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Michael Winterbottom's TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY is a rollicking, inventive adaptation of the classic 18th Century comic novel "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" by Laurence Sterne. A well-known though not necessarily widely read masterpiece, "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" is a bawdy romp that plays with the techniques and conventions of the novel; its autobiographical speaker is prone to narrative excursions, direct addresses to the reader, and other eccentricities that make his tale anything but linear. Winterbottom (IN THIS WORLD, 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE) multiplies Sterne's conceit to tell two stories: that of an 18th Century Englishman, Tristram Shandy (Steve Coogan); and that of the hapless 21st Century filmmakers who are adapting the notoriously unfilmable work, "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman," with "Steve Coogan" (Coogan) in the title role. Slyly acknowledging public fascination with the movie industry, TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY strolls onto a modern film set, complete with insecure actors, scandal-hunting reporters, and balky investors. As it follows the fortunes of two families - one blood, one professional - the film makes us privy to calamities, crises, and flirtations that transcend centuries. With TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY, Michael Winterbottom again affirms his protean talent as he delivers a zesty celebration of storytelling and the life that spills out of it.
A proper Englishman gentleman, Tristram Shandy strides from his ancestral home, Shandy Hall, to introduce himself. Politely disagreeing with the notion that one cannot fool around with the details of one's autobiography, Tristram launches into his life story at the beginning: with his birth.
Our narrator is soon distracted by the sight of his Uncle Toby (Rob Brydon) and his friend Corporal Trim (Raymond Waring) at work on their scale model reproduction of the 1695 siege at Namur, where Toby sustained embarrassing injuries. Of course, no account of Tristram's birth would be complete without a discussion of his father, Walter Shandy (Coogan), an intellectually inclined, determinedly modern man who would attend to every detail of his son's existence, including the means by which he is delivered.
After continually skipping forwards and backwards in time with tales of his family and the circumstances surrounding his entry into this world, Tristram at last arrives at the dramatic moment of his birth. Dr. Slop (Dylan Moran) has his remarkable (if alarming) new medical instrument, the forceps, at the ready; the beautiful mother-to-be, Elizabeth Shandy (Keeley Hawes), musters her remaining energy, encouraged by her devoted servant Susannah (Shirley Henderson). Elizabeth's screams fill the room … and, pull back:
The director, Mark (Jeremy Northam) signals that he is satisfied with the scene. Filming has ended for the day and the crew begins clearing the set. Steve Coogan (Steve Coogan) who portrays both Walter and Tristram Shandy, consults briefly with the director. The actor is worried that his Walter's devotion to his son is not fully evident in the birth scene, but that is not his only concern. Shoes are also on Steve's mind; he believes that the footwear that he and the actor Rob Brydon (Rob Brydon) have been given does not properly reflect the interpersonal dynamics of their respective characters, Walter and his deferential younger brother, Toby.
The chaos of filmmaking continues well after the cameras have retired for the day. Steve's girlfriend Jenny (Kelly Macdonald) has arrived with their six-month old son for a much-anticipated reunion. But the couple's every private moment is invariably interrupted by a professional demand, whether testing a prop womb or watching rushes. On top of that, a journalist is chasing the actor about a scandalous story, and his agent has arrived with a load of scripts for him to read. The film's critical battle sequence looks rather anemic, and the financiers are getting snippy.
Meanwhile, Steve's actorly insecurities are growing by the minute, and he frets variously about wardrobe, his character's centrality, and the star quality of his nose. When a romance involving Rob Brydon's character is restored to the script - and an enthusiastic Gillian Anderson immediately signs on as the love interest - it looks like Steve's worst fears about losing screen time are about to come true. A nightmare sends the actor roaming the grounds of the hotel, where a wild party is in full swing. Liquor is flowing and extras in historically accurate battle dress are cavorting with fireworks. In the midst of it all is Jennie (Naomie Harris), the beautiful production runner who has been taking care of Steve during filming.
But let's not get ahead of our story …
Picturehouse presents TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY. Starring Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Raymond Waring, Dylan Moran, Keeley Hawes, Gillian Anderson, Naomie Harris, Kelly Macdonald, Jeremy Northam, James Fleet, Ian Hart, Shirley Henderson, and Stephen Fry. Directed by Michael Winterbottom. Written by Martin Hardy. Produced by Andrew Eaton. Executive producers Kate Ogborn, Julia Blackman, Jeff Abberley, David M. Thompson, Tracey Scoffield, and Henry Normal. The co-producers are Anita Overland and Wendy Brazington. The director of photography is Marcel Zyskind, the production designer John Paul Kelly, the editor Peter Christelis. The hair and make-up designer is Marese Langan, the costume designer Charlotte Walter. Sound by Stuart Wilson and casting by Wendy Brazington.
