Mahershala Ali wields a blade as the devout contract killer Latif in the genre thriller Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, a weapon that writer and director Bassam Tariq describes not as a nod to Ali’s previous attachment to Marvel’s aborted Blade reboot, but as a deliberate manifestation of his character’s violent code.
Bassam Tariq Directs a Pulpy Samurai-Coded Neo-Western in Houston
The pulpy samurai-coded neo-western grapples with grief, spirituality, and violence while serving as a textured portrait of Houston. The city's diverse culture forms the backdrop for hostility and tension between siloed faiths and ideologies. That ideological conflict plays out between Ali’s Latif, who struggles to raise three children on his own, and Jon Cho’s Pastor Hwan. As Pastor Hwan, Cho portrays a hardline evangelical Christian who shares fiery sermons on the internet while carrying out a heavily armed, mercilessly violent religious crusade.
“It feels a little different in Texas right now,” Tariq said in the interview, contrasting the climate with the “Mamdani era” in New York. He noted that people in Texas connect deeply to religious third spaces because social services have been cut. Tariq remarked during the discussion, comparing the current environment to the “Mamdani era If you’re going to go hang out or play basketball, it’ll probably be at a mosque or a church. You end up being a part of those communities. At the same time, you can start building dogmatic ideas… The nature of it has been really politicized. I think it’s a dark moment right now.”
From Marvel’s Aborted Blade Reboot to an Intimate Fatherhood Story
The fallout from the canceled Blade reboot, which Tariq was originally set to direct, deeply influenced the production of Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother. Ali had been attached for several years to star as the vampire-slayer before confirming that the long-delayed Marvel project was permanently shelved. “We were very close to shooting when the pencils went down,” Tariq said, describing his departure in 2022. “Even though we had no script, which is why it shut down.”
According to the filmmaker, production prep lasted a year and a half, including extensive fight training and choreography for Ali. Marvel’s approach at the time prioritized action sequences over completed scripts, likening the process to Bollywood where dance scenes are figured out before the story. Tariq emphasized he holds no animosity toward the writers who worked on the project. Instead, he and Ali salvaged the elaborate fight choreography they had prepared for the superhero movie and transferred it into their intimate indie film about a father.
Real-Life Inspiration Rooted in a New York Emergency Room
The core seeds for Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother trace back to a harrowing personal experience Tariq faced after the birth of his first child in 2014. An infection sent his wife to the emergency room, leaving him to search frantically across New York City for breast milk because his son was exclusively breastfed at the time. “I couldn’t find it anywhere,” Tariq recalled. He channeled that frustration and anger toward divinity into the opening sequence of the film, where Latif searches for breast milk after his wife passes away.
“I remember that frustration,” Tariq said. “I felt like that anger towards divinity. And then, of course, my son was fine. I realized all he really needed at that moment was just for me be present as a father.” That realization shaped the narrative journey of a father finding his way back to his children. Working on the aborted blockbuster allowed Tariq and Ali to forge a creative partnership that brought these personal themes to the screen.
Frequently Asked Questions About Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother
Who stars in Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother?
Mahershala Ali stars as the lead character Latif, a devout Muslim and contract killer, alongside Jon Cho, who plays the militant evangelical pastor Hwan.
Why did Bassam Tariq leave Marvel’s Blade?
Tariq departed the Marvel project in 2022 because production was on the verge of filming without a finished script, after a year and a half of prep centered entirely on action choreography.
What real-life event inspired the film’s opening scene?
A 2014 medical emergency involving Tariq’s wife sent her to the hospital and forced the filmmaker to spend hours searching New York City for breast milk for his infant son, directly inspiring Latif’s opening crisis in the movie.
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