The New Chris Morris Project - Casting Breakdown

[Neil]

Big thanks to a couple of anonymous fellows who've very kindly supplied us with this.  Can't get it in the sodding article database at the mo, but will create a new category manually in a bit so we can gather together information as it surfaces.  

CLOSING DATE:Sunday, 20 May 2007, 23:59
wt; chris morris project (Film)

a tv film about a bunch of pakastani lads living in britain now,its about what they do-for work for play,what they believe,how the relate to their parents,families,the culture around them,their sense of heritage,its being writen and directed by chris morris for channel 4.

Company:

pbj

Producer:

derrin schlesinger

Director:

chris morris

Casting Director:

Des Hamilton

Location:

london and poss north of england

Dates (Shooting, Rehearsal, etc.):

summer 07

Casting Details:

pls send cvs+photographs to des hamilton 104c camden st,nw1 0hy,thanks.

Role:

ahmed (Male)

Description:

british/pakastani,30,bright,intense,knowlegeable,not good with people,attended islamic law school in damascus for a year.

Agreements / Contracts / Fees:

tbc

Role:

omar (Male)

Description:

british pakastani,29,ahmeds brother,more streetwise though not a gangster,persuasive,capable of empathy,smart around people,all overlayed on a low self esteem.

Agreements / Contracts / Fees:

tbc

Role:

waj (Male)

Description:

british/pakastani,20,less bright but not totally dim,loyal follower of omar,big guy,strong works out,fearless.

Agreements / Contracts / Fees:

tbc

Role:

hass (Male)

Description:

british/pakastani,21,bright,more middle class poss public school,moralistic,funny,studying IT after doing good at school.

Agreements / Contracts / Fees:

tbc

Role:

azzam (Male)

Description:

british/pakastani,,22,college mate of hass,bright,articulate,provocative,loves the spotlight loves winding people up,sort of guy who'd protest against cartoons in a bomb belt,mouthy.

Agreements / Contracts / Fees:

tbc

Role:

crow uncle (Male)

Description:

british/pakastani,38,fairly bright,mad brooding,watches a lot of tv between odd jobs (nightwatchman etc),seems more of a hick than the others.

Agreements / Contracts / Fees:

tbc

Role:

crow uncles nephew (Male)

Description:

british/pakastani,17,insanely intense......bright,very very focused,blind to anything he's not focused on,small seething boffin.

Agreements / Contracts / Fees:

tbc

[TJ]

So hands up who thinks this is going to be a serious and sympathetic study of the plight of Islamists in modern Britain, and who thinks it's going to be 'dark' 'edgy' terroristLOLZ! 'satire' that 'had to be made'?

[Consignia]

So hands up who thinks this is going to be a serious and sympathetic study of the plight of Islamists in modern Britain, and who thinks it's going to be 'dark' 'edgy' terroristLOLZ! 'satire' that 'had to be made'?

It'll be an atempt at the former under the guise of the latter.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

You're only saying that because you are Ahmed.

[Slaaaaabs]

Coming over here, taking our roles.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

What were the comments Morris made about Islamic terrorists before? Something about them being naive rather than angry. I'm trying to dig out the quote, but I can't find it.

[Godzilla Bankrolls]

Will it be White Teeth with compound swearwords?

More promising than Barley 2, anyroad.

[Little Hoover]

I'll just get in there with this sarcastically before someone says it seriously:

Guys, don't you think we should at least give it a chance

Ok thank you

[Morrisfan82]

He's doing this and NB series 2? Keeping busy. So is this the "terrorists satire" that there were rumblings about a while back?

Nice to see Boing's found a job typing up casting details. :)

[Neil]

I'm kind of hopeful about this, if he can't do buttock-clenchingly good comedy anymore then by all means just stop trying.  This sounds like a move into drama, and I think he could make it work.  As long as he remembers that 'Morris-speak' never sounds better or as convincing as when he's delivering it...with the exception of the late great MASJ and perhaps David Cann.  The dialogue in Barley was dreadful, even where it wasn't meant to be.

