Riz Ahmed is hungry.
Can I kindly have this grilled chicken sandwich but would you swap the bacon out for mushrooms?
Love that, man, love that.
Credit: Maarten de Boer/Getty Images
But then the grilled chicken arrives.
The sandwich is as big as a toaster, with a sand-castle-sized side of French fries.
Thank you very much, he says, laughing and nodding his head.
HBO
We are in America!
He most certainly is.
I found a real connection to Riz as a person, Turturro says.
Hes really talented and a real hard worker and so smart.
Look at his performance its not overdone, not at all.
Thats where the whole things lives.
Its all in the minutia and the moment-to-moment life and the cost to this young mans life.
And thats all Riz.
I knew that the guys gotta be good in that part or else were dead, he says.
I looked at a lot of actors and I didnt even know about him until close to the end.
He didNightcrawlerafter we shot the pilot.
You would never know hes British, by the way.
Soft-spoken but disarmingly honest, Ahmed had one or two things to say on the subject.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So Ive been tempted to watchCriminal Justice, the BBC show thatThe Night Ofis based on.
Riz Ahmed:Oh, yeah?
But too many spoilers if you watch that one first, right?
Exactly, thats the problem.
Have you ever met Ben Whishaw, who played your character in that version?
No, not really.
I bumped into him in the street once and I said, Hey, Im doing the American version.
And he said, Oh, yeah, I heard about that, and he wished me luck.
In that show, the character is not of Pakistani origin.
No ones of Pakistani origin in any British show.
Thats why every actor of color is here, working in the States.
But for you, certainly, its been a meteoric couple of years sinceNightcrawlercame out.
Well, people always say, When this thing comes out, everything will change for you.
People have been saying that to me my whole life.
I just dont believe a word of it.
Some people, they do explode on the scene, you know.
Carey Mulligan inAn Education BAM!
I never saw myself having that kind of career.
And perhaps thats because people who look like me dont get to have those careers, often.
I get to stretch different muscles.
And I repeat: if youre lucky.
I guess we dont want to give away too much ofThe Night Ofs plot.
I think youll all thank us for that ultimately.
But what has this project meant for you, personally and professionally?
Well, we did the pilot in 2012.
So watching this back is like watching videos from childhood.
Ive been acting for 10 years, this is like almost five years ago.
Thats half my professional life.
Its a strange feeling.
I dont think many people knew about the show.
This was like our precious little secret.
It hadnt been out into the light of day.
Does it feel good that it finally is?
It feels great that there was belief in the project.
James [Gandolfini] had a couple of minutes in the pilot.
Then when he died, we all thought it was over.
But then we filmed it with Turturro in 2014.
I think they spent a year just editing it.
And now its on HBO.
You know, we dont have HBO in the U.K.
So thats a thing.
Thats one of those things inFamily Guythats a cultural reference in America.
In the pilot, youre arrested while driving a taxicab late at night.
And you spend most ofNightcrawlerin a car.
What is it about you driving around late at night?
Im always locked in a car, heading to no good, man.
What kind of research did you do forThe Night Of?
Im playing a working class college kid, and he defers some of his credits.
That was something that came up a lot in talking to college guys.
I spent a lot of time at Queens College and in Queens in general, mostly Jackson Heights.
And I went and visited Richard Price, who wrote the series.
And hes written so many iconic New York tales likeLush LifeandClockers.
Such an interesting guy, and he told me hed been to Syria right before the revolution started.
And hes been to Pakistan.
I met someone whod just come out of Rikers Island at his house.
I met a lot of people like that.
What was the most challenging part about actually shooting it?
It was just the length of the shoot.
Im used to doing U.K. indie films, like six weeks of filming, tops.
So for me, six months?
Holding onto trauma for six months, going there.
Youve got to find new ways to work.
Because otherwise you will just f your stamina.
Its a war of attrition.
That was a big learning experience for me.
Im so grateful for [it].
Its a luxury for me to act for six months with this caliber of actors.
They just give off good vibes, man.
Well, I give credit to Zaillian for that.
He is quite uncompromising in how he wants to pace things.
He just soaks in the authenticity of a situation.
Its nice to treat audiences like grown-ups.
How self-conscious are you of your acting?
I think on a good day youre not conscious of it at all.
On a bad day youre conscious of everything.
You get the best results when you get the hell out of your own way.
And when we control things theyre never as magical as when we abandon control.
Theres something spiritual underpinning that idea, not to sound too hokey.
Tapping into something bigger than yourself to find a transcendent creative moment.
What I take a stab at think about is, did you move forwards or backwards through an experience?
What is it like watching yourself on screen?
All I see are my shortcomings.
Do you know that Sarah Paulson hasnt watched any of her performance as Marcia Clark inThe People v. O.J.
Simpson: American Crime Story?
You gotta be kidding?
Shes too critical of her own work.
Well, she shouldnt be.
It can be a lonely black hole that you go down.
Thats my default spot to be in, chasing my own shadow.
Do you watch everything youre in?
I watch it because I want to learn.
And I want to improve, but its painful.
Your American accent is flawless, both the Californian accent inNightcrawlerand the New Yorker inThe Night Of.
Its kind of you to say that.
I think sometimes its good and sometimes could be better, like everything I do.
You probably think that about everything you do.
Ill listen to this conversation later and think of how I couldve asked every question better.
What the f is that?
Is it an innate human thing or is it something to do with being the Facebook generation?
I think I know who you mean.
[Laughs] Different generation, though, right?
The Night Ofpremieres July 10 at 9 p.m.
