The Amazon Prime Video miniseries "Decoy" begins with Shah Latif, a British actor of South Asian descent, seeing a chance to compete for the role of the next James Bond. But this deliberately chaotic series, which, over six episodes, presents a mishmash of languages and cinematic styles, actually has little to do with the man who wants to become the first Black 007.
No, we're talking about Riz Ahmed, the guy who plays Latif. We're talking about Ahmed's years of self-doubt and self-importance. And we're talking about his impostor syndrome and the inner voice he torments, manifesting onscreen in the authoritative delivery of Patrick Stewart as a severed, talking pig's head.
The British-Pakistani actor and rapper won Emmys for his roles in The Night Of and Girls, was nominated for an Oscar in 2021 for Sound of Metal, and won an Oscar the following year, along with Aneil Karia, for the poignant short film The Long Goodbye.
Thanks to his work in films like Four Lions, The Stringer, and most recently, Hamlet, a stripped-down, fast-paced version of Shakespeare's classic play, he has become one of the most celebrated actors of South Asian descent in the West. This status, with all the attendant pressure and responsibility, contributed to his success in his triple role (executive producer, co-writer, and lead) in Bait, about an underrated actor desperately trying to land the role of a lifetime and then facing the consequences of that desperation.
«"This show is definitely not about James Bond," Ahmed said after a recent photo shoot for TheWrap and TheWrapBook. "It's about how life can sometimes feel like one big audition.".
Riz Ahmed, photographed by Nori Rasmussen Martinez for TheWrap.
A certain thread runs through your recent works, including The Long Goodbye, Hamlet, and now The Bait. It lies in the idea you expressed in your 2022 Oscar acceptance speech: "In such times of disunity, we believe the role of story is to remind us that there is no 'us' and 'them,' there is only 'us.'".
I think if there's a common thread I'm consciously trying to adhere to now, it's working with a very personal approach. I don't think I allowed myself that before. I thought acting was about being someone else for someone else, putting on a mask. And now I feel like we need to find a way to take that mask off.
Another thing we have in common is that I really enjoy mixing genres and tones. Let's bring in a rap video director to work on Hamlet. Let's make a psychological thriller/family comedy with Lure. Let's make a musical action film with The Long Goodbye. I feel like a hybrid. Many of us are, if we allow ourselves to be. I think it's a great way to keep me interested, hold audiences' attention, and challenge our ideas about what a story can look or feel like.
Even "Hamlet" is by no means a work reflecting a specific era. It is your personal vision of what surrounds you at a given moment in time.
Yes. And sometimes it's my personal reaction to what's going on inside me. The song "Bait" is about self-love. How do you dramatize this struggle with yourself? Well, you obviously cast Patrick Stewart as the severed pig's head, which acts as the critical inner voice.
Riz Ahmed and Rita Arya in "Bait" (Prime Video)
How long have you been thinking about this idea?
Around 2014 or 2015. This was after we were filming Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. I felt two things. First, you spend so much time trying to get to a certain place, and when you get there, it doesn't solve the problem of a lack of self-love or self-esteem, if you have it, and most of us do. I'll be honest, I have it from time to time. It was a realization: you can spend your whole life chasing the love of others, but if you don't love yourself, it won't get you anywhere. So what do you do about it?
And another big thing that made me think about unraveling this knot is the gap that has opened up between how people see you and how you actually feel. People think that if you're in Star Wars, you're on a yacht with Han Solo. In fact, I was thrown out of a store for suspected shoplifting the same week that the first press photos from the Star Wars set (of 2016's Rogue One) came out. I wasn't stealing, right? But I was dressed quite strangely because my washing machine was broken. And someone said to me, "The difference between your public and private self is how much shame you carry around." I thought, "Yeah, maybe I should see a therapist or make a TV show about this?" Laughs )
I used to think that acting was about transforming into someone else for someone else's sake, putting on a mask. Now I feel like we need to find a way to take that mask off.
How do you create this subversive comedy in the arena of shame? I think the only way to deal with shame is to laugh. And so it's about a character who's trying to project a completely different image in public than in private. And you're faced with a choice: either you try your best to maintain this gap, or you close it and feel naked, vulnerable. And I think creating this show is also about closing the gap between my public and private selves.
For example, especially in America, I think people perceive me as a very emotional, very political actor. But my friends know I'm a London guy. It's all about jokes and comedy and music, and I think "Bait" reflects that. It's who I really am. I like to fool around. I like 1970s psychedelic funk. I like to mix spy thrillers and Bollywood soap operas from episode to episode. This character takes off his mask, and in many ways, this series is about me doing the same.
Riz Ahmed, photographed by Nori Rasmussen Martinez for TheWrap.
Why did it take 10 years to go from «Oh, I’d like to do something in this area» to actually implementing it?
