An Interview with Filmmakers Joe and Rory
Following our recent review of The Astonishing Adventures of Alfred we got to speak to the men behind the movie, comedy duo Joe and Rory. We ha great time chatting to them about the short and discussing the film-making process.
Hi guys, thanks for taking the time out to chat to us. We thoroughly enjoyed your short film.
Can you tell us a little bit more about yourselves and your background?
We’re two comedians living in London who are ex-childhood neighbours from Suffolk. We went away to study for a bit (Joe did Fine Art and Rory did Film-making) but we’ve been making comedy in some form or another since we were teenagers.
So you have known each other for quite some time then.
How long have Joe & Rory been working together?
The first thing we made was when we were both 14 (we’re 29 and 30 now), which was a film of us play-fighting each other, shot and edited on a flip phone.
For those who don’t know can you quickly tell us a little bit about your short The Astonishing Adventures of Alfred?
The Astonishing Adventures of Alfred is a comedy short about a 1950’s 10 year old British schoolboy who loves solving mysteries in his local village and is gifted a magical magnifying glass on his birthday. The role of Alfred is split between Rory for his head and an actual child for the rest of his body.
What made you write The Astonishing Adventures of Alfred?
It encompasses everything we like to make comedy about and felt like the best playground for our humour at the time. We had always wanted to make something on nostalgic 90’s British TV.
You have definitely hit that nostalgic note!
Where did the inspiration come from?
TV shows from our childhood like Bernard’s Watch, Scooby-Doo, The Queen’s Nose, plus old adventure books from the 50’s and earlier like Enid Blyton and The Hardy Boys. Watching Gerry Anderson shows like Thunderbirds used human hands on close-ups inspired our use of a child body double.
Ah the Queen’s Nose. What a great show that was.
How did you find the filming process?
A lot of fun, we were surrounded by friends we’d made in the film industry plus a few new faces who fit right in.
The best people to work with are your friends.
Was the film-making process affected by the Coronavirus?
We had finished filming by then but we were still editing it, so it probably sped up the process in the end because we were in lockdown in the UK and had more time to focus on it.
So you made good use of being in lockdown then.
We loved the score. What was the direction behind this?
Our genius friend Tom Rose spent a couple of days with us hashing out the soundtrack. One of his greatest skills is knowing exactly the vibe we’re looking for based on pretty ineffable/vague descriptions. It helps that he’s into comedy in a similar way to us too so we’re all on the same wavelength.
He certainly found something magical.
How did you source the cast?
Rory met Johnny Mindlin (Alfred’s Father) and J.P. Turner (the vicar) whilst working in the sound department on a feature film. Henri Charles, who played Alfred’s body double, responded to a casting call online and not only was he very talented and more professionally experienced than us – when we realised that he was the exact same height to the centimetre as Rory when kneeling down, we knew we had to hire him.
It is good to have some experience on board! I bet Henri taught you a thing or two.
We loved the setting, did you have to scout for that or did you know the location before you started filming?
We were looking for a location in Kent to get the right aesthetic for the time period and the Kent Film Office hooked us up with this amazing house.
What did you enjoy most about the film-making process?
We’re both editors so seeing it come alive in the edit is always fun, particularly seeing the joins between adult and child Alfred for the first time.
We enjoyed them too. They were seamless.
What did you find hard about the process?
There are difficult moments at every stage of the process but we gave ourselves as much time as it took to make sure it was the way it needed to be.
Do you feel that you have learned a lot from the experience?
With every project we learn something new, and we always try to raise the bar. We had some pretty unique obstacles in this film in terms of merging the two Alfred’s so we’ve got a good idea of the logistics of that now.
Is there anything you would do differently?
We’re happy with how this one came out, but we’re hoping to try some different things in future episodes – expanding the world and trying something more complex with the body double gag for example.
By those answers it sounds as if we might be seeing more of Alfred?
We certainly intend on that – we have a full series planned and now we’re exploring different avenues to get them made.
We will be looking forward to it.
You seem to have a great mind for writing comedy, do you feel that this is your genre or do you have any plans on branching out?
We’re comedians through and through.
As comedians, who has inspired you or who do you look up to?
We started out on The Peter Serafinowicz Show and Look Around You in our teens, and later Limmy’s Show as well.
What are your favourite comedies?
We both just finished watching This Country and loved it. Ladhood by Liam Williams was brilliant too. Also US shows like PEN15, I Think You Should Leave and Detroiters.
So it is safe to say you have a few!
What do you have planned next?
Alongside getting more Alfred episodes made, we make sketches which you can see on our Instagram pages. We’re also working on a couple of larger scale projects with completely new and different comedy characters.
Sounds like your keeping very busy. Well good luck with you upcoming episodes of Alfred. We look forward to seeing them. Thanks for chatting to us.
You can find more information about Joe and Rory at their website JoeandRory.com.
