"My character, Ismail, is Muslim-American who joins the marines in hopes to assimilate into the country he was born and raised in. However, since this movie is set in 2005, the incidents on 9/11 had already shaken up public opinion of anyone Middle-Eastern in America. Islamophobia was only on the rise, so during his recruitment, Ismail is treated with racism and xenophobia about his beliefs and race. I was raised in Texas and grew up with the repercussions of 9/11 all throughout my childhood. When I was younger it wasn’t as noticeable, but by the time I was in high school, I could better see the micro-aggressions that my being half-Persian, or my father being from Iran, would incite. That experience was my first connection to Ismail when getting into character. From there it was a process of discovery as I learned more about Islam in order to better connect to the prayers he does in the film and consequently feel deeper the micro-aggressions that the other characters inflict upon him through this training. Aside from that and learning the lines, the one last thing I did was to drink only juice for the two weeks before we started filming. Ismail isn’t physically the most able recruit, whereas I’ve been an athlete for most of my life, so I felt like slimming down would help and the feeling of running out energy quickly would resonate more with his experience in training." - Actor and rapper, Eman Esfandi