I'm not a natural comic, I don't think. That's why I gave up stand-up. It was hard. It involved a lot of death. Dying. Dying on stage. But it's one of those jobs you can only learn by doing it. You can't sit in your room and learn how to make people...
Actor Julian Barratt attends the āMindhornā World Premiere screening during the 60th BFI London Film Festival at Odeon Leicester Square on October 9, 2016 in London, England.
Flowers, the new sitcom from Will Sharpe, stars Olivia Colman and Julian Barratt, and is due to air at the end of April. Hereās what Julian had to say about itā¦
Can you explain the concept of Flowers, the series?
Itās about a dysfunctional family who are all in separate worlds, almost. Itās about their journey through various events, including some fairly dark ones. Itās about their journey through that into connectedness, I suppose. Thatās a fairly non-comic, quite academic explanation! One of the things I really liked about it is a real attention to visual detail. Itās all written in the script ā it sort of felt to me more like an indie movie ā not quite Wes Anderson, but it had a visual quality that you donāt get much when youāre reading TV scripts. So it was that, and the comedy and the darkness that drew me to it. Usually in scripts itās wall-to-wall dialogue. But quite a lot of sections of this had no dialogue. I donāt know how Will (Sharpe, the creator, writer and director) pitched the idea to Channel 4!
You play Maurice ā whatās his story?
Heās a childrenās author whoās hit a brick wall. Heās quite a broken, stuck person, and heās become suicidal. Heās frozen. He has a very grey, almost monochromatic feel to him. Heās surrounded by these quite colourful characters ā his wife, his children, Shun his illustrator ā and heās much darker, a bit blurred and unfocussed and not there somehow.
Mauriceās wife, Deborah, is played by Olivia Colman. What was it like working with her?
It was great. I knew her a little bit beforehand ā bumped into her at a few things, but Iād never worked with her. It was quite nerve-wracking to work with her. Sheās not a frightening person in any way, but just having seen her do so much good stuff, it made me feel like I really had to make sure I ādid somethingā next to her. She really spans all the stuff Iād like to do as an actor ā she does comedy, drama; serious stuff, and thatās quite intimidating ā but sheās very much as you see her. Sheās very funny and puts you at ease, and, very quickly, it was fine. Sheās amazing to watch, I must say. I was pretty mesmerised by all the stuff she could do again and again.
You signed up to a show that was basically being written and directed by a first-timer. Thatās quite a leap of faith. Is that testimony to Willās talent?
I knew straightaway who he was. I really liked his indie film Black Pond, so it was an immediate yes. It was such an interesting film. I knew he was the co-creator of that. And then, having met him and read the script ā which was great and sure-of-foot ā you could tell that this was someone who knew what they were doing. It doesnāt matter whether itās someoneās first series or not, if itās a good script, and youāve got an example of their work, and you like it, thatās all you need in a way.
Does it feel different performing someone elseās work than something youāve written yourself?
Yeah it does, because I donāt really have so much reverence for my own work when Iām doing it. I filmed Flowers back-to-back with a film that Iāve written. And doing that, I could say to myself āI know when I wrote this line, it was when I was quite tired one night and I couldnāt find a better one,ā so Iām quite happy to find a better line on the day. With someoneās elseās work, you donāt really know. I certainly wouldnāt have gone to Will on the first day and started saying āI think I might try this instead.ā So it takes a while to get to a point where you feel you can do that, which isnāt the case with your own work.
As well as being very funny and very dark, Flowers is very moving and tender. Is the emotional depth of the series important to you?
Oh yeah, that is the point of it; Itās a mixture of that plus comedy. The stuff Iāve written is more like The Mighty Boosh, I suppose ā itās more silly, you donāt go to those [darker] areas at all. But I tend to watch serious films. Comedy is great, but I tend to be more into straight, serious drama. I love it, but I donāt write it. And so itās really exciting to be part of something thatās a little bit of both. At the audition, he made me do stuff that was a little more straight. This isnāt a totally straight piece, of course, but there are bits of this where Iām not doing anything funny, where itās just real.
Itās a very bleak subject matter, yet itās also a comedy. Was that appealing?
I think comedy is the way we deal with dark times and depression. Some of the best comedy comes from that sort of area ā certainly some of my favourite comedy. The Apartment [1960] has got an attempted suicide in it. The Odd Couple [1968] starts with an attempted suicide with Jack Lemmon, who puts his back out while trying to throw himself out of a window. I donāt have a problem with that. But if you want a fun, warm watch, this might not be for you!
But you canāt cater for everyone. When I used to do stand-up āBoosh tours, weād do a show and people would come up in the interval and go ācould you stop doing this stuff, because we find it offensive.ā Weāve written a show, weāre not going to stop doing it because one person has some issues with it. And what weāre dealing with in Flowers, itās nothing that hasnāt been dealt with before, and in a comic fashion.
(bonus photo for all your delicious scruffy Ju needs)
Heās a childrenās author whoās hit a brick wall. Heās quite a broken, stuck person, and heās become suicidal. Heās frozen. He has a very grey, almost monochromatic feel to him. Heās surrounded by these quite colourful characters ā his wife, his children, Shun his illustrator ā and heās much darker, a bit blurred and unfocussed and not there somehow.
The stuff Iāve written is more like The Mighty Boosh, I suppose ā itās more silly, you donāt go to those [darker] areas at all. But I tend to watch serious films. Comedy is great, but I tend to be more into straight, serious drama. I love it, but I donāt write it. And so itās really exciting to be part of something thatās a little bit of both. At the audition, he made me do stuff that was a little more straight. This isnāt a totally straight piece, of course, but there are bits of this where Iām not doing anything funny, where itās just real.
I think comedy is the way we deal with dark times and depression. Some of the best comedy comes from that sort of area ā certainly some of my favourite comedy. The Apartment (1960) has got an attempted suicide in it. The Odd Couple (1968) starts with an attempted suicide with Jack Lemmon, who puts his back out while trying to throw himself out of a window. I donāt have a problem with that. But if you want a fun, warm watch, this might not be for you!
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