Editors note: Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series debuts and celebrates the scripts of films that will be factors in this year’s movie awards race.
Riz Ahmed was in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but his latest movie, Amazon Studios’ Encounter, isn’t that kind of sci-fi movie. Encounter is about an alien invasion, but one that occurs on present day Earth, to a normal family, and raises additional questions of paranoia.
Ahmed plays Malik, a Marine veteran who believes alien insects are possessing human beings for a takeover. Malik takes his two sons, Jay (Lucien-River Chauhan) and Bobby (Aditya Geddada), away from their mother (Janina Gavankar) and stepfather (Misha Collins).
On the road, Malik tries to keep his sons safe from people who have already been taken over by the insects. However, his ex-wife reports him to the authorities, and Malik’s parole officer Hattie (Octavia Spencer...
Riz Ahmed was in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but his latest movie, Amazon Studios’ Encounter, isn’t that kind of sci-fi movie. Encounter is about an alien invasion, but one that occurs on present day Earth, to a normal family, and raises additional questions of paranoia.
Ahmed plays Malik, a Marine veteran who believes alien insects are possessing human beings for a takeover. Malik takes his two sons, Jay (Lucien-River Chauhan) and Bobby (Aditya Geddada), away from their mother (Janina Gavankar) and stepfather (Misha Collins).
On the road, Malik tries to keep his sons safe from people who have already been taken over by the insects. However, his ex-wife reports him to the authorities, and Malik’s parole officer Hattie (Octavia Spencer...
- 1/10/2022
- by Fred Topel
- Deadline Film + TV
The holiday season is often a festive time for families, with lots of parties and out-of-town guests. But what about those families that are fractured and splintered? That’s one of the subjects explored in this new feature drama that’s out right between the two big special days near the end of the year. And speaking of “the end” that’s just what this now single father is obsessed with. I mean really fixated. Which may have been acerbated by the dissolution of his family and the separation from his sons. But he’s got something of a plan, a rescue that’s more of an abduction. So, when this trio goes on the run, just what will they Encounter?
The opening scenes of this story are told through the eyes and actions of a man on the run, dishonorably discharged soldier, and parolee Malik Khan (Riz Ahmed). He...
The opening scenes of this story are told through the eyes and actions of a man on the run, dishonorably discharged soldier, and parolee Malik Khan (Riz Ahmed). He...
- 12/10/2021
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The new Amazon Studios film, Encounter, is a taut and thought-provoking drama, directed by Michael Pearce that stars Oscar-nominated actor Riz Ahmed. The movie also features young actors Lucian-River Chauhan and Aditya Geddada, as well as Octavia Spencer and Rory Cochrane in smaller, yet pivotal roles.
Encounter is a gripping story of decorated Marine Malik Kahn’s mission to save Jay and Bobby’s two young sons from a mysterious threat. On their perilous journey, … well, I don’t want to spoil the film; the movie Has to be experienced on screen!
Encounter combines elements of different genres, including a full-on science fiction take, a psychological thriller, and a moving family drama that is also full of action and scary mysteries. It is amazing how the director seamlessly brought all these different modes of filmmaking together to create a riveting, edge-of-your-seat-omg-what-happens-next-will-Malik-Jay-and-Bobby-be-ok, heart-pounding, compelling film-watching experience.
There are moments when you...
Encounter is a gripping story of decorated Marine Malik Kahn’s mission to save Jay and Bobby’s two young sons from a mysterious threat. On their perilous journey, … well, I don’t want to spoil the film; the movie Has to be experienced on screen!
Encounter combines elements of different genres, including a full-on science fiction take, a psychological thriller, and a moving family drama that is also full of action and scary mysteries. It is amazing how the director seamlessly brought all these different modes of filmmaking together to create a riveting, edge-of-your-seat-omg-what-happens-next-will-Malik-Jay-and-Bobby-be-ok, heart-pounding, compelling film-watching experience.
There are moments when you...
- 12/9/2021
- by Stacey Yount
- Bollyspice
The first sign that things are about to go radically wrong is Michael Pearce’s “Encounter” is a rattle. A small thrumming, really, the kind that an ordinary man in an ordinary motel might not notice. But Riz Ahmed’s Malik Khan isn’t an ordinary man — the intense actor has built his career on grand scale alarmists, aspirants, and losers, the kind of weary-eyed guys who lie awake in bed waiting for their morning alarm — so the former Marine not only hears the buzz, he leaps into action. With military precision, he seizes a Bible from the nightstand and — splat! — squashes a wasp.
