Last time Will Ferrell jetted into London, he paraded down the red carpet to the sound of roaring engines, wearing a England football strip and flanked by ten rather scantily clad women. With no Nascars to be seen, Friday night at the London Film Festival was a far more reserved affair, as Ferrell’s new movie Stranger Than Fiction premiered at the Odeon West End.
Having already been favourably compared to the Charlie Kaufman-penned Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, Stranger Than Fiction centres on Harold Crick (Ferrell), a straightforward, routine-led taxman. Crick’s life becomes unhinged when he realises he is the main character in a novel narrated in his head by the reclusive writer Kay Eiffel (Emma Thompson). Ferrell’s role in Stranger Than Fiction is a purposeful move sideways for the Anchorman/Talladega Nights funny man as he puts his manic, oddball tendencies to one side, instead plumping for a highly successful, yet uncharacteristically restrained, delivery.
“It’s a film that falls somewhere between comedy and tragedy and although it’s a different brand of comedy from what he usually does, I think he’s [Ferrell] spectacular” said screenwriter Zac Helm. A great performance it may be, but on paper a taxman can’t initially be the most riveting of characters. “You know what”, said Ferrell, “it actually makes the perfect backdrop for the story of someone who is actually a very sweet guy”. Even though he’s recently made the leap into the Hollywood top pay-bracket, Ferrell still finds the whole premiere experience a little unnerving: “It is still surreal to have cameras flashing in your face and people screaming your name. Although it is very lucrative” he joked, “I usually have money thrown at me, so I regularly clear two hundred bucks per premiere”. But the actor did seem genuinely happy to be there: “I haven’t been in too many films involved with festivals, so it’s really exciting…what do you mean it’s non-competitive? I thought we’d already won!” And is this move away from his comedy roots set to continue? “This is a strategic move…if this was Risk, I’d be trying to take over all of Russia right now”.
Hot on the heels of Ferrell was Emma Thompson, who arrived amidst a cacophony of screams and whoops. Having greeted the fans, luckily the actress still had time to have a quick chat: “It’s always nice to be back in London and to know you’ll be sleeping in your own bed tonight” said Thompson. “Although I also know I’ll be woken up by my daughter dressed as Asterix the Gall at 5:30 tomorrow morning, so I’m not particularly looking forward to that”. In her role as writer’s-block-plagued author Kay Eiffel, she is praised to the heavens by one Dr. Jules Hilbert – played by bona fide cinema great Dustin Hoffman – who also graced us with his presence.
At 69, Hoffman still bristles with excitement, particularly when talking about his fellow actors: “It’s one of the best casts I’ve ever had the privilege to work with. They are first rate” enthused the actor: “I’ve seen two films this year that I think are good pieces of work. Little Miss Sunshine is one and the other, if I may, is Stranger Than Fiction”. After the success of Finding Neverland, it seems Hoffman was keen to work with Director Marc Foster again as soon as possible: “Well, truthfully the script didn’t attract me. I worked with Marc Foster on Finding Neverland and we struck up a friendship. I told him to let me know as soon as he was working on something else, so he called me up and said ‘I’m doing another movie, do you want in? So I said, well where’s the script? He said. “Oh no – the deal was you say yes or no. I said yes and I was very lucky”.
*Stranger Than Fiction is released across the UK on December 1st. *