Arsher Ali on Four Lions

"The most dangerous thing about him is his lack of understanding..." Arsher Ali on Four Lions

Can you describe your character in the film?
Hassan is an outsider, a wannabe. But the most dangerous thing about him is his lack of understanding, his ignorance. To him, radicalization and its commitments are akin to the college boy who suddenly picks up a skateboard and declares he was “always a skater” – it’s a fad in a way. But I think it’s all born out of his desire to be accepted and to be liked or respected – something we can all relate to.

What research did you do?
The “As-much-as-we-could-without-being-suspected-of-anything” amount.
 
And was there a strong group dynamic that developed?
There was a huge sense of togetherness, mostly because we’d all improvised together and fallen on our backsides now and again in said improvisations and that takes a lot of trust.