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" The 'Bourne' films totally reimagined and elevated the action genre. "
Riz Ahmed
Action
Elevated
Films
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" I don't feel that any kind of narrow stereotypes are representative of the work I've done, nor the range of the audience that work has found. I've played lots of different roles, and they've connected with lots of different people. "
Riz Ahmed
Work
Done
Feel
" 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
" You can read a character that feels amazing, but if the world around it and all the writing around it - even the way the stage descriptions are written - don't feel just right, then you know there's no point in doing the project. No character is ever bigger than the whole film. "
Riz Ahmed
Amazing
Writing
World
" I think that in an Internet age, content is content. As long as you can stand up on the merits of what you're doing right at that moment and aren't just relying on your success in doing something else, it's all good; people will respect you. "
Riz Ahmed
Good
Moment
Respect
" 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
" 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
" The camera or the microphone in the booth is merciless. If you don't believe what you're saying, it hears it. If you don't believe it, it sees it in your eyes, it hears it in your voice that there isn't the conviction there. "
Riz Ahmed
Believe
Saying
Eyes
" What's interesting about the U.K. is that it celebrates an alternative voice. It's up for telling new stories. "
Riz Ahmed
Up
Voice
Stories
" 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
" I have always been restless, had a lot of energy. "
Riz Ahmed
Energy
Lot
Always
" 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
" 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
" The multiculturalism of Britain is one of our greatest strengths in music, literature, and visual art, but the TV and film industry doesn't tap into the multicultural talent pool in the U.K. as much as they do in the U.S. "
Riz Ahmed
Art
Talent
Literature
" 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
" 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
" It's interesting - what are you willing to give up in terms of your privacy for access to other people? For access to things you think you desperately need. Ultimately, it's that old saying, isn't it? If the service is free, then the product is you. The thing being sold is you. There's a product for sale in you and your data. "
Riz Ahmed
Saying
Think
People
" Since the Greek myths, the greatest stories are premised on the idea of, 'A stranger arrives.' "
Riz Ahmed
Idea
Stranger
Stories
" 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
" Whether you look at 'Glee' and its normalization of gay identity or you look at the work of Martin Scorsese and the Italian-American community, American culture is able to take these stories, which are seen as marginalized, and just turn them into American stories. And you don't think twice about it. "
Riz Ahmed
Identity
Work
Community
" 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
" Sometimes when you're inside a story, it's almost better if you don't think too much about its wider cultural significance or if you don't think about how audiences might react to it. That takes you out of the reality of the situation you're committing to as you're telling the story. "
Riz Ahmed
Better
You
Story
" Multiculturalism isn't just a buzzword; it's not just something to debate - I am multiculturalism. "
Riz Ahmed
I Am
Am
Something
" It's interesting that we assign the label 'political' to art that doesn't just fit a mould of status quo. Is 'Downton Abbey' not political? That's political! Every piece of art offers a perspective on the world. And what is politics if not a perspective on the world? 'Downton Abbey' is about class. It's also about race. "
Riz Ahmed
Perspective
Politics
Race
" My parents, man, they're just the most loving, encouraging... They're like those people who define themselves through their role as parents before people in their own rights. "
Riz Ahmed
Parents
Own
Man
" 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
" Maybe I don't ever fully switch off, but I think the way I offset that is by splitting my time between film and music. I always want to challenge myself and grow, fail, self-flagellate, and then try again. "
Riz Ahmed
Think
Myself
Music
" I don't think any of us like to be reduced to just one label. "
Riz Ahmed
Like
Just One
Us
" 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
" 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
" 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