Malala ‘the most remarkable person I’ve ever met’, director of documentary Davis Guggenheim says
Filmmaker, 51, who spent two years making He Named Me Malala, came away believing the exiled Pakistani teenager is capable of anything
Davis Guggenheim spent two years filming He Named Me Malala in Birmingham, England, where Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai and her family moved after the teenager was shot in 2012 by a Taliban hitman assigned to silence her for her outspoken advocacy of girls’ education. The 51-year-old filmmaker, who cut his teeth on television dramas, talks to Michael O’Sullivan about his unexpected career trajectory and the teenage documentary subject he says he will remember when he’s 70 as one of the most unforgettable individuals he’s ever encountered.
Q: Where did the idea to make a film about Malala come from?
A: Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald - the producers - originally wanted to do a movie with an actress. They’d gotten the life [story] rights to Malala. But after they met with her and flew back to LA, they said, “Who would even play that part?” So they called me.
Q: There are many remarkable things about Malala, but the most remarkable of them may be her unremarkableness.
A: I think it’s important to say that she is an ordinary girl. It’s a dangerous thing when we make people like this into our idols, into icons. Because then we say, “I can’t be that.” But I believe that my daughters can be as brave as Malala.
