Ahead of the release of his second feature film The Double (in cinemas from Friday 4 April), we got to sit down with one of the legends of TV comedy and brilliant director, Richard Ayoade.
HER: Congratulations on The Double first of all. I realise it’s your second feature film but is it true that you were planning it a few years in advance of Submarine (Ayoade’s 2010 feature film debut) coming out?
Richard: Yeah, yeah. It was Avi Korine who I ended up writing it with. He finished his first draft in 2007 and around the time I was starting to write on Submarine. So yeah, it’s been going for a while.
HER: And was Jesse Eisenburg always the right two men for the job?
Richard: (Laughs) Yeah, yeah, he was. We didn’t ask anyone else.
We couldn’t think of anyone who felt they would be as good as him. You know, just in terms of his range and ability to do both and it felt like he was the perfect age. You can think of maybe some older actors but I can’t think of an actor, his age, around 30, who’s like him. Or even just an actor in his league who’s that age, I just can’t think of anyone.
HER: From all of your experience, have you found that it’s now easier to spot a great talent like Jesse? We were fortunate enough to meet him last year and he was very impressive, smart and quick-witted. Was that something that stood out for you personally as a director when you were looking for talent to work with?
Richard: For me it was seeing him in The Squid And The Whale (2005) and since then I just watched everything he was in. I just thought he was so brilliant in that film.
It’s just rare that someone’s that good and obviously very intelligent, but isn’t inhibited as the performer. You know, there’s something about being considered that can stop you being reactive, I guess, but he is able to do both and that’s kind of rare.
HER: Jesse’s big news is that he’s been cast as Lex Luther in the new Superman vs Batman film, and we’ve now seen a darker side to him in your film. Do you think he’ll fare well in that upcoming villainous role?
Richard: I mean, I think he’ll be good in whatever he does.
I think there are some actors, and often the best actors, like James Stewart – it’s almost the highest compliment to say that they feel like they’re playing themselves or they’re playing a similar role. It’s simply because people don’t see the acting and so they just go, “Oh James Stewart’s in another film,” despite the enormous difference between It’s A Wonderful Life and the darker westerns he did with Anthony Mann or Vertigo. There’s such incredible range in what he does but you just go “It’s a James Stewart film.”
So Jesse has that star quality, all while being an amazing actor and also having incredible range without people noticing because he doesn’t drop weight or balloon or make huge physical adjustments generally. I really think Jesse’s like that. You know, he looks like him in stuff.
HER: You’ve acted, you’re director on this particular project and a screenwriter as well. Do any of them come easier to you personally, or is there one aspect that you’ve a love and an affinity for?
Richard: Well, acting comes very uneasy to me and it’s not something I do very often or with any skill, so I feel I have more aptitude for directing and writing, but that is comparative in the great scheme of things. I’m also poor at those things but it’s just compared to acting I feel more comfortable doing that.
And the thing I actually like best is doing the sound, at the very end. That’s a bit where, for a variety of reasons, it feels it’s only getting better because the film is locked and most of the stuff you’re doing is improving it. That’s a very pleasant feeling.
HER: Right from the beginning of The Double the sound is something that does really stand out. That obviously plays a very important role for you, equally as important as some of the other elements of the film?
Richard: Yeah, I mean, on everything I’ve always done the sound, other maybe than Submarine which had a lot of natural sound, but we were very careful in the recording of it. Martin Beresford (sound engineer) was very careful with the sound. I just said “Can you be very careful?” and that’s what constitutes work as a Director.
HER: This being your second feature film as director obviously presented different technical difficulties, mainly because you’ve got Jesse playing two separate characters. Did you find it much more of a challenge than Submarine?
Richard: It’s hardest for the actor because they can’t react off another person. There’s a huge technical difficulty in remembering eyelines and where to look. All of that is really hard to do but Jesse has one of those brains that is able to be technically very precise and he can still act and hit a mark. I still don’t understand how actors manage to stop in the right place. I kind of have to look at the floor to make sure I’m still in the right place so I find that very impressive.
Once Jesse had recorded one of the characters on the film, when he filmed the other character he has to stay in time with that character and that’s very weird for an actor. But the technology of it can be annoying and it breaks down and it takes forever but it’s just technology and it’s ok. So, it’s more that it seems ridiculous. But there is a scene in a bar, which looks really simple on the screen and it took us a day to do this one shot. It’s maddening how slow it is.
HER: That’s fair enough. We’ve also been fortunate enough to meet Terry Gilliam recently but who are your own comedy influences? Would you also be a big Monty Python fan?
Richard: I really like Monty Python. I guess Woody Allen, I suppose. They’re just people I like. I don’t know whether I do anything like them but Chris Morris and Monthy Python, Woody Allen, Buster Keaton, Groucho Marx and Richard Pryor. But I know that I don’t do anything near what they do. And Peter Cook, no great surprises. There are some people that are so good that everyone agrees.
HER: There’s probably a little bit of every one of those influences in your own work in some way I’m sure. finally, speaking of your other work, with the I.T. Crowd, one of my fellow colleagues asked “How did you manage to keep a straight face in the Final Countdown episode?”
Was that a particularly difficult episode to film? Is it one that even stands out for yourself?
Richard: That episode is so strange because it’s filmed in front of an audience on the night so the whole day is just terror. It’s just nerves and you just cannot remember anything. It’s just like being in a car accident. I don’t mean that in terms of the show but just as in, I find it very frightening. I have bad stage fright. So you’re just hoping not to forget things or screw it up so you’re unable to recall it. It’s sort of an awful blackout of things. Well for me, personally.
But with directing I can still remember, in order, everything that happened that I’ve filmed, but if I’m in something I can’t remember it.
The Double is in Irish cinemas from Friday 4th April.