One insect down. Ten quintillion to go.
No one else at the motel is on alert for an unusually aggressive infestation. Malik’s as-yet-unknown intel is that some time not too long ago, a small meteorite pinged onto the earth. This went ignored by everyone but a few barking dogs.
One insect down. Ten quintillion to go.
No one else at the motel is on alert for an unusually aggressive infestation. Malik’s as-yet-unknown intel is that some time not too long ago, a small meteorite pinged onto the earth. This went ignored by everyone but a few barking dogs.
- 12/3/2021
- by Amy Nicholson
- Indiewire
To celebrate the release of the acclaimed new drama Encounter, we sat down with the film’s star and director to discover its origins.
A decorated Marine (Riz Ahmed) goes on a rescue mission to save his two young sons from a mysterious threat. As their journey takes them in increasingly dangerous directions, the boys will need to leave their childhoods behind.
Chatting to star Ahmed about the film he tells us how he wanted to work with director Michael Pearce after seeing his previous films, including Beast, as well as the story of family, fatherhood, mental health and helping people when they can’t help themselves, as well as his two young co-stars and their incredible turns.
Pearce, meanwhile, tells us why he wanted to make the film, the changes made to the initial concept, how casting Ahmed helped them mould the film and how the pandemic both hindered and helped the final film.
A decorated Marine (Riz Ahmed) goes on a rescue mission to save his two young sons from a mysterious threat. As their journey takes them in increasingly dangerous directions, the boys will need to leave their childhoods behind.
Chatting to star Ahmed about the film he tells us how he wanted to work with director Michael Pearce after seeing his previous films, including Beast, as well as the story of family, fatherhood, mental health and helping people when they can’t help themselves, as well as his two young co-stars and their incredible turns.
Pearce, meanwhile, tells us why he wanted to make the film, the changes made to the initial concept, how casting Ahmed helped them mould the film and how the pandemic both hindered and helped the final film.
- 12/2/2021
- by Scott Davis
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Great things are expected of British writer-director Michael Pearce’s second feature after acclaimed 2017 psychological thriller Beast firmly stamped the debut filmmaker’s mark on the genre. Encounter is another offering in the same vein, albeit toying with an apocalyptic sci-fi narrative before dramatically changing course mid-way through. It never quite abandons its extraterrestrial enigma though. As a result of the excellent work from lead actor Riz Ahmed we venture on this tense and highly explosive journey out of sheer curiosity, to seek answers and see closure.
Ahmed plays decorated Marine veteran Malik Khan, a loyal soldier with a moral compass, but clearly in the grip of Ptsd. He is also a father of two young boys, Jay (Lucian-River Chauhan) and Bobby (Aditya Geddada), who live with his ex-wife and her new partner. After witnessing a meteor shower and subsequent alien bug invasion, akin to something from Invasion of the...
Ahmed plays decorated Marine veteran Malik Khan, a loyal soldier with a moral compass, but clearly in the grip of Ptsd. He is also a father of two young boys, Jay (Lucian-River Chauhan) and Bobby (Aditya Geddada), who live with his ex-wife and her new partner. After witnessing a meteor shower and subsequent alien bug invasion, akin to something from Invasion of the...
- 11/30/2021
- by Lisa Giles-Keddie
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Riz Ahmed and Octavia Spencer in Encounter – Available Worldwide on Amazon Prime Video December 10th
Encounter will be available worldwide on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, December 10th
Desperate to save his two young sons, Jay and Bobby, from a mysterious threat, decorated Marine Malik Khan (Riz Ahmed) packs them in a car and sets off on a perilous journey across the western U.S. But while racing toward a secret military base in Nevada that may hold the key to safety, the trio encounters danger at every turn. Staying one step ahead of a group of government agents, Malik and the boys find themselves bonding in unexpected ways. As their relentless pursuers close in, and with time quickly running out, each of them must confront hard truths about the world, forcing Jay and Bobby to leave their childhoods behind. A gripping story of a father’s mission to keep his children safe at all costs, Encounter is at once a riveting thriller and a...
