| PRODUCTION
NOTES
It
has become custom within the movie business to adapt successful
ventures from other mediums (books, plays, television series, even
popular songs) into film projects. Johnny English may be one of
the first to adapt a film version from…a commercial.
Between
1992 and 1997, gifted comic actor Atkinson was featured in series
of popular British credit card commercials playing a somewhat accident-prone
spy. It was at that time Atkinson got the idea about making a feature
film based on the character from the television advertisements.
Atkinson notes, “Those commercials, even though they were
only sixty-seconds long, had a movie feel to them. They were elaborate
and atmospheric with very high production values. They just felt
like a mini-movie, so it seemed logical to make a maxi-movie.”
Having
collaborated with Atkinson over a number of years, producing The
Tall Guy in the ‘80s and Bean in the ‘90s, Working Title
were looking for another joint feature project with him. “The
idea of doing a film about this British spy was perfect,”
says producer Tim Bevan. “The interesting thing about British
movies is that the two genres that seem to be successful are the
spy movie and the comedy—this was an opportunity to combine
the two.”
A few
years elapsed between the completion of the television commercials
and the actual start of the film project, entitled Johnny English,
during which time its star and the Working Title producers were
kept busy by a myriad of separate projects.
Eventually,
screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade were commissioned to write
the script. (In addition to the pair’s experience with screenwriting
in various genres, their expertise within the spy genre—having
penned The World Is Not Enough—was highly regarded.)
Atkinson
was also very involved from the beginning. He remembers, “I
helped to guide the scriptwriters. I was in on the ground floor,
as they say.”
Together
with Purvis, Wade, and Bevan, Atkinson was ensconced for many months
in a boardroom at Working Title, kicking ideas around. Once the
script began to take shape, the star sat in on all of the writers’
meetings. Months later, the company had a screenplay and began the
search for a director.
Prior
to Johnny English, Atkinson had been in discussions with director
Peter Howitt (who had helmed Working Title’s hit Sliding Doors)
concerning a collaborative project that never came to fruition.
Now, with a script ready for reading, the actor forwarded a copy
to Howitt to get his opinion on the screenplay.
Peter
Howitt comments, “I was cutting a film in Los Angeles and
I got a call from Rowan, asking if I would take a look at the script
he had and give him my thoughts. Then, after a couple of months
of these scripts arriving, Rowan said that he’d like me direct.
It was quite clear having seen the character and the commercials
that they were striking and memorable. Getting to work with that
character and Rowan was very exciting.”
Wade
and Purvis worked on the script tirelessly for two years before
leaving the project to work on the next Bond film, Die Another Day.
Screenwriter William Davies was brought on board to continue to
hone the work and smooth the transition from television commercial
to page to the big screen.
While
forging the script, it was paramount to all that the character of
Johnny English remain closer in feel to that über-spy with
the numeric moniker than any of the bumbling progeny created in
the seemingly unending list of spy spoofs.
Atkinson
offers, “Johnny loves being a secret agent so much that he
oversteps himself. He always thinks that he’s better at something
than he actually is. He’s the sort of person who, in a hurdle
race, would clear the first hurdles extremely well, but he’d
be waving at the crowd and he would trip and fall on the last hurdle.
It’s the last 10 percent of his activity which is fatally
flawed.” Howitt concurs, “The character is quite smart—he
just makes errors in judgment along the way. He’s not a stumbling,
bumbling incompetent. Johnny English isn’t really a liability,
he just steps into the wrong room or into the wrong place—but
keeps on going because he believes in himself. There is always that
little moment where you see him think, ‘I got that wrong,
I won’t let anyone know.’ He just smoothes his way out
of it, thinking, ‘Good, I got away with that.’ Rowan
is genius at this difficult type of not-so-obvious comedy.”
With
the script in place, the filmmakers set about finding the right
actors for the roles. One key piece of casting for the film was
Bough, Johnny English’s partner.
Howitt
remembers, “The character of Bough is very difficult to play
as he is in every scene with English. He cannot be the ‘straight’
man to English’s ‘funny’ man, but has to be someone
who compliments English’s behaviour and who is funny in his
own right. He has to represent the audience so that we have someone
in the room with English, experiencing all the things he is going
through.”
