SEVERAL years ago Harvey Weinstein came across an obscure British television comedy called “Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace” — an absurdist series that ran for just six episodes in 2004 before it was canceled. The show, set in the 1980s, was a parodic combination of gory sci-fi horror and medical soap opera, and Mr. Weinstein, who was then co-chairman of Miramax, dreamed of bringing the title to America. “I thought it was the funniest, coolest thing,” he recalled recently, on the phone from the Cannes Film Festival. “I went over to London to try and buy the show and convince the guys to do a movie of it.”
Growing Funnier Each Serious Minute
By JONAH WEINER
Published: May 27, 2011
Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times
The Briton Richard Ayoade has directed “Submarine,” a portrait of a Welsh teenager starring Craig Roberts.
Nothing came of that trip, but last year Mr. Weinstein was at the Toronto International Film Festival when he heard that Richard Ayoade — the young comedian who had helped create “Darkplace” as well as acting in and directing it — had made a coming-of-age movie called “Submarine,” which was screening at the festival. The film, which Mr. Ayoade (pronounced AY-oh-aw-day) wrote and directed, tells the story of Oliver Tate, an intelligent but awkward kid dealing with a turbulent first love and his parents’ increasing estrangement. Mr. Weinstein said that the movie put him in mind of “The Graduate,” and the Weinstein Company reportedly paid just shy of seven figures for the North American distribution rights to “Submarine,” which arrives in theaters Friday.
Over breakfast at a cafe in NoLIta recently Mr. Ayoade, speaking with what proved to be characteristic humility, confessed that he was taken aback by Mr. Weinstein’s belief in his work: “I still feel strange calling him Harvey.”
Mr. Ayoade is little known outside Britain, but he has a passionate cult of admirers. After “Darkplace” he acted in several celebrated TV comedies, like “The Mighty Boosh” and “The IT Crowd.” In 2007 NBC commissioned an American version of “The IT Crowd,” starring Mr. Ayoade and Joel McHale. “I familiarized myself with his work and realized I was dealing with a genius,” Mr. McHale, who now stars in NBC’s “Community,” said by phone. “I don’t burst out laughing if I’m in the middle of something. I just don’t break very much. Richard is one of the only people that can make me not be able to function.” When a change in network brass sank the remake after only a pilot had been shot, Mr. McHale said, “the saddest part to me was that America was not going to know Richard Ayoade.”
Mr. Ayoade, 34, characterized the cancellation as a potential blessing in disguise. He’s happier behind the scenes, he said, and he was pleased that, with “Submarine,” his first real introduction to American audiences would be as a writer and director. “I’m a terrible actor,” he said, eating scrambled eggs. “I’m too self-conscious.”
Mr. Ayoade, who speaks in a soft, pinched voice and wears thick-rimmed glasses beneath a mass of curly hair, was in town to talk up his movie, but he is allergic to self-promotion. “He is the most self-deprecating person you’ve ever met,” Mr. McHale had warned, and Mr. Ayoade didn’t disappoint. “I’m not a fan of me,” Mr. Ayoade said, “and I can’t become one.”
As a teenager in his native London Mr. Ayoade dreamed of playing guitar in an indie-rock band like Dinosaur Jr. Describing the path that led him to comedy instead, he said, “You try to do something else and can’t be taken seriously doing that, and you end up being a comedian.”
He enrolled as a law student at Cambridge (“I liked jurisprudence”), where he befriended a fellow freshman, John Oliver — now a “Daily Show” correspondent. The pair began writing and performing a two-man show that prized ridiculousness above all else. Mr. Oliver recalled: “We did this chase scene through 12 different movies, just running on the spot on either side of the stage, cutting between soundtracks. It doesn’t really make sense describing it, and it didn’t make a lot more sense actually watching it.”
They soon joined the university’s Footlights Dramatic Club, a student-run comedy group whose graduates include John Cleese, Eric Idle, Emma Thompson and Sacha Baron Cohen. Shortly before graduation Mr. Ayoade and Mr. Oliver landed agents, and went on to become roommates. (“He was very tidy, and he liked to cook,” Mr. Oliver said.) With a fellow Footlights alumnus, Matthew Holness, Mr. Ayoade developed “Darkplace,” which had originated as a stage show, for Channel 4.
What unites Mr. Ayoade’s performances is the abiding warmth he demonstrates toward his characters, despite their flaws and shortcomings — an empathetic quality that comes in handy as a director too. On “Darkplace” he portrayed an arrogant horror publisher who moonlights as an excruciatingly bad actor. “You become affectionate towards the characters you play,” Mr. Ayoade said. “You don’t think they’re idiots at all.”
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