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Ayoade Watch

23 May

Back in April we wrote that feature film Neighbourhood Watch, starring Richard Ayoade, had revised its marketing approach in light of recent news events.

The film features four everyday suburban Dads (Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and Ayoade), who accidentally discover that their hometown has become overrun with aliens posing as ordinary people. They have no choice but to save their neighborhood – and the world – from total extermination.

The name of the film has been changed to The Watch, and the new promotional campaign for the film has stepped up a gear. We can now bring you two trailers for the movie – one of which premiered today in the US. You can view one of the recently-released trailers by clicking on the image below:

…and here’s an exclusive reworking of it that was released earlier today, featuring additional footage.

At TVO Towers we have a bit of a soft spot for the original trailer, so for the sake of completeness here it is.

For news updates about The Watch check out the film’s Facebook page.

From Geek To Glory!

20 May

Anyone with the remotest interest in the comedy we cover on The Velvet Onion will be aware of Chris O’Dowd’s recent Hollywood ascent. Today Chris was interviewed in The Guardian – about his move to LA, his A-list movie credentials, and his relationship with Dawn Porter.

© Empire

He’s asked if he feels overwhelmed about the success he’s enjoyed off the back of the $300M grossing Bridemaids: “Not really,” he says, “I’m never overawed by a situation and I think that’s because I’ve always looked several years older than I am. So because people were treating me like I was 40 when I was 29, I’ve always felt in control of a situation. People used to say, when you’re 32, you’ll look 32. I’m still waiting for that moment, where my age catches up with my appearance.”

IT Crowd fans can also enjoy the rosy glow that the mention of a one-off special gets in the article, with the interviewer saying that Chris, “hopes at some point to return to The IT Crowd, if not for another series, then at least a special.”

Chris adds, “It’s just everyone’s schedule is kind of crazy. Richard [Ayoade] is planning his next thing to direct; Katherine [Parkinson] is broody. But between those things, we’ll work it out.” We live in hope!

To read the interview in full visit The Guardian here.

Double Quick For Ayoade

12 May

© Total Film

As all good peelers will know, Richard Ayoade‘s directorial follow-up to Submarine will be an adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky novel The Double. Well now some new information about the film has been released!

Submarine actors Yasmin Paige (Jordana Bevan) and Noah Taylor (Lloyd Tate) have been added to the cast, which stars Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska in the lead roles, with James Fox and Wallace Shawn also set to appear.

The film focuses on Simon (Eisenberg), an insignificant man whose world is turned upside down by the sudden appearance of James, his exact doppelganger, who takes a job at Simon’s firm. While they may look the same the two men are very different, and it isn’t long before Simon begins to worry that James is taking over his life.

No release date has been confirmed for the movie yet, but filming begins  on 20th  May, so hopefully we won’t have to wait too long!

Neighborhood Watch In The News

9 Apr

© Twentieth Century Fox

A few weeks ago we shared the trailer for the movie Neighborhood Watch with you. You may have been wondering what’s happened to the film since then.

According to Sunday’s New York Times, news events in the US have impacted on the marketing of the Hollywood film. Neighborhood Watch stars Richard Ayoade alongside Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughan and Tim Jonah as a group of middle-aged neighborhood vigilantes battling alien invaders. Executives at Twentieth Century Fox have been keen to distance the film from the recent incident involving the shooting of 17-year old Trayvon Martin.

In a phased promotional withdrawal that began in March Fox pre-emptively withdrew its trailers and advertising materials (that said, the trailer is currentlystill available to view on youtube!). The intention is to replace them with imagery that is deemed more relevant to the comedic subject matter of the film.

In a statement issued last week Fox extended sympathy to those touched by the Martin shooting, and said, “Our film is a broad alien invasion comedy and bears absolutely no relation to the tragic events in Florida.” Late last week Fox declined to elaborate on the studio’s plans for the film.

To read the article in full visit the New York Times’ website . If we hear any more about the plans for the film we’ll be sure to keep you posted.

Luxury Comedy Reaches Australia

25 Mar

© Secret Peter / Channel 4

Australian Peelers will soon be able to watch Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy on their own televisions!

