Shortly after Tahar Rahim’s performance in A Prophet became a big deal, director Kevin Macdonald cast him as the Seal Prince in his upcoming feature The Eagle, a second century set Roman adventure adapted from Rosemary Sutcliff’s novel centering on the disappearance of the entire Ninth Legion in the mountains of Scotland. Rahim stars opposite Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, Mark Strong and Donald Sutherland.
The press notes talk of his look saying Rahim spent an hour getting ready each day as the green mud used to paint the skin of the Seal Warriors was a Hungarian mud-mask treatment. Rahim describes the character saying he’s “a hunter and a warrior who is protecting his people’s tribe. He may be a barbarian, but he’s not insane; he just has a different culture and rules that he lives by.”
I am seeing this film tomorrow and am anxious primarily to see how Rahim performs in his first film since A Prophet, which topped my Best of 2009 list. Rahim has a couple of international pictures lined up next as well as Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Black Gold with Antonio Banderas, his Eagle co-star Mark Strong and Freida Pinto.
The Eagle hits theaters on February 11. I have included one more look at Rahim below and I’ve added 23 other new images to the gallery for the film right here.
