Exclusive: Riz Ahmed On Playing Deaf For ‘Sound of Metal’

Now playing on Amazon Prime from Amazon Studios is Sound Of Metal, directed by Darius Marder and starring Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci, Lauren Ridloff, Shaheem Sanchez, Chelsea Lee, Jeremy Stone and Mathieu Amalric.

During a series of adrenaline-fueled one-night gigs, itinerant punk-metal drummer Ruben (Riz Ahmed) begins to experience intermittent hearing loss. When a specialist tells him his condition will rapidly worsen, he thinks his music career — and with it his life — is over. His bandmate and girlfriend Lou (Olivia Cooke) checks the recovering heroin addict into a secluded sober house for the deaf in hopes it will prevent a relapse and help him learn to adapt to his new situation. But after being welcomed into a community that accepts him just as he is, Ruben has to choose between his equilibrium and the drive to reclaim the life he once knew. Utilizing startling, innovative sound design techniques, director Darius Marder takes audiences inside Ruben’s experience to vividly recreate his journey into a rarely examined world.

Best known for his breakthrough performance in Dan Gilroy's Nightcrawler, Ahmed has gone to have more impressive roles in films such as Jason Bourne, Rogue One, and Venom. On television, he had a starring role in HBO’s The Night Of. In speaking with BlackFilmandTV.com, Ahmed talks about his preparation in playing a deaf person for this film.

What was the attraction to say yes to this project?

Riz Ahmed: First and foremost is the script. It had incredible writing from an incredible writer Darius Marder. Then when I met him, I said, “You've done some amazing job on this script." It was just connecting with him as a guy. He just struck me as someone who was just really about the work and really wanted to do what's best for the movie. He waited 10 years to do this and wanted to cast the right person. If that means shooting on film, which means that you get half as many takes and cost as much money on the rest of the film. And that's cool. He inspired me to meet the challenge that he'd set, which was, "I really want to whoever plays this role to be drumming for real. I want him to be signing for real. You got to go on that journey.” I really relished that challenge. I was looking for something that would overwhelm and immerse me and reconnect me to that kind of all in world of indie filmmaking; and just jumping in the deep end. I spent seven months learning how to play the drums and learning American Sign Language. They're both pretty scary and difficult experiences, but also incredibly enriching in really, really ways I hadn't expected.

Were you prepared for the months it would take you to learn how to play the drums and learning sign language and dealing with the deaf community?

Riz Ahmed: When I signed up, I thought it was a cool idea. When I'm landed in New York, I was like, "What the hell am I doing?" I had one of those moments, but quickly I just started becoming obsessed with the process. I'm can be an incessant person in a sense. I met with teachers that were very patient with me and my drum teacher he showed me that I've got rhythm as a rapper, but putting that into your body of the drum is a different thing. You can't play the drums, you have to let the drums play you. You have to stop thinking and just surrender. That was a quite profound psychological shift and affected the way that I act, in terms of letting go and surrendering to the rhythm of the scene.

And similarly, my sign instructor, Jeremy Stone from Harlem is just like an amazing, amazing dude and is a friend of mine. He just welcomed me into his community. I attended his wedding and just made friends within the deaf community for those seven months. He really taught me the real meaning of the word communication, because he said to me that hearing people can sometimes be emotionally repressed. He goes on to say hearing people hide behind words, whereas when you can communicate with sign language, you are saying you're communicating with your body. You have a different kind of connection. 

It's true because when I started becoming more fluent in sign language, having more emotional and deeper conversations, I was getting emotional. In a way I wouldn't have if I just glossed over every word. And so I wasn't ready for how long and difficult the process would be. I wasn't ready for how enriching and beautiful the gifts would be at the end of it, not just in helping me prepare for the role, but just in terms of what gave me as a human being. We in the hearing community has so much we can learn from the deaf community. I hope this film opens people's eyes to that.

What did you pick up from Darius that you probably hadn't received from other directors, but you can take on to your next project?

Riz Ahmed: Darius really invited me to be more myself to my work. I think a lot of times, because I've played a wide range of roles, people have this expectation and I of myself where, "I'll become your character for you.” I'll hit the mark, show me what to hit, and I hit it. Darius is interested in me bringing me to the table, me playing with what I want to do. Me being more Riz to this performance. That was really liberating, actually. It made me realize that it's something that I can even do more of in my work. That was something that I can embrace. That comes from Darius and him putting so much himself in this project.

The character I play, Regan, is very valiant in many ways in putting himself out there, and that encouraged me to put myself out there. It feels like I spent a lot of the last 15 years as an actor, learning how to wear a mask for people to play these roles. With the Sound of Metal, I was encouraged to take my mask off. Now that I've taken it off, I want to keep it off for a while.

How do you go back to doing the next project that's coming off of this? 

Riz Ahmed: You do different things for different reasons. You always have to find a reason because you believe in them. I believed in this because it was challenging, it stretched me and because it shined a light on a deaf community that doesn't normally get shine. I did my next film Mogul Mowgli only because I wanted to work through some things personally on my mind, and I wanted to bring a story in a community to the screen that doesn't get shown a lot there. I'm doing Invasion now with Michael Pearce because I really believe in him as a filmmaker, and because the relationships in the story are so amazing, and I want to work with Octavia Spencer. So as long as you find some reason that is meaningful and real to us, either for your growth as an artist, or for what you think you can offer audiences or how it might be able to stretch culture. I think you're on the right track.