"The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" was written by Laurence Sterne, an 18th Century pastor living in Yorkshire. Published in nine volumes from 1759 to 1767, the novel was an immediate success. Loved for its bawdy, satirical humor and structural eccentricities (though some critics of the day dismissed it for those same qualities), the book made Sterne a celebrity who was feted in London and Paris.
Narrated by its title character, the novel is ostensibly an autobiography. However, Tristram's chronology is soon put on hold for a discourse on conception. Digressions follow one upon the other, including stories-within-stories about the idiosyncratic characters who live in and around the stately family home of Shandy Hall in Yorkshire. There is the self-consciously learned Walter Shandy, whose lofty plans for his son are continually thwarted; Walter's adoring, naïve brother, Uncle Toby, still obsessed by the war in which he sustained mysterious, never-discussed wounds to his private parts; and Dr. Slop, the physician whose bedside manner is not all it could be. In the end, Tristram's autobiography fails to advance beyond his birth, as he discovers that life is simply too tangled to be contained in linear form.
Rambunctious and irreverent, "Tristram Shandy" is a trailblazer in structure and form, and anticipates the literary experimentation of modern novels, from James Joyce's "Ulysses" to more recent works like Dave Eggers' "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius." Tristram freely and frequently addresses the reader, discussing the prerogatives available to him as the story's author and defending his narrative excursions. There are visual effects as well, such as a black page at a character's death; a cross when Dr. Slop crosses himself; and blank pages to represent passages that have been torn out. And Tristram, who writes about events that he could not possibly have witnessed (given that he had not yet been born), is something of an unreliable narrator.
"Tristram Shandy" is a staple of English university curriculum, and it was at university that both Michael Winterbottom and his frequent collaborator, writer Frank Cottrell Boyce, first encountered it. At one point, they considered adapting the book for television, as either a soap opera or sitcom. Three years ago, however, Winterbottom and his partner in Revolution Films, Andrew Eaton, decided to attempt a big screen adaptation. It was nervy undertaking; with its copious digressions and a main character who isn't even sentient for most of the story, the novel is widely acknowledged as being unfilmable. So why attempt it? "Because it's funny," offers Winterbottom, lifting a line from the film.
However, when Cottrell Boyce went to write a straight adaptation, his screenplay ran a mere thirty pages. "That was all the plot there was in 500 pages," marvels producer Eaton. "So much for a long-running sitcom. We couldn't even stretch it to ninety minutes."
That lack of material opened the way for another approach to adaptation, and Winterbottom decided to give a major motif a modern twist. "So much of the book was about the process of writing the book," he notes. "The only way to mirror that was to do a film about making a film."
At the same time, the filmmaker realized where the emotional core of both enterprises lay: with the characters. "'Tristram Shandy' is a book about telling a story, and Sterne has a lot of fun with that," Winterbottom remarks. "But underneath all that - the digressions and the surface complexities - it's really just a daft but heart-warming story about a bunch of people living in a house and behaving idiotically in their own way. Something I thought could apply quite easily to a film set."
The period part of the film focuses on the basic storyline in the book: the family story of Walter Shandy and the birth, erroneous naming, and accidental circumcision of his son Tristram. A man who believes in details, Walter has given extensive thought to every facet of his son's existence, including the type of nose he should to have (large, like such great men of history as Caesar and Dante) to the method of delivery (as medically up-to-date as possible). But while Walter deliberates and plans, life takes its own winding path.
"It's surprisingly universal and modern," comments Winterbottom. "Walter was the first 'new man': obsessed with his child, trying to be involved, be a good father, and create this perfect environment for his child. And then it all goes wrong. It's stuff that we can all recognize."
