Riz Ahmed opens up about personal take on 'Hamlet' for modern adaptation

Riz Ahmed found himself in Shakespeare’s character Hamlet from the eponymous play, and he brought this resonance with him to his modern-day adaptation of the play.

The 43-year-old actor and filmmaker plays the 17th century Danish prince in the soon-to-be-released movie directed by Aneil Karia.

Speaking of how he connected with the play early on in his life, Ahmed said, “I had a really inspirational English teacher who gave it to me. And actually, I found a character, the heart of this play, that just feels as much of an outsider as I did at that time,” in conversation with People Magazine.

The Sound of Metal star continued, “And as much of an outsider as I think many of us feel right now, right? I think the central question of the play is, ‘Am I losing my mind or has the world gone crazy?’ And I think we are feeling that way.”

The filmmaker’s brought Shakespeare’s classic “To be or not to be” soliloquy to the highway as Ahmed delivers it while driving.

The project focuses on the timelessness of the Bard’s work and connects it to the modern audience as the Oscar winner noted that people often feel a disconnect, as in it “doesn't belong to me and I don't belong in it and it's just a bit stuffy and alien and I'm on the outside of it.”

However, he added, “as [critic] Roger Ebert would put it, movies and storytelling are an empathy engine. It's exciting to me to take audiences to a new place and have them recognize themselves there.”

The movie, starring Morfydd Clark, Joe Alwyn, Sheeba Chaddha, Avijit Dutt, Art Malik, Timothy Spall alongside Ahmed, will be released across theatres on April 11.