Rami Malek: Emmys Best Speech

I still have to pinch myself that the name ‘Rami’ is now approaching household-name status. I shouldn’t be, it’s fun to say; it’s just that for so long, none of the names and phrases I grew up hearing from my Egyptian dad seemed real. I half thought I made them up sometimes, and now there are practically Teen Beat posters with Rami Malek’s name written inside puffy hearts.

That’s kind of his point, of course, that Mr. Robot speaks to those who see things from the outside, ‘like so many of us’. Which brings us to a beautiful conundrum:

I’m not watching Mr. Robot Season 2. It didn’t grab me enough to do it right away, and I’ve heard that the show is wandering around deep in the muck in season 2, and fans are crossing their fingers it’s going to find its way out and go somewhere. I hope it does, but even if not, I’d rather watch an ambitious mess than something that’s perfect and milquetoast.

But the thing is, Malek was so charming tonight that if I were an unscrupulous executive I’d be trying to get him into anything I could. I feel like a lead like Malek could liven up a score of indie scripts that have otherwise been sitting on the shelf. God, he even said a line in character, and that was charming!

I’m sure his contract is solid and that the shooting seasons aren’t that long. I’m just saying if I’m someone who schedules Malek for a living, my job just got way, way more difficult.