His films have includedHear My Song,Funny Bones,The Hannah Montana Movie,SerendipityandThe Mighty.
The big screen take onHector And The Search For Happiness.
And over a bowl of soup, he spared us some time for a chat…
Lets start at the beginning!
There was a DVD re-release, that was really did well.
They did a great job on it.
Well, lets start there.
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It varies.
The British re-release ofHear My Song, I was treated with incredible respect.
They would send stuff over for approval, and I have a very anal brain.
Id go no, the former version had a really bad narration that Miramax made me put in.
It was really nice.
The DGA is a very powerful union, and its a really good union.
And there are certain insistances.
They put The Mighty out as well, didnt they?
If you dont keep an eye on it, things happen.
It can go horribly wrong.
I know of some nightmare things that have happened.
Have things gone horribly wrong with the disc release of your films?
Ive usually been hands on.
I remember for exampleFunny Bonesreleasing in Germany, and there being a so-called textless version.
Its just things slip through the cracks.
Its a German book with a French translation as it came to you?
The other way around!
A French book, big in France, big in Germany.
So how did you come to it?
And what was your take on the character of Hector when you first read it?
The thing is about me is Ive had a weird career.
I got pigeonholed for a while as romantic comedy, which is fine, but Im not!
I seized upon the opportunity to tell a fable, which I love to do.
LikeFunny Bones, and all those movies.
It was really appealing to me.
Were not doing that version.
Were going to dig really deep, and I want to make this something special.
He was on board.
I said rememberBeing There?
Its the only single figurative moment.
Im old enough to have sat in the cinema and heard a universal gasp when that happened.
I said Im reaching for something at the end of our movie.
[Details of that exact scene redacted for spoiler reasons].
Im landing on a figurative image of one of the issues of the movie.
Thats what we should do with cinema.
The moment you try and define it, then make a documentary, or prose, or poetry.
Being There, yes, is a very strong influence.
To get that right, it reminded me of castingFunny Bones, because youve written a phenomenon.
Then Lee [Evans] came along and okay, thats it.
Play with the truth.
Trust that the situations are bizarre enough.
I think whats nice, last night sitting with the film there was a really nice reaction.
He just gets that balance right.
Forrest Gump is a good example, Chauncey Gardiner is a good example.
You talked about the casting there, and some of the supporting players.
You cast one of my favourite actresses, Toni Collette.
I always think thatMuriels Weddingis a vastly underrated film.
Theres such a steel to that story, and it wouldnt work without her.
It was sold as comedy, too.
It builds around here in the same way that youve built this film around Simon Pegg.
I totally built it around Simon.
Simon is incredibly directable.
When we first met, he said direct me, direct me, direct me.
What I mean by that is I dont want to impose stuff on you.
I want him toplay.
The film is designed to be playful.
I have to watch whats happening naturally and support it.
You have to know when to not direct.
Dont confuse the actor, and give them too many things.
You dont give that impression, though.
Is that because of your own acting background?
I teach occasionally, and I like doing it because its when I reassess.
But then Id go no, Ive changed my mind.
I was always in a state of changing my mind.
To filmmakers, of all the things when they ask for advice, I say do an acting course.
Understand the mechanics of acting, to be able to speak a common language.
John Badham is right.
And my advice to filmmakers is do some acting workshops or classes, with no intention of acting.
Just to understand how they work.
Thats his advice too.
Its a really interesting book for someone my side of the fence.
Im one of those people who writes about film, but doesnt want to be a filmmaker.
I know my place.
Do you remember Syd Field [the late legendary writer of screenwriting guides]?
He was a neighbour of mine in L.A. a few years ago, a few doors down.
I was at a meet the new neighbours thing.
It was very kind.
And I said oh my God, theres Syd Field.
Two months later he sent me a script, and asked for my opinion.
And he wants me to give him notes on his screenplay!
Do you do it?
It comes to about five hours work, because youve got to read it.
And it was good, and he enjoyed the notes.
But talk about daunting!
Im not going to send you my script, dont worry.
Theres no shortage of evidence of that.
Theres a scene near the end where the film talks about having an obligation to be happy.
And that is not a crass statement, [Redacted details of the plot for spoiler reasons here].
I think its true that happiness is going down and everything else is going up.
I think we live in a deluded society.
Credit, and advertising, have a lot to do with it.
You are a loser if you dont buy, wear, drive the following.
And youre an idiot if you dont borrow to drive, wear and buy.
Come out with a debt, weve got you.
That was his exact point.
Youre 30,000 down before you get your first full job.
