Encounter's Riz Ahmed Reveals His Honest Opinion Of Comic Book Movies - Exclusive
British actor Riz Ahmed has developed a diverse and wide-ranging career since first coming on the scene in 2006. After appearing largely in TV movies and miniseries for the first four years of his career, he made his first big screen breakthrough in the acclaimed "Four Lions," playing the hapless leader of a quartet of would-be terrorists.
From there, Ahmed would score his next attention-getting performance in 2014 with "Nightcrawler," and then hit the big time in 2016 with his historic, Emmy-winning lead in the HBO miniseries "The Night Of" and his featured role as Bodhi Rook in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story." Last year, he scored an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his work in "Sound of Metal" — a first for both a Muslim and an actor of South Asian descent — while his latest film, "Encounter," finds him playing a troubled Marine Corps veteran who sets out to protect his sons from an alien invasion.
Ahmed tells Looper during an exclusive interview that movies like "Encounter," which blends elements of sci-fi, action and psychological drama, are always a draw for him. "I think it's kind of what keeps it interesting for me, keeps it interesting for audiences," he explains. "Most people probably feel like they don't fit neatly into one box. So why should our stories?"
As for perhaps the biggest film genre of the last decade — the superhero movie — Ahmed has already appeared in 2018's "Venom." He played the villainous scientist Carlton Drake, who fuses with a symbiote to become the monstrous being known as Riot. Could there be another comics-based outing in his future, perhaps as a hero this time?
Riz Ahmed has a particular take on superhero movies
While Riz Ahmed told Variety that he "hadn't developed the skill set" for making big, effects-driven franchise movies during the filming of "Venom," the actor says he's willing to delve back into the genre.
"I'm open to all of it, man," he tells Looper. "If the characters are interesting, the filmmakers are interesting. And I'm open to all of it. I think that's part of the fun of this is you don't know what's quite around the corner."
Growing up in England, however, Ahmed says he "didn't really grow up reading comics," instead citing animated shows like "ThunderCats" and "Ulysses 31" as his early go-tos for fantasy and imaginative adventures. But while he may not have been immersed in the exploits of the DC and Marvel universes as a kid, Ahmed says he's fascinated by the success of the movies and the avenues that they open up for stories and characters.
"It's now so interesting to see how that's kind of dominating the box office and has for maybe the last decade or so," he remarks. "It's a world full of such possibilities. Because it is a work of make believe, I think it has helped kind of stretch our imaginations of what films can be and who can play what roles. All kinds of stuff has been thrown open. It's pretty cool."
Next up on Ahmed's schedule is the title role in a new screen version of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" — but from what he says above, a jaunt into the DC universe or the MCU could be in his future.
"Encounter" is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.