Itzik Cohen, who plays Captain Gabi Ayub on the hit Israeli TV show Fauda, wrote this guest blog for Creative Community For Peace (CCFP), expressing his views on the show and on its contribution to peace.
Fauda is a startup, a series that was made on a very low budget, and in the midst of the summer heat, with a great deal of tension of a possible war in the air. None of the actors or creators thought for a minute that the whole world would embrace the series. Most of us thought that even in Israel it would be considered a niche series.
Reality proved otherwise. In fact, Fauda changed everything we knew about Israeli Television and it became a phenomenon. Everyone who was part of the series upgraded their career.
But everything begins and ends with sensitive and meticulous work. The show’s creators, Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff, together with Assaf Bernstein, the director of the first episode, placed an emphasis on the complexities and sensitivities of the characters, and insisted on not creating Jewish or Arab stereotypes.
This is the reason they cast me. I come from a background in comedy and musicals, and so fit beautifully as the opposite type cast for the dramatic and complex role of Captain Gabi Ayub. They didn’t want the stereotype of the tough and macho Shabak investigator, but instead wanted to reach the heart of the conflict in order to show how people find themselves in complex and dangerous situations that end up touching our hearts.
Read the rest on the Times of Israel: http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/fauda-star-itzik-cohen-the-show-has-become-a-great-force-for-bringing-people-together/