‘I love deadpan’
The first-time director and his star discuss crumpets, graphic sex scenes and making a coming-of-age film that’s really very good Richard Ayoade has ordered black tea with lemon (for squeezing). He will drink half of the tea before deciding it is not strong enough. The lemon will remain untouched. This tells me that he has trouble making decisions and when he does, questions them regularly. I consider myself an excellent judge of character. Craig Roberts, the star of Ayoade’s film Submarine , tells me how the director used to eat four crumpets every day before arriving on set. Ayoade says he doesn’t understand crumpets. He doesn’t get how the holes get in there. This is banter. I think about telling him that the holes are produced when air bubbles in a light, frothy crumpet batter rise and up and burst when the mixture is put in a pan on a medium heat, but I don’t, because I want him to feel at ease. Some people are threatened by knowledge. Ayoade’s film is based on a book by Joe Dunthorne . It’s about a teenage boy called Oliver Tate (played by Roberts) who has trouble communicating with his parents (who he thinks are about to split up) and his girlfriend, Jordana (who he thinks he would like to sleep with). It is thoughtful and funny and sad. The book contains a very graphic sex scene between Oliver and Jordana. The film, by contrast, does not. I wonder why this is. So I ask Ayoade and Roberts about the lack of sex in their movie and then worry that I sound like a pervert. Ayoade confirms that I do. “We cut all of the graphic sex scenes,” he says. “Because it was getting really fairly oppressive”. Perhaps, I venture, these scenes will make the DVD extras? “Yeah – in a way – even in jest, shall we truncate this? This is starting to sound really grim.” Erotophobia is an irrational and potentially debilitating fear of some object, person or act that is related to sex. Roberts, apparently oblivious to Ayoade’s condition, says something and we change tack. It is undoubtedly for the best. “I mean, doing this I’d like to erase most of the stuff I’ve done before – it was very over-the-top,” he is telling me. “I’ve never really done deadpan. I love deadpan. I think it’s probably the way forward. It’s more real.” Some deadpan performers that both Richard and Craig like: Buster Keaton, Dustin Hoffman, Jesse Eisenberg, Robbie Williams – “Especially in his video work,” Ayoade explains. “What’s he thinking? That’s that I want to know. What’s going on behind those eyes? The man’s an enigma. I always put him and Salinger in the same camp.” Ayoade does this a lot – swings between sarcastic and sincere. It’s interesting. He talks about his film as if it is something that happened to him, something that is beyond his control: “The thing that one person hates about it is the thing that another person likes. The only thing that feels easy is the stuff that you don’t have much to do with.” I think he means that he’s worried that people will misunderstand him. If so, I understand him. “Given enough space to talk about something, I will dissuade people from looking at anything I’ve done and say everything I’ve done is awful,” he says.” That’s generally where my head ends up going to in conversation.” His eye contact is poor now. Again, this is something I can relate to. Eye contact is one of those things – like tennis – that people think they are great at before they’re even OK. “Talking about something you’ve done is just really difficult because you just can’t really be objective about it,” Ayoade says. “Your concerns are probably not other people’s concerns, things that other people like are probably accidents. Who knows … it’s … yeah.” He pauses and stops. I think of the word monologophobia, which is the fear of using the same word twice. Then I think about a questionnaire that I would give to Ayoade and Roberts after this interview if I wanted to get to know them better. My first question would be this: Are you aware that your film is very good? Comedy Henry Barnes guardian.co.uk
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on March 15, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News.
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‘I love deadpan’
The first-time director and his star discuss crumpets, graphic sex scenes and making a coming-of-age film that’s really very good Richard Ayoade has ordered black tea with lemon (for squeezing). He will drink half of the tea before deciding it is not strong enough. The lemon will remain untouched. This tells me that he has trouble making decisions and when he does, questions them regularly. I consider myself an excellent judge of character. Craig Roberts, the star of Ayoade’s film Submarine , tells me how the director used to eat four crumpets every day before arriving on set. Ayoade says he doesn’t understand crumpets. He doesn’t get how the holes get in there. This is banter. I think about telling him that the holes are produced when air bubbles in a light, frothy crumpet batter rise and up and burst when the mixture is put in a pan on a medium heat, but I don’t, because I want him to feel at ease. Some people are threatened by knowledge. Ayoade’s film is based on a book by Joe Dunthorne . It’s about a teenage boy called Oliver Tate (played by Roberts) who has trouble communicating with his parents (who he thinks are about to split up) and his girlfriend, Jordana (who he thinks he would like to sleep with). It is thoughtful and funny and sad. The book contains a very graphic sex scene between Oliver and Jordana. The film, by contrast, does not. I wonder why this is. So I ask Ayoade and Roberts about the lack of sex in their movie and then worry that I sound like a pervert. Ayoade confirms that I do. “We cut all of the graphic sex scenes,” he says. “Because it was getting really fairly oppressive”. Perhaps, I venture, these scenes will make the DVD extras? “Yeah – in a way – even in jest, shall we truncate this? This is starting to sound really grim.” Erotophobia is an irrational and potentially debilitating fear of some object, person or act that is related to sex. Roberts, apparently oblivious to Ayoade’s condition, says something and we change tack. It is undoubtedly for the best. “I mean, doing this I’d like to erase most of the stuff I’ve done before – it was very over-the-top,” he is telling me. “I’ve never really done deadpan. I love deadpan. I think it’s probably the way forward. It’s more real.” Some deadpan performers that both Richard and Craig like: Buster Keaton, Dustin Hoffman, Jesse Eisenberg, Robbie Williams – “Especially in his video work,” Ayoade explains. “What’s he thinking? That’s that I want to know. What’s going on behind those eyes? The man’s an enigma. I always put him and Salinger in the same camp.” Ayoade does this a lot – swings between sarcastic and sincere. It’s interesting. He talks about his film as if it is something that happened to him, something that is beyond his control: “The thing that one person hates about it is the thing that another person likes. The only thing that feels easy is the stuff that you don’t have much to do with.” I think he means that he’s worried that people will misunderstand him. If so, I understand him. “Given enough space to talk about something, I will dissuade people from looking at anything I’ve done and say everything I’ve done is awful,” he says.” That’s generally where my head ends up going to in conversation.” His eye contact is poor now. Again, this is something I can relate to. Eye contact is one of those things – like tennis – that people think they are great at before they’re even OK. “Talking about something you’ve done is just really difficult because you just can’t really be objective about it,” Ayoade says. “Your concerns are probably not other people’s concerns, things that other people like are probably accidents. Who knows … it’s … yeah.” He pauses and stops. I think of the word monologophobia, which is the fear of using the same word twice. Then I think about a questionnaire that I would give to Ayoade and Roberts after this interview if I wanted to get to know them better. My first question would be this: Are you aware that your film is very good? Comedy Henry Barnes guardian.co.uk
Posted by
on March 15, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.