Adeel Akhtar
“I was so happy to be there, I just didn’t want to put a foot wrong…”
Britain’s own Adeel Akhtar has landed some stellar roles in big Hollywood blockbusters like this year’s PAN and 2012 comedy THE DICTATOR, has featured in the likes of FOUR LIONS and even bagged himself a BAFTA nomination for his role in Dennis Kelly‘s mysterious series UTOPIA, but it’s the BBC’s latest drama, RIVER, that’s getting telly lovers hooked on his natural, comedic talent!
Starring as DC Iran King, Akhtar works alongside the likes of Stellan Skarsgård, Nicola Walker, Lesley Manville, Eddie Marsan and Josef Atlin in this intense drama written by Abi Morgan. The series tells the story of hardened detective John River (Skarsgård), who desperately attempts to find justice for his beloved partner Stevie (Walker) after she’s fatally shot down in the street; all while attempting to handle the constant barrage of manifests that do their best to both help and hinder his grieving.
We sat down with Akhtar to get the skinny on his latest role and it’s immediately apparent just how smitten he is with the project. Although he’s been on the phone to journalists all night, Akhtar still sounds genuinely excited to chat about RIVER and it’s clear just how humble he is about his involvement, sounding more like a super fan than a star.
The BBC knows their drama and they do it so well, picking up the Kudos Film & Television produced series has been a great choice for all involved and Akhtar takes time to reflect on why this particular project peaked his interest: “The fact that when I auditioned I had an understanding of the script and the character. I knew that Abi and Stellan were attached to it and then I got a real understanding of the story, my involvement of the story and I was just really excited; I just couldn’t wait to get started. Being a part of this story about being able to say those words, that was just so exciting.”
Playing River’s new partner, Akhtar gives a very subtle comedic performance; a welcome distraction from the series’ very intense and brooding tone. Small hints of comedy infect his body language, deliverance and facial expressions, all while reacting just as one would imagine they would in his position; giving a perfectly natural and confident performance.
Akhtar reflected on how he was able to prepare himself for the role: “It was about being able to play with the reality of the character and the reality of what situation his character is in, it (the script) kind of just does the work for you in a way. You just have to be emotionally present with anything that comes up while shooting and speak the words, making sure you get them out in the right order and a bit of my acting and a lot of Abi’s writing that pulled it together.”
It’s clear from the outset that King is meant to relay certain emotions that an audience would feel, react as they would react and it appears this was the intention from the very beginning: “The intention was for him to be showcase what people would actually do, how they would react in that situation. You would hold a silence for a little bit longer than usual because you didn’t know what to say next or the silence would be filled with as many words as you can because you’re super nervous in-case they say something strange in the next instance.”
Akhtar continued: “Also, taking that further, it also communicates the message that each one of us has a certain part of our personality that we may not be that confident about. Like if we’re nervous, or a little bit paranoid about something or if we’re depressed about something, we tend to hide it or lock it away somewhere, but if those things are suppressed then they come out in these little mental spurts. I suppose the idea is to acknowledge them and embrace them, it makes you a better person.”
Talking to Akhtar, there’s a huge sense that he can’t quite believe that he’s working on such a show and that the company he’s with feels almost daunting at times. He’s unnecessarily humble, but it just adds to his charm and likability, hearing his passion for the project only ignites one’s own excitement. With Stellan Skarsgård at the center of the narrative, Akhtar reminisces about what set life was like with the star, commenting on how he reminds him of other great dramatic performers: “He was just amazing. I’ve spoken a lot about this and it always floors me when I remember that I worked with Olivia Coleman and it was like that, when somebody has to carry a lot of emotional weight or has to communicate quite an intense emotion I find that the people that can do it the best are the ones that can do it with a lightness of touch and they’re able to do it in an immediate way.”
He continued: “That’s exactly what it was like (with Stellan), when the camera wasn’t running he was just fun and joking about, giving everyone a hug on set before they came on, hugging everyone before they left. He was just a sweet, open and very good natured man and I think that comes across in his work as well, he’s just amazing. Akhtar moves on to talk about his time in-between shots, how lucky he felt to be surrounded by such talent and when we asked about whether he had a lot of fun on the set, it seems the actor took a step back to observe rather than jump right in.
“They did, they had fun because like Stellan, Eddie, Lesley, they all did because they’ve got that experience behind them, they’ve done so much and so they can just dip in and out of these characters and just be so effortless in all the stuff that we’re doing and it’s strange because people tend to think I’d be the one to be joking around but it wasn’t. I was so quiet and taking everything so seriously just because I was watching all the time, I was so happy to be there I just didn’t want to put a foot wrong, I was just trying to get it right, but it was a good lesson to learn in how to be in a situation like that.”
Working with somebody like Skarsgård it’s easy to see why Akhtar has a sweet, hero complex for the Swedish actor and it appears this extended to taking advice on how to juggle both work and home life. “One of the things Stellan said is that he treats it like being a plumber. He goes there, does his job then comes home to his kids, had dinner and everything then does it the next day, just like everyone else and I think that’s a really good way of looking at it all, it’s a job like any other and if you can treat it like that, I think it makes you a better actor.”
One of the series’ most prominent themes is mental health and it does a great job of exploring mental health on a wide range. While it would be easy for the series’ to have focused on the negative impacts of mental health, there are so many positive connotations that run throughout each episode and Akhtar makes it clear just how important he think this kind of development is.
“I think it’s really important, I think we’re really lucky as of late being exposed to lots of different things from lots of different stories. I think we’re in this position now, a lucky position, where there’s lots of topics that we can look at, investigate, explore and find out about; mental health is one of them and a lot of people are fessing up to lots about their past that they’re going through, like intense depressions, take Stephen Fry for example. I think it’s a good thing to shine a light on that stuff, it’s never a bad thing and I hope the show goes some way in contributing to that.”
More often than not, drama series like RIVER tend to keep the main twist of outcome as a very tightly guarded secret, often keeping even the actors themselves in the dark until the final days of shooting, Adeel mentioned how RIVER differs from these traditions and how a novel writing process allowed for the same kind of excitement and development: “It wasn’t a tightly guarded secret, but what was exciting about it was that Abi and Kudos have a good partnership so they trust her to write these scripts, see what we do with them and then go and write some more, knowing what the main narrative would be; making it a really exciting process to be a part of. This way can be hard and it makes you frustrated, because with less information you don’t feel as comfortable but it makes for a good show, really exciting.”
After talking to Adeel, it’s impossible not to like the guy. There’s nothing like genuine passion and enthusiasm from an actor to make you their biggest fan. He’s delivering a great performance in RIVER, revealing the stars he idolises so much and with a sneaky secret BBC drama in the works from him next, we only hope he gets central part soon.
He’s an incredibly humble actor, who’s self deprecating, but amusing nature glows both on and off screen and if we thought he wasn’t nice enough as it is, he pulls out this corker: “I just like working on good stuff and being surrounded by people better than me, honestly, whether it comes through TV, film or theatre I’m just happy doing what I’m going. I feel really lucky.”
Catch up on RIVER over on BBC iPlayer and keep an eye out for our series review coming soon…
[…] Akhtar, who plays River’s newest partner Ira (you can read our exclusive interview with him here). His character gives wonderful, much needed comedic relief within each episode, with his body […]
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