Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Manchester has a certain reputation of being cool.
I think it's very easy to get discouraged early on.
'Sightseers' started off as a character comedy double act.
Growing up, I didn't feel very cool having come from the Midlands.
In film, you're painting a canvas. I got really excited about that.
I think when a couple stays together, it's because of compromises they've both made.
So many films end up being filmed in London or in the same places over and over again.
I think in most couples or partnerships, there's a constant struggle for power and dominance.
If you can make someone believe that you believe in the idea then I think that's worth a lot.
I probably revisit in my work the moment at which I realised that dreams couldn't be reality.
For years, I didn't give interviews because I was scared of people judging me or thinking I was arrogant.
One thing about television in Britain is that they're so scared about complaints. It curbs a lot of drama.
When I was a kid the highlight of my week would be doing a fossil hunt at the local quarry... that kind of thing.
Ironically, there isn't much comedy film in Britain, which is quite surprising seeing that we're quite good at it.
There are some things that as an actor scare you, and if you can capture that fear on screen, it will be interesting.
Both of us have forged our careers in London, but a lot of my comedy influences come from my family and my childhood.
I think both of us [ with Steve Oram], once we decided to do comedy, knew that we would have to come to London to do that.
Women often have a fraught relationship with their mothers, even though that's the most important relationship in their lives.
I think comedy, so much of it comes out of the strange sort of golden instant 'cause you don't know why it's funny, but you captured it.
We developed 'Sightseers' as a TV idea but didn't get anywhere with it because all the channels said it was too dark originally as an idea for television.
Confidence in a bloke would be arrogance in a woman. For years, I didn't give interviews because I was scared of people judging me or thinking I was arrogant.
I think what's difficult is proving to people that a script actually does work and sometimes the laughter might not be on the page, it might be between the lines.
I don't have kids, a mortgage, or a car. That has let me hold out for the jobs I want to do, and to sit in a cold room in the winter with fingerless gloves, writing.
It's nice to think people might be talking about it after they've seen it. With some comedies it's a bit 'wham bam thank you ma'am', and then you just go for a pizza.
We always wanted to make a comedy that was a little bit more than that, which had tragic elements to it... that people engaged with - an intelligent comedy essentially.
I think 99% of the whole thing is to have passion about the idea yourself. I think part of your job as a filmmaker is to tell someone that might not think it's going to work that, actually, it will work.
I think 'Sightseers' was a bit of an epiphany, a massive learning curve, and it gave me loads of confidence to go out there, and also to create a female character which is completely unexpected and defies convention.
We pitched 'Sightseers' as a TV idea originally, and it was rejected because it was too dark. But then things like 'Dexter' came out, 'Breaking Bad'... There are so many sophisticated dramas now with comic elements to them.
I have to be careful, as I don't want to offend Midlanders, but growing up, it wasn't like growing up in London. Anything you were interested in, you'd be able to find someone also interested in it. In the Midlands, nobody came out as gay at my school at all.
I studied classics, and I find it mystifying that we had Medea and Electra and Antigone and all these amazing characters, and they don't really exist in cinema now. The only person who's really doing it, and he gets loads of criticism for it, is Lars Von Trier.
The first time you go on holiday is the test of a relationship, when you really find out if you're compatible or not. You find out what's annoying about that person, and whether or not you're willing to put up with that because you love them and you don't want to be alone.
I always think it's just best to just make stuff and to carry on making stuff, even if it's not off your own back, because that's the only way... especially as a comedy writer, I make short films and then show them to live audience, so if they're laughing you know you're doing something right.
I don't understand why people don't use improvisation, especially in comedy films, but also, for me, you get more naturalism, and that's why I like the naturalistic performances and strange rhythms and the way that people genuinely interact captured rather than sort of very mannered performances.
I was in something called 'Garth Marenghi's Darkplace' which was a real cult comedy; it's sort of a spoof horror sort of thing, and it only ever had one series, but I liked the fact that it only had one series because it's kind of got this little gemlike quality to it that there were only ever six episodes.
I love doing comedy, and that's the thing I will always go back to, really, but I'd love to have the freedom to do sort of 'meaty' roles but also have the freedom to do the sort of films I want to make, like what Woody Allen does. You forget he's funny because you're so gripped by the story, but they still make you laugh.
The irony is that we're really good at comedy in Britain, but for some reason, we make very few comedy films. And when we do, they're either quite American in style, or very Richard Curtis. And I like Richard Curtis, but I think only Richard Curtis should write Richard Curtis films, and other people should try and find their own style.
The film [Sightseers] is really the story of the journey of a relationship, so the killings are almost a metaphor for the trials they go through. We wanted people to identify with the experience of going on holiday and having a quarrel with your wife, boyfriend, whatever. We knew if we didn't crack that it would not be watchable as a film.
The characters are not allowed to change if you write a sitcom; they're not allowed to learn anything. There's all these sorts of rules, and you go, 'I just want to be able to write one character and then leave that behind.' Also, as a performer, and I may regret saying this, but it would be my own personal hell to be trapped in the sitcom.
We actually did go on a camping trip together as part of the research, in a caravan, for a week. I guess we picked who annoyed us most from genuine experience. We did a lot of research on camping and what annoys people. It's quite often children playing ball games. It's a huge debate in the caravan world whether children should be allowed to play ball games or not.