Director Mike Mosallam knows that there are people who will take issue with his new movie sight unseen: Breaking Fast is a romantic comedy about Mo (Haaz Sleiman), a practicing Muslim struggling to navigate single life in L.A. following a breakup. Then he meets Kal (Michael Cassidy), a hunky actor who offers to spend the month breaking fast with him, and Mo must navigate his budding feelings while still honoring the holy holiday of Ramadan.
Mosallam was inspired by years spent swooning over Julia Roberts rom-coms and wanted to make one of his own -- "if, in fact, she was a gay, Muslim, Arab man living in West Hollywood." However, some aren't ready for a story about faith and sexuality where the two aren't mutually exclusive, and Mossalam is OK with that. It's also partially why he made the movie, for those young queer Muslim kids who aren't getting validation elsewhere in their lives. "Let this movie hug their wounded little souls and let them know they are not alone," he says.
Over Zoom, Mosallam talked to ET about making the rom-com he needed to see, while Cassidy discussed straight actors playing gay and falling in love with his co-stars.
ET: Mike, you've said your goal was to create a Julia Roberts rom-com, but in terms of coming up with Mo and the idea of the story that you wanted to tell here, where did you start?
Mike Mosallam: I was having coffee with Michael Lannan, who was the creator of Looking, and he was sort of questioning and probing me about who best represents me or my journey within the landscape of film and TV. And I really could not think of an answer, which was very sad to me. I remember saying to him exactly what I wrote in the movie, which is that most gays don't get down with God and most Muslims don't get down with gays, and he said, "You should write it." So, I wrote a script which became a short that ultimately went to Cannes and my producing partner and I saw the response to it, people were saying, "What happens next? What happened to Mo and Kal? We want to know!" And we hadn't thought about it or thought about writing a feature version, but from there we started developing and writing and here we are.
What were some of the things you were most excited to expand upon from the short?
Mosallam: The short really takes place in their very first night together, from the moment they meet through the end of their night of walking and talking. And it ends sort of ambiguously. Will they be friends? Will it be more romantic? But we also set up this great convention with the short being the first night of Ramadan, and we thought, well, what happens if you slow burn getting to know somebody over the entire month, if you remove the prospect of getting to know them through physical intimacy and really have to invest in talking and asking questions and letting your guard down? When we meet somebody that piques our interest, we all bring forth the best version of ourselves to paint the perfect picture and then slowly but surely the real dude comes out. So, what happens if over 30 days, you couldn't sleep with somebody and you just have to be yourself?
Michael, what was the initial pitch you got for this? And what was it that spoke to you, that made you want to be a part of this?
Michael Cassidy: I read the script first before I ever met Mike. I felt like I understood Kal, but ultimately, it's so funny and it's funny in a way that feels very real to me, that it's grounded in the sort of embarrassing but also high-stakes nature of getting to know someone. And then at the same time, the second half of the script really hits home. Like Mike said, that veneer that you put up, you can only keep it up for so long, and these two men really get to know things about each other very quickly. That just feels like intimacy to me, that you can't get to where you want to go in a relationship without all of the sort of sideway stuff coming in and making itself known, and at the same time, it's very funny and fun to try and hide it for as long as you can. [Laughs]
For a movie like this to work, the chemistry between you and Haaz has to work. Was there a moment where you realized, "OK, this will work. I...

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