Wonka<\/a>,\u201d and very nearly entered the \u201cStar Wars\u201d universe. Next up for the pair: Sony Pictures\u2019 Labubu movie.<\/p>\n\n\tWe\u2019re talking over lunch at The Bull & Last, a historic and hallowed gastropub on the leafy fringes of London\u2019s Hampstead Heath. It\u2019s Farnaby\u2019s local (he turns down the waitress\u2019 offer of a pint of his usual beer due to a three-hour Labubu-based Zoom meeting later that afternoon). He lives nearby with his wife, fellow comic actor Claire Keelan, known for \u201cThe Trip\u201d and \u201cNathan Barley,\u201d and their young daughter (and dog, one of the reasons for being so close to the ample greenery of the Heath).<\/p>\n
\n\tThe couple \u2014 who first met on the set of 2005 Brit TV film \u201cPerfect Day\u201d (funnily enough, about a wedding) \u2014 previously shared a house a short walk away, where, drawing immediate envious resentment, they were neighbours of Monty Python star Michael Palin (and, to make matters worse, would attend his Christmas parties). Farnaby, who says \u201cLife of Brian\u201d was \u201chuge for me growing up\u201d and remains one of his favorites, \u201ccan confirm\u201d that\u2019s Palin\u2019s long-held reputation as one of the nicest men in showbiz is accurate.<\/p>\n
\n\tBut it could have all been very different from supping mulled wine with comedy heroes.<\/p>\n
\n\tBorn in County Durham towards the far north of England, Farnaby was, so he claims, all set to be a professional golfer (thanks to his dad, a greenkeeper). \u201cI was really, really good \u2014 I could have turned pro when I was 15,\u201d he says. But it was Brit comedy duo Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, known for their delightfully surreal and silly sketches on TV in the early \u201990s, that took his eye off the fairway and, as he notes, \u201cchanged everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tFarnaby went from Vic & Bob-inspired skits in school with his brother (\u201creally weird and very British things about dogs and cabbages and lord mayors\u201d) to stand-up performances while at university to, eventually, the Edinburgh Fringe as part of a comedy sketch threesome. It was there, in 2000, where he was introduced to King by a producer who Farnaby says \u201cwas going around picking all the weirdest people he could find.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tSimon Farnaby in \u201cBunny and the Bull\u201d \u00a9IFC\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9IFC Films\/Courtesy Everett Col<\/p>\n
\n\tThe two immediately began conjuring up silliness together and within a few years were part of \u201cThe Mighty Boosh,\u201d the cult TV show co-created by Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding that took the surreal chaos of Vic & Bob and structured it into a more cohesive, yet still absurd, framework. King directed all three seasons of the \u201cBoosh,\u201d while Farnaby became a regular supporting castmember (and would play characters such as a man with his head shaped like a conker).<\/p>\n
\n\tIn 2009, based on elements of a stage show they created, would come \u201cBunny and the Bull,\u201d King\u2019s feature directorial debut and a darkly quirky road movie starring Farnaby as a boisterous heavy-drinker who takes his agoraphobic friend on a bonkers tour of Europe. The film didn\u2019t quite set the box office alight, but its whimsically lo-fi design and creative use of stop-motion animation, papier-mache, cardboard cut outs and basically anything to hand caught the attention of uber producer David Heyman, then in development on \u201cPaddington\u201d and looking for the right sort of filmmaker to bring it to life.<\/p>\n
\n\tFor the first \u201cPaddington,\u201d awash with the same wonderfully imaginative visuals seen in \u201cBunny,\u201d Farnaby wasn\u2019t credited (aside from \u201cBarry,\u201d of course). But over the years of its development, he\u2019d be King\u2019s regular sounding board. \u201cHe\u2019d call me and go, \u2018Can you come in and just help find some comedy?\u2019\u201d he explains. \u201cAnd then he\u2019d say, \u2018Well, I\u2019m glad you came in today.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cPaddington\u201d wound up being a major, franchise-spawning hit, earning more than $324 million globally in 2015. For the sequel, Farnaby was \u201cin on the ground floor,\u201d with King having asked him to join as his official co-writer. In no small part thanks to creations such as the villainous Buchanan (not least the spectacular post-credits prison dance scene), \u201cPaddington 2\u201d would soon be labeled a modern-day masterpiece, regularly cited as one of the greatest films ever made (it briefly toppled \u201cCitizen Kane\u201d at the top of Rotten Tomatoes\u2019 charts).<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cPaddington 2\u201d would also elevate the King-Farnaby partnership into exciting new territories.<\/p>\n
\n\tAmong the incoming offers was from Disney for a \u201cStar Wars\u201d film that King would direct and the pair would write (Farnaby\u2019s second brush with the Force after a blink-and-you\u2019ll-miss-it appearance as a rebel pilot in \u201cRogue One\u201d).<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cSo we got distracted by that for a while,\u201d he says, adding that their idea was based around a robot and didn\u2019t involve any of the key \u201cStar Wars\u201d characters, something he acknowledges might have played a part in it not working out (although the concept is being reworked into something else). \u201cThey were like, we really need it to be a \u2018Star Wars\u2019 movie, which is probably why it didn\u2019t get turned into a \u2018Star Wars\u2019 movie!\u201d he says with a chuckle. \u201cBut we never really nailed it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tInstead, they pivoted to the Roald Dahl prequel \u201cWonka,\u201d which also came to them via Heyman and would turn into the all-singing, all-dancing, Chalamet-fronted festive box office behemoth, earning some $634 million for Warner Bros. The tone of the film was \u201cslightly more grown up\u201d than Paddington, Farnaby says, but still ticked enough wacky boxes. As he notes: \u201cWe did have a laundry operated by dogs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAnd Farnaby, once again, had a small yet hilarious role cameo as a security guard, now stationed at a zoo. Due to rights issues with the \u201cPaddington\u201d producer, however, this time he had to be renamed. \u201cBarry belonged to Studiocanal, so he became Basil,\u201d he says. \u201cNot that anyone cared.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tBut Barry would, however, triumphantly return for 2024\u2019s long-in-the-works \u201cPaddington in Peru,\u201d now as a flight attendant, his repeat failings in security clearly forcing him to change professions.<\/p>\n
