Northern slights
‘Philomena’ star Steve Coogan on the chip on his Mancunian shoulder, cowardly agnostics & ‘feeling like a dick’ in America
ACTOR and comedian Steve Coogan, 48, was “the runt of the litter”, the fourth of seven children raised on the outskirts of Manchester in a Labour-voting Catholic family. He failed to be accepted into drama school five times, but by his early 20s was working on TV, providing the voices for Neil Kinnock and Margaret Thatcher on the Spitting Image puppet show.
He is a car enthusiast, has a production company called Baby Cow and splits his life between the Lake District, close to his extended family, and near Brighton where his 16-year-old daughter lives with her mother.
His latest film is the multi-awardwinning Philomena, which he co-wrote and produced after reading a newspaper article in 2010 about an Irish woman named Philomena Lee, now in her 80s, who was forced to give up her child in the 1950s. She set out with journalist Martin Sixsmith on an extraordinary road trip to find her son. Coogan plays Sixsmith opposite Dame Judi Dench as Philomena. I didn’t want to make it either tragedy or comedy. The films I admire manage to walk that line — sometimes they step into comedy, sometimes they step into tragedy and they have a natural rhythm in an uncontrived way. It is a universal story about mothers and babies and children — something everyone can identify with. I wanted to talk about love. There’s nothing that will make an intellectual’s buttocks clench more than to talk about love. I felt star-struck working with Judi. I took a few photos of me and Judi on set and e-mailed them to everyone I know. Strangely, I made the film wondering what it would be like if I’d grown up never knowing my mother — rather than as a father wondering how I’d feel if I’d never seen my daughter. I’m a northern, lower middle-class lad. And it’s taken me 20 years in the business to realise that’s an asset, not a handicap. But I’ve still got a chip on my shoulder. The word on me is that don’t like and have strong views on press people. This is true, but only about bad press people. Private life should stay private. I like good journalists who do their job properly. My cupboard has no skeletons. This gives me the freedom to say what I want to. Although I’m an atheist, agnosticism is for cowards. I’m actually pleased I was raised a Catholic. It’s formed my values and given me something to write about. Clever cynical comedy is fun but it doesn’t really nourish you. I love doing comedy but it’s not a good diet with all the food groups and a little protein. It’s like getting pissed and doing coke. It’s fun but it doesn’t nourish. I like to use comedy as a weapon in my arsenal to do other things. I went to America some years ago and did mediocre parts in mediocre films. I never did it because I wanted to. I did it because I was told that this is what I was supposed to do. I didn’t feel comfortable. I felt like a dick. People say I’m never happy ... that I’m constantly refining and refining. But that’s not entirely true. I do have my moments. Fame is a by product of what I do. It’s not the be-all and end-all. I never signed that Faustian pact. As I get older I think what contribution am I making? How am I adding to the sum of human happiness? Hey, I don’t ask myself those questions every morning. In the morning I want some coffee and some blueberries and some nuts on my granola! But I still wonder about it. —© Marianne Gray