The first episode airs on Thursday 5th April on ABC2 at 10.30pm, and is repeated later in the week.

If you have somehow missed out on hearing about Luxury Comedy, you can pop over to the E4 site to catch up on the characters and episodes or browse TVO!

To find out more about the show in Australia click here.

Ayoade Introduces

20 Mar

© Getty

This weekend you can see the very marvellous  Richard Ayoade at The Lexi Cinema in London.

Richard will be appearing in person to introduce a pair of rare documentaries by Ingmar Bergman, titled Faro Dokuments 1969 and 1979. In these films, Bergman lovingly recorded the threats to the way of life locals enjoyed on the small island where he made his home.  

The screening starts at 5.30pm on Sunday 25th March; for more information check out The Lexi’s website.

The I-Tee Crowd

1 Mar

© TeeFury

Last week’s limited edition IT Crowd t-shirt proved to be so popular…here’s another!

This time it’s Moss who gets the limited edition tee-treatment, in a vibrant black and orange design entitled “Late Night Moss”. It’s available for $10 on TeeFury - but you’ll need to get your skates on because it’s only available for another 5 hours 7 minutes (as at 23:52 GMT)! Click here to bag yourself one.

Thanks to RachelG for this information.

Success At The NMEs!

1 Mar

© NME

For the handful of people that have managed to miss the news about last night’s NME Awards which has been floating around online today, here’s the scoop:

Booshniverse-related artists were up for three awards: Best Book (Scribblings of a Madcap Shambleton), Best Film (Submarine) and Best TV Show (Never Mind the Buzzcocks). Success was seen in two of the three categories: Best Book and Best Film. Best TV Show was won by Fresh Meat. Thanks to all of you who voted.

Big, velvety congratulations to Noel Fielding and Dave Brown for the Best Book win and to Richard Ayoade for his award for Best Film. Sadly these awards weren’t given out on the night, so we didn’t get to see our boys up on stage collecting their gongs. Noel and Dave were at the event, however, and we had the joy of seeing Noel introduce Kasbian onstage, dressed as The Hitcher. This alone was worth the ticket price!

For the full list of winners and to more photos of the Awards visit NME.com. To watch the Awards in full, tune in to Channel 4 on Saturday (March 3) at 11.55pm (GMT). Half an hour of highlights will be shown on T4 at 9.25am (GMT) the same day.

And if you fancy a peek at Dave Brown’s snaps from the night take a look at his twitter photos.

Neighborhood Watch With Richard

1 Mar

As we mentioned in September the multi-talented Richard Ayoade can be seen in the new comedy Neighborhood Watch, starring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill. The screenplay was written by Seth Rogan, Evan Goldberg and Jared Stone and directed by Akiva Schaffer.

The film tells the story of  a bunch of suburban Dad’s who set up a neighborhood watch group to get time away from their families. There are also Aliens involved!

The film will be released in the USA on 27th July and in the UK on 22nd August. The first trailer is out now and you can see it below.

The Lim-IT-ed Crowd

24 Feb

© Qwertee / TomTragor

A limited edition t-shirt homage to The IT Crowd can now be yours to own via Qwertee.

The design, entitled Crowded by TomTragor, is available for just £8 (plus postage) until late on Saturday evening – whereupon it will be discontinued, and entered into the site’s voting system for a possible return.

Featuring a string of classic quotes from the show, and pixel versions of stars Chris O’Dowd, Richard Ayoade, Katherine Parkinson, Chris Morris & Noel Fielding (sadly no Matt Berry!), the shirt is surely a must for any real-life Roy’s out there…

For your chance to own this tee, which has been given the IT Crowd’s official Twitter seal of approval, visit www.quertee.com now!

BAFTA Treats!

11 Feb

© GQ

This week BAFTA is offering up two (not one but two!) Booshnivserse-related treats for your delectation:

First up is an interview with the man who combines IT geekery and being a hammerhead shark with directing the stupendous Submarine: Richard Ayoade. The interview focuses on Ayoade’s approach to directing and how his experience in front of the camera has influenced what he does when he’s behind it. His practical tips for aspiring directors are:

1. Trying not to get depressed definitely applies to both [directing and acting]. You need be healthy so don’t get a cold.

