Pre-Production | Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain: Peep Show, Four Lions

After looking into the work of Armando Iannucci, I looked into Jesse Armstrong, who worked on The Thick of It alongside Armando Iannucci.  He is arguably more known for Peep Show which he worked on with his writing partner, Sam Bain – the two also wrote the satirical terrorism film, Four Lions, amongst a number of other successful films and television series’.

In an interview with The Mancunian, Armstrong emphasises how important it is to cast the appropriate actors to the script as you are handing them responsibility over deliver a good interpretation of your characters.  He describes it as a “joy […] rather than a pain because that’s when they come alive […] they’re on the page and can be a little bit archetypal or stereotypical but when you see an actor doing it that can change.”  Therefore when casting, I must ensure that the actors I am choosing are capable of transforming the characters I write into more than just what they are on paper.

One of the most successful aspects of the dialogue in these films is bluntness and ignorance of its characters, contrasting with the awareness of others.  As well as the additional content provided by the cast, the pair are masters of sarcasm and metaphor which plays very well with their characters.  I will be very pleased if I can pull off this level of sarcasm - this will also reflect on who I cast to play my characters, as they will have to come across as sarcastic as well.


In an interview with the Telegraph, the pair argue that your moments in comedy should not come about to be ‘shocking’, the shocking moments must add to the humour of the scene.  I have ideas for some scenes that would work for this, not just because they would come across as a shock, but they would add to the comedic value of the scenes.  My favourite scene in Four Lions comes as one of the characters accidentally blows himself up (see below) - this comes across as a massive shock on first viewing, but it is perhaps the funniest scene in the film when in context.  Four Lions has a very dark tone to it due to the subject matter, and this scene is an example of how the dark humour has come through in one shocking climax.