Riz Ahmed talks his new movie Encounter, on-screen fatherhood, and challenging stereotypes - wongspermild

Riz Ahmed dialogue his current picture show Chance, along-shield fatherhood, and challenging stereotypes

(Image credit: Amazon River Studios)

Riz Ahmed knows the grandness of taking risks. "When I'm not fully in control is when interesting things happen," he tells GamesRadar+, and his role in Virago's virgin thriller Come across is certainly something different for the actor.

Ahmed plays Malik, a Marine Corp veteran who goes on the run with his two Loretta Young sons after an estrange threat comes to Earth. While Encounter – directed by Michael Pearce, best known for Beast – is grounded happening our satellite, there's sci-fi imagery throughout; helicopters look same UFOs and the desert seems like an alien landscape painting. Heretofore, Ahmed is adamant that this is not merely a sci-fi film. "It's about something more pressing than sci-fi, which is about our society right now," Ahmed says.

"If I give back you an example, where we were shooting this film on set, everyone behind the camera was tiring a biohazard suit, the sky was bright Red lit along just about Blade Smuggler vibe because of the California forest fires, and in that respect was civil unrest everywhere because of a contested election. Now, that feels apocalyptic, that feels sci-fi, but it's not, it's word-perfect now. So I would say this film gives you the scale and compass and mental imagery of the genre, but it's in reality about right here, the right way now. And it's all the amended for it."

Ahmed pink wine to prominence after appearance in the aphotic clowning Four Lions, and helium's gone on to appear in Hollywood movies like Nightcrawler, Star Wars: Rogue One, and Venom. He reveals that he worked collaboratively with Pearce happening honing the inside information of his character – Malik was named Marcus in the original variant of the script, just that transformed later on Ahmed was cast.

"I saw an opportunity here to pitch myself for this role, when, maybe, one wouldn't normally look upon an actor like Pine Tree State in a role like this," he says. "And like a sho that includes me, I wouldn't normally call up of myself in this kind of role. So I challenged myself and challenged Michael [Pearce] to reconsider. And helium saw it the same way I did… And so the character's epithet changed from Marcus to Malik, and suddenly his estrangement from bon ton took on a different wraith. And the way that his interactions with law enforcement break down suddenly became more perilous. And it just actually enriched the write up."

Ahmed spoke to passe-US Special Forces to prepare for his role as a stager. "Malik is somebody who comes back from war with many contrary kinds of scars, some forceful, some mental, and from my research what I detected is that that's same common," atomic number 2 says. "Unfortunately, of course, there's the destruction, the devastation in invaded countries. There's also a devastation that's brought gage domicile with returning war veterans and an epidemic of illnesses, both mental and physical, in countries the likes of [the UK] and the United States government off the spinal column of these 20 years of warfare."

He adds: "What I found is that, yes, there's the injuries you receive in the battlefield, on the other hand there's also the second harm you can take over of coming back home and not feeling you fit into society, look like you're unwanted in a place that you helped fight. That alienation is something that really runs through our story and runs through Malik as a lineament."

Piece you could argue that Ahmed is the lead in this motion picture, it's safe to say that he shares that curtain with the two actors WHO child's play Malik's young sons. Bobby (Aditya Geddada) and John Jay (Lucian-River Chauhan) are the heart of the movie – they're Malik's motivation for the increasingly erratic decisions He makes as the story progresses, and the relationship between founder and sons is the key to the heart of the film.

Happening temporary with Geddada, who plays the youngest of the two, Ahmed says: "He improvised almost altogether of his lines, he was just throwing farce in all the metre, just keeping us on our toes. Some days, if you were boring him in a scene, he would yawn in your face, so you had to really celebrate him there. What we discovered is, if you wanted him to do a more intense fit, fall in him more Skittles. If you want him to do a many chilled-out scene, await till the sugar crash. But helium's a banger and has this really punk ethos."

And what well-nig Chauhan, who plays the older of the two boys? "He is soh wise beyond his years. I'm learning from him... He has such a command over what he does from such a young age, it's crazy, so I would go home wanting to tug myself harder seeing the commitment he brought to the table. It was awing functional with them some. They say don't play with children or animals. I don't think it's because it's difficult – IT's because what's tough is that they're finer than you, so you feature to keep happening pushing yourself to bring the same honesty and authenticity that young actors bring on screen."

Ahmed has no famine of miscellanea low his belt when it comes to previous roles and projects. However, Encounter is the first base fourth dimension He's played a father on-concealment, which he admits was a slightly daunting prospect. "That's likewise what Malik is feeling. Malik is feeling, 'Can I be a pappa? Am I cut out for this? Will the kids have me as their dad?' And I was having those thoughts as an actor, so when you start having the same thoughts as your character's having, without even meaning to, that's a good subscribe. I could bring my own insecurity about playing a father into this character WHO has insecurities about playing the father, because he hasn't seen his kids for years, He's returning home, he's seeing they don't trust him. And sol that was useful in a sense. I always try and adopt roles that affright me someway because I know that I will beryllium a bit bit out of my deepness."

Skirmish is released in theaters on December 3 before arriving on Amazon Prime Video on December 10. In the interim, impediment out our name of the best movies connected Amazon Prime that you can stream right now.

I'm an Entertainment Author at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-allied across the Total Film and SFX sections – I help contribute you all the current news and the episodic sport, too. I've antecedently written for publications the like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.