The second half of the film offers a bird's-eye view of a film crew at work. Mirroring their 18th Century forebears, these 21st Century men and women are involved with a birth, this time of the movie, and they bring their individual quirks and concerns to the task at hand. The two main actors are engaged in an unspoken rivalry that fuels their clever banter, much to the enjoyment of the crew. The beautiful production runner is an ardent aficionado of Fassbinder and Bresson; but her intense cinematic analyses, while bewildering, do not dim her feminine charms. The military history expert consulting on the film's battle sequences, is very opinionated and very serious about his work, having researched the names of the men who would have fought alongside Uncle Toby at the Battle of Namur. While the filmmakers bring their best efforts to bear, there are inevitably circumstances beyond their control.
Eaton, who has been working with Winterbottom since 1994, acknowledges there was plenty of material to draw upon in fleshing out the film's modern section. "Everything that's in the second half is a version of something that has happened to us on at least one of our films," the producer affirms. "Some lines are verbatim, such as when one of the financiers says to the producer, 'Don't try and hold us to ransom.' That's actually been said to us."
TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY brings together some of Britain's best known comics with some of its finest classical actors. Leading the casts of both stories is the gifted comic actor Steve Coogan, who plays Tristram Shandy, his father Walter, and a fictionalized version of himself. Coogan vaulted to stardom in England in the early 1990s with his character Alan Partridge, a self-important radio and television host who mixed it up with guests on the wildly popular programs "Knowing Me, Knowing You With Alan Partridge" and "I'm Alan Partridge."
Coogan, who committed to TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY before the script was completed, first worked with Winterbottom when he played Manchester postpunk impresario Tony Wilson in the director's acclaimed 2002 comedy 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE. That film also blurred the line between fiction and reality, and Coogan's Wilson occasionally stepped back from the action to address the audience. With their second collaboration, Coogan's own public profile would become fodder for his screen persona. The fictitious Coogan of TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY spends much of his time obsessing over how he is coming off onscreen, and is clearly tired of the long shadow cast by Alan Partridge. He is less than fully attentive to his visiting girlfriend Jenny, played by Kelly Macdonald, and entertains the idea of a dalliance with a second Jennie, the beautiful production runner played by Naomie Harris.
"Steve was very open to the idea to playing a bad version of himself, and that's one of the reasons why he is so brilliant to work with," remarks Winterbottom. "I like the idea of not making people better than they are. We tend to equate good behavior with good people, but everyone does good and bad things. In our film, you watch Steve Coogan do things he shouldn't be doing, but you still understand and like him."
"Often the best place to source material is from the truth," allows Coogan. "For those who know me this is pretty edgy, but it works for people who don't know what is true and what isn't. In America they don't care about Steve Coogan, but it still works as an insecure actor doing things he shouldn't."
Rob Brydon, also featured in 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE, joined the cast next. When Winterbottom and Eaton were developing the project as a sitcom, they had approached Brydon to play Tristram and Walter Shandy (a fact that is mentioned in the modern portion of the film). Remarks Winterbottom, "It was a good idea, but he never got around to reading the book and we didn't get around to writing the script. Then when we began casting for the film we knew Rob would make a great Uncle Toby."
As it happens, Coogan and Brydon have a longstanding professional and personal relationship. Coogan has been something of a mentor to Brydon, who began his career doing voiceovers on radio and television. When Brydon sent Coogan his first demo tape, in which he played a divorced chauffeur and marriage counselor to the stars, Coogan took the tape straight to the BBC. Coogan's production company, Baby Cow Productions, subsequently produced Brydon's hit television comedy "Marion and Geoff."
"I always joke that I discovered Rob. Well," Coogan pauses, "actually I did. But he blossomed very quickly in his own right and then he got very comfortable with me very quickly and started taking the piss - in an affectionate way."'
Coogan and Brydon brought that dynamic to the modern portion of TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY. They constructed a witty, combative relationship between their fictitious selves: two co-stars vying for attention along with better costumes, more lines, funnier lines. Remarks Brydon, "Working with Michael allowed us to be inventive, which meant that in normal conversations off-set we were constantly finding new material and then putting it in the film. Steve and I find similar things funny. It's a bit raw, a bit close to reality. We played up any little tensions or rivalries that aren't really there, but conceivably could be. It was hugely enjoyable."
With the two lead actors confirmed, the remaining cast quickly fell into place. Says casting director and co-producer Wendy Brazington, "Everyone loved the script and actors enjoy working with Michael because they like improvisation and they trust him. Plus it's a film about filmmaking, which actors love."
