Interview: Richard Ayoade talks 'Submarine'.

Richard Ayoade - a.k.a. Maurice Moss of 'The IT Crowd' and director of music videos for the likes of Vampire Weekend, Arctic Monkeys, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Last Shadow Puppets - makes his film-directorial and screenwriting debut with an adaptation of Joe Dunthorne's 2008 novel, 'Submarine'.

In the words of the film's fifteen-year-old protagonist Oliver Tate:

"I have been waiting too long for the film of my life. My name is Oliver Tate. This film will capture my particular idiosyncrasies, for example, the way I seduce my classmate Jordana Bevan using only my mind. Also, since my parents' marriage is being threatened by a man who runs courses on Mental and Physical Wellbeing, the film will probably feature some elaborate set-pieces of me taking him down. There will be helicopter shots. There will be slow-mo, but also transcendent moments, like when I cure my father's depression... Note to the press: appropriate adjectives to describe this film include "breath-taking" and "irresistible" as well the phrase: "a monumental achievement"."

Coup De Main was lucky enough to send a few questions Ayoade's way...

COUP DE MAIN: Congratulations on 'Submarine'! It's my favourite film of 2011. What have been your personal favourites of this year so far?
RICHARD AYOADE: Many thanks - very kind! I'm pretty bad at seeing new films. I really like 'Midnight In Paris'. I love Woody Allen and Owen Wilson is great in it. He's such a pleasure to watch.

CDM: What were your five most important references/influences for your vision of 'Submarine'?
RICHARD AYOADE: 'Taxi Driver', 'Badlands', 'Zazie Dans Le Métro', 'Metropolitan', 'Le Samouraï'.

CDM: If you were to write your fifteen-year-old self a pamphlet - à la Oliver's 'How To Break The Victim Cycle' for Zoe Preece - what would be the main points of it?
RICHARD AYOADE: I would tell myself to relax and try not to sound clever.

CDM: What were you like at Oliver's age?
RICHARD AYOADE: I'm not sure. Less erudite and not Welsh.

CDM: What are your favourite lines of Oliver's in the film?
RICHARD AYOADE: Probably something that's directly from Joe's novel. Joe's book is full of great lines.

CDM: Which scenes in 'Submarine' took the longest to film?
RICHARD AYOADE: Anything at magic hour (which was a lot of the film) because it was Winter and magic hour only lasts twenty minutes at that time in Wales so we'd have to film those scenes over several days.

CDM: Did you always intend for Ben Stiller to cameo in the film? Likewise, with the casting of your wife Lydia Fox as Miss Dutton?
RICHARD AYOADE: Ideally, yes.

CDM: What is your screenwriting process like?
RICHARD AYOADE: Quite long, with long periods of inactivity and laziness.

CDM: Why did you decide to ask Alex Turner to soundtrack 'Submarine'?
RICHARD AYOADE: I just think he's great. I was very lucky that he had some time between records to do it. I didn't have to do anything - it was one of the best parts of doing the film.

CDM: If you were to make a mix-tape like the one that Oliver's father makes in the film, what would you choose to put on it?
RICHARD AYOADE: I'd just put on 'Back In Black' - the whole album.

CDM: How involved were you with the decision of the American producer Harvey Weinstein to include a slide featuring Oliver explaining where Wales is and thanking the Americans for not invading, being screened at the beginning of showings to American audiences? Do you feel like it added or took away from the film at all?
RICHARD AYOADE: I don't know that it took away or added a great deal in the end - I'm not sure. I wrote the slide, so it's rubbishness of non-rubbishness would be entirely my fault.

CDM: I noticed that you thank Michael Cera, Ezra Koenig and Rostam Batmanglij, in the credits for 'Submarine'. What was their involvement/contribution each?
RICHARD AYOADE: They were involved in the electrical department. Rostam also did some focus work.

CDM: What can you tell me about your upcoming adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novella 'The Double'? Are you looking forward to working with Jesse Eisenberg?
RICHARD AYOADE: I'm very much looking forward to it. I think Jesse is a brilliant actor. It's a script that Avi Korine initially came up with and it's been really fun working with him on it.

CDM: What are your thoughts on 'The IT Crowd' coming to an end?
RICHARD AYOADE: There's not going to be a fifth series - maybe just a special. I'm happy to have been involved in four - it's the most I've done of anything, and I think it's a real achievement of Graham's to have kept the standard of writing so high completely on his own.

CDM: What advice would you offer to anyone also wishing to pursue multi-tasking their acting, directing and writing interests?
RICHARD AYOADE: Be mediocre at each one, so that there's no real demand for you to specialise.

CDM: Lastly, how would one go about replicating the amazingness that is your hair?
RICHARD AYOADE: Lack of grooming.

Richard Ayoade's film-directorial and screenwriting debut 'Submarine' - starring Noah Taylor, Paddy Considine, Craig Roberts, Yasmin Paige and Sally Hawkins - is playing in New Zealand cinemas now!