Jordan Hoffman: One of the interesting characters is the brother, who in the end is the good guy, so to speak.

Chris Morris: He’s nonviolent.

Jordan Hoffman: He’s nonviolent, he’s a devout Muslim and he just wants to pray and live his life and be left alone. But when we first meet him, he’s kind of a jerk because he’s so extreme. He’s so fundamental, that he won’t look at his sister-in-law...

Chris Morris: He’s orthodox, right? He’s super-orthodox, that’s what he is.

Jordan Hoffman: It’s funny because in your film, towards the end when the British police get involved...they’re all kuckleheads too. Even the best guy in your movie, the good guy, is still a scoundrel in a way because of how his code treats women and modernity.

Chris Morris: Well, we all are, right? Sitting around in a hotel lobby we’ve all got foolish and unfoolish thoughts wearing away in our heads. We’re all capable of making mistakes and we are all capable of looking like a jerk and I think he doesn’t stand for everybody. Nor is he the archetypal good Muslim because, as far as I’m concerned, that doesn’t exist. You know, the movie-type good Muslim who says, “Brother, what is the greatest jihad? It is the jihad of the soul, the struggle with good and evil. The struggle with yourself.” That’s all bollocks really. It’s more interesting to me to have a warning about getting involved in violence coming from somebody who is, himself, somebody you might disagree with on certain aspects of his life, but I think it’s important to make that decision. And I found that. I found that people who are more rule-bound more often than not are actually non-violent. To be involved in violence you basically have to have a political kick up the ass. You’re not going to get it from plunging deep into Islamic law, what happens is if you decide that violence is your way then you can pull out a kind of violent ideology to back you up.

Jordan Hoffman: Did you ever consider adding a character who was pure-good, the one sane person in the movie?

Chris Morris: Yeah, and what planet would they come from? (Laughs)