For Riz Ahmed, the journey from Oscar and Emmy winner to showrunner is less about ascending a pedestal and more about stripping away the armour. In his latest project, Bait, Ahmed stars in and serves as the creative engine — creating, co-writing and producing — steering a narrative that feels like his most vulnerable work to date.
He plays Shah Latif, a struggling actor in London who auditions for the first non-white James Bond, and when word gets out that he might be in the running for the role, chaos ensues as everyone’s opinions – from the public to his family — start to add to his own self-doubt, afraid of becoming “bait” — a British London slang for attention-seeking.
“I’ve just poured my heart and soul into this, man. This couldn’t be closer to my heart. […] It’s an amazing feeling when you make something from the heart and it connects to other people.”Riz Ahmed
Through the lens of Shah Latif’s high-stakes audition, Ahmed interrogates the treadmill of ambition — the exhausting cycle of seeking the next achievement only to find that satisfaction is agonizingly fleeting. This internal battle is mirrored in the show’s title: being bait isn’t just about being noticed by the world, it’s about the vulnerability of being exposed to yourself.
The series, now streaming on Prime Video, is grounded in humor with Ahmed unafraid to make fun of himself. His comedic timing is on full display along with some stellar cameos. I sat down with Ahmed and his co-star, comedian Guz Khan, to discuss the “heart and soul” poured into this production, the reality of still facing rejection in auditions and why Bait is ultimately a messy, honest attempt at working it all out in real-time.
Riz, we’ve talked over the years of the projects you wanted to make, so how has creating introspective, personal work like Bait, been creatively fulfilling and aligned with the kinds of stories you want to tell now?
Ahmed: This is so creatively fulfilling because it’s so personal. I cannot tell you how much this means to me. I’m here just chatting about it like it’s about this and it’s about that. I’ve just poured my heart and soul into this, man. This couldn’t be closer to my heart. The feedback I’ve been getting from some people is that they’ve had that emotional connection to it as well. Because I think people can tell when something’s personal. People can tell when something’s honest and I’ve tried to pull from my own life, my own experiences, my own neighbourhood, places that we filmed, places I’ve been going to growing up my whole life and really celebrate that and share that with people. It’s an amazing feeling when you make something from the heart and it connects to other people, man. Honestly, I remember when we had the screening in New York, I came home, I just had a big grin on my face. I just wish I could bottle that feeling. But of course, you can’t. You wake up the next day you feel like you got it all to prove again and that’s what the show was about. You know about how satisfaction is so fleeting, and we’re always on a treadmill seeking our next achievement.
Guz, when Riz first pitched this to you, what was the one element of this vision that made you say, you know, only Riz could write, or only Riz could make this?
Khan: There’s two parts to that. One is like, ‘Hey, from a professional point of view, it’s going to be brilliant to work with an Oscar winner, a guy that’s been nominated for Emmys.’ That’s work. I was there to ride out for a friend and I said this to Riz several times before we even made it: “Look, man, everything else aside, all the pressures of creating a show for the first time, all the pressures of, ‘Oh my God, is this going to come to fruition the way I want it? Are people going to receive it?'” Well, I said, ‘All that aside, we’re just trying to come to help you and to ride out and to make sure you’re comfortable.’ And I think we really did that. One thing we never feared was chemistry. Me and Riz have been mates for a long time, so just to be able to bring that to a screen — that’s a blessing.
“You have to be a part of this world that is sometimes compromised, and we have to compromise ourselves. So, it’s something that I’m trying to try to work out, and it feels like it’s a question a lot people are struggling with right now.”Riz Ahmed
Riz, you framed the show with this question: When you walk into a room, do you change the room, or does the room change you? You’ve spent two decades navigating some of the most powerful rooms at this stage in your career. Are you walking into these spaces with a different kind of armour?
Ahmed: I think it will change from one day to the next. I think we feel more or less vulnerable, have more or less armour. Sometimes, the way you’re framing the question can be positive — to feel like you’re bulletproof and you’re not gonna let a situation change you — and other times, having all that armour can weigh you down. It can stop you from connecting with people, from really being open in that way.
So, I don’t know. I’ve got to be honest, I feel like I’m just working it all out. This show is me working it all out. I’m trying to just be vulnerable and messy and put it all out there and ask these questions that I [don’t] have answers to. On the one hand, you could say, ‘Oh, man, you should never compromise, do your own thing.’ On the other hand, is that fully realistic? The whole time, you have to work within certain institutions. You have to be a part of this world that is sometimes compromised, and we have to compromise ourselves. So, it’s something that I’m trying to try to work out, and it feels like it’s a question a lot people are struggling with right now. Hopefully we can present it to them in a way that is very funny, very fun, and very playful.
“It was just a really good experience, both on camera and off camera, so we were just baiting up the whole time.”Guz Khan
So to follow up on that, is this show your way of looking back at those versions of Riz that you might have had to perform early on and sort of shedding them so you can just be as an artist?
Ahmed: I love that idea as my new therapist. I’d like to hire you as my new therapist and take that advice on board. Yes, why not? I’m super Riz after this; now, I can shed all that Bait version of me. I think that I definitely have been on a journey, just like the character has, in some ways similar, in other ways, different, but hopefully the journey continues. I never feel like I’m a finished product. I always feel like I’m a work in progress. I think that’s what keeps us human, keeps us wanting to learn and grow as artists. So, yeah, chat with me next week.
Khan: Can I try me? Because I want you to be my therapist as well. I’m just trying to impress my mum, man and she lives in a continual, perpetual state of being unimpressed by anything I do. So there’s no room I can walk into but her living room, where I’m even seeking validation or approval. And the sad thing is, it’s never going to come. It’s never going to come.
Ahmed: Conversely, Guz’s mom is very impressed with everything I do. She’s a massive fan. It’s partly why Guz did the show.
Guz, is there something that you saw Riz do on set that made you say, ‘Mate, you’re being too bait right now?’
Khan: The thing about Riz Ahmed, he’s bait every day. He’s coming in bait. He’s coming in hot. Nah, like it was just a really good experience, both on camera and off camera. So we were just baiting up the whole time. It was energies with people who were responsible for bringing in lenses, and it was bait with people who were acting on screen.
What is an audition that you walked into with main character energy, only to realize that within five seconds that it was not going to happen?
Ahmed: Most auditions. It’s difficult to think of one because 90% of your auditions are that. I mean, you don’t get 99% of your auditions, so you just kind of keep it moving, keep growing.
Riz, do you still have to audition too?
Ahmed: Yes, sometimes. Not as much as early on in my career, but that’s partly because I’m producing things and building them myself as well now. And it was interesting when I had to audition actors for this project. I tried to be sympathetic in that way and try and put them at ease, because I’ve been on the other side of it.
Bait is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