2. Noah Taylor [who plays Oliver’s father in Submarine] told me the main thing as director was to get comfortable shoes because you don’t sit down for two months.

3. The best tip for directing I ever heard came from Roman Polanski who apparently said: You rehearse a scene, then you stand where you want to see it, and that’s where you put the camera.

To read the interview in full click here.

© Cornerhouse

Secondly is a BAFTA event that’s connected to Submarine: A BAFTA Masterclass in Cinematography with Erik Alexander Wilson, the cinematographer on Ayoade’s debut feature. He’s worked on another recent Warp Films production, the award-winning Tyrannosaur, as well as videos for Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian (and lots of other awesome things!).

The Masterclass takes place at 6pm on 23rd February at Cornerhouse, Manchester’s international centre for contemporary visual arts and independent film. Tickets are only £3.50 (£3 conc), so it’s well worth checking out if you’re in the north west. For more information and to purchase tickets visit Cornerhouse’s website.

Instant Snuff

5 Feb

© Severin Films

Snuff Box has been added to Netflix Instant Play.

Currently only available to American Netflix subscribers, Snuff Box in its entirety is available in DVD form as well as in an instant stream.

The series, starring Matt Berry and Rich Fulcher as a hangman and his assistant, and featuring guest appearances from Richard Ayoade, Alice Lowe and more, has gained quite a cult following in the States. This latest addition follows Snuff Box’s initial launch in the U.S., which in addition to the U.S. DVD release included a promotional tour in Los Angeles and New York  late last year.

Of course, UK Peelers feeling left out can always pick up a copy for themselves at the TVO Amazon Store.

Luxury Returns

2 Feb

© Secret Peter / Channel 4

As we begin to round up our Luxury Comedy Takeover week, and put the finishing touches to our behind the scenes documentary, the worst kept secret in all of Booshdom has finally popped out today – Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy is to return next year.

Following ratings success and the majority of critics loving the show’s surreal aesthetic, E4 have ordered a second run for Noel & Nigel Coan’s madcap sketch show.

News outlets have started to pick up on the story, most notably DigitalSpy, who quoted Noel’s hopes to make the second series “more like a Wednesday morning”.  We can’t wait.

Meanwhile you can continue to see the first run of episodes premièring on E4 every Thursday night at 10pm.

NME News Overload!

1 Feb

© NME

This week there’s a weighty chunk of NME-related news to tell you about!

The nominations have now been confirmed for the 2012 NME Awards, and voting is open! The Booshniverse features in several categories this year:

Best TV Programme  -  Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Best Film  -  Submarine
Best Book  -  The Scribblings of a Madcap Shambleton
Hero of the Year  -  Noel Fielding

And if you include Kasabian as honorary Booshniverse members due to Serge Pizzorno’s involvement in Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy, there are a few more!

To cast your vote visit NME’s awards site by clicking here.

What’s more, tickets for the awards show itself are now on sale. The event takes place on 29th February at the Brixton Academy in London; tickets are £22 plus booking fee, and are only open to over 18s. To book tickets visit See Tickets. And hurry, they’ll go quickly!

© NME

Our final helping of NME news for this week is the appearance of Noel Fielding in the current issue. It features the Q&A with Noel that we mentioned a few weeks back (and which some of you have been lucky enough to get your questions into!), and is being billed as “His weirdest interview yet”.

If you can’t lay your hands on a paper copy, to purchase the issue digitally here’s where to go.

There’s also a short video of Noel’s latest NME cover shoot and an interview with the man himself on NME’s website, in which he talks about Luxury Comedy and what’s next for him and Julian. Click here to view it.

Enjoy!

Luxury Comedy In A Bargain-Basement Age

24 Jan

© Channel 4/Secret Peter

Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy is a show like no other you’ll see on television in 2012. It’s a show that has spent years gestating in the heads of its dual creators, Noel Fielding and Nigel Coan. It’s a show that combines live-action with animation in a crayola-drenched world filled with cartoon characatures that seem to have leapt straight out of the imagination of Fielding – as his longterm friend and colleague Dave Brown so eloquently put when talking to TVO last year – the show is a bit like downloading Noel’s brain.

