Mahershala Ali has been acting for roughly 30 years, but somehow, no one had really let him fight. He appeared in The Hunger Games franchise and Alita: Battle Angel, yet the two-time Oscar winner often found himself on the sidelines once the real action began. “I’ve been in a few action films, but I’ve tended to die as the action is starting as a character,” Ali says with a laugh. In Bassam Tariq’s Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, he finally gets his chance.

Ali plays Latif, a Muslim hitman trying to protect his children after the death of his wife. He can handle himself with a sword, but surviving the people pursuing him is only part of his problem. Latif is also struggling with his relationship to God, questioning how his work can coexist with his beliefs while trying to remain present for a family dealing with its own grief. The contradiction gives Ali plenty to wrestle with between fights, especially as a Muslim and father himself.

The role also arrived through an unusual bit of Hollywood history. Ali and Tariq originally planned to work together on Marvel’s Blade, and Ali spent considerable time learning martial arts and sword work for the project. Their collaboration never reached the screen, but when Tariq later brought him Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, Ali found himself returning to skills he had started developing years earlier. (“It was kind of like riding a bike,” he told me regarding the voracity of his training.) This time, there was a finished film waiting on the other side.

Opening in theaters September 25, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother finds Ali entering territory he has wanted to explore while still giving him the kind of complicated character he seeks. ESSENCE spoke with the actor about finally becoming an action lead, reuniting with Tariq, finding Latif through his own faith and what a script has to offer before Ali feels compelled to say yes.

ESSENCE: First of all—brilliant film—amazing performances across the board.

Mahershala Ali: Thank you. I’m glad you got to see it.

So, I wanted to ask you—what drew you to the film Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, and the character of Latif?

MA: Oh man, I think the scope of what that character is asked to do was very attractive to me. I think it was the right kind of difficulty. I think anytime you act, you’re climbing a mountain or you’re running an uphill marathon. And so you’re looking for the one that feels like the mountain you want to climb. And I just loved I think all the emotional responsibilities and tasks of that character as well as the opportunity to be so physical and to get to do the fighting and sword work. I’ve been acting 30 years essentially, and I’ve never really got to do any action. I’ve been in a few action films, but I’ve tended to die as the action is starting as a character. And so it was nice to finally get to live to do the action. And lastly I’ll say I had never read anything like it.

It just felt deeply unique. And I think I feel really called to do things that just in my life in general, I kind of like them into things that are a little less common. And I hadn’t seen this film before.

I agree 100%, that what actually was my favorite part about it. Two things: You spoke about the action aspect first, so I can actually start with that. What was the preparation process for that?

MA: Well, Bassam [Tariq] and I had intended to do Blade together, so I started doing training in 2022 through 2023. And then when the strike happened and all that kind of stuff sort of went away, once I got this script, I want to say in 2024 into 2025, it was clear that if I was going to do the project that I was going to have to reengage with that skillset. Once I got back with Doniel Yehudah and a gentleman by the name of Enele Ma’afu, training with him, I think everything clicked back into place. So, I had about a month—I was training during Ramadan—but I had about a month to get ready. And I only believe that was enough time because a couple years earlier I had spent so much time doing a bunch of sword work and martial arts training.

With Bassam slated to direct Blade as well, what was the conversation between you two when this film came around?

MA: Just in having a script, the story itself was just so unique and clear that all our focus was really on Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, purely. And I think clearly he knew and had seen me training, so I think in his mind, I don’t feel like he questioned if I could do it per se. And Bassam would tell you, he had started working on this film. I think he started writing it originally, I want to say around 2015, 16 or something. It was before we started working on Blade. And he had originally written the character with just my name. He had titled him Mahershala, according to Bassam.

So in us almost working together and then actually getting to come back around each other and him actually having a script, in terms of the fighting element of it all, that really wasn’t a question. It was just more of gauging my interest on this specific story of Latif and his journey. And of course I was really interested in it. And there are elements from my own life that allowed me to relate to the character in terms of him being Muslim and him being a father, and also just really being interested in playing a character that I just hadn’t seen before. So it wasn’t something that I circled for very long in terms of questioning if I wanted to do it or not. I just had a few questions for him. But other than that, we kind of committed to it pretty quickly and really tried to just get on the same page in terms of how to make it and how we saw the character.

