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We always get the sense that reality is slowly catching up to these gents.
But for all the darkness, it still manages to be quite charming.
(Theyve been outfitted with different families, for starters.)
Brydon is at home in London.
Steve Coogan: Well, that doesnt entirely surprise me.
RB: Its very hard to remember things, I find, at the moment.
SC: Because youre rushed off your feet, are you?
RB: Theres an interesting thing here.
The people who dont are watching films, reading books, its rather lovely.
SC: I dont envy you.
But can you go out?
RB: We go out once a day.
One day we do a walk, the other day we do a bike ride.
But we dont come into contact with anyone.
Weve got a big garden, so we can be in that.
SC: You cant cycle around your garden, can you?
RB: No, no, we cycle the streets.
you’ve got the option to cycle the streets as long as you dont come into contact.
SC: Isnt that a bit hazardous?
RB: No, because the roads are so quiet.
How are you guys holding up?
What the hell is life like for you?RB: Are you alright, Steve?
SC: I am okay.
Im here with my daughter and her boyfriend.
Just the three of us.
I think theyd be fine without me here, but Im not sure Id be fine without them here.
But Im very fortunate.
And I said, No, thats fine.
Just make some contribution to some charity.
And my writing partner said, What you really said was, Just ensure you tell people about it.
Which Im doing now.
SC: [Glances behind him.]
And Im claiming that I care about the local community.
RB: [Laughs.]
Like a little old woman … [inaudible].
You broke up a little bit there, Rob.RB: It doesnt bear repeating.
Because it all happened rather quickly.
I find those incredibly calming and relaxing, this really lovely ordered world.
SC: I watchedBrief Encounterthe other day, which was really, really wonderful.
RB: I bet it moves nice and slowly.
We showed the boysThe Great Escapeand really enjoyed it.
SC: Its great when you might enjoy things vicariously a second time around through your children.
Having said that, I just got through the second season ofEl Chapoand Im looking forward to the third.
Before watchingTrip to Greecethis weekend, I rewatched all three previousTripmovies.
Its the kind of annoying little thing that everyone has probably experienced at some point in their lives.
And who knows when Ill ever get to have it.
I was surprised at how it struck me.SC: Wow.
When people come out of prison they often talk about the visceral pleasure of feeling rain.
RB: Ive been seeing lots of things like that at the moment.
I foundThe Trip to Greeceto be quite poignant.
It does seem like the saddest entry in the series.
Because hes middle-aged like were middle-aged, so he just addresses those things.
It takes the curse off these things.
When we talk about these things, or laugh at these things, they suddenly become diminished.
These big questions the anxiety of life become somehow just put in a box.
And if you make art out of it … Whats that Nora Ephron line?
RB: Oh, youre speaking of Nora Ephron.
SC: Oh, yes, Nancy.
I auditioned for her.
RB: Yeah, me too.
I didnt get it.
SC: I didnt get it either.
I auditioned forThe Holiday, and she said I wasnt sexy enough.
RB: I didnt audition for that.
No, this was a little thing.
But it was very funny because she was very flattering, and of course Im very good with flattery.
I respond very well to it.
And then I did my bit, and of course didnt get it.
SC: So, basically, you peaked at the small talk.
I think Im good at that.
I very rarely get a part that I audition for.
SC: Im the same.
So when Im writing Alan Partridge, I say, Alan does this, and Alan does that.
I dont say Ido this, you know.
I just say, Alan.
And I was talking about a part with this director, saying he, referring to the character.
And I found myself saying, Fuck off.
Thats why auditioning doesnt go well for Rob or, Id say, me.
LEnclume is in the firstTrip, in the Lake District, not far from me.
And it was all very friendly, but he still mentioned Ray Winstones snot.
And for Simon Rogan, the chef …
I mean this was ten years ago and whenever I see him he still brings it up in conversation.
People often say to me, Which is the best food?
Im just thinking,What am I going to say next?Im trying to be inventive and creative.
What I do remember are the meals we would eat in the evenings when we werent filming.
SC: Yeah, but not the normal simple ingredients.
There werent fresh, clean ingredients.
It was a fried breakfast.
It was egg, bacon, sausage, tomato, beans.
RB: But done beautifully.
Id go back there, you know.
Id go back there.
RB: And yet one-half of the original team who made that thing has to pay.
SC: I think that its basically socialism in action.
Those who can afford it pay.
Those who cant are subsidized.
Thats my political worldview in action.
So, it was right that you were charged.
RB: Im struggling with it.
A discount would have been something.
This was after wed done the first one and the Italian one hadnt come out.
And he started doing it!
He started going, Turn your back away, Mr. Fryer!
And then I was doing it back to him.
We were in a car and I got rather giddy.
Hopkins occupies a sort of Brando-like position in the business.
And there he was, and he was doing it, you know, right next to me.
And Im doing it back at him!
It was all I could do not to cry.
It was quite overwhelming.
SC: Gosh, yeah … Im quite envious of that.
Has anybody youve done impressions of reacted negatively?RB: I dont think so.
I think most people are flattered by it.
SC: Oh, me!
When you do me.
I react slightly negatively.
RB: I do Steve Coogan and hes a prickly customer.
He doesnt like it.
SC: [Laughs.]
Probably the most negative reaction is me when he does me.
Thats the truth, yeah.
I do find it a little bit uncomfortable when he does it.
I feel like somehow its distilling some DNA, like a little bit of witchcraft.
Theres something discombobulating about it.
I dont think its quite me, but theres a certain familiarity about it.
Its reductive, thats what it is.
RB: And hes telling the truth when he says that.
SC: Yes, yes.
Rob, I hear that you declined to meet Al Pacino once.RB: Yeah, that is true.
I was doingThe Huntsman: Winters War.
It exploded at the box office.
And I played a dwarf.
And Jessica Chastain was on it, and one weekend she said, Al is in town.
Were going to meet up for drinks.
Do you want to come?
Now, I had a school event on, so I had to go to some parents thing.
So lets just leave it at that.
I dont know that we actually shook hands.
And that pretty much worked, I think, 95 percent of the time.
I got tetchy sometimes, but by and large that held, that sort of gentlemans ribbing.
It was six half-hours.
The thing that surprised me about the first one when I watched it was the melancholy.
He just wants to tell the story.
Just,blomp, there it is, theres the story.
But it was better that he didnt, because it made it very individual.
SC: I agree with Rob there.
RB: Futile, futile.
And a waste of energy because Michaels very good at what he does.
These films are Michael Winterbottom films, and were just in them doing stuff.
RB: A state school.
Its more of a commune, really.
SC: I mean, while were having dinner, you think that might be real.
I think part of it is that reality TV has trained people to accept these things as real.
Because that sort of thing would happen on, you know,The Real World.SC: Thats very true.
This is such a weird hybrid.
Its a bit of a reality series, but its also something of a movie franchise.
For people like me, you know,The Tripis almost our version of a superhero franchise.
Theres something familiar about it, theres the template, but then the variations are what make it fun.
SC: Were superheroes for middle-aged, middle-class, white professionals.
The previousTripfilms are currently streaming on IFC Films Unlimited.