More than a year in the actual, physical making, Luxury Comedy brings together a number of talents from that wider world of Booshdom we’ve been shouting about since our inception, and who we’ve all collectively been enjoying on stage and screen for the past fifteen years. Whilst its fair to say the show can never topple The Mighty Boosh in the hearts of many, the trick to watching Luxury Comedy is to block out all thoughts of that looming shadow of a cult classic and just enjoy the madness on its own terms.

© Channel 4/Secret Peter

Take for example, the character of Dondelion, images of which have been released to the press. On the surface, a cynical viewer may suggest he is a cast-off from the Boosh – a lost side-project from the days of the Zooniverse.  They would be wrong. Dondelion, like every other character Noel and Nigel have created – and there are many – is a brand new beast, the only similarities being that he has come from the same brilliant mind that co-created all those Boosh characters of yesteryear.

We’ve been living with the pilot since the summer of last year now, when Noel and his team at Secret Peter kindly invited The Velvet Onion to visit the set and document our findings. It’s multi-coloured, surrealistic world admittedly took us all by surprise on first viewing, but whilst not everyone was immediately in hysterics, repeat viewings found the laughs increased and, amazingly, a whole new realm of quotes and catchphrases subconsciously crept into our everyday lexicon.  We’ve been yelling “Fish Finger For Later” at one another since then, and random injections of “Paulsaid”, “LEEEGGGGOOOOHHHHH!” and rambling speeches about bikes, Gary Glitter and single baked beans have interjected our daily thoughts to the point where we started to wonder if we had developed a new form of madness. The show may be like downloading Noel’s brain, but more specifically it seems, for diehard fans that download will embed itself into the infrastructure of your mind’s root folders like a particularly shiny virus.

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A Luxurious Takeover!

23 Jan

© Secret Peter / Channel 4

This week sees the launch of Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy, and naturally, TVO wanted to mark this occasion with a bang.

We’ve already given you exclusive preview images of the show, but now we can confirm our Luxury Comedy Takeover is officially underway!

Over the coming days, we’ll be bringing you exclusive interviews with the people behind the show, profiles on familiar faces, a review of tonight’s exclusive press-screening and that all important first episode and much more.

The biggest news of all is the ultimate secret we’ve been keeping since the summer – when The Velvet Onion visited the set of Luxury Comedy for two days armed with a hi-def video camera, a microphone and the best intentions to bring you a unique peek behind the scenes on the show.

Naturally, the main drive of behind-the-scenes features belong to our friend, Joey Page, who has been crafting his own short for the dvd release of the show later this year – and we’ll be bringing you more on that in due time.  For now, though, we have our own exclusive and candid video interviews with Noel, Mike, Tom, Dave, Joey, Kim and Rich for you to savour – and whilst you wait for those to emerge in all their hi-def glory later this week, we’ll be whetting your appetites for the show itself every day until then.

So welcome to the takeover. The age of luxury is about to begin…

A Cheeky Peek Behind The Scenes

20 Jan

Yesterday we promised you a Velvet Onion picture exclusive, in the form of behind-the-scenes photos from the filming of Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy. Never let it be said that we’re ones to break a promise: here they are!

These images provide a wonderful insight into the series production process, allowing us a privileged peek at the characters in action before the animation was added:

© Channel 4

© Channel 4

© Channel 4

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Booshniverse At The BAFTAs – And Beyond

8 Jan

© Warp Films

The long list of films voted for by BAFTA members for entry in the 2012 Orange British Academy Film Awards has been announced, and there are a few Booshniverse-relevant favourites in there!

Richard Ayoade‘s critically-acclaimed debut Submarine is in the list for Outstanding British Film; and Anonymous, featuring Tony Way and Bunny & The Bull‘s Edward Hogg, is included in the lists for Best Original Screenplay, Production Design, Make-up And Hair and Costume Design.

