Alim, who spent a good deal of his formative years watching old Hollywood movies (and continues to do so as an adult) also has an imaginary friend, Cary Grant (Kyle McLachlan), who is his guardian angel. When Alim’s widowed mother comes to London for a visit, Grant’s “advice” causes all sorts of problems for Alim. I spoke with Mr. Rashid, and his straight co-starring actors, Jimi Misty and Kyle McLachlan, about the movie, which is now available on DVD.

AfterElton.com: Kyle, I want to begin by asking you how one prepares for a role such as the “Spirit of Cary Grant.”
Ian Iqbal Rashid: First, you have to be nuts.
Kyle McLachlan: You have to be nuts to say yes (laughs). Well, I didn’t prepare for the “Spirit of Cary Grant,” I prepared to be Cary Grant. So, I guess you do what you’d imagine: I watched a lot of Cary Grant films; I carried around a little Dictaphone—tape recorder—to see how close I could get the voice; and I watched Some Like It Hot, actually. I watched Tony Curtis do Cary Grant in Some Like It Hot. And that was helpful (laughs).

AE: Jimi, your character, Alim, has Cary Grant as his childhood imaginary friend who sort of follows him into adulthood. Did you have any imaginary friends when you were a child?
Jimi Mistry: Yeah, they were a mixture of Michael Jackson, Luther Vandross, Billy Ocean.
KM: You should have been a singer.
JM: I didn’t grow up wanting to be an actor.
IIR: Michael Jackson, Luther Vandross, and Billy Ocean. That’s a very frightening picture.
JM: I actually used to do them at talent shows.
IIR: Go on … give us a little Luther (laughs).
JM: No (laughs). I was never in school entering drama competitions; I was always singing and doing all that type of thing. So, that was who I used to sing in the mirror to.

AE: Kyle, did you have any imaginary friends as a child?
KM: No, I had two younger brothers. We’re all close in age, so that’s as close as we got (all laugh).

AE: For this role, and because the Cary Grant character is a big part in the movie, do either of you, Kyle or Jimi, consider yourselves Cary Grant fans?
KM: I’d seen some. I don’t know what the definition of fan would be, but I loved his films. I didn’t know that many. This gave me a chance to go back and really get a sense of the beginning, middle, and end of his arc, of his career.
JM: I knew who he was and I’d seen his films, but I hadn’t really known much more about him at all. I mean, this is the fan (referring to Ian). This is the big fan.

AE: Jimi, over the last few years, looking back at your career, with The Guru and now with Touch Of Pink, you’re establishing a fan-base in the gay community. Are you aware of that kind of following? What does that mean to you?
JM: I think it’s great. I love it. If that’s the case, that’s fantastic. You try and do different things and appeal to different audiences, and it’s been apparent on this tour—and Ian did say to me, “You better watch it on this tour; you’re going to get a lot of attention.” And I think San Fran(cisco) and places like that had started realizing that I was gay (laughs). And I spoke to my Mum yesterday, and she said, “Have you been on the Internet and seen what’s going on?” She goes, “Oh, there’s loads of things. There’s some really good stuff, and there’s one where the guy’s in love with you.” (Laughs.) It’s great. It’s a great position to be in—to appeal to different audiences. And the gay community, fantastic.

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