Before Steve Coogan was discovered by U.S. audiences for his work in comedies like Tropic Thunder and The Other Guys, he was a fixture on British TV and radio comedy programs playing the erstwhile sports reporter and eventual radio and talk show host Alan Partridge on shows such as The Day Today, Knowing Me, Knowing You and, I'm Alan Partridge. Coogan most recently found success with last year's road trip comedy The Trip, which paired him with his Tristram Shandy co-star Rob Brydon as they played fictionalized versions of themselves touring restaurants in the English countryside. A sequel was revealed to be in the works last July.
Coogan was profiled in a recent edition of Vanity Fair magazine (via The Playlist), wherein he revealed that The Trip sequel, which will be set in Italy, will see him and Brydon "retracing the steps of Shelley and Byron, with all the attendant pompousness and portent." Director Michael Winterbottom is set to return, but there's no production start set just yet.
see coogan's michael caine impression and in character as partridge >> Posted 02.14.12 by Ryan Director Michael Winterbottom's road trip movie The Trip has an unusual conceit: It appears to be almost a documentary about British comedians Steve Coogan (Tropic Thunder, 24 Hour Party People) and Rob Brydon (Mirrormask) as they tour the English countryside eating in restaurants for an assignment Coogan has from an English newspaper. However, the two actors play fictionalized versions of themselves, with Margo Stilley playing Coogan's not-in-real-life girlfriend who refuses to go with him on his restaurant tour, prompting Coogan to invite Brydon instead.
The Trip began as a six-part series for the BBC released at the end of last year and was then edited into a feature. At the time of the show's release, Coogan admitted to The Guardian that the movie was born from Winterbottom's enjoyment of the improvised scenes between Coogan and Brydon in 2005's Tristam Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, though Coogan admitted that he wasn't sure what the director wanted from them at first.
And all I could say was, "Why do you want to do this? Why the hell do you want to do this? What is the interest?" And then he starts weaving in words like "Coleridge," and slightly expanding on Rob's worldview. I don't think Rob actually has a worldview, but you know... his opinion on things.
It's also an excuse for both actors to work on their Michael Caine impersonations, as evidenced in the movie's first theatrical trailer.
Watch the trailer >> Posted 05.11.11 by Ryan