An Accidentally Terrifying Advert Starring Rami Malek Has Become A New Meme
A video of Malek reciting ad copy for a hotel chain is the most horrifying film of 2019.
Rami Malek is a deeply serious human being.
That’s been obvious for a long time now. Rami Malek is too serious, for example, to take a video with his fans. Rami Malek’s too serious to open a bottle of champagne without looking like he wants to do terrible things to it. He is even too serious to exit the Oscars stage without the sheer weight of his very complicated and lofty thoughts sending him crashing into the first row.
That seriousness has its upsides — on the whole it’s pretty clearly working out for the actor, who has largely sidestepped the criticism duly afforded to him for working with Bryan Singer, an alleged paedophile, on the troubling Bohemian Rhapsody.
But it also has some major drawbacks. For example, when you are too serious, even reading some pretty boring ad copy in a promotional video for a hotel chain can make you appear like an honest-to-God serial killer.
Lo, look on this video of Malek in an advert for Mandarin Oriental, and despair:
It’s hard to say exactly what makes the video so disconcerting. After all, it’s just Malek intoning straight to camera about his favourite things, ranging from classic movies to chamomile tea. But there’s just something about his direct, unblinking stare, and the Nyquil and broken glass quality to his voice that makes it seem like he is moments away from leaping up off his chair and tearing out a large chunk of your face with his teeth.
Accordingly, Twitter has turned Malek and his direct-to-camera monologue into a brand new meme.
A serial killer talking to you in his car before he drives past the turn he was supposed to take pic.twitter.com/5ixUNTknnA
— Christin Bailey (@hexprax) March 1, 2019
LEAKED Bond 25 scene between Daniel Craig's Bond and Rami Malek's New Villain Character pic.twitter.com/2rOjDuMphC
— arch (@vzarchie) March 1, 2019
I didn't realise Rami Malek had released a dating app video https://t.co/GtPxX9rnic
— Cinesthesia (@keylightblog) March 1, 2019
unintentional Lanthimos audition https://t.co/GB9vuGb102
— Iain (@ianbarr) March 1, 2019
Coincidentally, Malek is pretty much set to play a villain in the new Bond film. Maybe, as some have suggested, this is his audition tape?
In any case, it’s fucking terrifying, and I can’t, as much as I try, stop watching it.