Tony Shalhoub, who will next be seen rather than heard in the new Pixar movie Cars, has agreed to star in AmericanEast, an Arab-American drama.
Director Hesham Issawi co-wrote the script with Sayed Badreya, who will also take a starring role. Joining Shalhoub and Badreya in the cast is Paradise Now’s Kais Nashif. The movie will examine ignorance about Arab culture, and spotlight the pressure that Arab-Americans are put under on a daily basis.
"Our goal was really to show other people that we are no different from them," Issawi told Variety. "To do that we focused on one normal guy, who just happens to be a Muslim, and we show what kind of pressure these external forces can have on a person who's simply trying to carry on."
The film will crank into production in July in LA.