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Mr. Cranky Asks
Craig Ferguson
10 Stupid Questions
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(Warning: This profile may contain objective information.)
Writer/Actor:
- Saving Grace (2000)
- The Big Tease (1999)
Actor:
- Born Romantic (2000)
- Chain of Fools (2000)
- Modern Vampires (1998)
Television:
- The Drew Carey Show
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Biography:
Ferguson is best known in the U.S. for his role as Nigel Wick on the hugely popular "Drew Carey Show." He's been a popular face on British television, with roles in "Just for Laughs," "Saturday Live," the cult sci-fi comedy "Red Dwarf," and his own "The Craig Ferguson Show." In the U.S., he has also been seen on "Maybe This Time," and "Almost Perfect." His British film credits include "Dreambaby," "The Bogie Man," and "Revenant."
On stage, Ferguson combined writing and performing in such shows as "Sleeping Beauty" and "Love, Sex, Death & the Weather." His other stage credits include "The Gamblers," "The Brick and the Rose," "The Rocky Horror Show," "The Odd Couple" and "Accidental Death of an Anarchist."
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Mr. Cranky:
Its production and consumption play a pivotal role in "Saving Grace," how much marijuana did you smoke preparing for this role and, if you didn't, how did you do your research on the effects of marijuana?
- Craig Ferguson:
I forget. I forget how much marijuana I smoked and so therefore I can't answer the second part of the question but we didn't smoke any marijuana during the production of this movie for legal reasons and kids don't try this at home.
The huge buds in the film, what were they?
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You like to smoke marijuana, don't you? Because only people who really know about buds are like what'd you do with those buds? What happened to them? Some of them were real, but they had the THC removed. The British government wouldn't let us have the real buds with the THC in them so they were useless basically. Some of them were hand-made silk flowers made by the design team. They seemed to know a remarkable amount about marijuana and how to grow it and how to copy it. I think they did their own private research.
How about the plants?
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Same thing. Some were real. Some were silk. Basically, there was nothing worth smoking in that entire green room. That's not to say the movie didn't take a lot longer and everybody didn't get along more than they do in normal things.
Are you at all concerned that kids will see this film, see how totally cool smoking dope is, and then we'll have like a Doritos shortage?
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I don't care what anybody thinks about marijuana use in this movie. A couple of times I've been asked that already: does this movie condone the use of marijuana and I'd have to say yes, but I'd also say: does an action movie condone murder? No. It's just horseshit. People smoke marijuana. It's a national joke - a worldwide joke really. Look, the President admitted to smoking it and then he lied and we know he's a liar so we know he inhaled it. C'mon.
Is it not a stupid question to imply that any movie condones its subject-matter?
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Yeah, it's ridiculous. "American Psycho" is about a guy who kills people. So, is that condoning murder?
Why do you think people ask those sorts of questions?
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The people asking the questions are dumb mostly, I think. I've done a lot of screenwriting seminars and 99 times out of a hundred the question people ask is how do they sell the screenplay they haven't written yet for a lot of money. That's all they care about.
This is like the umpteenth film set in some quaint, little UK village. Don't you think people are sick of that film?
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Maybe. I never really thought about it. You know, I've seen a lot of movies set in America and, no, I've only seen one movie set in India. Maybe they need to set more movies in India. "Gandhi" was a pretty good movie. I tell you something interesting about "Gandhi." It took Richard Attenborough five years to raise the money for "Gandhi." It only took us four years to raise the money for this movie, so what I'm thinking is that if Gandhi smoked dope, they would have been able to raise the money for the movie much quicker.
Your co-star, Brenda Blythen, has played neurotic, painfully-annoying, low-class women in both Secrets and Lies and Little Voice. She wasn't as annoying in this film. Did you notice any special preparation she did?
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Yeah, she's much more like herself in this movie. She's really, really nice and really talented. For my money, Secrets and Lies is a really great film and Little Voice isn't. I loved her work in Secrets and Lies. I'm less drawn to Little Voice. What she did in this one was to play somebody from a different end of the class structure in Britain and someone who was a little more restrained and shy. I don't think she did any special preparation but it seemed like everyone else in the movie giggled a lot.
For some reason I thought this movie was set in Ireland initially. Why would I think that?
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I don't know. That is a stupid question. I can't defend that question at all. I can't help you out with every question. That was a fucking dumb question.
Tcheky Karyo. What's up with that guy? How do you pronounce his name?
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(Pronounces it). He's French. What can I say?
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