The Assistant Director of the Exorcist? In Amman, Jordan? Pretty random and yeah, just a bit bizarre.
What the heck would…um…possess someone to claim that identity? And why did he choose to speak to me and my 12-year-old Circassian-Jordanian friend Shamel? And was he really who he said he was?
Read on to find out…
Man claiming to be the Assistant Director of the Exorcist
Where/Why: A Stationery Store in a Suburb of Amman
I was shopping for a small notebook and an English-Arabic dictionary in a small shop not far from my friend Souzan’s house in Amman. I was with her 12-year-old son, Shamel, a very intelligent and mature young man, who’s now a teenager.
What–Appearance of a Mysterious Man with Pointy Eyebrows
He seemed to appear out of nowhere. The man with pointy eyebrows and intense eyes, that is. I almost didn’t notice him because I was busy obsessing about which mini notebook to buy. He’d been sitting on a chair chatting with the store owner.
“Do you know who I am?” he asked. His accent seemed British and sort of posh, but not necessarily 100% natural. He could be anyone, I figured. A monk. A taxi driver. The devil even…
“No, I have no idea. Shamel—do you know?”
“No, I don’t. Who are you?”
“I’m Mohammad. I was the assistant director of The Exorcist.”
“Huh??” I asked. “What?”
“I was the assistant director of The Exorcist,” he repeated.
He sounded educated, looked sophisticated and for a moment, I thought he might be telling the truth, as odd as it seemed. What would…um…possess someone to say something so outlandish?
But then again, he might have been a pathological liar who believes his own BS.
“That’s the movie about the kid who’s taken over by the Devil, right?” Shamel said, excited. “One of the most popular movies ever, right?”
“Actually, it’s a film that was shot in Iraq,” the odd but well-dressed man said.
The store owner, meanwhile, stayed up at the register, doing his job and smiling from time to time. He seemed rather normal. Interestingly, he didn’t acknowledge what the man in the chair was saying.
How We Reacted: Puzzled and Curious
Shamel and I looked at each other, wondering what was up. The man sounded like he was educated at Oxford University and could have been someone famous—or someone completely psychotic, depending on which sign the moon happened to be in. But he gave such an odd answer, I wondered what his deal was.
“What did you think of The 9th Configuration?” I asked, figuring that he would know. It’s one of the three films in an unofficial Exorcist trilogy.
“The what?”
He then rambled on and on about how difficult Arabic is to learn.
And Then? A Quick Disappearance
Shamel interrogated him in Arabic about his role as director and the movie. Their chat lasted a few minutes. Then Shamel rejoined me by the dictionaries.
We laughed about it and then, when we turned around, he was gone. The chair was empty.
Perhaps he’d seen his reflection and gotten scared?
Later on: McDonald’s and Google
“Let’s Google this guy later,” Shamel said.
“Deal.”
And we did. And sure enough, he was nowhere to be found. Of course, we laughed about it and to this day, we still remember and chuckle about the mysterious pointy eye-browed man.
Perhaps he was more of the inspiration for the film versus the direction of it?
Your Thoughts/Reactions?
I have a knack for meeting celebrity lookalikes and wannabes, but this was my first time meeting someone pretending to be a director. I tend to get into some crazy situations and this ranked right up there.
How about you? Ever meet any oddballs like this while traveling or in your hometown?
What do you think about this man? Can you see why we almost believed him? 🙂
Can’t Get Enough?
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