Riz Ahmed is a British actor revealed in the excellent mini-series The Night Of. In 2021, he will star in Sound of Metal, a powerful work that caused a sensation at the Deauville and Tiff festivals.
From music to silence
Riz Ahmed is not at his first nightmare… In the Emmy-winning miniseries, he woke up next to a lifeless body. For Sound of Metal, he plays a drummer who gradually loses his hearing. The British actor has this particular authenticity that allows him to stand out from most of his peers. For Darius Murder, the director of the film, this is what pushed him to choose him to play Ruben, the main protagonist. Riz "falls" into the universe of Sound of Metal at the end of 2017.A risky bet, a powerful story, a director with a lot of heart … Strong arguments that push the actor to invest fully in this project. He had to learn drums and sign language so that the feature film fits perfectly with reality. Darius didn't want any tricks, he wanted you to be able to fully feel this sound experience. Although Riz will never be able to fully feel what it is like to be deaf, he has used implants to simulate the effects of hearing loss. Very intense moments for the actor who was able to better understand the daily life of hearing-impaired people. His chemistry with Olivia Cooke (Ready player One) is striking. Two British actors reunited to play two Americans. An incongruous idea? No, of course not. The filmmaker works by instinct and that's why he chose this talented duo.
An introductory scene without a net
The shooting of the first scene of the film (a live concert) was not easy for the actors. Darius wants his actors to surpass themselves during his first images. A most complicated exercise since Riz Ahmed and Olivia Cooke played in front of a real audience. We can say without batting an eyelid that this search for authenticity is the leitmotif of this unique film. https://youtu.be/FoSu1qFQRnY
Sound of Metal: a sound experience
Some clichés remain, and some think that deafness equals silence. The film largely breaks this misconception. A dinner with the hearing impaired shows us what it really is. Nicolas Becker is the sound engineer of the film. He collaborates with Darius before filming. For what reason? In order to obtain the ideal rendering. Many experiments are done. The mixing work is titanic so that everything is as realistic as possible. In a year 2021 that should allow the seventh art to return to the front of the stage, Sound of Metal should be illustrated during the next Oscars. The film is distributed in France by Tandem, a new player in the field of cinema. Their line-up is of quality, we can only warmly recommend you to take a close look at their official website.
