Britz
Riz
Ahmed plays Sohail
Describe
Sohail…
He’s in a transitional space in his life in every sense –
he’s going from being a boy to being a man; he’s in an uncertain
period between university and work life; and he’s coming from
a more working class, ethnically homogenous, background and going towards
a more middle-class future. He’s always been a bit of golden boy,
top of the class academically, studied law, good at sports. So the system’s
always worked for him in a way. He’s someone who feels he fits
in very comfortably to what it means to be British. Despite having suffered
racist abuse as a youngster he’s been successful enough that that
hasn’t ruined his self-esteem or cast a big chip on his shoulder.
How
did you prepare for the role?
Well Sohail’s a sixth belt in ju-jitsu for a start! So that’s
one thing I did – I trained in ju-jitsu quite intensively. I broke
two fingers in the process… which I was convinced made me harder!
How
was the other guy?
He was the head of the National Council of Ju-Jitsu so he was fine.
But I thought it was important – if you look at people who train
in martial arts it kind of informs their whole body language. Sohail
holds himself in a particular way and I thought that was something important
to get in to. And by the end of the film I’d earned my first belt
and I’m now a third belt myself. Also, I snuck in to law lectures
at London University for a couple of weeks, undetected. Again, I just
wanted to put myself back in to that university setting - I try to put
myself in something close to the character’s situation.
Are
there parallels between you and Sohail?
On paper I guess you could say he was quite similar. But one of the
main thrusts of Britz is to try and get past people ‘on
paper’. If you inventorise them and list the things that they
are, that isn’t really what defines them – whether that
be Muslim, MI5 agent or even terrorist. They’re people ultimately,
so I guess even for me I had to get past that and realise that Sohail
is a completely different person. And he’s hugely different to
me, his whole manner. As a person I think he’s quite a lot more
reserved, quite a private guy. I think he has certain old English values
of the ideal gentleman ingrained in him on some level. He’s also
an inspiring character. It’s not that he’s British and therefore
there’s no part of him that has roots in another culture. I think
in embracing Britishness he realises that he’s redefining what
it means to be British – and I think that’s why the drama’s
called Britz, or that’s how I interpret it anyway.
Is
it first and foremost a political piece?
I think it almost transcends politics in a way – by the time you
get to the end the quite haunting message it leaves is these are people,
across the board. I think there’s a tendency in the current political
climate to deal in abstracts and dehumanise people as this kind of ‘other’.
Really I think the main service Britz does is to re-humanise
young Muslims in the public eye, present them as people – which
is what drama’s about.
Were
you startled by some of the things you learnt about current legislation
while on this project?
Let’s just say that if lawyers - experts - find it alarming then
the general public would be wise to follow their advice and find it
alarming too.
You’re
a musician as well as an actor…
I do music and I act, I went to Oxford and I did both there. Actually
the week of the release of Britz is going to be a very big
week for me. Not least because of the release of Britz itself
but because I’ve been asked to play the Electric Proms which is
really exciting, and I'm also going to be releasing my next single,
‘People Like People’ that week – check it out, it’s
on my MySpace page. It’s kind of terrifying the way it’s
all lined up!
Biography – Riz Ahmed
Riz Ahmed read Politics,
Philosphy, and Economics at Oxford University where he founded Hit&Run,
the infamous hip-hop/d’n’b club night, now in its 6th year.
Whilst there he also joined 12 piece jazz/drum’n’bass outfit
Confidential Collective, who have been supported by the likes of Roni
Size and Adam Freedland.
He won
a scholarship to the Central School of Speech and Drama, where he was
spotted by Michael Winterbottom and cast in The Road to Guantanamo
for Channel 4 which won the Silver Bear at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival
and was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2007.
Other theatre
and television credits include Gaddafi: A Living Myth (ENO),
Prayer Room (Edinburgh Lyceum/Birmingham Rep), Borderline
by Hanif Kureishi (Royal Court 50th Anniversary Play Readings), Julius
Caesar (Thelma Holt/Japanese Tour), Banglatown Banquet
(BBC), Slings and Arrows (Tiger Aspect) and The Path to
9/11 (ABC/BBC).
In August 2006 Riz
released his first single, ‘The Post 9/11 Blues’ (as Riz
MC), for which he secured worldwide digital distribution. An internet
cult classic, winning global media attention despite censorship by almost
all mainstream music programmers, it was released under his own record
label, Battered Records.
Over the
course of the last 3 years Riz has won the Bombay Bronx MC Battle competition,
the OneMusic Battlescars MC competition, and was voted Best MC at the
UK Asian Music Awards. In 2006 he was included in the annual Screen
International ‘Stars of Tomorrow’ feature, and he recently
collaborated with Nitin Sawhney at the re-opening of the Royal Festival
Hall, and played the BBC Radio 1 Stage at Glastonbury.
In August
Riz will be filming the lead part in Shifty, the first feature
to come out of the Film London/Microwave Scheme which challenges film-makers
to produce a feature-length film for theatrical distribution for a micro-budget
of £100,000.
