one of my ligaments. So the doctor and the nurse came with the ice cold spray and the whole thing, and in between that, I still had to push the cart. They wanted the stunt guy to do it, but I knew that if I said, “Yeah, just let the stunt guy do it,” then we would lose something on the day, because Guy finds things as we roll. So that was a very painful day, but I’m very happy we did it, because most of the footage that’s in the film of me pushing the cart up and down the mountains was from that day. So, sometimes, real life helps you in the art.
There’s a line in the trailer where Jake’s character says, “You’re here to translate,” and Ahmed says, “Actually, I’m here to interpret.” What does that exchange mean to you?
It’s one of the strongest lines in the movie because it tells the story. It’s about two men who choose to do the right thing, the very heroic thing, but in a very unsentimental way. It’s two people who are put in a situation where they don’t necessarily trust each other, but they have to and they still choose to do the right thing. And Ahmed is just a man who’s trying to provide for his family. He’s willing to do whatever it takes to create some security and safety for his family. He understands that Sergeant Kinley is in charge, but he reminds him that he’s not there to be a Google translator. Ahmed is there to interpret the culture and the situation and the danger that they are in together. So Kinely may be in charge, but Ahmed and his family’s lives are at stake as well. So that line has a lot of layers, as does the film.
Of course, I’ve seen Jake support his movies in the past, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen him champion one on the level that he has with The Covenant. What made this experience so profound for all of you?
Yes, he’s been very supportive and very generous., and for all of us, it’s a special moment. First and foremost, we feel that the film succeeds at being very entertaining. It has all the action elements, it has that Guy Ritchie style, but with a different twist. It keeps you emotionally engaged and at the edge of your seat from start to finish. But at the same time, you see two men from different cultures, mirroring each other’s stories and both wanting and choosing to do the right thing despite it being the hardest road to choose.
Jake has said that the story just speaks to his idea of what America is about, and for me, it speaks to the idea of what humanity is about. A lot more unites us than what we are told all the time divides us. So we all feel that there’s some truth. Of course, it’s not based on two actual men, but that allowed us to make a much bigger and more elevated story. Not all interpreters and soldiers would go to the lengths that Ahmed and Kinley do, but interpreters put their lives on the line every day while working with the U.S. Army. U.S. soldiers still put their lives on the line every day by doing their jobs and doing what they believe is the right thing. So the movie has a perfect storm of entertainment and truth, and I think there’s something noble about it.
Jake has also been very supportive of you, individually, as he’s written several Instagram posts to highlight you. What goes through your mind when one of Hollywood’s premier actors pays tribute to you like that?
Man, it’s such an honor, and I get a bit shy, to be honest. I feel like it’s too much. It’s a bit unreal. But at the same time, it’s not surprising because Jake is just that guy who appreciates people’s work. When he recognizes something in someone, he says it out loud and he even tells the whole world. So it’s a wonderful feeling, but it’s also very weird and strange. Back home in Denmark, people are like, “What’s going on? Why?” So it’s a big story back home. Every time he posts something, it’ll be in all the newspapers, and now they’ve gotten used to our bromance. So the movie has tied us together on this meta layer as well. And on an unconscious level, the way that we immerse ourselves into our roles, you want to become friends because that’s what the movie is about. So it was very easy to have that connection with him.
There are thousands of interpreters who are still hiding in Afghanistan. To your knowledge, are private efforts still being made to get them out?
I don’t know of any specifics, but I do know that about 300 interpreters and their families have lost their lives since the beginning of the [Afghanistan] war. I wish we lived in a world that could help everyone and divide everything more equally between us, without poverty and wars, but that’s not the world we live in. But what we can do is try to keep our promises, and whether it’s the Danish interpreters who work with our military back home or the interpreters who were left behind in Afghanistan, maybe this story could inspire some people. Maybe this story could be a small step on the way to some of these promises being fulfilled.
Decades from now, when your loved ones ask you about The Covenant, what day will you tell them about first?
Honestly, one of the defining days was our first meeting that I told you about. Even though it got off to a rocky start, to peel everything away and be in the room with two guys who are among the world’s best at their jobs, it felt natural to be there. It felt right. So that was a good day, and it set the whole thing in motion for me.
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Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant opens April 21st in movie theaters. This interview was edited for length and clarity.
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