STAN & OLLIE & STEVE
Steve Coogan on bringing Laurel and Hardy back to the big screen
IFELT LIKE I was as well qualified as anyone to take on the role,” award-winning British actor and writer Steve Coogan says of playing comedy great Stan Laurel opposite John C. Reilly as Oliver Hardy in the touching new biopic Stan & Ollie. In fact, Coogan counts the duo’s films among the “landscape of comedy” that caught his attention as a child, influencing his comedic vocation. And, of course, there’s the 53-year-old’s uncanny resemblance to Stan Laurel. Coogan recently discussed the film with Zoomer. MIKE CRISOLAGO: What elements of Stan Laurel’s life could you relate to as a performer? STEVE COO GAN: He was a comic writer and performer – that’s what I’ve done for most of my career. And he was from the north of England [like Coogan, and] had ambition to break out of his lower middle class upbringing and try to do great things in comedy, and I’ve had that ambition from an early age. So I felt like I understood some of what made him tick. MC: What did you learn about Laurel and Hardy while making the film that you didn’t know going in? SC: I remember learning that Stan Laurel kept writing for him and Oliver after Oliver’s death. And that is very poignant and sad but somehow beautiful. [It] catches me in the throat whenever I read that and [whenever I] see that in the movie. MC: I felt the same way when I saw that. Why do you think Laurel and Hardy’s story remains relevant today? SC: I think the comedy’s timeless. There are no contemporary references in their comedy, and that’s no accident. We don’t know much about them apart from they’re struggling with life, trying to get on. This gentle comedy is like a sanctuary for people … Also, there are not many movies out there that celebrate the humanity we have toward each other, how we learn to live with each other and build bridges. And in a small way, I’d like to think the Stan & Ollie movie does that. MC: Is there a lesson in their story about second acts? SC: I think that maturity in growing old is learning to find what unites us and not what divides us and navigating our way through those choppy waters … Some people are very different religions, very different political world views, and both can sit and watch a Laurel and Hardy movie and laugh at the stuff that goes on. And there’s something quite special about that – that you can unify people even if it’s only for 20 minutes while you’re laughing at two silly guys.
Stan & Ollie is in theatres now.