British MC and actor Riz Ahmed is famously known for rapping and reciting lines, but for his latest release Sound of Metal, he had to learn a new form of communication. Ahmed portrays the role of a drummer who goes deaf and to prepare himself for the role, Ahmed reportedly immersed himself in deaf culture and worked with a deaf advocate to learn American Sign Language.
“The thing I realized very quickly in researching this world is there is no representing hearing loss at large. Hearing loss is a unique experience that’s different for everyone. I tried to take an emotional approach. Ruben swings between seeing deafness as a loss and a disability and realizing that deafness is actually a culture and an opportunity to connect more deeply with himself and others. The deaf community taught me the true meaning of communication,” Ahmed said in an interview with USA Today.
Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal questions identity through the journey of a musician Ruben who discovers he is going deaf. Ruben and his girlfriend Lou are touring in their RV, playing gigs with an album on the way and everything is perfect until Ruben suddenly realises he is losing his hearing. When the doctor tells him his condition is progressive, Ruben feels his life is coming apart. Sound of Metal is a deep dive into loss and grief, and what we do with ourselves when our lives change irrevocably.
Riz Ahmed's parents emigrated to England from Pakistan in the 1970s. He started rapping as a teenager on pirate radio stations in London, and later competed in rap battle competitions while he was a student at Oxford. Ahmed records rap under the name Riz MC and with his group the Swet Shop Boys. His films include The Road to Guantanamo, Rogue One and Nightcrawler, and he won an Emmy for his performance in HBO's The Night Of.