Here's IanW's quote about the debate:

Went to a debate on the ethics of Al Qaeda last night where the argument was made that the franchise is more of a western phenomenon than anything else, and that the London bombers weren't yelling in rage at the injustices of the Iraq war and the Palestine/Israel situation but acting more like pissed off, pompous, narcissistic adolescents, blowing themselves up in something like a more extreme version of self-harming.

Anyway, the point is Chris Morris was there which maybe is a hope raising thing - he might be on the right tracks with this new project.

[Jemble Fred]

Is it specifically based on 'the good bit from Monkey Dust' then?

[The Mumbler]

Hopefully it can engage with the audience rather than drowning in its own irony (the fatal problem with Barley). I'm fairly intrigued, though.

[Garfield And Friends]

Morris too late requisitioning Brooker's "Cunt".
Morris too late on the heels of Nawaz's "Little Mosque On The Prairie".

He's lost it! He should do something fresh and edgy like a satirical the-day-in-politics show.

[Slaaaaabs]

Is it specifically based on 'the good bit from Monkey Dust' then?

I knew it sounded familiar. Procrastinating Brummies weren't they?

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Am I allowed to be slightly less interested if this isn't going to be a comedy product?

[Neil]

Yeah, Mumbler, intrigued is the very word I've been swishing around too.  I'm very interesting in the whole idea, and I think a real change of pace is what he needs.  I've started wondering whether it's this that he met Will Adamsdale for, although I did question the guy who told us at the time, and he seemed adamant that it was for the second series of Barley.

[ziggy starbucks]

it doesn't sound like a comedy

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

the London bombers weren't yelling in rage at the injustices of the Iraq war and the Palestine/Israel situation but acting more like pissed off, pompous, narcissistic adolescents, blowing themselves up in something like a more extreme version of self-harming.

Yeah, that was the one. I hope he dosn't go down that road, because it's such a reactionary view. It's the Tory attitude to any form of dissent: 'They're just showing off'.

[Godzilla Bankrolls]

It was the view Baddiel put forward on Heresy, wasn't it? The ultimate way to show that you're hard.

I'm not agreeing with that, by the way - there's a lot of cultural/psychological issues there that I'll just fudge.

[Godzilla Bankrolls]

It was the view Baddiel put forward on Heresy, wasn't it? The ultimate way to show that you're hard.

I'm not agreeing with that, by the way - there's a lot of cultural/psychological issues there that I'll just fudge.

[Famous Mortimer]

It was the view Baddiel put forward on Heresy, wasn't it? The ultimate way to show that you're hard.

I'm not agreeing with that, by the way - there's a lot of cultural/psychological issues there that I'll just fudge.

I'm not all that bothered about taking the view of a formerly funny comedian into account, to be honest. As if blowing yourself, and potentially hundreds of others,  up is a piece of cake.

[bithez]

has morris ever been able to write proper fully-developed characters? apart from barley, has he ever even tried?

"crow uncle's nephew" sounds like a band name.

[IanW]

Yeah, that was the one. I hope he dosn't go down that road, because it's such a reactionary view. It's the Tory attitude to any form of dissent: 'They're just showing off'.

You can come at it from a left-wing point of view too, though.  At least that's what they were doing at the debate.  The argument was a lot of what is perceived as anti-imperialist protest these days is actually a form of narcissism, (hence 'not-in-my-name' and not 'we demand a second UN resolution' being the main banner of choice at the 2003 anti-war march).  In a lot of protest now, they argued,  the individual is making a statement about him/herself ('I'm a good person') as much as they do when they buy a particular pair of trousers ('I'm cool').  It's a peculiarly Thatcherite form of protest and reflects the withering away of a genuine progressive left.

In the case of the London bomber 'losers' as Brendan O'Neill insists on calling them the ethical gesture is so extreme as to become nihilistic and has even less in common with a progressive left.  It's rejectionism.  Hopeless.  There is no future, so I'll just make this dramatic statement.  Well, that's not left-wing - that's reactionary, if anything.  Afterall, in the past, terrorists had plans, they demanded things, self-determination, they wanted a better future - they loved life, not death.

[Johnny Yesno]

It was the view Baddiel put forward on Heresy, wasn't it? The ultimate way to show that you're hard.

I'm not agreeing with that, by the way - there's a lot of cultural/psychological issues there that I'll just fudge.

