Slumdog Millionaire won eight Academy Awards and introduced the entire world to Dev Patel and Freida Pinto. It also could have introduced the world to Riz Ahmed, if he hadn’t committed quite so hard in his audition. In Variety’s Actors on Actors: Riz Ahmed and Elizabeth Moss interview, the Rogue One star painfully recalls his intense audition for director Danny Boyle’s 2008 runaway hit. Encouraged by Boyle to let ’er rip, Ahmed threw himself into the role, and the film’s director up against the wall. “I’ve ripped the seams of his shirt open, and I’m spitting into Danny Boyle’s naked chest, and the camera guy is not getting any of this,†The Night Of actor recalls as Elisabeth Moss loses it. So, was it really a bad audition, or is it now a haunting reminder to Danny Boyle that his movie could have won a ninth Oscar? The world will never know. Except for that freaked-out cameraman, of course.