Award-winning actor Jeremy Northam (EMMA, GOSFORD PARK) confirms Brazington's assessment. Northam, who plays the director Mark, is one of the few cast members who had read "Tristram Shandy." "I enjoyed the script because it has a real sense of fun and mischief about it and I've a real fondness for the book," he comments. "To transfer some of the spirit of the book onto the screen and merge that with a contemporary scenario was very appealing. And I had wanted to work with Michael for a very long time."
The prospect of the working with Winterbottom was also a lure for Gillian Anderson (HOUSE OF MIRTH), who had relocated to London. In the modern portion of the film, a single phone call is all that's needed to secure the famous "X Files" star for the role of the flirtatious Widow Wadman. Anderson confirms that the process was nearly as easy in real life. "It was quite a simple decision for me to do this film," the actress remarks. "One, it meant working with Michael; two, it meant playing a character, albeit short, that I had not played before, and three, it took three days."
Shirley Henderson, a four-time Winterbottom veteran who starred in WONDERLAND and opposite Coogan in 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE, plays Susannah, housemaid to Walter Shandy and his wife, Elizabeth. "The character on paper was so tiny that we apologized for offering it to her," remarks Winterbottom. "But then you watch the film and she's everywhere because she's so good at what she's doing. She always makes it interesting and Coogan really wanted to work with her again. She's one of those actors who brings out the best performances in other actors."
Returning to work with Winterbottom are Ian Hart (WONDERLAND, FINDING NEVERLAND), who plays Joe, based loosely on Frank Cottrell Boyce; and Raymond Waring (24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE), who plays Corporal Trim. Among those collaborating with the filmmaker for the first time are Stephen Fry (BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS) as Parson Yorick and Patrick Curator; Kelly Macdonald (TRAINSPOTTING, FINDING NEVERLAND) as Coogan's girlfriend Jenny; Naomie Harris (28 DAYS LATER) as the production runner Jennie; standup comedian and rising film star Dylan Moran (SHAUN OF THE DEAD) as Dr. Slop; James Fleet (THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA) as Simon, the producer; Keeley Hawes (the television series "MI-5" ) as Elizabeth Shandy; the comedian Mark Williams (the HARRY POTTER films) as Ingoldsby; and David Walliams (the British comedy/sketch show "Little Britain") as the parson who christens Tristram.
In a case of life imitating art and vice-versa, Gillian Anderson ("The X Files," HOUSE OF MIRTH) was one of the last to join the cast when she signed on to play herself and the Widow Wadman. "We needed someone with a certain degree of fame who would do two days on a film for virtually no money,' recalls Brazington. "Gillian had called Michael asking about Christopher Eccelston for the HOUSE OF MIRTH and we knew she had moved to London. I have to say that she was as easy to get as she was in the film."
TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY began production on October 11, 2004 and wrapped on November 20th. Filming took place in Norfolk, Northamptonshire and the East Midlands. Three "stately homes" were used for Shandy Hall, including the eponymous home where Sterne wrote his book, and Felbrigg Hall, a 17th Century hall that contains much of its original 18th Century furniture and decoration. Standing in for the cast and crew's posh headquarters is Blickling Hall in Norfolk.
In portraying the chaos of storytelling, the filmmakers left room for improvisation. Thus when New York Times reporter Stephen Rodrick arrived to interview Winterbottom about his recent film 9 SONGS, he ended up playing himself in the second half of the film. Fact and fiction collided occasionally during production, and it wasn't always easy to separate one from the other. At one point, a documentary crew from the British television program "The South Bank Show" was filming the real film crew that was filming a fictitious DVD crew. The fake crew was led by the real Tony Wilson, who was interviewing his movie alter-ego Steve Coogan.
"There were a couple of days that I had to remember which cameras were fake and which were real," admits Dylan Moran. "Everybody was mirroring the reality; you had actors being actors and actors being crew. And crew being actors. The whole thing became a hall of mirrors."
TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY doesn't shy away from depicting a movie set as being circus-like. But it is a loving portrait, underscored by the sly use of selections from Nino Rota's score for 8 1/2, Fellini's classic fantasia on moviemaking. Northam feels Winterbottom's film hits just the right tone of wry affection. "As an actor, I can say that a film set is my most favorite place in the world. People generally have an odd conception about what a film set is actually like and it's easy to take the piss: producers only care about money; actors only care about what they look like and how much time they have on screen. It's perfectly fair game to poke fun," says Northam. "But Michael has come up with something that doesn't have a cynical bone in its body: the film is taking a generous, kind-hearted laugh at it all."