Bassam Tariq's Post-'Blade' Film Premieres at TIFF — SkimNews
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- Bassam Tariq walked away from Marvel's "Blade" before production, saying the experience taught him to "think big" and moved his family to Atlanta for more time with his kids.
- Mahershala Ali stars in Tariq's new film "Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother" as Latif, a Muslim hitman struck by sudden loss and desperate to feed his youngest child — a role Tariq had originally envisioned for him during their years-long relationship.
- Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother grew out of Tariq's wife's health scare after their first child and his pandemic reckoning with career versus fatherhood; he describes it as "almost like a samurai film about a man that has to kill all the versions of himself to be the father that's necessary for his children."
- The film world-premieres at TIFF on Saturday, September 12, with Amazon MGM Studios releasing it theatrically on September 25.
- Tariq said he felt he "let my community down" by exiting Blade and cited Bradford Young's Team Deakins podcast — particularly Young's question, "Will you still love me if this doesn't work?" — as hitting so hard he had to pull his car over and cry.
- Friends Ramy Youssef and Riz Ahmed pushed Tariq to reapproach Ali for the lead, telling him "You gotta reach out to him."
- Tariq attended MCU premieres for "Eternals" and "Ms. Marvel" and said Kevin Feige is "listening, they're adapting and they're changing," crediting Marvel with teaching him the value of audience connection.
Why it matters: For Bassam Tariq — a Pakistani-American Muslim filmmaker who said he "let my community down" by exiting Blade — a TIFF world premiere (September 12) and Amazon MGM theatrical release (September 25) deliver a rare second-act platform for an original film he had been developing for years with Mahershala Ali in mind.
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