FINAL SAY
Comic Genius
TWENTY YEARS AFTER THE SATANIC VERSES, NOVELIST SALMAN RUSHDIE IS ACTING OUT—AGAIN. BY LEILANI LABONG
T
fringe-theater scene. But I realized that if I became an actor, I’d probably starve. So I thought I should write. I guess it didn’t turn out too badly. But acting has always felt like … an unscratched itch. Bridget Jones came about when [author] Helen Fielding rang me up and said, “Would you like to make a fool of yourself?” Out of the blue, I was approached to play the part of Helen Hunt’s ob-gyn in Then She Found Me. I had to learn how to work an ultrasound machine. If you ever need an ultrasound, I’m your man. But the thing I most regret turning down—because it coincided with the book tour for my last novel—was a little role in a movie AUTHOR AND SOMETIME ROM-COM ACTOR SALMAN RUSHDIE WILL TALK AT CITY ARTS & LECTURES JUNE 18 ABOUT HIS NEW NOVEL, that was then called Untitled Will THE ENCHANTRESS OF FLORENCE. CITYARTS.NET Ferrell NASCAR Movie. The producers had this silly idea to ask incredibly improbable people to drive race cars. I think they also asked Lou Reed and Julian Schnabel. I like Will Ferrell, and I wouldn’t have minded driving a race car. What’s the greatest misconception about you? think “devious.” I thought I should rehabilitate Any time I speak in public, somebody comes up to him, since I do know what it’s like to be demonized. I also relate to Emperor Akbar’s character, Enchantress incorporates many magical me afterwards and says, “Who knew that you were standing on the frontier between the past and elements. The role of fantasy in fiction makes so funny?” I always say, “Well, I guess only the the future. Behind him are all these bloodthirsty sense, but what is the role of fantasy in reality? people who’ve read my books.” I am perceived as warlord ancestors, but he’s trying to create a world I think one of the ways we live in the world is to being a very serious, dark individual. And I’m just that’s more civilized, tolerant and cultured. wing into being the things that we imagine. not—sorry to disappoint! But I think it happened How did you manage to keep straight the large Science and invention are obvious examples of because of the fatwa. Because it wasn’t funny, I cast of characters and the shifting timelines? that. So is falling in love. And, of course, if you’re couldn’t be funny. Because it was theological and That’s the way my head works! I do make some religious, which I’m not, then you live in that incomprehensible, I must be theological and notes—there are various pieces of paper arranged world of fantasy too. incomprehensible. I keep trying to chase that away. all around my computer, which give me the illusion Well, if you keep doing romantic comedies … Does Enchantress have its roots in any of your that I know what I’m doing. But the serious real-life stories? That’s my plan! Actually, I’ve become friendly with architecture of the novel takes form in my head. When I was 21, I spent a summer in Florence. I one of the Farrelly brothers. So, you know, watch I went to enormous lengths to make the novel was an impoverished student, and there were days for me in an upcoming Farrelly brothers film. flow very naturally, but if the reader has to pay when I had to choose between gelato or pizza, What movie genre would your life story fall attention a little, well, that’s not such a bad thing. because I couldn’t afford both. I was also falling in into? And who would play you? You’ve got a dark reputation. How do your love with the place and its past. The character of Horror-comedy. I couldn’t play myself, of course. roles in romantic comedies fit into that? Machiavelli is one that haunted me even then. He Only someone incredibly good-looking could do After I graduated from university in the late ’60s/ was such an interesting man—in many ways very an accurate portrayal: Johnny Depp as Salman early ’70s, I spent a couple of years in London’s likable—but still, when you say his name, people Rushdie? You never know. x
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hings we knew about Salman Rushdie prior to talking to him: 1) The Indian-British author was the target of a fatwa issued in 1989 by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini ordering Rushdie’s execution (Islamic fundamentalists perceived his portrayal of the prophet Muhammad in The Satanic Verses as heretical). 2) Rushdie made a cameo appearance in 2001’s Bridget Jones’s Diary. 3) The 61-year-old plays the part of Helen Hunt’s ob-gyn in the recent film Then She Found Me. 4) He was formerly married to model and Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi. 5) He’s speaking at City Arts & Lectures on June 18 to promote his latest novel, The Enchantress of Florence (Random House)—a complicated, fantastical tale of war and politics, gender and society, set in Renaissance Italy and Mumbai. What we now know about Salman Rushdie that makes us wish he were part of our fold, like a favorite uncle or something: Read on for details, but here’s a hint … NASCAR.