Director and lead star Panta Mosleh’s queer comedy Pass the Salt — about a sheltered Muslim-Iranian grad student who falls in love with a young Jewish woman — has added Amanda Wear, Adam Fox and Nathaniel Vass to its ensemble cast.
The indie is near to production starting in Vancouver as a feature film for Hollywood Suite and a six-part TV series for OUTtv. Mosleh plays Parmiss Mansour, the grad student who falls for Nava (Amanda Wear) and dealing with coming out, including to her overbearing traditional Muslim family.
Fox will play the role of Alex, while Vass becomes the Dickie character. “Amanda and Adam fell into place perfectly for the series. They were able to have the chemistry that we were looking for with the rest of the cast, which makes this project so charming and gripping,” Mosleh said in a statement.
Pass the Salt for OUTtv is the latest queer-themed series to emerge out of Canada after the breakout success of Heated Rivalry, the gay hockey soap from creator Jacob Tierney for Crave in Canada and HBO Max stateside. Canadian TV producers found even earlier success with Sort Of, a CBC/HBO dramedy about a gender fluid millennial who is in transition in every aspect of their life, and Schitt’s Creek, the CBC/Netflix comedy where Dan Levy played a pansexual character.
“Pass The Salt provides a unique and intersectional take on the hugely popular romance genre, brought to life by a creative team with fresh ideas that we’re proud to be platforming. We’re looking forward to introducing this authentic and compelling series to our viewers, who we know will be charmed by the hilarious and touching performances that anchor the narrative,” Philip Webb, COO of OUTtv, said in a statement.
The ensemble cast includes Valeh Ashraf, Moheb Jindran, Babak Haleky, Peri Allen, Craig March, Jen Griffin, Donia Kash, Hani Mefti and Shayan Bayat. “Romance is having a moment, and the heart of any great romantic comedy is chemistry. Luckily, our two leads have it in abundance,” Suzanne Marshall, senior manager, programming for Hollywood Suite, added in her own statement.
Produced by PK Studio Productions, Pass the Salt is executive produced by Mosleh, Alexandre Coscas, Michael Goldstein, Aidan Heatley, Ronny Kurland, Connor Slatkoff Sharpe and Anthony Q. Farrell. The project has development and production financing from the Bell Fund, Canada Media Fund and Creative B.C.
