The Gown – student newspaper at Queen's University Belfast.

Interview with ‘Bunny and the Bull’ star Simon Farnaby

Those Mighty Boosh fans wanting to see this film on the premise of being bombarded by 90 minutes of utter “booshism” will be sorely disappointed. Yes it centres on the same cult “comedy of the absurd” material, but it ventures away from this to address more serious issues such as mental illness and isolation. Described as a Whitnail and I for the mentally insane,  I was more than a little intrigued with King’s new project and delighted to get chatting to one of the film’s leads, comedian, and wizard of weird veteran Simon Farnaby, for a fast track on the goss from behind the scenes!

BY ORLA MACKLE

Bunny and the Bull is now showing at the QFT

www.queensfilmtheatre.com

Simon is more than a little weird; he’s a whole big bag of crazy! He is no stranger to Belfast shores , having lived here for the past three months working on ‘Your Highness’ and enjoying “the odd pint in McHughs and some Seafood in Tedfords”. This is not the first time Simon has given his all in the name of laughter with Paul King, having worked with him on many occasions and most notably in the Boosh series. Many critics have looked at King’s ability to re-define the road movie genre, something that Farnaby strongly denies.

“I think if you ultimately want to redefine anything you’re going to fall flat, Paul wanted to do something different and I knew given the budget,  Paul spent a measly £750,000 on the production, we weren’t going to be doing anything scenic!”
The sets used in the film are extraordinary, one such setting sees the viewer gorge their eyes on a cinematic delight, a fairground made out of clocks and Farnaby is quick to point out that the inspiration for these marvels is from his theatrical background and love of the imagination.

“I always loved watching shows and how the stage was used, how an ironing board can all of a sudden become a space rocket, it just fascinates me really.”
King has been known to have said that Bunny, Farnaby’s character, is a portrayal of some of his own characteristics. Given that Bunny is a sex-obsessed, boisterous compulsive gambler of a booze head, it is hardly surprisingly that this is something he vehemently denies.

“God I wouldn’t like to think so, maybe the worst parts of my character combined, I mean I like a drink and like to head down to the bookies afterwards but I’d like to think I’m not quite as selfish as Bunny.”

Surely being around comic greats such as Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding, it would be hard not to get a fit of the giggles from time to time in this bizarre world of dog-milking and bull-fighting.

“I’m quite good friends with Julian anyway and those guys are a lot of fun to work with. Yes we messed about a lot and crept away from the script, but it’s amazing what happens when you do that, a lot of the stuff we filmed that wasn’t scripted ended up being thrown in anyway.”

So, go. Throw yourself into the world of weird.

For a review of the film see today’s edition of The Gown.

Tags: Bunny and the Bull, Gown, newspaper, Orla Mackle, Paul King, QFT, qub, Queen's, queen's university, Simon Farnaby, student, The Gown

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