After
a number of actors were seen, Ben Miller proved to be the person
that was right for part. “He knocked us all away,” continues
Howitt. “He is very experienced at this type of comedy and
he is really fantastic, smart and clever and incredibly understated.
He has made Bough an individualistic character that you care about,
who is funny and who makes you laugh in a completely different way
than you laugh at Rowan.”
For
Miller, the prospect of working with Atkinson was a large factor
in taking the role. He also responded to the script and comments,
“It’s incredibly funny. What it gets right is the tone,
which is very seductive. It treads a very considered and accurate
path between over-the-top and reality. I felt it had a real sense
of humor and a confidence about it which I liked very much.”
The filmmakers were looking for a French actor to play Pascal Sauvage
so initially had overlooked John Malkovich until his agent suggested
him.
“John
is the classic villain in a straight film so we could not believe
we had not thought of him before. We went to meet him and he was
great,” remembers Bevan.
Howitt
enthuses, “Pascal is a mixed bag—like villains. There
is the good side, the icy side and the crazy side. John is able
to play all of those quite neatly switching from one to another
at a drop of a hat. He has a good command of the camera and understanding
of the language of film because of his vast experience, so he does
not need to do very much to get an effect.”
A veteran
of more than 70 films and 100 plays, Malkovich notes that he has,
of course, played his share of villains—but not one like Pascal,
for several reasons. He elaborates, “I’ve done a lot
comedies before, but really usually only in the theater, very few
in the cinema. I’m not sure that the characters are always
entirely new, but the stories are new and the people you work with
are new. And a director might ask you to do something you’ve
never done before.”
Additionally,
this is the first time Malkovich has had to speak English with a
French accent, which did not prove a problem—he has lived
for several years in the country and completed numerous films in
French.
Did
he aim for a “realistic” French accent? The actor muses,
“Well, realistic, it depends, of course. You can meet French
people who speak English quite well. And you can meet many others
who, when they speak English, it’s completely undecipherable.
Pascal isn’t someone utterly fluent in English. For example,
I have a friend who’s lived in New York well over 20 years.
And she still has her little French accent. I have no idea why,
but she does.”
“John
catches it perfectly,” says Atkinson. “He is so languid
and, of course, living in France, he has some sort of inside track
to the whole way French people think and speak… so he is as
perfect casting as we could have hoped for.”
On
working with Atkinson, Malkovich observes, “He’s really
fun to watch. All accomplished comics always seem to be incredibly
serious, and thoughtful, and a perfectionist, as Rowan is. I think
he’s very bright, he has a fantastic face, a kind of great
comic face. He’s quite exact and specific in his choices.
And he’s sort of truthful and painful, because I really believe
part of what we laugh at in comedy is the recognition of pain. It’s
the recognition of our own ludicrousness, our own failing and inadequacies.”
Central
to the success of the film was the casting of a strong and intelligent
actress in the role of Lorna. Australian singer Natalie Imbruglia
had only recently decided that she would like to juggle her singing
career with acting when she received a copy of the script through
her music company and was called in for a reading.
Her
draw to the project was based on specifics. Imbruglia remembers,
“What initially drew me to Johnny English were Rowan Atkinson
and John Malkovich. Then I read the script and it made me laugh—and
then I definitely wanted to play Lorna.”
“Although
this is Natalie’s first feature, she’d been on television
for some time before becoming a singing star. We tested a lot of
actresses, and Natalie scored the part on merit. I mean, we didn’t
just cast her because we thought the lads would fancy her—although
there’s a good chance they will,” the director says
with a smile.
It
was a welcome challenge for Imbruglia to combine shooting a film
while continuing to perform and support her latest album. She says,
“I really enjoyed the fact that I could do both. It has been
a testing period because, at the time, I had a single coming out.
I would do a couple of days shooting the film and then I would have
to perform on Top of the Pops. It was a bit surreal, but I started
to get the hang of it. I think it would be nice if I could juggle
the two without spreading myself too thin.”
Atkinson
felt Imbruglia brought just the right note to the proceedings. He
says, “She fitted in well and was a delight to work with.
