From the BBC with Jo Whiley

Broadcast 15 Mar 2002 - With Jo Whiley

It is pretty much your film, isn't it?
It's slightly embarrassing, cause when we shot the film - Michael Winterbottom shot the film, he over shot a lot of material and some more material about the bands. He edited out most of the people about and it's kind of just me all the way through. That's good or bad depending on whether you like Steve Coogan or not, really!

Can you tell us what the film is about, and the concept behind it?
The film is told through the eyes of Tony Wilson, a real person who I play in the film. He was manager of Factory Records. It goes from the years '76 to '92 - that's the key period. It's about those periods, principally the bands that were under Factory's label at the time. The successful bands were New Order, Joy Division as was, and the Happy Mondays.

So was that music meaning quite a lot to you at the time?
Well, I'm from Manchester, and I have an older brother who was in a band called the Mock Turtles. So I used to live vicariously through my brother. He played at the Russell Club that Tony Wilson was behind as well...

So you were well aware of Tony Wilson?
Oh yeah, we all knew who Tony Wilson was...

So how did you feel when you were asked to play him?
Well, it was odd because I had worked with Tony about 10 years ago. I used to co-host a TV show - a regional TV show years ago before I got into character comedy and then acting.

What was it called?
It was called "Up Front" and it was interesting - they used to have live debates in the studio where they'd talk about really heavy subjects like leukaemia and Sellafield and have really angry bereaved parents on the show who'd be screaming blue murder at each other. And then Tony Wilson would turn and say "And now here's some topical comedy from Steve Coogan..." And people would be spitting blood and crying. And it was then up to me to tell some bad puns about the weeks news. So it wasn't the highlight of my career.

But then it gave you the experience of Tony Wilson to play?
Oh yes, I knew Tony Wilson, and when I was asked by Michael Winterbottom to play him I was very interested but I was also slightly suspicious because I'm so close to that subject matter - I knew that HaÁienda and I knew that music - I thought it's very resonant for me, but is it going to amuse or interest anyone else? I think it's the kind of film the media will like and I hope other people like too, but I don't think it's going to be Spiceworld, put it that way!

Have you got any favourite stories from that era? Any experiences of yours?
I can't remember! Right kids?!

A few people have said, maybe lazily that the interpretation of Tony Wilson that you do has similarities to another character that you do...
Yeah, Alan Partridge... Well, that's absolutely deliberate. Michael cast me because he saw... I'm not saying Tony Wilson is Alan Partridge because he's not, but there are similarities in that he's a big fish in a small pond and so is Alan Partridge. It's no accident that that happens. There's a certain amount of resonance with Alan Partridge. That's in there, but it's not overbearing. There's very big differences. He's more intellectual than Alan Partridge, he's more esoteric and original and more of a maverick. Ultimately, the thing about Tony Wilson is - I didn't want to do an unmitigated homage to Tony Wilson. I also didn't want to do a hatchet job - he's complicated like all people are and at the end of the day his plusses outweigh his minuses. Whereas Alan Partridge - I think his minuses outweigh his plusses!

Was it quite hedonistic doing this film? There's a particular scene with a tour bus, which gets very very messy - there's lots of bits of body...
There was fake cocaine and fake ecstasy tablets, but the naked lap dancing girls were 100% real. They were good! They lived the part! But no, in actual fact I was in virtually every scene so if I'd wanted to get off my head it wouldn't have been humanly possible to get up at 5.40 every morning. I'd have to get up before I went to bed! Which is physically impossible, as you know...

The Testimony

What would you say is your most annoying habit?
Losing track of my thought process halfway... through.......... sentences....... Picking my nose.

What's the worst job you've had?
I used to wash out vegetable crates for Sainsburys wearing rubber gloves that had been worn by ten before, so your fingers smelt like rotting corpses when you went home. And you could never get the smell off. You could scrub your fingers with wire wool and you wouldn't get rid of the smell. Horrific.

Ever made a camera crew laugh out loud?
Yeah you do, yes. It's a bit dangerous cos if you start thinking "Oh, I'll make the crew laugh" - some people think every time they do something they'll change it to make the crew laugh, and what you've got to remember is that when people see it, they see the gag for the first time so when a gag has stopped being funny to you and the crew, it still might be funny to the people who see it for the first time on their screens.

Have you ever stolen a prop from a set?
Yeah - I was at the national theatre, I stole a latex lamb, I actually stole it for my daughter because I thought it'd be a nice thing to steal. It was a prop, there were lots of them, there was about half a dozen. I actually got a phone call from the National Theatre: "Actually, it's a rather delicate situation Steve, we believe that you may mistakenly taken home a latex lamb and we'd like to know could we have it back?" I didn't return the call. I think the case is closed.

You're offered a vast sum of money to do Alan Partridge at a Dyno-rod corporate event - it's their annual Christmas bash and they're going to give you a million pounds. Would you do it?
Yes.

Would you?
Yeah!

Do you do corporate events?
Yes, I do! I occasionally do them. Of course they're soul-less - you just go home and have a good shower and pretend you didn't do it. I do do corporate events, I do do them as Alan Partridge. The weird irony is Alan Partridge would do corporate events. So I say I'm being ironic and I'm being paid in an ironic way. There's certain things I wouldn't do - McDonalds offered me over a million pounds to do an Alan Partridge advert and I didn't want to do it. I've got to be careful what I say, but I'm not the biggest fan of McDonalds.

What's your most treasured possession?
Probably video and pictures... unfunny isn't it? Of me and my daughter doing things. Those are the things I'd save if there was a fire. And the keys to my Ferrari of course.

Ever regretted turning down a role?
Yeah... I can't remember... I think Father Ted was a long time ago... I know Graham and Arthur who wrote Father Ted. Before I knew them the script came my way and my then agent said, "This is not very good". And so I didn't do it.

Ever been approached to do a comedy record?
I've done comedy records - I've done Spitting Image things - and I did a Tony Ferrino album that sold about 10 copies. I was really pleased with it - I still am! I did a duet with Bjork on it. There's a song I wrote with Steve Brown called "Short Term Affair". It was sort of "Short Term Affair... You're my children's Au Pair..." that kind of thing. She played the Au Pair...

Have you ever tried to make a screen kiss go on longer than it was supposed to? You snog so much in this film!
It's funny, I did have a sex scene in the film that was cut. It was a full on gaffer tape round your genitals sex scene. We just drank lots of champagne before we did it, and yeah - there was a lot of touching women's bodies in this film and most of it thank god was cut. I won't be able to watch this film with my mother in the same room, put it that way. But did I enjoy it? Yeah.

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