I'm not all that bothered about taking the view of a formerly funny comedian into account, to be honest. As if blowing yourself, and potentially hundreds of others,  up is a piece of cake.

Mmmm! Fudge! Mmmm! Cake!

[Marvin]

I'll stay in the 'intrigued' camp for the moment, it could be a good drama, with some comic elements and it's a little bit more promising that Barley ever was to me really.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

It's true, you can either come at it from the left or the right - it depends whether you're coming from the 'Let's face it, no one really cares, we're all Tories underneath' side or the 'Why aren't they legitimately angry?' one.  

The idea of this being a drama doesn't really intrigue me. Nathan Barley could be viewed as a drama too (or at least as a comedy/drama/satire/art hybrid), but it was still rubbish.

[Backstage With Slowdive]

He should do something fresh and edgy like a satirical the-day-in-politics show.

What, you mean like this shitfest I've just encountered on BBC2, "Don't Watch That" or some cack?

Oh look, they're having a go at Mary Whitehouse. How nice of them to put on something aimed at the over-30s like me.

[Neil]

Mary Whitehouse?  Jesus wept.

Y'know, this year I'm making an effort with TV, rather than just obsessively listening to music constantly.  I've been quite getting into it, but I've found that it isn't just British comedy that's fucked, it's pretty much Britiish TV in general.  I kind of already knew that anyway, and I think the effect of the multi-channel bollocks will take time to settle.  With the exception of BBC4 music shows, and the jarringly incongruous Howard Goodall one on C4, British TV just isn't worth the time of day at all, so I'm sticking with downloads (mainly all those big American shows like The Wire and 24 which I've never seen).  Glad I just had a quick shufty at the websites to see if I was right, yes, tonight seems to be typically fuck-awful, but there's New York Week to look forward too.  Although Once Upon A Time In New York should have surely been at least a three-parter, and it's a pisser that  No Wave is being brushed over yet again, for goodness sake...at least I made damn sure I got an imported Kill Your Idols DVD for Xmas.

Back to British comedy though, I got quite petulant after listening to that latest GLR show again yesterday and today, it really helps remind you just how poor the current British comedy scene is.  Not just the obvious shite like Blunder either, the critically acclaimed shite like Extras, the stuff that should be great like Barley and Time Trumpet etc etc.  It's shit it's shit!  When is it going to bottom out though?

(Also, BBC bloody 3 have found a brand new way to present shit comedy: by forcing it upon you in the top bit of their website and auto-loading it when you're trying to listen to AMM, yeah thanks.  Have you seen that stuff?  It's AWFUL.  EDIT:  Just watched one of the sketches in full...badgers, jazz hands, Brenting and NO REAL JOKES WHATSOEVER, just a limp badger-based "punchline".)

[Garfield And Friends]

He should do something fresh and edgy like a satirical the-day-in-politics show.

What, you mean like this shitfest I've just encountered on BBC2, "Don't Watch That" or some cack?

Oh look, they're having a go at Mary Whitehouse. How nice of them to put on something aimed at the over-30s like me.

I wasn't being serious; just facetiously suggesting that he should jump on the Daily Show/Colbert Report/HHNH bandwagon.

[threeism]

the London bombers weren't yelling in rage at the injustices of the Iraq war and the Palestine/Israel situation but acting more like pissed off, pompous, narcissistic adolescents, blowing themselves up in something like a more extreme version of self-harming.

Yeah, that was the one. I hope he dosn't go down that road, because it's such a reactionary view. It's the Tory attitude to any form of dissent: 'They're just showing off'.

I hope he does go down that road. In the case of several of the bombers/attempted bombers, there's no evidence that they were particularly interested in either militant islam or the suffering of Iraqi or Palestinian people. The contrast between the sort of lives they were leading and becoming a (attempted) suicide bomber is quite unsettling, and it's exactly the sort of thing I'd like to see Morris explore, if he's still up to it.

Whoever said it - I don't think going on the anti-war march was much of a lifestyle statement for most people. From my experience it was a long slow trudge, pretty silent and almost funereal. I didn't see much of people "hugging themselves" as Ian McEwan put it. A lot of them looked as though they felt quite awkward taking part in such an event.