The important thing about all the casting apart from Johnny English
is the dynamic between English and whatever character he is playing
against. There is a lovely dynamic between the slightly tense but
over-confidant English and that sort of languid evil that John Malkovich
brings to Sauvage. In the same sense it is that dynamic that Natalie
brings—a kind of crisp common sense. It is a good contrast
to this man who likes to be rather theatrical and Lorna is not at
all theatrical.”
For
her, that ‘non-theatrical’ style was the key to playing
a comedy. Natalie offers, “How I approached the comedy is
something that was discussed before I even auditioned—I’m
just playing straight. I think that’s what makes it more funny.
The difficult thing there is to not laugh, because Rowan’s
so hilarious. And I kept getting in trouble for giggling. It’s
very, very hard to control yourself when you get a bit giddy after
you’ve been working all day.”
An
impressive slate of talent in front of and behind the camera were
locked into place before shooting began. Rounding out the cast were
such accomplished British actors as Tim Pigott- Smith (Remains of
the Day), Greg Wise (Sense and Sensibility) and Oliver Ford Davies
(Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones). Impressive
behind-the-camera talent included director of photography Remi Adefarasin
(About a Boy, Elizabeth), editor Robin Sales (Topsy-Turvy, Mrs.
Brown), production designer Chris Seagers (Spy Game, End of the
Affair) and costume designer Jill Taylor (Sliding Doors, The Full
Monty).
With
script, cast and crew in place, Johnny English started principal
photography in July of 2002. The film shot for 14 weeks, filming
at Shepperton Studios, on location in London and St. Albans, and
finally setting down in Monte Carlo for two days to complete filming
the final scene. During the course of filming, Atkinson and Imbruglia
got involved in their own stunts. Supervised by stunt co-ordinator
Paul Jennings, Atkinson found himself parachuting (albeit from the
ceiling inside the studio) and completing almost all the driving
stunts in the Aston Martin DB7 Vantage. Lastly, he had to spend
hours suspended from a cable from the ceiling of St. Albans Cathedral
while filming the climax of the movie.
“I
know how professional Rowan is in his application to work and was
constantly surprised at what he was prepared to do to get the shots
required,” comments Jennings.
Atkinson
explains, “I’m certainly not someone who insists on
doing his own stunts in order to say that I do my own stunts. I
was very keen, however, to do as much of the stunt driving as I
could, as I love cars. But there was a scene which I would not have
been seen dead doing. Luckily, I have a very good stunt double,
Rob Inch, who had to be suspended over the roof of Canary Wharf,
staggering along the top and lurching right over the edge. And the
camera comes right over the top of him and looks down past him to
the ground. It’s a fantastic shot. Rob later told me he was
terrified, and I thought, ‘If you’re terrified, there
is certainly no point in me even considering a stunt like that.’”
Imbruglia
performed extremely well in her fight sequence, as she was intent
upon executing as much of it as she could with minimal use of a
stunt double. She also trained to drive a full-size motorbike (a
Triumph); the filmmakers were reluctant to allow the diminutive
performer to attempt to control the Triumph, but Imbruglia was insistent.
After learning on a smaller bike, she graduated to the larger motorcycle.
Jennings
offers, “Natalie did so well we ended up letting her ride
the Triumph and eventually shot her riding that bike—although
we did use a double for the faster sequences.”
The
actress recalls, “The fight scenes were really great. I do
a bit of kickboxing in my spare time so I really enjoyed that head
butting of walls! Lorna’s a fun role to play. You know, I
get to do so many different things. I’ve gotten to dance,
to fight, to ride motorbikes. What more could a girl from Australia
ask for?”
Universal
Pictures and Studiocanal Present A Working Title Production of A
Peter Howitt Film: Rowan Atkinson in Johnny English, starring Natalie
Imbruglia, Ben Miller and John Malkovich as Pascal Sauvage. The
casting is by Priscilla John and the co-producers are Debra Hayward
and Liza Chasin. The main title song is performed by Robbie Williams,
with music by Edward Shearmur. The costume designer is Jill Taylor.
The production designer is Chris Seagers, the editor is Robin Sales
and the director of photography is Remi Adefarasin, B.S.C. Johnny
English is written by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and William
Davies; produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Mark Huffam; and
directed by Peter Howitt. The film is distributed worldwide by Universal
Pictures. |
