Lorraine Bracco, an Oscar and Emmy nominee for her roles in "Goodfellas" and "The Sopranos," is scheduled to be in Memphis in the fall to star in a movie written and directed by a local filmmaker.
Slated to be shot over 21 days starting in September, "Jacir" will represent the feature directorial debut of Waheed AlQawasmi, 33, a Germantown High School graduate who came to Memphis from Jordan when he was a teenager.
Bracco will portray an opioid-addicted ex-blues singer turned fearful ultra-conservative shut-in who clashes with her new duplex neighbor, a shell-shocked Syrian refugee named Jacir (which means "benevolent"), played by Beirut-born actor and songwriter Malek Rahbani.
The duo's forced proximity creates understanding and even an unlikely friendship, according to AlQawasmi. "It's not about who's right and wrong, it's about human understanding, just being human," he said.
AlQawasmi said "48 percent" of the dialogue in his film will be in Arabic, a distinction that should bring some attention to the movie.
He said the Syrian and Lebanese characters will be played by actors from that region. "My first producer suggested we call Aziz Ansari, and I'm like, 'Thank you, but I'm trying to do for Syrians what Aziz did for Indians,'" he said.
The filmmaker said "Jacir" will be "a real Memphis story," although it will depict an aspect of Memphis that may be unfamiliar to many residents and most moviegoers. He said he developed the project specifically to take advantage of Memphis locations.
"Memphis has soul, it's different from other places," he said. "I know a million people have said that, but I cannot choose a different set of words. All I can do is show it on camera, and hopefully everyone else will soon be able to see it."
AlQawasmi described the relatively low-budget project as "an indie with some major support," including the financial investment of Memphians. Producers include veteran independent film and television creator Amy Williams, who was born in Memphis but grew up in New York. (Williams' father, Jean Morrison, was a poet and former University of Memphis professor who was among the best friends of famed Memphis photographer William Eggleston.)
"Jacir" would represent the first significant film production in Memphis since the end of "Bluff City Law" (which seems unlikely to be renewed for a second season) and the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic. AlQawasmi said various health protocols will be in place during production, in alignment with recommendations from the Shelby County Health Department and with responses to the COVID-19 threat currently being developed by various Hollywood task forces.
"We're going to try to hire an almost all-Memphis crew," he said. "I want this to be a tiny economic engine for the local crew, to say, 'Guys, it's going to be okay, we're going to come back after COVID.'"
AlQawasmi said the current health crisis has added unforeseen resonance to his screenplay. "The story of two neighbors isolated from each other, I feel like people who read the script are connecting with the material more than before," he said.
Motivated by economic hopes and political worries, AlQawasmi's family emigrated to Memphis from Amman, Jordan, in August, 2000, when Waheed was 13. "It was a culture shock to me," said AlQawasmi, who initially lived in a near-downtown neighborhood nothing like the gleaming suburbs he expected from American movies and television programs. "I was thrown into a part of America I didn't know existed. I thought, 'This is just like Jordan.'"
At Germantown High, AlQawasmi became involved in the school's famous film and television program, run by teachers Frank Bluestein and Leonid MazorAs a young man, he produced "Hometown Glory," a feature documentary about Germantown's teenage firefighters in the 1970s, and directed and co-wrote a short thriller titled "Scorned" that earned national film festival attention.
Soon after, he founded his own Memphis-based company, WAFilms, creating commercials for such clients as Cheerios and Zappos shoes. He also worked for a while as a national creative director at the Fox television network, promoting such programs as "The New Girl." (Nick Belperio, one of AlQawasmi's mentors at Fox, is an executive producer on "Jacir.")
AlQawasmi said the story of "Jacir" literally came to him in a dream. "I take a nap every day, from 2 until 2:30 in the afternoon," he said. "On Oct. 16, 2015, I woke up at 2:30 with the whole film in my head."
He said he and various allies had "shopped" the script around for close to three years before the current production was set in place. "I'm over the moon that Lorraine Bracco, who I grew up watching, agreed to be in my film, and it's the first feature film I'm directing," AlQawasmi said.
Bracco is an Oscar nominee for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Karen Hill, Ray Liotta's embattled wife, in Martin Scorsese's "Goodfellas" (1990). She also was nomintaed three times for playing Dr. Jennifer Melfi on the HBO mob drama, "The Sopranos."
In "Jacir," Bracco will play Meryl, who is "a little bit off her rocker" and "the one white resident left in a black and Latin neighborhood," according to AlQawasmi.
The supporting cast will include the Memphis-born rapper/standup comedian Darius Tutwiler, known professionally as "Tutweezy," most recently seen as the host of the Craig Brewer-produced insult comedy series, "You Look Like," shot in 2017 at Midtown's P&H Cafe.
Also in the cast are Lebanese actors Sara Abi Kanaan and Tony Mehanna, plus a cat. Not yet cast, the cat will appear in only five scenes, "but it's five pivotal scenes," AlQawasmi said.
Meanwhile, Al Kapone and Boo Mitchell are among the Memphis musicians contributing to the film's score, according to the director. As usual, the Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commission is assisting with the project.
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