The stars behind the Asian film adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest
An Asian film adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, starring a host of local celebrities
ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED TO PREMIERE at the end of last year, Mencari Rahmat had to be pushed forward to having its debut this year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, that is probably a blessing in disguise, as more people would be now able to view the Malay adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest.
Directed by Al Jafree Md Yusop, the award-winning director first read Oscar Wilde back in 1981, and recalls a sad realisation of the human condition. “The experience was like being hit on the head by a 5 tonne truck; I realised that sometimes, society can be the worst prison known to mankind,” he shared. He then took on the long and arduous process of not only adapting the play for the modern day, but also doing so in BM, to reach a wider audience locally. “I accepted the challenge and started to write in 1991. The process was long, lonely and most challenging. I finished writing it 10 years later (in 2001) and it was successfully staged the same year at The Actor’s Studio, Dataran Merdeka,” he recalls.
Fast forward to today, Al Jafree got the idea to then adapt it into film, which is what we see now. Featuring a starstudded cast of local talent such as Adibah Noor, Sharifah Amani and more, August Man Malaysia caught up with the two male leads ‒ Amerul Affendi, who plays Azman and Nam Ron, who plays Razak ‒ to find out more about their experience and thoughts.