‘Relay’: Riz Ahmed, Lily James, & David Mackenzie On Paranoid Thrillers, Whistleblowers, Building Chemistry Through Distance, ‘Fuze’ & More [The Discourse Podcast]

On this episode of The Discourse, host Mike DeAngelo is joined by Riz Ahmed, Lily James, and director David Mackenzie to talk about ‘Relay’, a paranoid thriller set in New York City that follows a world-class “fixer” (Riz Ahmed) who brokers lucrative payoffs between corrupt corporations and the individuals who threaten their ruin. He keeps his identity a secret through meticulous planning and always follows an exacting set of rules. When a new message arrives from a potential client (Lily James) needing his protection to stay alive, the rules quickly start to change. The film also stars Sam Worthington, Willa Fitzgerald, Matthew Maher, and more.

For Ahmed, the attraction was as much about who he was working with as the story itself. “The thing that’s always one of the most important things is your director,” he said. “You’re going to be in their hands. You’ve got to kind of vibe with them. So David was a big pull. And then it’s also who else are you going to be doing this with? When I heard it was Lily, I was absolutely thrilled.”