Following on from our interview with Inbetweeners 2 co-director Iain Morris, in which we touched on all sorts of subjects like prosthetic penises, we spoke with a couple of the lads themselves. Simon Bird, who plays the hapless Will, and Joe Thomas, the hapless, gel-addicted Simon, sat down for a chat about the sequel, terrible hair, and, um, bestiality…
FLICKS: So, bloody Inbetweeners Two, eh? Filming on location, world press trips. Not bad!
JOE THOMAS: No, it’s not bad at all.
SIMON BIRD: It’s not bad, it’s a far cry from how The Inbetweeners started seven years ago. It’s been unbelievable, in so many ways unbelievable. It’s got to the stage where we’re in New Zealand promoting the sequel to our blockbuster hit film.
In New Zealand, where I saw at the Q&A last night the people were comfortable asking some quite direct questions about you personally, and I guess it comes from The Inbetweeners being just so horribly true, really.
JOE: I think it is like that. I think people are kind of grateful for, in a way, something that is honest, and it seems to create a context in which you can talk in, I guess, with quite a lot of candour.
SIMON: In Britain, it was the first, I think it was the first sitcom really, to honestly portray the way teenage boys talk to each other. That was what people liked about it, they can see themselves and their friends in it, and that’s why I think, they feel so comfortable talking to us, is because the characters just feel like their mates from real life. I think we are very approachable, and I think we like that, it’s great that people can come up to us and say how much they like the show.
So, can we go on record here, that you appreciate having a fan base that will ask you about your wife’s clunge [laughter], at a Q&A, when you’re halfway around the globe from home.
SIMON: Sure. Well, I think there are no limits in what the four boys talk about, so I don’t know what they feel [chuckles]. Feel like I shouldn’t put limits on what fans can come and talk to me about. I may choose not to answer, but honestly, it’s great how popular the show is, and it’s great that people like what we do. I don’t think any of us are in a position to complain about the way we’re treated, we’re treated really well. We’re very happy about it.
It was a bit of an unexpected development for the first film to come out, obviously the show had a strong following, but it’s always a gamble, isn’t it, when a series goes into a feature film.
JOE: Yeah, definitely. I think you have to structure it completely differently. I suppose one of the many cliches about, sort of sitcoms, is that the characters never really learn, they always end up back where they started. I think for the first film, there had to be an arc, for the first time. There had to be some sort of journey, there has to be some kind of learning experience, and I think the filmmakers really obeyed the needs of the structure of that film, and they didn’t mind cutting really funny stuff if it was slowing the pace down, or if it was going off on a tangent that didn’t go anywhere. It’s a completely different beast, and I think they structured it incredibly skilfully. For us, it was quite similar. I think we basically turned up and did our thing, and just tried to be as funny as we could. To be honest with you, for the first film, I did think about the arc, and where my character was learning different things, but I’m not sure it makes any difference in the long run to be honest [chuckles]. I think you just have to turn up and be as funny as you can. And what I think about the second film, is that actually, it’s really quite different to the first one, it’s a different sort of film. It’s more of a kind of road trip plot. The first one arguably, is almost like a rom-com in structure. I really respect the way that Iain and Damon always keep pushing it, and they keep trying new things.
SIMON: And they keep taking risks. The idea of doing a film in the first place, was totally out of the blue. If ever we’d spoken about it on set when we were making the TV series, it was only ever as a joke, the idea that the four of us could be leads in a film that went out in cinema, was obviously ridiculous to us, and to everyone who heard it. But fair play to them, they went away and they wrote a script, and somehow got the financing and the funding to make it. Obviously it was worth it, paid off.
So the previous film didn’t look like it was necessarily the most lovely experience shooting it. It was the middle of winter, right? How did that contrast to going to Aussie for this one, was it the same scenario again?
JOE: This was much nicer.
SIMON: We also filmed it in our winter, but it just turns out our winter is Australia’s summer, so it worked out perfectly. We should say that filming the first was not a horrible experience…
I just remember watching some of the behind the scenes stuff, and seeing some of the extras suffering…
JOE: I think for the supporting artists, at times it probably was quite horrible, particularly when it was freezing, particularly when they were on the party boat, and they were just all getting sick.
SIMON: The party boat was a little bit like the Titanic. We were kept on a separate deck from the supported artists, so we were up top, living the high life, then sometimes you’d go downstairs to go to the toilet, and you’d see all of the extras sort of huddled in the corner being sick.
JOE: I suppose the first one wasn’t like a lads holiday, whereas this film, I guess it’s sort of a road trip type thing, and to a certain extent, we did journey around Australia together, and we did spend a lot of time in the car driving around, and it did at times feel a little bit like-for-like, and that was really nice. I think this is probably the most fun we’ve had doing Inbetweeners. I suppose to a certain extent, it felt like payback for all those scenes we filmed in like, public toilets and car parks, which are their two favourite locations.
Another thing I really liked about the film was the continued evolution of your terrible gel, and how that’s really taking on a very strand-by-strand life of its own.
JOE: It really has, yeah.
I think originally at the start of the series, it was like, a bad example of what we’re already familiar with, there was always a dude that did look like that, but it’s really going somewhere.
SIMON: The idea that he’s still sticking with it now, in what is supposed to be 2014, is a bit weird.
JOE: It’s got a little bit out of hand. It’s got a bit Marge Simpson…
SIMON: I mean, that fashion was in style, I’d say 20 years ago.
JOE: I would agree, I would agree with you.
SIMON: And only for about six months back then.
JOE: It’s just one of those haircuts, where you can’t really explain– it has continued to evolve, it’s kind of perfected its own weirdness.
SIMON: I think it’s still a hangover from when Iain and Damon first came up with the idea of The Inbetweeners, they wanted to set it in the late ’80s, early ’90s really. So I imagine they had an idea that one of the boys should have that hairdo. Then eventually when they decided to make it present day instead of a historical sitcom, I think maybe they just forgot to change that.
I think it’s still alive out there.
JOE: You do still see it.
You’ve got a full head of hair, don’t take this the wrong way , but the way it’s so delicately constructed – where we can almost see the instructions – it looks like the, “Hey, I’m a bit of a cool guy,” version of a comb-over.
JOE: That’s right, that’s exactly right. That’s true actually. You can see the meticulous preparation that’s tragically gone into it.
Beautiful. So, you’re not really tempted to do that yourself.
JOE: No, I mean, no. End of the day’s filming, first thing is just get that gel out. I remember when I was a teenager, I didn’t know what to do with my hair. I don’t really know now. There is a question, like what do you do with this stuff?
SIMON: Just let it happen.
One last thing, very quickly, Simon, is you get a good hair moment as well with long, luxurious locks?
SIMON: Yeah, at the very end of the film, yeah. I really like that bit, that was fun to do, wasn’t it? And also I like the update of our Pussay Patrol T-shirts as well, something to look out for. What is it?
JOE: Banter Brigade.
SIMON: But what is the image?
JOE: It’s something like a koala bear sucking off a kangaroo.
SIMON: Yeah, I think it is.
JOE: It got weird.
SIMON: He’s jerking it off, and he’s tickling his balls.
It’s okay, as long as they’re both non-human, it’s not bestiality. They’re both beasts.
JOE: They’re both beasts, it’s fine, yeah.
SIMON: That’s a nice way of thinking about it.
That’s a really good way to wind up interviewing you. Thanks very much guys.
The Inbetweeners 2 is in cinemas now. Click for movie times
