The Religion and Political Views of Riz Ahmed

We got the numbers back and, surprise, surprise, the numbers are terrible. Of these 200 movies, Muslims are only 1.6 percent of all speaking characters. And three-quarters of the time, they’re either victims or perpetrators of violence. What does that do when we’re fed this image of a group of people? It makes it easier to dehumanize them and destroy their lives. My whole career really has taken place in this post-9/11 era. The kind of impetus behind it is to try and make that no man’s land habitable, try and make it fertile ground to try and, yes, create a home for those of us who don’t fit neatly into these black-and-white narratives that were imposed on us.