Aml Ameen and ‘Yardie’ Director Idris Elba May Also Be Doing a Marvin Gaye Biopic Together

“I wanna explain what ‘method’ is,” Aml Ameen said, after I asked him about his decision to go “method” for the part of D in Yardie, a new film that also marks the directorial debut of actor/DJ/ Sexiest Man Alive, Idris Elba. Ameen detailed his preparation for the role in an interview with Forbes earlier this week, ahead of today’s release of the film in theaters, but he also wanted to be clear about how the acting exercise impacted his life, most notably not only changing the thoughts in his mind, but that the voice speaking them was in the accent of his character, and no longer that of his own familiar voice.
And so every morning while filming this movie, Ameen would wake up as D, a Jamaican man who is sent to live in London with a package of cocaine strapped around his leg, and has been haunted since he was a young man with the desperate desire to avenge his brother’s death. “If you push your mind in that direction for long enough, it starts to really affect you,” Ameen said genuinely. Though it wasn’t all bad: my favorite part of hearing about his process involved him communicating with the actress playing his love interest Yvonne, Shantol Jackson, via good old-fashioned snail mail. The two sent love notes back and forth, reminiscing about their childhoods in Jamaica in order to build up the backstory in their minds. Ameen also made his own playlist on Spotify, filled with what he described as “so many beautiful songs from the time that connected me to it,” pulling out his phone to play a few seconds of just a couple of selections, as well as scrolling in search of the playlist Elba made for the cast.
Once filming wrapped, both on sets in Jamaica and London, and Elba gave Ameen the all-clear, a voice unrecognizable to his own, but distinctly that of D, asked Ameen in that thick Jamaican drawl that requires the captions on screen for American audiences, “So you’re done with me now?” As far as shaking the troubled character, the actor admitted, “It definitely took a long time, maybe a good year to let it go,” which is just about the same amount of time he’s spent promoting Yardie, as the film first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January of 2018, and was released in theaters in the UK at the end of last summer.

“Acting can be very fucking weird, I have to tell you,” Ameen, who you may recognize from The Maze Runner and Sense8, continued. “It doesn’t have to be like that each go around, but when you’re trying to have a slight out-of-body experience and surprise yourself, you put yourself in these different circumstances. I definitely wouldn’t do it all the time, but I’d do it for the right thing”. And if you’re wondering what, exactly, is the right thing, well Ameen and Elba may have already figured that out. 
“When we were on set, I don’t know if he was pulling my chain, but he goes, “What would you think about doing the old Marvin Gaye thing?” Ameen recalled, easily slipping into an accurate impression of Elba, complete with his signature beard scratch. “I said ‘Whoa. Come on man, stop playing.’ He’s like, ‘Just method that shit, I’ll direct it, you play Marvin Gaye.’ So that, if that ever came to fruition, that’s something that I would definitely go method for — bar the drugs.” 

Yardie is gritty and devastating and uplifting all at once, powered by a soundtrack that’s sure to have you bopping your head. But it’s also a gamble not only for Ameen who finds himself in a leading man role with a lot of attention, but for his first-time director pal. “For both of us, it was a leap into a different world; he’s directing for the first time and I’m playing something that’s quite divorced from me. I’m Jamaican heritage, but I never had the accent. So we knew it would be something big for the culture if we could pull it off.”
It was back in 2008 when Ameen says he first met Elba, “just randomly.” After he got some attention for the film Kidulthood, he got a call from Elba, encouraging him to come to the States. “That, consequently, was something that led me to go to America, that enthusiasm. So I’ve personally been a fan for a long time. Not, like, a distant fan, but someone I can reach and touch and I’ve spoken to and has given me advice.” And while Elba remains something of a royal across the pond, Ameen reveals, “When you meet him, he’s got this ability to just draw you in and get you out of your [thoughts] about him like,’Oh my god, you’re a star.’ He can make this intimate connection with you. For someone that known, well-regarded, famous, it’s a beautiful thing.” And likely just one of the reasons so many in the cast and crew were so eager to work with a man making his feature film debut.
And because Elba is that known, well-regarded, and famous, the rumors have swirled about him taking over one of the most iconic film roles of all time: Bond. James Bond. But since nothing’s been confirmed, I ask Ameen if those are shoes he’d ever want to step into. “Mate,” he laughs. “I don’t think — I’m not gonna dance around with that one. Let him do it, if he wants to do it. I think the world wants him to do it, so I don’t know why that’s not happening, but let him do it, man. I think he’s just so loved. Maybe in 10 to 15 years, if my life survives that long, maybe. But there are so many things I could be doing. Bond sounds fun. Pow-pow, hit the gym, ‘Shaken, not stirred, darling.'”

In the meantime, he does have his own action flick out this year as an NYPD hostage negotiator in Inside Man 2, which Ameen says is expected to hit Netflix in September and is a reboot of sorts of the 2006 Spike Lee film. “We shot in South Africa, for New York — odd,” Ameen said. “They’re like, ‘We’re shooting Inside Man 2,’ and I was like, ‘Great, coming back home to New York,’ and they’re like ‘Actually.’ And for those expecting a character with any similarities to Yardie‘s D, well, actually…
“I play a very different character, Remy, he’s from New York and New Orleans. He’s a much more gregarious version of the Denzel Washington character. It was fun, man, I had a lot of fun,” Ameen said, noting that he had a great time with co-star Rhea Seehorn of Better Call Saul. And yes, that means he’ll be slipping into an American accent for this one. “I’ve played more Americans than British. I’ve had more accents than my own. Like, come on, Bond,” Ameen joked.
He admits that he is interested in doing more “action-adventure movies, I’ve not done as many of them as I’d like to do,” pointing to Blade as a reference. But he’s also intrigued by Harlem in the 1940’s, stating that, “Even though there were major problems and issues, there’s something quite romantic about that time, with the music,” and dropping the fact that he’s a tap dancer as well.
Perhaps he’ll have the chance to put even more of his skills, or at least his very own British accent to use in one of two movies he’s currently chasing as not only an actor, but director and writer as well. “I’ve done seven shorts. I wrote a feature film that’s kind of in the vein of a modern-day The Breakfast Club and another one that’s more in the vein of a Christmas film set in London.”
While Ameen says they’re both based off of his own experiences, the former is about a rather seminal day in his life. “I remember the first time I fell in love was November 13th, 1999. And I was just like, ‘Oh my god, what’s this feeling in my chest?'” He’s also unafraid of addressing all the feelings around his parents’ divorce when he was 16 years old and other personal life events though his films. “I’m really willing those into existence, my directorial debuts. I’m ready to talk through art.” Which is good for him because he’s already got a lot of people talking.