Sometimes you have to experience something before you can write about it. I think I had to let go of that desperate desire to be in that room. Desperate "I'm a strong word," but I felt like I was on a mission to knock down doors that might otherwise be closed to me. It was important to be in this room, but I needed to get to a point where I was more interested in creating my own room. That's what this show is about: creating my own room.
Each episode of the series can be radically different from the previous one.
It was very, very deliberate. It was truly the most challenging thing. We knew we had to do justice to the emotional truth of this character. He has an identity crisis; therefore, the show has to have an identity crisis, too. If we stick to one tone or genre, we give the character a stable foundation. And he's an actor, so he has to try to figure out who he is, first by doing a James Bond episode, then a Bollywood soap opera, then Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise, and then a modern-day spy thriller by Paul Greengrass.
This was an incredibly complex task, requiring numerous rewrites, rewrites, adjustments and tweaks throughout the editing and pitch modulation process.
And that really made me happy. Some people understood all these nuances, from cultural specifics to differences in genre.
Guz Khan and Riz Ahmed in the film "Bait" (Prime Video)
The cultural specificity you mentioned may be specific to a particular community, but if people can recognize those emotions, it could make the show universal.
One hundred percent. I think early on in my career as a creator, I was afraid of being too specific. And at the same time, I couldn't help but be who I wanted to be, whether it was my early rap songs like "Post 9/11 Blues" or "The Long Goodbye" or something like that—what I have to express will be unique to me. Just like "Fleabag" or "The Bear" or "Atlanta," one of the joys of making television is the opportunity to introduce people to a world they otherwise wouldn't have been exposed to. It's a world I love, and I don't think it's been shown on screen before. It's the bustling, dynamic, chaotic London I know and love.
It's amazing to see people who have never encountered a family like the one we show say, "That's my family!"«
Riz Ahmed, photographed by Nori Rasmussen Martinez for TheWrap.
Besides the Star Wars theme and shoplifting, did you use other events from your life in the series?
Oh yeah. My character has a panic attack at the end of the first episode in a music club in London. The same thing happened to me in that same club, on that same stage in London. Same place, same venue, same thing.
My character is beaten and insulted on a railway overpass in a park—the exact same place where it happened to me. We went back and filmed it there. My character is approached by MI5 to help with this project. MI5 approached me after I gained some fame as an actor. They said, "This will help us get the word out." I didn't answer the call, but this has happened to me three times.
As an actor, you can hide behind anything. And if you're trying to expand the boundaries of culture, you can do that by recasting stories that would have already existed. But I was never offered roles because they simply didn't exist—roles like me. Roles like Dev Patel. Roles like Himesh Patel. Those roles didn't really exist. So I want to add that to the pantheon of our stories.
What was it like filming scenes of panic attacks and beatings as a child, where you were subjected to humiliation?
It really helped me relax. It was much more pleasant than therapy. And the pay was a little better.
There's something so funny about watching someone else humiliate themselves. It's cathartic, it's scary, it's crazy, and all of that is good. That's why I consider clowning such a profound and ancient art form. Who would have thought how healing public humiliation could be?
Riz Ahmed, photographed by Nori Rasmussen Martinez for TheWrap.
When you started gaining recognition, did you feel any pressure to represent a community that is not often seen in the Western entertainment industry?
I think I felt a responsibility to represent people. But now I'm most interested in the question: how can I represent myself most authentically? How can I bridge the gap between public and private? People want a work of art not so much to be seen as to feel free, as if that person were dancing as if no one was watching. Instead of representing others, I'm now interested in representing myself as honestly as possible, in a way that surprises even myself.
I need to ask you about the film "Digger," which you made with Alejandro Iñárritu and Tom Cruise. What were your impressions of that work?
It was unique. I don't know if I'll ever experience anything like that again—being surrounded by that holy trinity of obsessive perfectionists: Iñárritu, Chivo (cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki), and Tom Cruise, right? Laughs ) Honestly, most often I felt, "This is crazy, in the best sense of the word." It was like new horizons had been reached in how intensely you can experience something, how much you can hone a moment. The lengths to which all three of us are willing to go to bring it to perfection. And then, when everything is done perfectly, to squeeze every last drop out of it. And when this "mush" is squeezed out, to bring it to perfection.
It was incredibly inspiring. I was working on "Digger" at the same time as post-production on "Bait." Juggling these two tasks, which go beyond my main job, was incredibly intense. But they fed off each other. Working with this team, and then coming back and trying to bring that energy of experimentation, play, and obsession into our editing…
It was a real gift, actually, how these things could cross-pollinate. I didn't expect that.
This article originally appeared in TheWrap's awards issue, in the Miniseries and TV Movies section. Read more from that issue here.
Riz Ahmed, photographed by Nori Rasmussen Martinez for TheWrap.
The article "How Riz Ahmed Used James Bond to Create 'Delude,' His Most Personal Project to Date" first appeared on TheWrap.