Kumail Nanjiani was told to “play up the accent” in Hollywood film audition

nme.com:

"I just didn’t want the comedy to just be coming from someone exaggerating their accent" Kumail Nanjiani has spoken of an audition in which he was asked to “play up the accent” for a major Hollywood film.

Without revealing the title, Nanjiani explained the situation to Variety, in which the director asked the actor to emphasize his accent – who refused.

Describing his experience across his first few years of auditioning, Nanjiani said, “I have a Pakistani accent, but they would be like, ‘Could you make it funnier?

Lean in a little bit.’ And at some point, I decided I just wasn’t going to do that. “There are certain parts that require a thicker Pakistani or Indian accent, and that’s totally fine, but I just didn’t want the comedy to just be