KUALA LUMPUR: Actor Farid Kamil revealed that he had "something in common" with Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, whom he is playing in the coming film Jalan Masih Panjang.
Besides both of them being Orang Utara (northerners from the Perlis, Kedah and Penang region), they stood their ground in rejecting bribes and opposing corruption.
"By playing Anwar, my first non-fiction character, I learnt that both of us experienced something terribly similar – we were offered bribes, but rejected them.
"In my case, certain people offered me RM5 million sometime in the last decade but I said no," said Farid in a recent news report.
Farid added that the individuals who offered bribes to Anwar and himself actually wanted to "set them up" and "bring them down".
"This is the main reason why I decided to take up the challenge of playing Anwar. We stand our ground and don't bow down to bribes."
When he first received the script for the Anwar biopic last year, Farid showed it to his mother, and after she read excerpts of it, she told him that it was a "role of a lifetime" that was tailor-made.
"My mother encouraged me to go all-out with the role, even if it meant spending some days with Anwar himself. It took me three months to 'become Anwar', and I had two meetings with him where we had very interesting conversations."
Jalan Masih Panjang will wrap-up filming next month, and most of its scenes were shot late last year and early this year in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Besides Farid, the film directed by Viva Westi and produced by Bianglala Entertainment also stars Acha Septriasa, Hasnul Rahmat, Firdaus Mat Joni, Piet Pagau and Dewi Irawan.