“This was a way of telling stories on our own terms”
[the q&a] From Catastrophe to Military Wives via her own production company, SHARON HORGAN is making sure female voices are heard everywhere
2019 was a big year for sharon Horgan. The Irish actor, writer and producer said goodbye to Catastrophe, the acclaimed sitcom she created, executive produced and starred in. Meanwhile, her thriving production company that she co-runs, Merman, saw its first feature film (Phyllida Lloyd’s Dublin-set drama Herself)
selected for sundance. and she joined Kristin scott Thomas to star in Military Wives,
a movie spin on the real-life chart-topping female choir who banded together while their husbands served in afghanistan. Here she talks to Empire about a hectic, productive 12 months.
Military Wives feels like a different kind of role for you — was that part of the appeal? I could see the kind of film it had the potential to be: something that could move people, that’s sort of feel-good, but also heartbreaking. a lot of what
I do has smaller, more niche audiences. I wanted to do something that had a wider reach. and working with Kristin scott Thomas! I’m a huge fan. The idea of her and I together tickled me. That’s not a casting choice people would think of.
Why was singing so important to these women? singing is one of those crazy things — it doesn’t matter if you’re good at it or a bit shit, it can be a big release. It’s a really tricky, difficult world we’re living in right now, and music takes you away from everything for a bit. There’s an escapism to the film, and to music and singing.
What’s the philosophy behind Merman?
I had made a few [TV] shows, and realised that I understood what it takes to make and sell a show, and I didn’t know why
I was thinking of ideas and then bringing them to someone else to make them. This was a way of continuing to tell stories but on our own terms, while working with people that we admire, and finding a way to showcase new female directors and writers. we work with male talent all the time, but we felt like that was already catered for and that we could really push a different way of looking at things.
Was that the case with
Herself, which just got accepted by Sundance? Herself is probably the best example of how and why we set up Merman. That was a writer who had never written anything before and an actress who’d never been on screen before [Clare Dunne]. The script that landed on our desk hadn’t been read by anyone. I still think that’s the full ethos behind us — telling those stories that might not have had a chance to be told otherwise, and championing
How did This Way Up with Aisling Bea come about?
we had known that we wanted to work together for years.
I got caught up in Catastrophe
and making [sarah Jessica Parker-starring HBO series] Divorce, but we would still come together and write. she brought us This Way Up
in its half-formed stage. It’s a perfect showcase for her as an actress and a writer because it’s very emotionally truthful, but at the same time she likes to goof about, so it’s not completely distressing.
Catastrophe may have finished but people still hold it very dear. How does it feel moving forward without it? I’m up and down about it. we finished filming but then we spent so long promoting it — it came out in the Us months after it came out in the UK — so we had this feeling that it was still happening. But there is something strange about going into a new year without it. I got sent such an emotional review of it by someone who really saw the way that you always hoped people would see it, and talked about what you hoped Rob and sharon would mean to people. I felt myself welling up a little bit because you genuinely feel love and attachment to not just the show, but to the people you made it with and that time, and we never had a chance to fully enjoy that time because it was always on to the next thing. I’m always gonna miss it, but at the same time, I’m really proud that we finished on such a great note.
Military Wives is in cinemas from 6 march