When Shohreh Aghdashloo says she had no choice, she literally had to make Friday’s thriller “Deadly Vows,” she isn’t kidding.
When she heard an independent film, inspired by notorious events, was in the works, she was immediately galvanized to action.
“It’s not just another movie to do. It’s a must. A duty,” Aghdashloo, 73, said in a Zoom interview. “If I don’t do it, then who is?”
Aghdashloo, banned in her native Iran, fled to England, then the US in 1979 following the Iranian Revolution. An American citizen, this Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated veteran continues to make bold choices.
“As soon as I signed, I went to work portraying my character, a courageous woman who stands up for her daughter — and for others.”
“Vows” charts how that daughter, Darya (Shiva Negar), an Iranian immigrant, studies and becomes a doctor while marrying Sam Lebon (“Twilight” veteran Peter Facinelli).
As time passes, their upscale life with two children collapses as Sam scarily emerges as an obsessive, abusive, murderous alcoholic who is sadistically vengeful.
He hires a hitman to torture and kill his wife. Darya is going to have to run – and hide – for her life.
Aghdashloo knows “Vows” is a real-world issue with scores of women denied their rights and physically attacked.
“Especially with immigrant women,” Aghdashloo emphasized, “the case is even harder because they face more barriers. They live in the United States but they still are following their own culture and do whatever they think is right for their culture.
“It’s even more difficult, because we’re dealing with so many people coming from so many walks of lives. The real problem: domestic violence is not something that belongs to a certain nation or certain boundaries. Unfortunately, it keeps happening, all over the world, on a daily basis.
“No matter how many movies we make, we still need to bring it out! Let it see the daylight! Shed light on all these domestic violences that often occur in silence.”
As murderously scary as Sam is, the film flips expectations as it ends to offer if not forgiveness, then understanding.
“Every predator has a story. His father was beating him to death when he was a child. Therefore,” she said in her distinctively husky voice, “he’s not a normal person. He’s damaged.
‘She forgives him because she’s not an assassin and I don’t believe her ex was born a killer. It’s all about revenge.
“When I saw the real woman’s picture, the woman who inspired this film, I thought she was so beautiful. Then I thought, ‘What is his attitude like?’
“His attitude is, ‘If I can’t have you, no one can.’”
“Deadly Vows” is available on Digital & On-Demand platforms Nov. 14
Shiva Negar is Darya, an Iranian immigrant who studies and becomes a doctor while marrying Sam Lebon (played by Peter Facinelli) in “Deadly Vows.” (Photo courtesy Quiver)