Mortgages should be abolished.
Let me put it this way.
I have three sons 19, 9 and 8.
My eldest, my thing with him is its nice to be nice.
But the point is that you might do something about it.
you could ring someone and make them feel better.
it’s possible for you to help that fund.
you’re able to pay a compliment to that person.
you’re able to help so-and-so.
It takes kids out of the self-absorption place.
The by-product, the side effect, is happiness.
And thats where weve lost our way.
I dont want to sound preachy, or religious.
Im just stating a fact: being happy is like being in love.
Youre manufacturing an emotion from nowhere.
It will always feel like we are lacking.
In a society where we are made to feel like we are lacking all day and every day.
Theres no place in which they can be content without distraction, usually with some electronic gadget.
And its fine that chapel and prayer has gone out of the curriculum.
But substitute it with some silence, which creates some mindfulness, thoughtfulness and introspection.
Im all for the debate about religion doing more harm.
If youre going to get rid of religion, substitute it with something that creates some mindfulness.
Then people will stop craving, and stop feeling that theyre lacking something.
So just focusing on the character of Hector.
How important to you is it that people like him as a character?
Oh, of course its important.
I was conflicted for large parts of the film.
Thats fine, though.
He does some pretty unlikeable things before he does some likeable things.
In the book, he [does something weve held back for spoiler reasons].
In the screenplay, we take him right to the edge.
And she as I told the composer when it came to underwrite that scene is a web of temptation.
It goes very dark at that point.
How can you redeem a character if he doesnt misbehave?
So if people are undecided, then their final decision will be stronger, because theyve come from somewhere.
You have to embrace the pain with the pleasure, the bitter with the sweet.
Its the same with characters.
Theres an underrated Steve Martin film,Leap Of Faith, and he has many wonderful monologues.
And he talks about why would you listen to someone preaching about sin who hadnt sinned?
I knew Steve Martin better in those days!
Hes a great actor.
I watched the Hannah Montana movie yesterday, anyway.
Another of your films.
Oh wow, good for you!
I quite liked it.
Ive gone through the One Direction and Justin Bieber films for the site in the past.
You took Hannah Montana off in a different direction to the one Id been expecting.
Its no secret that youd been through one or two tricky projects by that stage.
Looking back now, how do you feel about?
How do you feel about the reaction you got to that?
And are you happy with one of the most bizarre hard lefts you could have taken at that point?
To me its not such a hard left, its another job.
I dont mean that dispassionately, I really dont.
I give myself over completely to whatever I do.
I said I would laugh if I knew what you were talking about.
Im going to do what I do.
I think what you need is whats missing in the marketplace, is a live action family movie.
Where the family are united by the same things.
It doesnt condescend to the kids, it doesnt have a laugh for dad, a laugh for mum.
Thats a format thats gone.
We need you to make Miley Cyrus a movie star.
So there was a lot of teaching as well as directing involved.
They were very good to me.
They didnt give me a single note through the entire making of the film.
Well, whatever one hears about Disney, thats what they were like with me.
If she had gone on to be a serious film actress, it wouldnt be as bad.
If she were, the image of that film wouldnt be what it is.
But its an image.
Do you see it as regrettable?
Because I had a really good time doing it.
Its regrettable only in the image of it now.
I made it in the same way Im made every other film.
Theres no shortage of PG-13s.
TheJohnny Englishsequel, that came out a few years ago, did nothing for me at all.
Thats exactly my point.
Hes a friend of mine, and hes very good to me.
I did Hannah Montana as part of what was going to be at least two movies.
Then the regime changed, and nobody wants to do what the old regime was doing.
Just stories told for all the family to meet in the middle at.
I have to sit through such dross.
I took my kids to see Rio 2.
Its not that it was a bad film per se, just utterly forgettable.
If you look atUp, its extraordinary how gripping it is in the first 20 minutes.
InHector, I see to it there are a couple of moments of silence.
Theres never absolute silence.
One last question then: what are you future projects?
Youve gotOut Of This World?
Well, they dont call that a family movie.
They call it a four quadrant movie!
Meaning its for everybody.
So a family movie then?
Its a sci-fi movie.
A small story in a big story.
Its a really good story.
Then there s a Dickens project, about what he was doing just before he wroteA Christmas Carol.
So not an adaptation?
No, a fictional story.
A brilliant story that Ive been working on rewriting a lot this year.
That came from the producer ofHector.
Its like you have to be unfaithful five times!
You have to say to each producer its only you!.
Peter Chelsom, thank you very much!
Hector And The Search For Happiness is in cinemas now.
