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" I have always been restless, had a lot of energy. "
Riz Ahmed
Energy
Lot
Always
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" Nothing will turn you into more of a 'Star Wars' fan than being on a 'Star Wars' set. When you see how lovingly that world is rendered by the set designers, costume designers, props department, art department, they genuinely build an actual world. That is not an exaggeration. They build a world. "
Riz Ahmed
World
Nothing
See
" I think that with piracy and tighter funds being around, people are realising that the game to play is to try and win people's respect with bold film making and then win a special place in people's collections, rather than just having the biggest opening weekends. "
Riz Ahmed
People
Win
Think
" I never thought acting would be a realistic job for me. Because, quite frankly, I didn't see people who looked like me doing it. I quickly realized, that's all the more reason to try. "
Riz Ahmed
Job
People
Acting
" Sadly, I have disappointed the surveillance capitalists myself by not yet downloading 'Pokemon Go.' But I'm addicted to my phone enough as it is, and I don't necessarily need that helping hand. "
Riz Ahmed
Need
Phone
Enough
" Growing up in the mid-to-late '90s in London, you start seeing the explosion of drum'n'bass and then the birth of U.K. garage and grime. I decided to focus a lot of my energies as an aspiring MC. It was a very natural way to express yourself as a kid from a certain kind of neighborhood. "
Riz Ahmed
Yourself
Growing Up
Start
" Multiculturalism isn't just a buzzword; it's not just something to debate - I am multiculturalism. "
Riz Ahmed
I Am
Am
Something
" No-one gets a job at 16 and stays in it until 60 any more; we're connected to more people simultaneously than ever before, whether online or on our phones. We wear so many different hats within one day, one week, a lifetime. "
Riz Ahmed
Job
Hats
Day
" I've been very lucky to have played a variety of characters, and they weren't defined by their race. "
Riz Ahmed
Variety
Lucky
Been
" I get good references from a wide range of music. Something who's been a good influence in the last few years is Qawwali music. If you listen to a Qawwali singer like Aziz Mian - he's like James Brown. Qawwali is like Pakistani gospel-jazz. It's emotional, but it's also improvised, and it's all about that sacred-and-profane tightrope. "
Riz Ahmed
You
Good
Music
" Anyone driving great social change, willingly or not, is going to be a fascinating contradictory mix of idealism and ego. "
Riz Ahmed
Driving
Mix
Great
" I'm not trying to project any persona. Often people don't know where to put me. I don't fit comfortably under banners, and that's fine. I'm not worried about not making sense to people. That's probably my best asset. "
Riz Ahmed
Know
Project
People
" The fact is, I've been releasing records longer than I've been releasing films, or at least exactly as long. "
Riz Ahmed
Fact
Been
Exactly
" When I was growing up, I felt like I had to qualify it and say I'm British-Pakistani. But now I kind of feel like, in this day in age, this is what British looks like. It looks like me; it looks like Idris Elba, and hopefully through Nasir Khan, people will see that that's what an American can look like as well. "
Riz Ahmed
Growing Up
American
People
" There's this assumption that as an actor, Hollywood is always the end point, but I never thought along those lines. "
Riz Ahmed
Never
End
Hollywood
" The only people who have doubts about the sincerity of my music are people who come to it relatively late, off the back of having seen me in a film. Acting is about being other people, and music is about being myself. "
Riz Ahmed
Me
Music
People
" My music is a very personal reflection of me, whereas, acting a role, that's a reflection of another character. "
Riz Ahmed
Character
Acting
Me
" As a minority, no sooner do you learn to polish and cherish one chip on your shoulder than it's taken off you and swapped for another. The jewellery of your struggles is forever on loan, like the Koh-i-Noor diamond in the crown jewels. "
Riz Ahmed
You
Learn
Crown
" I'm not in a 'starry' position to be able to pick and choose, but I am interested in telling stories of substance with great directors - that's my only guiding principle. "
Riz Ahmed
Position
Principle
I Am
" I like the idea of being caught between things, always being a bit of an outsider, having an outside eye on things - almost like a Shakespearean fool. "
Riz Ahmed
Outside
Like
Fool
" I'm used to doing U.K. indie films, like, six weeks of filming, tops. "
Riz Ahmed
Six
Indie
Filming
" Being South Asian in the U.K. is like being Latino in the U.S., I would guess. It's a bit more hood. You see things; things happen. I was bouncing between worlds. You're acting from a very early age, when you have to code-switch like that. I'm a hybrid, a mongrel. I think many people live that life. "
Riz Ahmed
Life
You
People
" I'm always trying to slip out of those labels everyone tries to put round your neck. We all have multiple selves. "
Riz Ahmed
Your
Everyone
Always
" The 'Bourne' films totally reimagined and elevated the action genre. "
Riz Ahmed
Action
Elevated
Films
" I go to a lot of stand-up comedy. I find more inspiration from observational stuff than from rap. "
Riz Ahmed
Rap
More
Inspiration
" The music I make and the process of acting, for me, are both about trying to understand people and get inside what makes us tick. That's the main thing that excites me. Our sense of who we really are and what drives us. "
Riz Ahmed
Music
Us
Process
" Bandwagons roll through our lives. It's up to you whether you jump on them unquestioningly or jump on them to overturn them and subvert them. "
Riz Ahmed
Through
Roll
Up
" I grew up listening to a lot of early '90s hip-hop. I had the debut Wu-Tang album, Biggie, Snoop, that kind of stuff. Hieroglyphics, the Gravediggaz. I remember D.O.C.'s 'The Portrait of a Masterpiece' was something that had a big influence on me. "
Riz Ahmed
Kind
Influence
Listening
" No one's of Pakistani origin in any British show. That's why every actor of color is here working in the States. It's true. "
Riz Ahmed
Why
Show
Color
" Trajectories aren't linear. Life's just a roller coaster. If you're getting a chance to do cool stuff, and it's varied stuff, just enjoy it. I guess I'm a believer in the randomness of life rather than it being a linear trajectory or an arc, a consistent smooth arc, towards anything. "
Riz Ahmed
Enjoy
Smooth
Cool
" Reshoots are par for the course on any film. For me, I kind of love it because, as an actor, you always feel that there was a way you could have done it differently. Being able to go back and do some stuff again is always a blessing in my eyes. "
Riz Ahmed
Feel
You
Me