Arthur Christmas, featuring the vocal talents of Rich Fulcher and Julia Davis is entered for Best Animated Film and Best Original Screenplay, and the much-lauded Girl With a Dragon Tattoo, which features Tony Way as hacker Plague, is listed in thirteen categories! Tyrannosaur, a Warp Films production (and therefore dear to our hearts!) is also listed in five categories.

Nominations in all categories will be announced on 17th January, and the winners will be announced at the Orange British Academy Film Awards on 12 February. For the full BAFTA long list click here.

© Optimum Releasing

While we’re on the subject of film awards, the ‘Critics Circle’ nominations have also recently been announced, and once again, the Booshniverse has fared well: Ayoade is up for Breakthrough British Film-maker and both Craig Roberts and Yasmin Paige are nominated for Young British Performer of the Year – all for Submarine.

Modern horror, Kill List, directed by The Sightseers’ Ben Wheatley, and featuring TVO faces Gareth Tunley, Alice Lowe and Steve Oram, also gains nominations for British Film and Supporting Actor of the Year. Tyrannosaur again features, with two nominations.

Click here for the full list of nominations for the Critics’ Circle awards. The awards ceremony takes place in London on 19th January.

Congratulations to all of the nominees. We’ll let you know how they all fair on the respective awards nights, so keep you fingers crossed!

A Not-So-Summery 2011…But Here’s A Summary Of July-Sept

4 Jan

When you think of last summer, what do you think of? Rain? Rioting? Well don’t think about that – if your memory fails you, first have a look at our reviews of January to June, and then let’s take a look at what happened in the world of Booshdom from July to September, in Part 3 of our review of 2011...

JULY

© Watch

2011 may have been a dreary and somewhat brief summer, but July kicked off with some magic as Dynamo showed off his skills to Noel Fielding, stunning him with a rogue deck of cards right in the palm of his hand!

The comedy world also saw acts big and small peeking out into the non-sunlight as they prepared for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival! It was a busy month for comics, including Rich Fulcher who arranged warm ups left right and centre. As they all profusely scribbled down their work in the build-up to the festival, the musical Booshdom also picked up its pace. Robots In Disguise released their fourth album (funded by their fans!) Happiness vs Sadness. We were eager to listen to it ourselves and bring you a song-by-song evaluation of it.

© Becky Johnson

IAMX were also in the midst of releasing their new single Bernadette and at the same time brought us two alternative versions of the music video – we would expect nothing less from perfectionist Chris Corner!

This summer was also a lucky time for the Velvet Onion in terms of tracking down some great talent. We attended a Q&A with the cast of How Not To Live Your Life, then Richard Ayoade also answered some of our questions following the release of Submarine. Then there was even more excitement with the release of our chat with the delectable Hot Brew!

Someone who’s also always up for a debate is Steve Coogan, who voiced his opinions on Newsnight this month regarding the recent closure of News Of The World!

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Spring Back In Time: A Look Back At April-June 2011

2 Jan

So far our review of 2011 has covered January to March. Today we bring you the sequel: April to June. Aaaah, Springtime…the time of fresh starts and new beginnings! And it turned out to be a very busy time in the Booshniverse too!

April

© BBC

April started with the news of Chris O’Dowd’s appearance in The Crimson Petal and The White, a Victorian drama adaptation miles away from The IT Crowd! It was a fantastic production with a great cast and Chris was excellent in it.

The London Comedy Writers Festival took place this month, with input from TVO favourites Alice Lowe, Jaqueline Wright and Colin Hoult. It was a very busy month for Alice, she starred in  Tap at the Window, appeared with Antony Elvin at Popcorn Comedy, and had the pilot  Alice’s Wunderland broadcast on BBC Radio 4. At the time we were lucky to bag an interview with her which you can read here. We also reviewed Jackal films 2010 calendar project.

Colin Hoult announced the second New Adventures show and Paul Foot was in Australia, tweeting as he went.

TVO enjoyed a bit of a spring clean itself in April with a revamp of the TVO Amazon store, making it even easier to cater for all your comedy needs!

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