For decades, director Stephen Frears has been one of Britain’s finest filmmaking exports for decades, and in that time, he’s delved into all sorts of genres. With Tamara Drewe, based on Posy Simmond’s graphic novel which was serialized in The Guardian, he gets a chance to tackle one of the most common British film genres, the smalltown ensemble comedy, best epitomized by the likes of The Full Monty and Waking Ned Devine.
The story takes place at two neighboring farms, Stonefield and Winnards, in the West of England, the former which has been turned into a writers’ retreat by successful crime novelist Nicholas Hardiment (Roger Allam) who is constantly cheating on his beleaguered wife Beth (Tamsin Greig) with younger women. The idle country life gets shaken up when a local girl named Tamara Drewe, played by Gemma Arterton, now a London entertainment journalist, returns to her childhood home at Winnards with Ben Sergeant (Dominic Cooper), drummer of the hugely popular band Swipe, in tow. This tryst doesn’t go over well with Tamara’s childhood love Andy Cobb (Luke Evans), who already has to compete for Tamara’s attention with her schoolgirl crush, Nicholas. Meanwhile, one of Ben’s biggest fans, the teenagers Casey and Jody (Charlotte Christie, Jessica Barden) have discovered that he’s staying near their town and start to create mayhem among the inhabitants of both farms.
At a recent New York press day, ComingSoon.net spoke with Gemma Arterton, Dominic Cooper, and Luke Evans about making the film, as well as getting a few words from director Stephen Frears about his star.
Tamara Drewe opens in New York and L.A. on Friday, October 8.
