Exclusive: Aml Ameen On Sci-Fi Film ‘Parallel’
Now available in select theaters and On Demand from Vertical Entertainment is the sci-fi film Parallel, directed by Isaac Ezban and starring Aml Ameen, Martin Wallström, Georgia King, Mark O’Brien, Alyssa Diaz with David Harewood and Kathleen Quinlan.
Written by Scott Blaszak, a group of friends stumble upon a mirror that serves as a portal to a "multiverse", but soon discover that importing knowledge from the other side in order to better their lives brings increasingly dangerous consequences.
For Ameen, who was seen in Lee Daniels’ The Butler, Beyond The Lights, Lila & Eve, Idris Elba’s directorial debut Yardie and Inside Man: Most Wanted, this is his second sci-fi film since he appeared in The Maze Runner.
What was the attraction to doing this movie?
Aml Ameen: The attraction to doing this movie was a couple of things. One, Isaac Ezban. It was his enthusiasm for the project, his enthusiasm for the world he was creating, and his belief that we can create something unique in the world of homage to the classics of the 80s. I've always loved and been interested in science fiction, science by the dream life, the afterlife, what's possible, where we come from, where our energies are from, and also whether or not we can live in different worlds at the same time. Back To The Future is one of my favorite films of all time and anytime I can get a project that feels as though it's an homage to a film I love when I'm a kid, I'll go after it. For example, with Maze Runner, I felt like I was in a hook. They were in the maze when I was in the film work, being reviewed. So that that's how I choose the more fun side work I do. That's what came down to this.
This film has four main characters, and we've seen similar films with different themes. I think about flatliners and other films and there's always one person with the conscience. In this film, that seems to be you. How else would you best best describe your character?
Aml Ameen: I like the way you frame that, because you didn't just put them all on me. I think he's a person with a past. He is someone that when we meet him, he's got the moral compasses. He's trying to make sense decisions that he thinks are good. He sees where wrong decisions can lead you. He's a man of secrets, a man of melancholy, and someone that is fixated on changing something that went wrong in his past, which is his deep, personal relationship with his father.
When you got the script, did you think about what you would do if you had option to change your future?
Aml Ameen: I think if we close our eyes, and quiet enough, you can go into the future and start mapping things out. Like this film shows you, that you might map out one design, and that design may very well happen; but you might not make space for what else is going to happen to the Ying and what's going to happen to the Yang and vice versa. I'm a huge believer in the imagination world, and a huge believer in being a futurist and taking determining one's future as best we can. This is about making decisions, imagining them, feeling them and moving towards them, and then being flexible enough to be able to rotate when things go awry. I'm always in the future. Future is my game as a person. I love future and the future that comes to us on his his death. So while I'm still here, I'm having a good time as best I can.
How was working with this cast?
Aml Ameen: It was fun. We had a good time. We filmed in Vancouver. I guess we’re technically more Canadians than American. We had a unique experience of also playing Americans which was fun. They’re great guys. Mark and I had a great banter. Martin’s an absolute gentleman, and Georgie's really dedicated actress. In fact, I met her in an American accent for coffee in LA. And then she stayed in the accent throughout the movie. That actually inspired me when I did the film Yardie and just I stayed in my accent for three months. That's because I had no experience but in watching her do it, I was like, "You know what? I'm going to do that." It was an inspiration for those reasons.
What goes into the projects you take? What did you learn from this director that's different from the other people you've worked with that you can take on to your next project?
Aml Ameen: Funny enough I have worked with this director before. First of all, real is real. You have to get to a position of choice.As an actor, or as a human being, you always have choice. That's the only power you have as an actor, saying yes or no. You want to get to a position where you have enough choice to actually start carving out something to the career that you want. I don't believe I've seen any one project that I said yes to that I didn't want to do. In my career from early teenager to now has been a career of deliberate choices. A lot of it is about the person, the character, where I'm in my life, do I want to explore this particular person; and then it's grown to be about story. For example, with I May Destroy You, I was just a champion of the component of the story, even though my characters was not as prevalent in the story. And so, yeah, I would lend myself to that energy, and to Michaela Coel. With Inside Man, I'm a big fan of Denzel Washington. I've not played in American swaggy character, and I just had an absolute blast doing it. I'm getting even more pedantic about where I lend my energy to especially as I've moved successfully into writing and directing very successfully in terms in terms of doing it made, and just really wanting to tell stories that I'm passionate to tell.
In terms of this one, what I learned from Isaac is his enthusiasm. It’s a drug. He has such a genuine enthusiasm for the story he's telling and it's infectious. I've taken that on board as a director myself now, Making sure as much as I can, about respecting other people's process and how they do things, and being the energy on the set. I've learned from other directors how to be a great service to directors. When I was young, I thought that the director was the power position and actually, is the position of service. The greatest initial service was in service to so many people for a vision that you have. So I that's how I see it.
You will be directly, writing and starring Boxing Day. How did that story come about for you to be for this to be your director debut?
Aml Ameen: I wrote it. After I finished Yardie, I went to finish this. I've been writing with my writing partner for the past 10 years. We have a bunch of different projects. Some moments happened, some don't happen. One almost happened a couple years back, which by now, we never did it in the end because the money fell down. And then I decided, "Okay, let me write something that's personal to me." I know these people, these characters, and some people are going to get insight into who Aml Ameen is, to a degree, but fictionalized degree. This story has a lot of personal elements to it on Boxing Day. It has the names of my actual family members, some of them. Being a person that's lived as a British person who has lived in America, and had American girlfriends, it's definitely the closest thing to baring my soul and experiences I've had as a man became. This came about as necessity as well. I want to tell stories and I have to be a part of the solution of creating stories and narratives that I believe in.
And not just as an actor waiting around to find that project. I have been doing this since I was six years old. That's coming up on 30 years. I found some confidence in that. We’ve got wonderful partners from Warner Bros. and Film4, who are incredibly supportive. I have Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Aja Naomi King, and Little Mix’s Leigh-Anne Pinnock in her first film role.
What’s a good reason to see Parallel?
Aml Ameen: This is a good film, and an interesting perspective from a filmmaker. He's a great guy, and I think he's going places. I think this is the beginning of his American journey.