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Someone Else isn't a typical Romcom is it?
Romantic comedies are very hard to make, and there aren't that many that are that good! Every summer there's some slushy pile of shit that comes out, and I feel short-changed as an audience member because everything's obviously signposted; now feel gooey, here comes the baddy – boo! It's almost like pantomime you know? The hero arrives but he's a bit crap and needs some help but we love him, and then all the slushy music from the Sixties kick in. When they work, and they're very rare they are good, I'm not knocking them, but there's are many avenues to explore. Woody Allen made a lot of great comedies about romances that were different and witty, and weren't afraid to explore the less slushy, less fluffy side of things.
Romantic comedies are very hard to make, and there aren't that many that are that good! Every summer there's some slushy pile of shit that comes out, and I feel short-changed as an audience member because everything's obviously signposted; now feel gooey, here comes the baddy – boo! It's almost like pantomime you know? The hero arrives but he's a bit crap and needs some help but we love him, and then all the slushy music from the Sixties kick in. When they work, and they're very rare they are good, I'm not knocking them, but there's are many avenues to explore. Woody Allen made a lot of great comedies about romances that were different and witty, and weren't afraid to explore the less slushy, less fluffy side of things.
So how would you describe it?
Well, it's a comedy, a comedy-drama, and a romantic comedy – I don't know what it is but it's not a typical British romcom! It doesn't neatly fall into that style where everybody is loveable but they can't get it together with the one they should be with, and then through some hilarious consequences they end up together and flowers sort of float down from the heavens!
It is a comedy, but with most comedies you're always looking for the jokes in the story; there's a joke here, a gag here a visual joke there, but we very much wanted it to be about the story. I think it's more honest about men than lots of films. The stereotype romantic comedy in this country is Hugh Grant who is incredibly good-looking, which I'm obviously not for a start, he's a slightly hapless bloke who needs a bit of help from the wiser woman to see where his love lies and what he should be doing with his life. This is slightly more brutal about men, and sometimes their inability to know what they want.
Well, it's a comedy, a comedy-drama, and a romantic comedy – I don't know what it is but it's not a typical British romcom! It doesn't neatly fall into that style where everybody is loveable but they can't get it together with the one they should be with, and then through some hilarious consequences they end up together and flowers sort of float down from the heavens!
It is a comedy, but with most comedies you're always looking for the jokes in the story; there's a joke here, a gag here a visual joke there, but we very much wanted it to be about the story. I think it's more honest about men than lots of films. The stereotype romantic comedy in this country is Hugh Grant who is incredibly good-looking, which I'm obviously not for a start, he's a slightly hapless bloke who needs a bit of help from the wiser woman to see where his love lies and what he should be doing with his life. This is slightly more brutal about men, and sometimes their inability to know what they want.
It helps that David's friends are so patently crap; he's got a swinger a terminal singleton and a broken marriage to get advice from
I think that's a lovely touch, because none of us probably have the great role models Hugh gets in Four Weddings! I mean youlook around your mates and some are okay you know, but on the whole everybody's struggling with this, flapping around trying to make sense of one of the hardest decisions you'll have to make. But yeah, I love the fact they're all a bit shit!
I like the fact as well that when people are rejected, you see how much it hurts. Generally it's like a cartoon-thing, you don’t really see people in proper pain; you may see the female lead crying or him staring moodily out to sea, but I love the fact the pain gets a bit of airtime as well. Actually the main thing to point it's a comedy as well! It sounds like we're doing some Bergman mood piece on relationships but we're not, there are some very funny moments in it!
I think that's a lovely touch, because none of us probably have the great role models Hugh gets in Four Weddings! I mean youlook around your mates and some are okay you know, but on the whole everybody's struggling with this, flapping around trying to make sense of one of the hardest decisions you'll have to make. But yeah, I love the fact they're all a bit shit!
I like the fact as well that when people are rejected, you see how much it hurts. Generally it's like a cartoon-thing, you don’t really see people in proper pain; you may see the female lead crying or him staring moodily out to sea, but I love the fact the pain gets a bit of airtime as well. Actually the main thing to point it's a comedy as well! It sounds like we're doing some Bergman mood piece on relationships but we're not, there are some very funny moments in it!
Admittedly it does look a bit bleak but I was so impressed with the way it was directed and shot by Col; we didn't have much money but it looks amazing! He shot it in I don't know the technical term for it, but 'wideovision', it's very cinematic which is why I think it's a film that needs to be seen in the cinema.
Col also knows exactly when to give you a bit of freedom and improvise a bit, and when to step in tell you stop mucking about!
Was that closer to the Confetti experience than say, Green Wing?
Well Confetti was completely improvised, there wasn't a single word written down on the page and I think it pushed it about as far as you can go. We were all just told to organise a wedding, and at the end of fliming Debbie Isitt the director had enough material to make a hundred different films, she could've told any story she wanted. The writing process there was done really in the edit suite by her afterwards.
To be honest I like a bit of improv and a bit of scripting. Solely relying on improvisation you miss out what writers do which is give depth and story-arcs and the guidance and direction you'd never think of as an individual. It's trying to find a balance between those two things, having a writer on board and improvising. Some of the best things I've seen and been involved in have that, The Thick of It for example, Alan Partridge, and Green Wing were similar. That's the area I'm really interested in – whether it's film, on the stage or TV doesn't really matter to me!
Well Confetti was completely improvised, there wasn't a single word written down on the page and I think it pushed it about as far as you can go. We were all just told to organise a wedding, and at the end of fliming Debbie Isitt the director had enough material to make a hundred different films, she could've told any story she wanted. The writing process there was done really in the edit suite by her afterwards.
To be honest I like a bit of improv and a bit of scripting. Solely relying on improvisation you miss out what writers do which is give depth and story-arcs and the guidance and direction you'd never think of as an individual. It's trying to find a balance between those two things, having a writer on board and improvising. Some of the best things I've seen and been involved in have that, The Thick of It for example, Alan Partridge, and Green Wing were similar. That's the area I'm really interested in – whether it's film, on the stage or TV doesn't really matter to me!
Someone Else (which actually is funny) is out September 7th at Cinemas
Related Features
Green Wing website
Debbie Isitt talks about directing Confetti
Related Features
Green Wing website
Debbie Isitt talks about directing Confetti
