The team behind Prime Video’s limited series “Bait,” about a British-Pakistani actor who auditions for the role of James Bond but faces backlash from society and his family, gathered for a panel discussion at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles to give viewers an inside look at the making of the show.
Star Riz Ahmed was joined by co-showrunner Ben Carlin, producer Ally Moore, director Bassam Tariq, and music director Kira Elwes in a conversation moderated by film director Daniel Kwan.
Ahmed explained that the original concept for the show was not about James Bond, but the inspiration came after his appearances in Rogue One and The Night of.
Mr Ahmed said he felt a disconnect between people’s perceptions of him and his everyday reality. People imagine him “on a yacht with Han Solo” when in reality he is “walking around in flip-flops and cycle shorts” and joked that “I got kicked out of Tesco for shoplifting the same week Star Wars was released.”
“Someone told me that distance is the amount of shame a person carries, and I thought, ‘Yeah, you’re right. I need to go to therapy or make a TV show about it,'” Ahmed said.
Carlin later brought in Bond’s perspective, telling Ahmed that the show “needs a focal point, a vessel, or a symbol to tell this story…It’s less about how the outside world is reacting and more about what the outside world is doing to him,” explaining that the show eventually began to reflect his inner conflicts.
The team has also talked about experimenting with the show’s tone, and Ahmed said the show should do the same, as the main character faces an identity crisis. Each episode featured a different style, ranging from a “Bollywood melodrama episode” to a “walk-and-talk from Linklater’s Before Sunrise.”
Moore said the team’s guiding principle has always been “character and tone,” while Tariq explained the challenge of balancing absurdity with emotional realism. Citing a dramatic Bollywood-style sequence, he explained that he wanted to give the audience a real emotional shock and reaction. “I want it to feel like, ‘Damn,’ without feeling too Bollywood.”
Music also played a big role in shaping the show’s identity. Elwes explained that he delves deep into classic Pakistani and Bollywood soundtracks while also incorporating contemporary underground artists.
Ahmed also brought elements of his personal life to the show. “Being a Muslim in the West feels like being trapped in a spy thriller,” he said. The show then used Bond footage and themes of surveillance to reflect “paranoia, surveillance, the feeling of being watched but not really being watched.”
The panel concluded with Ahmed talking about the audience response to the Texas screening, saying that people saw themselves reflected on screen and that “the purpose of the story is for people to be able to recognize themselves in strangers.”
