Comedy influences on the new film SOBER
Sober the new comedy film (due out soon) starring Dean Smith and Tom Gibbons – is an out and out comedy masterclass (even if we say so ourselves…)
Here, director Matthew Cooper, outlines some of the comedy influences that went into the making of Sober.
Sober the film
Sober is partly about getting drunk – so Withnail and I is a big influence – Withnail is also about friendship between two blokes and friendship plays a big part in our film too.
Friendship – between two blokes who couldn’t be more different – is a key theme of Midnight Run (with Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin as the mismatched pair) and Sober, like Midnight Run finds our two mates on a bit of an adventure together.
The adventure the two characters go on – takes place pretty much all on one day – and because of this Martin Scorsese’s After Hours – has come up in a few test screenings (which I as I director was very pleased about!)
Rather than specific films – there’s specific directors who influenced Sober too.
John Hughes– that man who matched John Candy and Steve Martin in Trains, Planes and Automobiles (another mis-matched male pairing) is a big influence –Hughes also gave us Ferris Bueller – who has a day off – and spawned a classic comedy.
John Landis, who made a number of classic comedies in the 80s is a big influence – Trading Places especially was on our minds in a few sequences when we shot Sober.
Sober the comedy film
I make no bones that three of my favourite comedies are Jerry Maguire and Fast Times At Ridgemont High (both written by Cameron Crowe – who also gave us Say Anything). And I love Working Girl by Mike Nichols – how much of an influence these films were is hard to say. But all three are FEEL GOOD films and we wanted Sober to be the same.
Finally – the biggest influence on the whole thing was ‘Whatever Happened to The Likely Lads’ both the series and film. James Bolam and Rodney Bewes set the bar high for northern lads having a laugh – and made us all laugh too. The Likely Lads was the touchstone for everything in Sober.
Sober (2023) is the new comedy film set in Leeds and starring Tom Gibbons (Funny Cow) and Dean Smith (Waterloo Road / Still Open all Hours).