Desperate to save his two young sons, Jay and Bobby, from a mysterious threat, decorated Marine Malik Khan (Riz Ahmed) packs them in a car and sets off on a perilous journey across the western U.S. But while racing toward a secret military base in Nevada that may hold the key to safety, the trio encounters danger at every turn. Staying one step ahead of a group of government agents, Malik and the boys find themselves bonding in unexpected ways. As their relentless pursuers close in, and with time quickly running out, each of them must confront hard truths about the world, forcing Jay and Bobby to leave their childhoods behind. A gripping story of a father’s mission to keep his children safe at all costs, Encounter is at once a riveting thriller and a...
- 11/29/2021
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Encounter Trailer 2 — Amazon Prime Video has released the second movie trailer for Encounter (2021). View here the first Encounter movie trailer. Cast and crew Michael Pearce‘s Encounter stars Riz Ahmed, Octavia Spencer, Rory Cochrane, Lucian-River Chauhan, Aditya Geddada, Janina Gavankar, and Antonio Jaramillo. Joe Barton and Michael Pearce wrote the screenplay [...]
Continue reading: Encounter (2021) Movie Trailer 2: Riz Ahmed stars in Michael Pearce’s Psychological Thriller about an Alien Invasion...
Continue reading: Encounter (2021) Movie Trailer 2: Riz Ahmed stars in Michael Pearce’s Psychological Thriller about an Alien Invasion...
- 11/20/2021
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
Amazon Prime Video has launched a new trailer for the Riz Ahmed led ‘Encounter.’
A decorated Marine goes on a rescue mission to save his two young sons from a mysterious threat. As their journey takes them in increasingly dangerous directions, the boys will need to leave their childhoods behind.
Directed by Michael Pearce, the film stars Riz Ahmed, Octavia Spencer, Rory Cochrane, Lucian-River Chauhan and Aditya Geddada.
Also in trailers – Leonardo DiCaprio & Jennifer Lawrence star in new trailer for ‘Don’t Look Up’
The film will be released in cinemas 3 December 2021 and on Amazon Prime Video 10 December 2021.
The post Riz Ahmed would do anything to protect his kids in trailer for ‘Encounter’ appeared first on HeyUGuys.
A decorated Marine goes on a rescue mission to save his two young sons from a mysterious threat. As their journey takes them in increasingly dangerous directions, the boys will need to leave their childhoods behind.
Directed by Michael Pearce, the film stars Riz Ahmed, Octavia Spencer, Rory Cochrane, Lucian-River Chauhan and Aditya Geddada.
Also in trailers – Leonardo DiCaprio & Jennifer Lawrence star in new trailer for ‘Don’t Look Up’
The film will be released in cinemas 3 December 2021 and on Amazon Prime Video 10 December 2021.
The post Riz Ahmed would do anything to protect his kids in trailer for ‘Encounter’ appeared first on HeyUGuys.
- 11/18/2021
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
"I'm heading out on another secret mission." Amazon has debuted the full-length official trailer for an indie sci-fi thriller called Encounter, the second feature film directed by the award-winning British filmmaker Michael Pearce after he made Beast previously. This initially premiered at the 2021 Telluride Film Festival earlier this year, and it also played at the Toronto and London Film Festivals. A decorated Marine goes on a rescue mission to save his two young sons from an "unhuman" extraterrestrial threat. As their journey takes them in increasingly dangerous directions, the boys will need to leave their childhoods behind. Encounter stars Riz Ahmed in the lead role, with Octavia Spencer, Rory Cochrane, Lucian-River Chauhan, and Aditya Geddada. I wish this film was better, as there's strong potential with Ahmed and the concept, but it doesn't amount to much. Forgettable sci-fi. Even this trailer is not that great, not much to work with.
- 11/17/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Riz Ahmed scored a worthy Oscar nomination earlier this year in Sound Of Metal as a heavy metal drummer stricken with hearing loss, and in the latest film by Beast director Michael Pearce he shows even more range. In Amazon’s Encounter he stars a Marine who sets out on a secret mission to save his two pre-teen sons (Lucian-River Chauhan and Aditya Geddada) from a mysterious alien threat. Octavia Spencer and Rory Cochrane also star, and Pearce directs from a screenplay he co-wrote with Joe Barton.