The most intriguing part of this film, to me at least, was the relationship between faith and morality. What interested you about that particular conversation?

MA: Well, I don’t want to speak for everyone, but I feel like we can all struggle with that. And I think part of faith and religion is to guide your morality. And so to have a character who is deeply traumatized on some level, but goes as far as to even really confront and question God scared me a bit, but was also really attractive from the standpoint of lending myself to another person’s journey. I think you have to ask yourself a lot of tough questions and be very honest with yourself in the process of trying to get closer to your creator. And I think Latif goes on that journey. He asks a lot of tough questions of himself and of God. But I also feel like as a believer, you hope for, you almost expect, but you really hope for God’s grace.

Just from the outside looking in, I felt confident about taking on that journey because I feel like God is gracious, and eventually Latif goes through a process where he’s able to even give himself some grace.

…and out of all the cast members and the dynamic of each actor on the film, I really appreciated the dynamic between you and your daughter on the film.

MA: Yes, Adia.

Yes, yes, yes. What was it like working with her and how did you build that dynamic on screen?

MA: Adia was wonderful to work with, as you could probably imagine. What people may not know is she’s a midwife, so she works with birthing children. And so there was a certain type of knowledge and awareness that she came in with and came prepared to be the helper of a father who’s recently lost his wife. But just as another actor, just her skillset and honesty and earnestness and curiosity and willingness to commit and to be a wonderful ally and partner was all on the surface. She came into the room offering all that up. So her and Jahleel [Kamara] were both wonderful to work with. I would do it again at the drop of a hat, but it was very easy to discover our chemistry together. She was kind of my right hand throughout that process. I hope we were that for each other, but that relationship is so critical throughout the film. There is no film without her and her character.

After all your accolades—specifically the two Academy Awards—I’m pretty sure you have a lot of things that come across your desk; how are you mapping out your career at this point?

MA: In terms of that, I’m always looking for the no-brainer, and they’re few and far between, meaning the one that comes along and you go, “There it is. That’s it. There’s no question.” But I’m trying to make sure I’m not repeating myself, though I’ve played a lot of fathers, I guess, some ways, but I just think on some level, I think in terms of how the character’s journey unfolds or what he’s going for or what he’s experiencing, I want to make sure that it feels unique. You also want to make sure that filmmaking is so difficult. I want to be sure that the story in some ways feels additive or productive for the culture. I want it to mean something. And so it’s a bit of an investigation. Things come along and you get to sense it out.

Is it resonating with me? When I’m done reading it, do I think about it again? Did I feel excited going through the process of reading that beginning, middle, end story? Or is it something that in the end of the day you’re just like, “Oh, I’m going to work with so-and-so and I’ll make some money.” And if that is the answer, it’s going to be a no. It’s just going to be a no. But it could be a million dollar movie or a hundred million dollar movie, it has to resonate.

It has to feel like I have to do it, if that makes sense. And Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother felt like it was something that I had to do. And even on a deeper level, it almost felt like it was written for me in essence, where you can imagine yourself in something and feel like, “Yo, this is mine to take.” And so you hope to have those experiences as a creative, as an actor, that even if something wasn’t, something could be intended for my good friend, Sterling K. Brown or something. And for whatever reason, he doesn’t do it and it comes your way and you go, “Oh man, this feels like this is for me.” Then if it feels that way in terms of how it resonates, then it is for you. And so I think those are some of the things that I look at.

It also has a lot to do with the time in your life, what is going on in your life and so many other elements that may attract you to a story. But in the end, it felt like I had to do it, and that’s the feeling I’m looking for is the thing that sticks. And I think if something sticks upon reading it, then it means that I have a chance. There’s a chance that if I execute it, it could end up sticking with an audience.

Read the original article on Essence.