From KCRW, I'm Kim Masters and this is The Business.

Riz Ahmed earned an Oscar nomination for playing a drummer who's losing his hearing in the 2019 film Sound of Metal.

But that industry recognition didn't cut much ice in the family group chat.

My cousin genuinely was not sure exactly what that really meant. And he was like,

oh, great, is that like when I got regional employee of the month? And before I could respond,

another cousin said, no, his nomination is not like that because you actually won regional

employee of the month. Rez Ahmed talks about playing a modern hamlet in a new film, the product of a decade-long effort

to adapt the Shakespeare play.

This time, the Danish royals are replaced with wealthy South Asian family.

Ahmed also tells us about his Amazon show, Bait, in which he plays a conniving, aspiring

actor who pretends that he's in contention to be the next James Bond while coping with

crippling self-criticism. But first we banter. Stick around. It's the business from KCRW.

I am joined by my partner in banter, Matt Bellany, from Cinemicon. Hello, Matt. Yes, glamorous

Las Vegas. I am here.

So I will note that there's been a lot of talk about windows and things that are being revealed to theater owners, and it's a good way to figure out who's got what coming up on

their slate, get a feel for how the theater owners respond. But also, of course, the theater

owners are now getting into the fight to try to block the

paramount acquisition of Warner. And they are not alone. A couple of thousand industry players,

you know, bold-faced name players, Brian Cranston, J.J. Abrams, who's not necessarily known for

injecting himself into this kind of thing. You know, Lynn Manuel Miranda, Ben Stiller, they have signed this petition saying that this

murder should not go through.

Now, do they have any power to stop this merger?

...