Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
Synopsis
Flipping back and forth between the 18th century and the hapless efforts of the 21st century filmakers, Tristram Shandy is the making of a movie adapted from the notoriously unfilmable English literature masterpiece, The Life and Opinons of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, written by Laurence Sterne.
The story begins with Tristram Shandy (Steve Coogan) narrating his life story as he sees it. Crammed with literary jokes and dark humour, Shandy's warped childhood tales are constantly interrupted by his family and household, inadvertently revealing far more about himself than any conventional autobiography.
At the dramatic moment of Tristram's birth, the 1st Assistant Director calls cut, marking the end of a filming day on the set of Tristram Shandy. We then see Steve Coogan, the other actors and crew through the course of a chaotic evening on set. Steve Coogan's wife arrives with their six month old baby, a journalist is chasing him about a scandalous story, his agent has arrived with a load of Hollywood scripts and the film financiers are threatening to pull the plug.
A clever, post-modern take on the construction of a film, from an intricate, hilariously complex autobiographical novel.
Details
- Year
- 2005
- Type of film
- Features
- Running Time
- 91 mins
- Format
- 35mm
- Director
- Michael Winterbottom
- Producer
- David Thompson, Tracey Scoffield, Kate Ogborn, Julia Blackburn, Jeff Abberley, Henry Normal
- Editor
- Peter Christelis
- Screenwriter
- Martin Hardy
- Director of Photography
- Marcel Zyskind
- Production Designer
- John Paul Kelly
- Sound
- Stuart Wilson
- Principal Cast
- Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Naomi Harris, Kelly MacDonald, Jeremy Northam, James Fleet, Ian Hart, Shirley Henderson, Stephen Fry, Gillian Anderson
Genre
Production status
Complete
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Last updated 7th September 2006
