Struggling with depression: Mr Robot (Rami Malek) and Demolition (Jake Gyllenhaal)

When Mr. Robot debuted back in June, the show was pitched as a ripped-from-the-headlines techno-thriller, with the return of Christian Slater to TV as its main attraction. Now, two months and 10 episodes later, the USA network has an unlikely hit on its hands: a visually striking, subversive, and often surprising drama about the dehumanizing effects of our corporate-controlled, internet-addicted modern world.

And a lot of the credit for the show's out-of-left-field success belongs to the man who plays the series' troubled hacker hero — the 34-year-old character actor Rami Malek.

Getting the lead in an unexpectedly popular cable series is a long way from where the Egyptian-American actor was a decade ago, when he was staying up all night in his family's cramped apartment to stuff resumés and head-shots into envelopes. "I heard 'no' a lot back then," Malek laughs. "But like my dad would always say, 'This kid's tenacious.'" "It raises some pretty dark questions about the world we live in," Malek says of the show's wobbly-reality tone and plot twists. More importantly, he's excited to be working on "one of the finest shows on television... it feels like it's bleeding out of the screen," which may explain why it’s captured the attention of people who don't ordinarily tune in to USA. It doesn't look or feel like anything else on TV — and with his sunken eyes, sharp jaw, and deep, halting voice, neither does its star. Source: www.rollingstone.com

Variety: -What’s in store for next season?

Rami Malek: Sam and (girlfriend) Emmy (Rossum) just got engaged. I saw him the other night and congratulated him. I told him, “I couldn’t imagine what you were going to put Elliot through if she said no.” The truth of the matter is I have loved the weight of the emotional roller coaster that he threw me on.

I didn’t want Elliot to be this guy who wears his heart on his sleeve all this time. He’s very guarded. I had to pick and choose when I was going to fall to my knees, when that was going to happen. In the Times Square scene, I remember feeling like the most restrained performance was the strongest. And that was the hardest to do that day. Source: variety.com


Fox Searchlight has released the first trailer for its Jake Gyllenhaal-Naomi Watts drama “Demolition” two days before its world premiere as the opening night film at the Toronto Film Festival. The trailer is launching months before the film’s April 8, 2016, release.

Gyllenhaal portrays a successful investment banker who struggles after losing his wife in a tragic car crash. He continues to unravel despite pressure from his father-in-law, portrayed by Chris Cooper. His character then forms an unlikely connection with a customer service rep and single mother, played by Watts, after writing a complaint letter to a vending machine company.

The trailer starts with Gyllenhaal unable to extract a pack of Peanut M&Ms and subsequently explaining that this was a problem because his wife had died 10 minutes earlier. The trailer ends with a bulldozer knocking down his house. “You can buy almost anything on e-Bay,” he jokes about the bulldozer. Source: variety.com