Rami Malek, Laurence Fishburne on ‘The Amateur’ and career challenges
“The Amateur” stars Rami Malek and Laurence Fishburne explain to USA TODAY’s Brendan Morrow the motivation behind choosing their latest project.
NEW YORK − When Rami Malek won an Oscar for playing Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” he remarked in his acceptance speech, “I may not have been the obvious choice, but I guess it worked out.”
The same could be said about his character in “The Amateur,” a new spy thriller led by the least obvious choice to be an action hero: a nerdy, socially awkward CIA analyst who would normally spend an entire movie behind a computer telling Jason Bourne or Ethan Hunt where to go.
When Malek, 43, was asked what he wanted to do next after “Bohemian Rhapsody,” he surprised even himself with his response. “I said, ‘I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I want to do an action film,’ ” the actor recalls. “Because I never thought you’d see a guy of my stature, my complexion, someone who wasn’t the obvious choice, in that position.”
Based on the Robert Littell novel, “The Amateur” stars Malek as CIA decoder Charlie Heller, whose wife, Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan), is killed in a terrorist attack. When it becomes clear the CIA has no intention of pursuing justice, Charlie takes matters into his own hands, blackmailing the agency into training him so he can go after the killers himself.
That comes courtesy of Laurence Fishburne’s Colonel Henderson, who is assigned the role of Charlie’s teacher. After being introduced to Charlie, Henderson is “not impressed,” the “Matrix” star notes. “He’s almost like, ‘What is this, a punishment?’” Fishburne, 63, says, laughing. “Why have I been punished with teaching this clearly inept guy? He’s not going to be able to hurt anybody.”
But Henderson soon discovers he has drastically underestimated Charlie. The idea that someone who the world has placed in a box could prove they’re capable of more than anyone expected resonated with Fishburne. “Throughout my life, people have underestimated me, or tried to pigeonhole me and had a preconceived notion of who I am based on a character I play,” he says.
Malek, too, reflects that he has felt like he had to “constantly prove” himself since he was a kid. He sees a link between his role in “The Amateur” and his previous characters, particularly his Emmy-winning turn as socially awkward hacker Elliot on “Mr. Robot.”
“It’s been a theme in my work: feeling underestimated and finding characters who are alienated or feel disenfranchised and overlooked, and who go on to do some pretty extraordinary things,” he says.
So while “The Amateur” is Malek’s first lead role in an action film, it felt like a natural extension of his work on the USA Network series.
“I remember being on ‘Mr. Robot’ for so many years thinking, he is an action hero, to a degree,” Malek says. “Instead of donning a cape, he puts on his hoodie. The premise (of ‘The Amateur’) was, ‘How do I take somebody like that, that flies under the radar, and put him on the big screen?’ “
‘The Amateur’: See Rami Malek go from CIA nerd to assassin
Rami Malek stars as a CIA decoder who doles out vengeance when his wife is killed by terrorists in “The Amateur.”
But Malek and director James Hawes tried to be realistic about how someone like Charlie would act in the field after a career behind a desk. In one scene, he begins walking away from an explosion, but rather than looking unmoved, Charlie can’t help but flinch.
“We all see these movies where people walk away from explosions in slow motion,” Malek says. “I’ve seen actors desperately trying to keep their eyes open and not blinking. It’s impossible! You hear a gunshot and you are going to flinch. You are going to blink.”
While filming another sequence, Malek, worn out from running for 15 consecutive takes, fell over. But this being “The Amateur,” the blooper fit right in.
“That was the most natural moment we had, and we decided to keep it in the film. I look exhausted because I was. I fell because I naturally tripped.”
“The Amateur” also explores what loss can drive a person to do, and Malek paid close attention to where Charlie was in the stages of grief.
“I love to do the homework on what somebody like that is feeling, what grief actually feels like and how you could possibly weaponize that,” he says.
“The Amateur” was new territory for Malek in another way: It was his first time producing a movie. He saw this as a logical progression, because on past films like “No Time to Die” and “Bohemian Rhapsody,” he offered feedback on minute details like the choice of camera lens.
“I’m a little sneaky, I must admit,” he jokes of his tendency to provide his input behind the scenes while avoiding stepping on any toes. Becoming a producer allowed Malek to get hands-on “without having to navigate those waters so delicately.”
Though “The Amateur” came from Malek being asked to consider his next steps after “Bohemian Rhapsody,” six years after his Academy Award for best actor, he remembers trying to take in that achievement without immediately thinking about the future.
“It’s one of those things that will probably never happen again. I don’t know if I ever need it to. But I wasn’t necessarily thinking about, ‘How do I capitalize on this?’ I just wanted to appreciate it. I do to this day, and I always will.”
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