‘You get amazing actors, funny jokes, but also insight into films’
Quiz and sketch show There’s Something About Movies is back for more fun, host Alan Carr tells Gemma Dunn
Alan Carr has taken on various guises throughout his career, but turning up to an interview in women’s underwear, fishnet tights and heels, paired with a tuxedo jacket, is a new one.
“People could think I’m having a breakdown or something!” he quips, as he totters into the green room. “I spend half my life in bloody heels.”
But the comic has an explanation for his get up – or at least half of it – it turns out, for he’s been filming a skit ahead of the return of his madcap panel show, There’s Something About Movies.
Back for a second series, the Sky One hit will once again see Carr, 43, putting his celebrity guests’ knowledge of film trivia to the test and re-enacting more iconic bigscreen scenes.
He’s even got a new team captain in the shape of Jennifer Saunders.
A line-up that increasingly reads like a dream dinner party guest list, the Absolutely Fabulous star will face off against returning team captain, Masters Of Sex actor Michael Sheen.
“Honestly, it’s such a joy,” says Saunders, 61, as she joins Carr and her co-captain for the chat. “I was a guest in the last series and it was just really good fun. It’s so relaxed, you don’t feel pressured.”
As for shooting spoofs, Carr and co are in good hands. For not only does he have acting royalty on his side – the sixepisode run is filmed at the famous Pinewood Studios.
“Because it’s Sky, they’ve got these resources they can use,” he reveals. “When we did The Shape Of Water [last series], it was the actual tank that Daniel Craig learned to swim in.”
“One of my favourite moments is when you [Sheen] and Tom [Allen] are singing Aladdin,” Saunders follows. “The two of you on the magic carpet, it made me cry. It was beautiful.”
“There’s already a buzz about that,” shares Carr. “Someone in the audience said it was the best thing they’ve ever seen, so all your [Sheen’s] fans are going, ‘Where?! How?! When?’ The ratings will go through the roof.”
But things aren’t always plain sailing for the stars, as they found out when they descended on the seaside town of Broadstairs to film a Cast Away sketch.
“Someone rang the police,” Carr yelps. “They thought we were actually immigrants come over on the raft. I was like, ‘We’re wearing loin cloths... France does have shops and hairdressers’.
“The woman at the council said we’d have the beach to ourselves – well I’ve never seen such a crowded beach,” he recalls, cackling with laughter. “We’re trying to be Cast Away and we’re asking a man with a metal detector if he can move along.
“It’s a bit like this outfit, this show,” he teases. “It starts off
“You want guests that willputawigonand do the thing”
a dream and then becomes a nightmare.
“But Tom and Rob Beckett did do the most amazing Beauty And The Beast. I don’t want to spoil it, but they hired the Natural History Museum.”
Guest-wise, expect everyone from Florence Pugh to Phil Wang, Jonathan Ross, Warwick Davis, Tom Davis, Alice Levine, Tim Roth and more will feature.
Carr says, “What I love about this panel show is you get amazing actors, funny jokes, but also insight into films.
“It has a real different texture to it,” he adds, saying it reminds him of his Friday Night Project days. “It’s not everyone being like, ‘I’m funnier than you’.
“Tim Roth talked about working with Quentin Tarantino and how he has different bloods for different massacres – you don’t get that on Tipping Point,” Carr says, laughing wildly. “There’s something for everyone.”
“Or Princess Leia. Carrie Fisher would be there at the end of every one of Warwick’s takes when he was a little boy, as an Ewok, because he got so hot in the outfit,” Sheen remembers. “She’d be giving him food and water.”
As for a wish list of dream guests:
“You know who I’ve had on Chatty Man?” Carr chimes. “Channing Tatum and Bradley Cooper. A nice bit of eye candy. But the sky’s the limit and like I said, the guests are getting better.”
He follows: “You want those ones that will put a wig on and do the thing, because it’s all about mucking in. If you don’t like looking like a d***, this show isn’t for you.”
Would he like to see a third series?
“I’d love it if they kept asking, of course,” he says. “I want to do it until we’ve done every genre. I want to do Westerns. I want to do everything.
“We did a horror movie,” Carr reveals.
As for his acting prowess: “I don’t know if it has helped or hindered me,” he concludes with a laugh.
“This [the show] tickles my fancy. I’m going on a standup tour next year, so I won’t be able to do any Hollywood films if anyone did ask.”
● There’s Something About Movies returns to Sky One tonight