The Roses Director Jay Roach Teases New Austin Powers

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The legendary comedy director was on the carpet for Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman team up, The Roses. Report by Nelsonj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn

Transcript

00:00First and foremost, mate, thank you so much for Austin Powers

00:03because the years and the years of joy that brought to me

00:07had a very, like, a very important part of your life when you're discovering comedy.

00:11Probably way too early when you weren't supposed to be watching.

00:13God, yeah, and it, oh, that has stayed with me all these years.

00:18Not to dwell too much on the past, but is there any chance that you guys might dance again?

00:24There's always a chance. Mike talks about it, I talk about it.

00:26It's always, how do you top, you know, the last one was Beyonce and Michael Caine,

00:31and, you know, it was so enjoyable to make that,

00:36and so we just need a hope that goes, oh, this is going to be even more spectacular.

00:41Well, I think every time Mike comes out of the woodwork again,

00:44it seems to make headlines, and everyone's like, wow, this guy's still got it.

00:47This guy's still got so much to offer.

00:48I think he had something to do with electing the Prime Minister of Canada recently, seriously.

00:52He did some campaign spots that do elbows up, that, you know, that's how influential.

01:00He's the master of catchphrases.

01:02Shagadelic, yeah baby, swing, not, like they should harness him for political purposes.

01:09For no reason whatsoever the other day, I was literally singing the BBC song to myself.

01:14I've got the whole lyrics down to that still.

01:17My wife is in that band, Susanna Hoffs of the Bengals is in, she's, Jillian Shagwell was her name.

01:24What her name.

01:25I don't know how you got that signed off at the time.

01:28Hey honey, you're going to be cool with it.

01:30It's called, it is called The Spy Who Shagged Me, the second one, so we had a head start.

01:35Well, I'm telling you now, there's still an appetite for it,

01:37so I'll be crossing my fingers that you guys make some calls after this.

01:40Let's talk about bringing something else back.

01:43The War of the Roses is an absolutely iconic movie from back of the day.

01:47You've got Michael Douglas in his absolute pomp, Danny DeVito, Kathleen.

01:52This is a very different movie, but what was it about that story and about that original,

01:58if at all, kind of inspired you to want to have a crack at it yourself?

02:01Well, you know, Tony and Olivia and Benedict had worked on it before I even came on,

02:06so it wasn't hard once I read this great script and the two of them,

02:10but I did think it was worth it, because I am nervous about remakes.

02:13It was such a reimagining and went in such a direction that I almost found therapeutic,

02:19which is weird that such a dark comedy could make you feel like,

02:22you know, I need to think harder about how to keep a relationship together.

02:25So I feel like if people could walk out of it talking about how to be better for each other,

02:33what a cool thing that would be.

02:35Sometimes tragedy is a cautionary tale.

02:38It's definitely very cathartic.

02:41I mean, I have a relationship where we argue as a sport.

02:45And watching something like this, there's a little piece of you that I'd love to be able to say some of this stuff.

02:49Yeah, that means you trust each other and you get each other's humour.

02:52That's not a small thing, that's a big deal.

02:54Let's talk about getting each other's humour, because you work with two different sections of comedy in here.

03:00You've got Olivia and Benedict who have done both comedy and drama,

03:03and two of the biggest actors you've got in the entire world at the moment.

03:06Then you've got this, like, SNL alumni, you've got Jamie and Zoe in there as well.

03:12Judy got while I was talking behind us.

03:14Judy as well.

03:14Again, incredible actors.

03:16But, like, it's two very different forms of comedy, and I guess it's your job to try and tie that together and make it blend in a way that's...

03:22Yeah, I guess you could say that, but I always look at it as kind of the same thing,

03:26and especially why film comedy, as opposed to sketch comedy,

03:30you're building characters that you're asking the audience to stick with and to keep going with.

03:36And that, if it comes out of character, and Tony writes the character so authentically,

03:41then when you cast comedy-capable people who take it past them,

03:45then it's like jazz or something.

03:46You're ripping off of what Tony's written.

03:49But with this other inventiveness, like Kate McKinnon has, and Andy Samberg.

03:55So, I don't know, I always try to keep it real, you know, as best I can.

03:59But let comedy fly, you know, let the pre-clag fly.

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