Riz Ahmed’s Bait made a risky play for Bond and landed an Emmy nod
Riz Ahmed told Deadline how Bait won rare Bond approval, mined his own past and turned into another Emmy nomination.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Riz Ahmed’s Bait turned a James Bond fantasy into an Emmy race, with the actor telling Deadline that the Amazon MGM Studios mini-series needed the blessing of 007 producer Barbara Broccoli before it could move ahead.
The six-part, half-hour show stars Ahmed as Shah Latif, a former rapper turned actor from north London who finds himself in the mix to play Britain’s most famous spy. Ahmed said the idea carried obvious risk because Bond is one of cinema’s most protected brands, and because Eon was in talks at the time about handing the franchise to Amazon MGM Studios.
According to Ahmed, people around the project warned him that Broccoli would not allow the show to use Bond in that way. He said he and the team were already several scripts in before speaking with her, and that her eventual approval removed a major obstacle for the production.
Ahmed told Deadline he remains grateful to Broccoli, saying she allowed something she had not previously permitted. He described the show as a smaller-budget, multilingual, genre-mixing project with many points where it could have collapsed before reaching screens.
What is Riz Ahmed's Bait about?
Bait follows Shah Latif as professional ambition collides with family, identity and the pull of a role that represents a loaded idea of British masculinity. Ahmed said Bond works in the show because the character is chasing a mask that lets him avoid facing who he is.
The premise has put Ahmed back in awards conversation. Deadline reported that he is nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, a category where he previously won for The Night Of.
Ahmed’s path to that earlier Emmy was hardly smooth. He filmed the HBO pilot with James Gandolfini, who died in 2013 at age 51, putting the project on hold. John Turturro later stepped into the role, and the series aired in 2016.
The actor also recalled another career gamble: spending his last £1,000 to fly to Los Angeles for a Nightcrawler screen test. The role in Tony Gilroy’s media satire helped lead to more U.S. work, including Jason Bourne. He later earned an Oscar nomination for Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal.
Ahmed said Bait drew heavily from his own life. The production built a version of the home he grew up in, slightly enlarged for filming. He also said locations and incidents in the series connect to his past, including a staircase where he was attacked, a sweet shop from childhood and a panic attack tied to a performance at the Kentish Town Forum.
That performance came when Ahmed opened for Wu-Tang Clan. He told Deadline the group was two and a half hours late, leaving him to face 5,000 unhappy fans while performing experimental electronic rap. He said he cut the music, performed an a cappella version of “Sour Times,” got applause by the end and left after a set lasting two minutes and 40 seconds.
Ahmed has already moved on to other work. He said his final day on Bait was also his first day on Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Digger, and he is now shooting Baltasar Kormákur’s Mark Wahlberg thriller The Big Fix in Malaysia.
As for more Bait, Ahmed told Deadline he has not decided. He said the characters have room to grow, while also noting that he admires one-season shows such as The Night Of and I May Destroy You.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.