Speaking to Deadline’s Joe Utichi, Pearce explained that Encounter shares a great deal of DNA with his 2017 debut. “I wanted to continue what I started with Beast,” he said, “which was to take an antihero and do a sympathetic portrait of them by putting them inside a story engine that was amplified by genre. So I was reading a lot of scripts...
Speaking to Deadline’s Joe Utichi, Pearce explained that Encounter shares a great deal of DNA with his 2017 debut. “I wanted to continue what I started with Beast,” he said, “which was to take an antihero and do a sympathetic portrait of them by putting them inside a story engine that was amplified by genre. So I was reading a lot of scripts...
- 10/9/2021
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Encounter is more of a promising indication of things to come from rising star Riz Ahmed and British director Michael Pearce than a satisfying work in its own right. A not-entirely-felicitous combination of family melodrama and sci-fi bug invasion, the roots of this Amazon feature stretch straight back to the paranoia-saturated fantastical thrillers of the 1950s, albeit with more realistic effects, violence and profanity. If only the filmmakers had kept the running time down to the 94 minutes of one of its principal progenitors, the 1954 sci-fi drive-in classic Them! — in which the enemy consisted of nuclear-enlarged ants — they might have had a real winner.
As in the many mostly low-budget alien-scare programmers of the A-bomb era, the unwelcome otherworldly visitors here would appear to be the product of some malfeasance created by humankind itself. Arriving by meteor, the rocks produce spores,...
As in the many mostly low-budget alien-scare programmers of the A-bomb era, the unwelcome otherworldly visitors here would appear to be the product of some malfeasance created by humankind itself. Arriving by meteor, the rocks produce spores,...
- 9/16/2021
- by Todd McCarthy
- Deadline Film + TV
“Encounter” star Aditya Geddada just turned 9 a few days ago and had his first movie premiere at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival — and his co-star Riz Ahmed told TheWrap he couldn’t have done it without a certain sweet treat on set.
“What role would you say candy played in your process as an actor?” Ahmed asked the young star during the cast’s interview with TheWrap’s editor in chief, Sharon Waxman, during a virtual interview for TIFF.
“I think that it would be my stunt double,” Geddada joked.
“He had the gun to our head,” Ahmed added. “If we were gonna make our days, he needed candy. And he needed it now. There were a lot of candy ransoms being played.”
Ahmed recounted one scene for the movie that involved a night shoot on a mountain. Geddada used up all the heating packs to keep warm, and ended...
“What role would you say candy played in your process as an actor?” Ahmed asked the young star during the cast’s interview with TheWrap’s editor in chief, Sharon Waxman, during a virtual interview for TIFF.
“I think that it would be my stunt double,” Geddada joked.
“He had the gun to our head,” Ahmed added. “If we were gonna make our days, he needed candy. And he needed it now. There were a lot of candy ransoms being played.”
Ahmed recounted one scene for the movie that involved a night shoot on a mountain. Geddada used up all the heating packs to keep warm, and ended...
- 9/13/2021
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Wrap
“Encounter” star Riz Ahmed says he was drawn to Michael Pearce’s film because he wanted to add an “extra layer” to the portrayal of an American marine who might not “look like” him.
“I think the script in its original form was conceived for a different kind of actor than perhaps someone like me, because in a nutshell when you think of an American marine, you might not initially think of an actor who looks like me,” Ahmed said in a virtual interview with TheWrap editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman during the Toronto International Film Festival. “So I put my hand up for it and I said, listen, this could add an extra layer to the story, and Michael was very receptive… but that’s why I was kinda chasing it. This is an opportunity to do something really fresh with a film that’s already really fresh.”
He added: “And...
“I think the script in its original form was conceived for a different kind of actor than perhaps someone like me, because in a nutshell when you think of an American marine, you might not initially think of an actor who looks like me,” Ahmed said in a virtual interview with TheWrap editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman during the Toronto International Film Festival. “So I put my hand up for it and I said, listen, this could add an extra layer to the story, and Michael was very receptive… but that’s why I was kinda chasing it. This is an opportunity to do something really fresh with a film that’s already really fresh.”
He added: “And...
