by Sean Narborough
One of the biggest things I realised while at a Q&A event for The Inbetweeners 2 was that everyone there on stage is just as weird in real life as they are on screen. Held at the Apple Store on Regent Street, writer/directors Damon Beesley and Iain Morris and the cast themselves, Simon Bird, Joe Thomas, James Buckley and Blake Harrison, all turned up to help promote the boys’ newest adventure onto the big screen
One of the biggest things I realised while at a Q&A event for The Inbetweeners 2 was that everyone there on stage is just as weird in real life as they are on screen. Held at the Apple Store on Regent Street, writer/directors Damon Beesley and Iain Morris and the cast themselves, Simon Bird, Joe Thomas, James Buckley and Blake Harrison, all turned up to help promote the boys’ newest adventure onto the big screen
They started the Q&A event quite relaxed, allowing Damon and Iain to talk about the problems they faced after the release of the first Inbetweeners film back in 2011. After the release they were harassed by fans, celebrities and even taxi drivers with same conversation, “Are you making another Inbetweeners movie?” “No.” Why not!” “…I don’t know.” After a while they decided to cave in and started making plans to do a sequel. Seeing the last film as the end of the Inbetweeners saga, there was this struggle of what to do next, would they all come back for another film and would it work after so many years apart. Ironically that has become the story for this new film. In this film, Will and Simon are at different universities, Neil has a job and Jay is living in Australia with uncle where he has become a superstar DJ and is having loads of sex. Neil believes that Jay says who he is (no change there), and convinces Will and Simon to go down to Australia to see Jay. Despite being a Q&A event about the film, they didn’t really talk that much about the film itself. Instead, we were able to get some nice behind the scenes anecdotes from everyone.
Damon and Iain talked about the struggles of upgrading from writers to writer/directors after Ben Palmer left to make Man Up with Simon Pegg. Damon and Iain talked about how during the series and the last film, in between takes, they would mess around with the cast and said about how the directors and 1st ADs would tell them off. But for the new film, it was Damon and Iain trying to act seriously and the boys messing around between takes. One conversation that would happen quite often is the boys discussing who would be a better director than Damon and Iain, right next to Damon and Iain. Another story of the troubles they had to deal with as directors was how they had to try and convince Joe Thomas not to jump into the Sydney harbour, who already had two legs over the harbour.
Damon and Iain talked about the struggles of upgrading from writers to writer/directors after Ben Palmer left to make Man Up with Simon Pegg. Damon and Iain talked about how during the series and the last film, in between takes, they would mess around with the cast and said about how the directors and 1st ADs would tell them off. But for the new film, it was Damon and Iain trying to act seriously and the boys messing around between takes. One conversation that would happen quite often is the boys discussing who would be a better director than Damon and Iain, right next to Damon and Iain. Another story of the troubles they had to deal with as directors was how they had to try and convince Joe Thomas not to jump into the Sydney harbour, who already had two legs over the harbour.
The stories told during the Q&A event gave us better indications of what they are all like when the camera isn’t running. These included stories about dealing with sticky flies in the desert, jet skis that nearly killed Joe Thomas who in fell into shark infested waters, James Buckley head-butting a bee while jet skiing and Joe Thomas, again, being attacked by drop bears (Australians will know what I’m talking about). These stories did prove two things about Joe Thomas, 1, he’s very easy to persuade and 2, he does have a death wish. But the best story of the entire evening was a story about the boys and Iain in the desert.
The original story that Iain wanted to tell was about driving into the middle of the desert and seeing nothing for miles. But the boys thought he was going to talk about another story, the weird one. After trying not to talk about, and the entire audience urging him to tell it, Iain explains the weird experience in the desert. After seeing nothing but desert for two hours, Iain stops the car and they all go for a pee. What was odd about this experience is the fact that despite being in a completely empty desert, Blake and James pee, standing next to each other (Iain apparently has a video of this somewhere). The other odd thing was that everyone was peeing with their trousers around their ankles, all except Blake. The others are trying to convince him to drop his trousers. Just as he is about to drop them, Blake looked into the distance and said one word, “Car!” The others panic, pull their trousers up and rush towards their car. James was worried that it would be a car of natives who would kill them, while Iain thought it was just the rest of the crew. When the car overtook them, it was people they didn’t recognise. But things got more when they reached their hotel, because in the lobby staying at the same hotel were the people from the car who saw them peeing in the middle of the desert. And to make things worse, those people were also the new caterers employed for the film.
The original story that Iain wanted to tell was about driving into the middle of the desert and seeing nothing for miles. But the boys thought he was going to talk about another story, the weird one. After trying not to talk about, and the entire audience urging him to tell it, Iain explains the weird experience in the desert. After seeing nothing but desert for two hours, Iain stops the car and they all go for a pee. What was odd about this experience is the fact that despite being in a completely empty desert, Blake and James pee, standing next to each other (Iain apparently has a video of this somewhere). The other odd thing was that everyone was peeing with their trousers around their ankles, all except Blake. The others are trying to convince him to drop his trousers. Just as he is about to drop them, Blake looked into the distance and said one word, “Car!” The others panic, pull their trousers up and rush towards their car. James was worried that it would be a car of natives who would kill them, while Iain thought it was just the rest of the crew. When the car overtook them, it was people they didn’t recognise. But things got more when they reached their hotel, because in the lobby staying at the same hotel were the people from the car who saw them peeing in the middle of the desert. And to make things worse, those people were also the new caterers employed for the film.
What was nice about the Q&A event was that you could see that they are all really good friends. They had fun with each other and even joked about Blake Harrison’s failed TV shows (according to Blake he only wants to continue making shows that only last one series). Everyone there had something else they were looking forward to doing, Blake with his failed TV shows, James with his wife and two kids, Joe with Fresh Meat and possibly doing some writing and Simon with his number of different shows too. It’s almost like they don’t need The Inbetweeners anymore.
Early on in the Q&A, Damon and Iain described this new film as Empire Strikes Back, with them even joking who would be who (Blake is Chewbacca, Joe is Luke, Simon is Yoda, who hadn’t seen Star Wars before doing his impression of Yoda back in the second series, and because they didn’t want to make him Han, James is Wicket). Because of this Empire Strikes Back reference, someone in the audience did ask whether we would see a Return Of The Jedi aka a third film. Damon and Iain were quick to say that they see this new film as Empire and Jedi combined with no plans to make any more. The cast also reiterates that this film is now the real end for the Inbetweeners, even referring to the film as “The Death of The Inbetweeners”. This might be a tactic to try and get people to stop asking them about doing a third film, but looking at them and what they have going forward in life, it really looks they don’t need and want to do another film. This really could be the end of The Inbetweeners.
The Inbetweeners 2 is out now.
Early on in the Q&A, Damon and Iain described this new film as Empire Strikes Back, with them even joking who would be who (Blake is Chewbacca, Joe is Luke, Simon is Yoda, who hadn’t seen Star Wars before doing his impression of Yoda back in the second series, and because they didn’t want to make him Han, James is Wicket). Because of this Empire Strikes Back reference, someone in the audience did ask whether we would see a Return Of The Jedi aka a third film. Damon and Iain were quick to say that they see this new film as Empire and Jedi combined with no plans to make any more. The cast also reiterates that this film is now the real end for the Inbetweeners, even referring to the film as “The Death of The Inbetweeners”. This might be a tactic to try and get people to stop asking them about doing a third film, but looking at them and what they have going forward in life, it really looks they don’t need and want to do another film. This really could be the end of The Inbetweeners.
The Inbetweeners 2 is out now.
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