On this episode of The Discourse, host Mike DeAngelo is joined by Riz Ahmed, Lily James, and director David Mackenzie to talk about ‘Relay’, a paranoid thriller set in New York City that follows a world-class “fixer” (Riz Ahmed) who brokers lucrative payoffs between corrupt corporations and the individuals who threaten their ruin. He keeps his identity a secret through meticulous planning and always follows an exacting set of rules. When a new message arrives from a potential client (Lily James) needing his protection to stay alive, the rules quickly start to change. The film also stars Sam Worthington, Willa Fitzgerald, Matthew Maher, and more.
For Ahmed, the attraction was as much about who he worked with as the story itself. “The thing that’s always one of the most important things is your director,” he said. “You’re going to be in their hands. You’ve got to kind of vibe with them. So David was a big pull. And then it’s also, who else are you going to be doing this with? When I heard it was Lily, I was absolutely thrilled.”
Lily James called the project “undeniable,” adding that the combination of people involved and the central conceit hooked her. “I really loved this idea of two very lonely people fighting to do the right thing, or fighting for their lives, and deciding what they do. There’s something throwback about it, but also something pressing and urgent. That was exciting to me, even though I had to act down a phone for a big part of it, which was frightening.”
Much of “Relay” depends on chemistry built without traditional interaction, as the characters primarily communicate through a relay service for the deaf that allows their conversations to be anonymous. Ahmed admitted the limitation became fuel. “I was desperate to work with Lily, and of course, on set, I’m talking to an assistant director pretending to be an operator. That frustration mirrored exactly what my character was feeling,” he explained. “Stories have this mystical way of reflecting your life.” James leaned on Mackenzie’s camera to fill the space. “There was a dance between understanding the shot and where the camera’s breathing with you,” she said. “That intimacy kind of took the place of another actor. It was an acting challenge I’d never experienced before, and there was something quite sensual about it.”
Both actors also spoke to Mackenzie’s generosity and collaborative approach. James described him as “a good guy who loves cinema, loves actors, loves stories. There’s no ego, he just welcomes people in.” Ahmed agreed but joked, “I think he’s a bad person personally.” Then he turned serious: “He’s just so open. He doesn’t impose a style; he serves the story. He saw that this wanted to be ‘Three Days of the Condor’ or ‘Michael Clayton,’ and he served it that way.”
For Mackenzie, the hook wasn’t nostalgia but the urgency of whistleblowing today. “I wasn’t interested in making it feel nostalgic,” he said. “I hope it’s more punk rock. It’s designed to feel like the ground beneath your feet is shaky, and the truth you see is slippery. That feels very contemporary to me.”
To ground the film, he and Ahmed spoke to real-life whistleblowers. “Everyone we met was sad,” Mackenzie revealed. “Even if they’d made money, they felt they’d given up everything, and no one really cared. We need whistleblowers, but most of us probably aren’t brave enough to do it.”
Looking ahead, Ahmed and James teased packed slates, from James’ roles in the ‘Cliffhanger’ remake and ‘Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo’ to Ahmed’s projects like ‘Quarter Life’ and Alejandro González Iñárritu’s untitled next film with Tom Cruise.
Mackenzie, meanwhile, is only weeks away from his next film’s TIFF premiere. The film stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Sam Worthington, Theo James, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw and is titled ‘Fuze’, which Mackenzie describes as “a bomb and heist movie made like a Ramones song, fast, lean, and fun.”
‘Relay’ hits theaters on Friday, August 22nd. Listen to the full interviews below:
The Playlist Presents: Riz Ahmed, Lily James & David Mackenzie’s TV & Movie Recommendation Playlist
Riz Ahmed
‘The Midnight Gospel’ (2020)
Lily James
‘I’m Still Here’ (2010)
David Mackenzie
‘The Conversation’ (1974)
‘Klute’ (1971)
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