- 9/13/2021
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Wrap
A meteorite falling to Earth disintegrates into stardust that subsequently permeates everything it touches. It hits the soil, enters a bug, is consumed again, and then injected into human flesh by a mosquito while feeding on a microscopic tardigrade about to explode. So the computer-generated prologue to Michael Pearce’s Encounter sets the table for its struggle between man and neurological parasite. Have he and co-writer Joe Barton thus shown that their protagonist has been infected while sleeping? Malik Khan (Riz Ahmed) waking up right after hints at it, but he quickly checks his eyeballs, douses his skin with insect repellent, and wards off bugs wriggling through his motel’s peeling wallpaper anyway. Perhaps his hyper-vigilance saved him this time, but everyone’s luck eventually runs out.
Pearce tries so hard to ensure we know this threat is real that he’s almost daring us to believe it’s not.
Pearce tries so hard to ensure we know this threat is real that he’s almost daring us to believe it’s not.
- 9/12/2021
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
British director Michael Pearce has come up with a bold and nervy puzzle in “Encounter,“ a sci-fi/character study hybrid that premiered at Telluride last week and came to the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday. But he spends too much time keeping his audience off-balance and not enough time coming up with a satisfying answer to what the movie should be; for a film that bobs and weaves and goes all over the place, “Encounter” is curiously flat.
As an ex-Marine who fashions himself as the Kevin McCarthy character in “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, Riz Ahmed gives it his all – and as more substantial movies like “Sound of Metal” have shown, few actors can put across hair-trigger volatility and deep wounds the way Ahmed can.
And at first, the Amazon movie seems to be on his side: It opens, after all, with an object hurtling through the atmosphere...
As an ex-Marine who fashions himself as the Kevin McCarthy character in “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, Riz Ahmed gives it his all – and as more substantial movies like “Sound of Metal” have shown, few actors can put across hair-trigger volatility and deep wounds the way Ahmed can.
And at first, the Amazon movie seems to be on his side: It opens, after all, with an object hurtling through the atmosphere...
- 9/11/2021
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Encounter Trailer — Michael Pearce‘s Encounter (2021) teaser trailer has been released by Amazon Prime Video. The Encounter trailer stars Riz Ahmed, Octavia Spencer, Rory Cochrane, Lucian-River Chauhan, Aditya Geddada, Janina Gavankar, and Antonio Jaramillo. Crew Joe Barton and Michael Pearce wrote the screenplay for Encounter. Benjamin Kracun created the cinematography for the film. [...]
Continue reading: Encounter (2021) Teaser Trailer: Marine Riz Ahmed is on a Mission to Save his Two Sons from an Alien Threat...
Continue reading: Encounter (2021) Teaser Trailer: Marine Riz Ahmed is on a Mission to Save his Two Sons from an Alien Threat...
- 9/10/2021
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
In the creepy opening sequence of “Encounter,” a taut, genre-bending psychological thriller with nonstop drive, an asteroid crashes into Planet Earth before the title even appears. The blinding incident causes a curious chain reaction: There are bloodthirsty beetles, crawling insects, a human infected by a microbe-carrying mosquito.
Elsewhere in a grimy hotel room, ex-Marine Malik Kahn tries to piece together the details of a mysterious virus, possibly caused by what we’ve just witnessed. As a protective measure, he sprays his body and grossly infested walls with bug spray, giving us every reason to believe that he’s assigned himself to an unofficial operation to battle what appears to be a sweeping epidemic, if the news reports on his TV are any indication.
Directed by Michael Pearce (“Beast”) with meticulous craftsmanship that’s always gripping even when it registers a touch heavy-handed, the film takes off from there, sending Malik...
Elsewhere in a grimy hotel room, ex-Marine Malik Kahn tries to piece together the details of a mysterious virus, possibly caused by what we’ve just witnessed. As a protective measure, he sprays his body and grossly infested walls with bug spray, giving us every reason to believe that he’s assigned himself to an unofficial operation to battle what appears to be a sweeping epidemic, if the news reports on his TV are any indication.
Directed by Michael Pearce (“Beast”) with meticulous craftsmanship that’s always gripping even when it registers a touch heavy-handed, the film takes off from there, sending Malik...
- 9/3/2021
- by Tomris Laffly
- Variety Film + TV
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