Terrified Rami Malek ‘got quite paranoid’ making chilling Amazon Prime series

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Rami Malek has opened up about the intense ways he prepares for a role, and why his work on Mr Robot left him ‘quite paranoid’ about the world.

The 43-year-old is set to lead the way in The Amateur, starring alongside Superman’s Rachel Brosnahan, Laurence Fishburne, Caitríona Balfe, Jon Bernthal, and Julianne Nicholson.

In the action thriller, which is released in cinemas on April 11, the Oscar-winner plays CIA decoder Charlie Heller, whose life is turned upside down when his wife, Sarah (Rachel) is killed in a London terrorist attack.

He is forced to take matters into his own hands when his bosses refuse to take action and embark on a trek around Europe to get revenge on those responsible for his grief.

During a press conference with Metro and other journalists, the cast were asked how tech savvy they are with technology, and whether they did any in-depth research on hacking or anything that is seen on our screens, when talk turned to Rami’s efforts on the acclaimed Amazon Prime series.

‘I always say, how far do you go with research before you’re like, “Okay, put it down and walk away,”‘ he began. ‘I’m never going to be a coder, I realized on Mr Robot. I learned enough.

Rami Malek is playing CIA coder Charlie Heller in The Amateur (Picture: 20th Century Studios)

‘I did begin to get quite paranoid from that series, as to what the government was able to access after the Patriot Act. And watching that Laura Poitras documentary, Citizenfour, about Snowden.

‘It was terrifying.’

‘What Charlie Heller is capable of, and what he is tasked with containing within himself, it’s a superpower in its own right,’ he continued. ‘That could cause quite a substantial amount of grief, having to contain an immeasurable amount of knowledge about certain acts going on in the world. 

‘That’s enough to occupy my mind. I’ll leave technology out of it.’

He dipped into the technology world in Mr Robot (Picture: Amazon Prime)

The hit show, which aired on USA in America, ran for four seasons before ending in 2019, and followed cybersecurity engineer Elliot Alderson as he’s recruited by insurrectionary anarchist Mr Robot to join a group of hacktivists, who are hoping to destroy all debt records.

Discussing how it felt to revisit the world of computers and technology once again with the Amateur, years after leaving Mr Robot behind, Rami noted the similarities between the roles, sharing that he found it tough to leave Elliot behind.

‘I remember, there was a moment saying goodbye to that character of Elliot Alderson that was quite sad,’ he said. ‘I know we’ve all had those moments where you have to walk away or they live with you to a degree, and you carry them with you.

‘I was a bit reluctant to relinquish him, and I won’t say this is an iteration, but there are similarities, of course.

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‘I gravitate to those characters who are on these fragile intersections of feeling broken, maybe brilliant, at the same time, and going through some sort of grief and persevering. So many elements to him were rich and complex – [he] reminded me of Elliot, but in a different way.

‘He has this magnetic, incredible wife that allowed for this beautiful love story. What Rachel does so seamlessly, easily, brilliantly, just by virtue of her screen presence and then, as a performer, elevates that to a level that is otherworldly at times. I thought that would be the perfect partner.

‘Elliot was probably not capable of that, and Charlie is capable. She sees something in him that is just as magnetic, in a certain way, that felt very real. If you could take all of that and allow that to – the combination of everything – galvanize it and put it into an action thriller…

‘What a way to transcend the genre and make it authentic and real, and emotional.’

Rami stars opposite Rachel Brosnahan in his new movie (Picture: 20th Century Studios)

The love between Charlie and Sarah is evident from the very first beginning of the movie, which makes her brutal death even more painful for the coder, who is plunged into unimaginable grief after watching the footage of her final moments.

Unpacking the tragedy, Rami reflected on the experiences and emotions he tapped into within himself, and whether this affected him off set.

‘Sadly, most of us, I imagine, have dealt with a certain amount of grief in our lives, and I don’t look at acting or filmmaking as… I’m not trying to have a therapy session or seek some personal catharsis from it,’ he added.

‘But there are definitely things I could access as a human being. Who couldn’t? I tried not to lead with that. I put myself in the position of creating that relationship with Sarah, and the immense amount of loss that you would feel.

He was whisked around the world for the thriller (Picture: 20th Century Studios)

‘I kept reminding myself that, naturally, I think someone could go one of two ways, and the other way would be quite bleak.

‘Talking through this with James Hawes, our director, we went through the stages of grief and we were very meticulous about how to pinpoint those throughout the film.

‘There would be this subversive relationship that the audience would have to, “Oh, that’s where I would be if I was him. I would understand that relationship because these are natural reactions that he’s having.”

‘It tethered me personally to him because all of us would be tethered in the same way, I think. Or psychology probably tell us that, to a degree.’

The Amateur is released on April 11.

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