Mel Smith's directorial career has featured a Tall Guy, a man called Bean, and some High Heels and Low Lifes. None so unlikely, though, as latest outing "Blackball", which chronicles the antics of the bad boy of, erm, British bowls.
The film is based on a true story. What got you interested?
I was very intrigued and amused by the notion of somebody who can get banned for ten years, for playing bowls in a fashion that annoys people. It was a case of, "Let's see if this can be as extraordinary and as odd as it sounds."
Considering the experience of the cast, what made you choose the inexperienced Paul Kaye for the lead?
I knew Paul could act, he was doing a TV series [Two Thousand Acres of Sky] - not that it was a great favourite of mine - but it was what you call real acting. And I knew he had balls of steel because of the kind of stuff he's done in the past [Dennis Pennis]. I thought these qualities together were exactly what I needed. When you turn the camera on and he's playing a character who is full of himself, and absolutely up for it... I knew he had all the bits.
Did you consider how the cast would work together with their differing experiences?
You have to find those things out. The thing you first get excited about is the person for the part. I mean, Johnny Vegas as Trevor was a very early thought. Again, I saw him do things on telly where he's got an incredible humanity and he's very, very funny. And I thought, He's going to fit like a glove there. Then the real good luck is when you find that they click.
"Blackball" differs from the similar recent Australian lawn bowls film, "Crackerjack", in that it goes over-the-top in terms of elevating the sport into a big buck TV spectacle...
I had the notion that we needed to up the ante, as well as find a tool by which it could all go out of control. It started first as a good idea, plot-wise, then it was a good way to drive the character change in Cliff [Paul Kaye]. The hyperbolic, over-the-top nature is very comic. For example, Sky Sports is very funny; the way everything is overdone and everything is the 'clash of the titans'.
Do you class yourself as a director now?
It doesn't really matter what I class myself as, because I'll probably go to my grave as "that bloke who used to be in that comedy programme". I directed before I was even in television; I directed in the theatre for seven years, so that was my trade anyway. But in the UK, I've given up any hope of being considered a director.
"Blackball" is released in UK cinemas on Friday 5th September 2003.
