Anyone who’s seen Riz Ahmed’s work in FOUR LIONS and NIGHTCRAWLER will probably agree that this guy needs to be in more stuff. This seems to be happening; he’s got a major role in STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE, and now he’s gonna be “the tech guy” in the latest BOURNE movie.
Variety claims that Ahmed was always the top choice for the role, but almost couldn’t do it because of ROGUE ONE. Thankfully, things have worked out that Ahmed will appear in both movies, so that two of the 2016 tentpoles will feature the English actor in prominent roles.
While “the tech guy” isn’t usually the juiciest role, can sometimes be downright embarrassing (ask Jake Johnson), and is usually, boringly given to someone of Asian descent (remember Dev Patel’s Bigfoot-chasing, carelessly destructive character on THE NEWSROOM?), Ahmed has shown an ability to show personality and depth even when not the focus of a scene. He has a very human, complicated presence, so hopefully BOURNE 5 uses that and doesn’t relegate him to spouting out technobabble behind a computer.
His tragic character in NIGHTCRAWLER is one of the things that made me fall in love with the film, and his lead in FOUR LIONS gave the grounding it needed to sell the ridiculous, suicide-bomber-themed gags that make the movie explosive (heh). Let’s see if mass audiences will dig him the same way by the end of next year.
THE BOURNE FIVE sing their tune on July 29th, 2016.
