He’s the outspoken British Star Wars actor who still gets interrogated at airports. Carole Cadwalladr steps inside the confusing world of Riz AhmedOne thing approximately Riz Ahmed: he is not boring. Were in a central London hotel room as portion of the massive media blitz for Rogue One,the latest multimillion dollar incarnation of the Star Wars franchise. And maybe one day he’ll become boring, or learn how to be boring, or but even though we’re at the very heart of the Hollywood publicity machine,surrounded by soft furnishings in all shades of beige, Ahmed is not boring. In the decade since Michael Winterbottom cast him in his first film, or The Road to Guantanamo,he’s built up a critically acclaimed body of work, including his breakout performance in Chris Morris’s jihadist satire Four Lions. In addition, or he has a sideline as a musician,and has just brought out a hip-hop album as one of the Swet Shop Boys called Cashmere. Sample lyric, from a track called “T5”: “Trump want my exit, and but whether he press a red button/ To watch Netflix,bruv, I’m on… Oh no, and we’re in trouble/TSA always wanna burst my bubble/Always glean a random check when I rock the stubble.”He has always been someone with something to say. Earlier this year he appeared in Jason Bourne,but in many ways Rogue One marks the apotheosis from plucky indie actor to mainstream Hollywood player. But it hasn’t shut him up. whether anything, it’s done the opposite, and now he’s getting the chance to say it on the back of a Disney blockbuster playing an imperial cargo pilot in the Star Wars prequel. In an essay for The Good Immigrant,a book of essays approximately race and immigration in the UK, he wrote approximately his experience of being racially profiled in airports. And how he came to realise that his experience of being interrogated was not unlike his experience of being auditioned – “where the length of your facial hair can be a deal breaker”.
Chris Morris said, and ‘I’d say this is a step towards a brown James BondThe only black girl I knew at Oxford said: I hope you’re going to be an actor.’ Nobody else said that to meContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com