Rami Malek Says Being First Egyptian Oscar Winner for Best Actor Is ‘One of the Greatest Achievements’: ‘All Over the World People Relate to Feeling Like an Immigrant’

Ahead of the world premiere of “The Man I Love” in competition at Cannes, Rami Malek joined his director and co-writer Ira Sachs for a Kering Women in Motion Talk in which the Oscar winner fought through shock and awe that he’s even showing a movie at the esteemed film festival.

“I never get used to these moments,” Malek told Variety’s Angelique Jackson. “Cannes is not something I ever, ever expected. The fact we’re here right now is something I’m trying to savor. It feels a bit surreal.”

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Directed by Sachs, who co-wrote the script with frequent collaborator Mauricio Zacharias, “The Man I Love” is set in New York City during the late 1980s as theater artist, Jimmy (Malek), confronts his mortality following an AIDS diagnosis. Starring alongside Malek in the film are Tom Sturridge, Rebecca Hall and Ebon Moss-Bachrach.

Malek credited Sachs for bringing out “a performance in me that I don’t think I would give in another situation,” adding: “Ira is an actor’s director, among all the other things he can do. We believed in each other.”

“The canon of his work speaks for itself,” he continued about his director. “What a unique artist that we can all cherish. These are timeless films that Ira has put into the world. They will live on and we’ll go back to them for feelings that certain aspects of cinema don’t give us. There’s great intimacy and empathy.”

“The Man I Love” marks another exploration of a queer character for Malek, who won an Oscar for portraying music legend Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody.” The victory put Malek in the history books as the first performer of Egyptian descent to win the Oscar for best actor.

It’s one of the greatest achievements [because of the] hope it’s imbued in so many people all over the world, especially where my family is from in Egypt,” Malek said about the significance of his Oscar win. “All over the world, I think people can relate to what it feels like to be an immigrant… that comes with some weight. To be able to connect to that accomplishment in some way and hopefully inspire anyone fills me with some sense of pride that is greater even than doing the work itself.”

“The Man I Love” premieres in competition at Cannes on May 20.