Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly Cast as Laurel and Hardy
If you believe that awards are won or lost during casting, we should hand over all the awards to the BBC for this delectable pairing of talent in “Stan and Ollie “. Steve Coogan AND John C Reilly in any movie together should make any comedy fan giddy with delight. Coogan and Reilly as Oliver and Hardy? That my friends, is pure genius. Personally, I would watch John C Reilly and Steve Coogan together watching paint dry, I digress.
Written by Jeff Pope and directed by Jon S. Baird, the TV biopic intends to document the pair’s 1953 theater tour. At the onset, the audience is more scarce than any performer would care for, and certainly particularly disappointing for performers as revered as Laurel and Hardy. That lack of audience is what ultimately allows the real Laurel and Hardy to shine. With perseverance and a genuine love for their craft, the audience begins to grow with every tour stop. Touring is stressful no matter the circumstances. Combine waning audiences with issues of health and outside pressure to go solo and you have a tour custom made to self implode. But it didn’t. It got better at every stop. Making the most out of a bad situation is what Laurel and Hardy did best.
A lifelong fan of the duo, Pope promises he has kept the rose colored glasses off, “I am aware of the huge responsibility of bringing their characters to life, but I have not treated the boys with kid gloves or looked at them through rose coloured specs. They are living and breathing characters, with flaws and shortcomings. The research into this story threw up so many details and facts that I had no idea about. But everything I have done has come from a place of love and more than anything else I hope this shines through.”
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