Mahershala Ali Is Finally Getting the Action Movie He Deserves

Oscar winner Mahershala Ali (Green Book) returns to the big screen in writer-director Bassam Tariq’s (Mogul Mowgli) Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother. At this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, where the movie world-premiered, Collider’s Steve Weintraub had the chance to sit down with Ali, Tariq, and the cast to discuss the making of their near-perfect action-packed crime drama.

Set in Texas, Ali plays Latif, a devout Muslim and loving family man who also just so happens to be a contract killer with a strict code. As a rule, Latif never uses guns, and he only kills those the world would be better off without. When the unthinkable happens, and Latif’s wife passes away, he’s ready to move on from his violent past and focus on raising his three children. Unfortunately, his employer, Mike (Laith Nakli), isn’t keen on this idea, and suddenly Latif finds himself in a perilous race across Houston to outrun the forces surrounding him and protect his family. The movie also stars John Cho (Searching), Giancarlo Esposito (Captain America: Brave New World), and Tramell Tillman (Spider-Man: Brand New Day).

Tariq, Ali, Cho, Adia, and Esposito stop by the Collider Media Studio, presented by Campari and The Cayman Islands, where they discuss the visual language of the film, the inspirations Tariq drew from, Adia’s first feature, and the importance of trusting a director and their vision. Ali also digs into Latif’s emotional complexities and discusses performing his own stunts and overcoming physical challenges on set.

Mahershala Ali Takes on His Most Intense Action Role Yet

“I hadn’t had a chance to do that. I’ve always wanted to do that.”

Image via Amazon MGM

For Ali, audiences have seen what he can deliver on screen dramatically. Early in his career, the actor was awarded one of the industry’s highest achievements and has gone on to work on many high-profile projects, including The Hunger Games franchise, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the Jurassic World films, and was set to lead his own MCU feature that fans were eager to see.

Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother offers Ali a career first, however. When asked about the scenes they were most anxious about filming on set, or most excited to tackle, Ali highlighted the movie’s climax.

“For the first time ever, the scene I was most concerned with was our climactic action scene, because we had very limited time in terms of our rehearsal and preparation for what this film is and was. I know the audience doesn’t care about how much time you have; they just expect it to be done in a way that is excellent. Considering the epic nature of the fight and the time and lack thereof, and even if we had time, I would still have a certain type of nervousness around it, and it was around all the action sequences, but that particular fight and action sequence, we knew it was a big task, and you just don’t know.

It’s one thing for the director to do his job, but then those fights are almost a separate piece that have to be covered as best as the director and cinematographer can cover, but it’s really someone’s coming in and choreographing this thing, and it’s like your heart is outside of your body a little bit.”

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Bassam interjects to clarify that Ali isn’t stepping back for those action-packed sequences, either. “That was also Mahershala. That was him doing all the stunts, because his face is in it. He’s got to be doing all the stuff.” He continues, “We couldn’t just ever just be like, ‘Use a double there.’ No, this is him. So he’s got to not just also perform every day in these really intense, dramatic scenes, but he’s also got all these action scenes.”

In response, Ali explains:

“That was unfamiliar to me. I hadn’t had a chance to do that. I’ve always wanted to do that, especially as a former athlete, but I had never really had that opportunity in that way. And so I think that that moment going into it and going, ‘When are we going to rehearse this, Bassam? When are we gonna rehearse this in between takes?’ So, it was that type of thing. And I’m very proud of what all involved were able to achieve in making this film.”

Check out all of this and more in the video above, with time codes provided below.

• 00:35 – The team shares their favorite movie theater spots and why.
• 03:57 – Giancarlo Esposito shares his meditative pre-scene ritual.
• 05:00 – Bassam Tariq shares his inspiration for Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother.
• 05:34 – Tariq discusses the visual language of the film, drawing on spiritual westerns, samurai movies, and the vibrant colors of Muslim culture.
• 06:52 – Mahershala Ali reflects on Tariq’s script and the collaborative effort required to bring its world to life.
• 08:50 – Adia shares her experience making her first feature.
• 09:45 – Esposito describes the importance of trusting a director and allowing performances to flow naturally.
• 11:58 – Cho recalls how the opening pages of the script immediately drew him into the story.
• 13:20 – Adia reflects on the masterclass of working alongside experienced actors and honoring her own process.
• 16:09 – Ali discusses Latif’s emotional complexities as a character.
• 18:15 – Esposito says every day on set required him to remain open and present.
• 20:08 – Adia describes the anticipation surrounding her character’s climactic scene.
• 20:46 – Cho recalls the pressure of filming his character’s introduction.
• 21:53 – Filming the final scene on the last day was challenging.
• 22:35 – Ali reflects on the scenes that intimidated him and performing his own stunts.

Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother opens in select theaters on September 25 and releases nationwide on October 9.

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Release Date

September 25, 2026

Runtime

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112 minutes

Director

Bassam Tariq

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