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Time to seek permission to tell our stories is over: Riz Ahmed
Actor Megan Fox is all set to essay the role of an astronaut in the upcoming suspense thriller Aurora. The project, which was announced at the ongoing Berlin International Film Festival, will see the 33-year-old in a brand new avatar. According to the Hollywood Reporter, while Lazar Bodroza is attached to direct, the script is penned by Pete Bridges, Toby Gibson and Stuart Willis.
“We are delighted to continue championing stories with strong females at the helm. Aurora is a beautiful, action-packed visual feast set in space and Megan is perfectly cast to play a character battling demons from her past. We could not be happier to be working with Jordan, Toby and Lazar Bodroža once again to bring this beautiful and mesmerising story to life,” said the production house’s chairman, Gary Hamilton.
The film follows the story of a female astronaut stationed in outer space, sent to monitor solar storms that might endanger Earth.
“She discovers shock waves from solar storms are bending time, pushing her into an emotional and psychological struggle with her past and present,” the plotline read. The production is set to start in May in Serbia.
Emmy Award-winning actor Riz Ahmed, who is also a successful rapper and a vocal advocate for race and cultural issues, will next star in a music drama, which he has also produced.
In the movie, which is premiering at the ongoing Berlinale, Ahmed essays a British Pakistani rapper who is on the cusp of his first world tour, but is struck down by an illness that threatens to derail his big break, according to IMDb.
Asked about the film’s distinctive cultural voice, the The Night Of actor told deadline.com in an interview, “Often, people are making films thinking about finding audiences. But sometimes, the strongest and most uncompromising stories are told without any of that in mind. They’re told because you have an artist at the centre of it who has to tell the story, has to get something off their chest, that’s how this felt.”
He questioned how many portraits we have had of artistes and creators of colour at a moment when there is so much attention on them.
“I feel like the time for asking people’s permission to tell our stories is over, it’s about stepping up and saying, as storytellers who are women or people of colour, ‘we have to do this ourselves’. We see the talent out there, we see the demand out there, it’s about creating a bridge,” added Ahmed, who has also starred in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), The Sisters Brothers (2018), and Venom (2018), among other projects.