\n\tBecause of \u201cWonka,\u201d King and Farnaby had stepped back from the world of Paddington, but they were still credited as writers on the third feature having given the incoming team a broad idea for the story. \u201cWe felt like we\u2019d done London quite a lot, so maybe we need to go somewhere else, like Peru, and somewhere where there\u2019s a mystery with Aunt Lucy,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tClaire Keelan and Simon Farnaby as farmers in \u201cThe Magic Faraway Tree\u201d \u00a9 Entertainment Film Distributors \/ Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cPaddington in Peru\u201d didn\u2019t hit quite the same heights as its predecessors, but that didn\u2019t stop Farnaby from trying his hand at bringing another piece of classic children\u2019s IP to the big screen.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe Magic Faraway Tree,\u201d which releases in the U.S. on Aug. 21, is based on the much-loved book series by British author Enid Blyton and gives a modern spin on a somewhat old-fashioned story of a family who live near an enchanted forest and a tree that transports them to magical lands. It\u2019s not Farnaby\u2019s first solo screenplay. That would be 2021\u2019s comedy-drama \u201cThe Phantom of the Open,\u201d about the world\u2019s worst golfer (a film he describes as \u201clove letter\u201d to his dad and a way of saying, \u201cLook, I\u2019m not a professional golfer, but here\u2019s a golf film\u201d).<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cFaraway Tree\u201d \u2014 which has already been a hit in the U.K., where it came out earlier this year \u2014 is certainly the biggest feature he\u2019s penned by himself, however, with a budget in the $30 million+ range. It\u2019s also a quintessentially British film stacked with a quintessentially British cast. Leading the pack is Andrew Garfield (who had just dropped out of Guillermo del Toro\u2019s \u201cFrankenstein\u201d) and Claire Foy (who also brought her daughter along for the ride in a minor role). \u201cHaving those two really elevated my writing,\u201d says Farnaby.<\/p>\n
\n\tAlongside Garfield and Foy, \u201cFaraway Tree,\u201d boasts an impressive assortment of talent, including Jennifer Saunders (a friend of Farnaby\u2019s wife, Keelan) and former neighbor Palin, appearing in a scene that could be lifted straight out of a Monty Python movie. There\u2019s another scene that Farnaby says he wrote as a \u201clittle homage\u201d to another favorite, \u201cBlazing Saddles\u201d (unsurprisingly involving a significant amount of farting).<\/p>\n
\n\tIt was actually Keelan who was a huge fan of the Blyton books growing up, so they bought a few copies and read them to their daughter, who was 3 at the time. \u201cAnd they were great \u2014 and with all these really comedic characters like Saucepan Man and Moonface,\u201d he says. For the new hook, he turned to 1970s Brit sitcom \u201cThe Good Life,\u201d which Keelan had been watching on loop during lockdown. \u201cShe said, \u2018Why don\u2019t you do it about a family who have moved from the city to the countryside?,\u2019 and that unlocked everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tFarnaby also wrote himself and his wife cameo roles, playing an on-screen married couple. Farnaby\u2019s character, a thickly-accented and mostly-incomprehensible farmer, was, of course, called Barry.<\/p>\n
\n\tAround the same time he was working on \u201cBunny and the Bull,\u201d Farnaby became a principal member of \u201cHorrible Histories,\u201d the BBC\u2019s live-action sketch show for children focusing on some of the more comically gruesome and scatological elements of world history (as in, plenty of poo and fart references). Very Monty Python and Blackadder-esque in style, it drew immediate acclaim in the U.K., with highlights including Farnaby\u2019s turn as a deadpan Grim Reaper hosting a talent show called \u201cStupid Deaths.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tMuch like with King, Farnaby and his fellow horrible historians (which included alumni from \u201cPeep Show\u201d and \u201cThe Thick of It\u201d) were soon devising other, mostly silly, material. The Sky sitcom \u201cYonderland\u201d followed, before they were asked by the BBC\u2019s head of comedy commissioner Shane Allen to come up with something.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe had a few ideas, and just thought, what do we do? We dress up and play different characters from different historical times,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cGhosts,\u201d which launched in early 2019 and followed the antics of a group of squabbling spirits from periods across thousands of years as they haunt a country mansion, was a ratings smash, billed in the press as a \u201cdeliriously daft supernatural romp.\u201d Farnaby\u2019s character \u2014 one of the show\u2019s more modern roles \u2014 was classic Farnaby: a sleazy, smug \u201990s politician who roams the house in a suit without trousers, having died amid a sex scandal. \u201cIt was based on that time when the Tories were always getting into trouble,\u201d he says, adding that he \u201calso used to do a good Tony Blair impression.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cGhosts\u201d was also that golden ticket format that could be easily tweaked for different markets, not least the U.S., where CBS\u2019s remake was an immediate breakout hit, becoming the No. 1 comedy on Paramount+. Australian, French, Greek and German adaptations would follow, each with their own localized historical characters (in the U.S. version, Farnaby\u2019s pants-less politician became a pants-less stockbroker, apparently to avoid the \u201cdivisiveness of saying he was Republican or Democrat,\u201d while for the German one he notes that they, perhaps understandably, \u201cjust decided to steer clear of the Nazis.\u201d)<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tFarnaby as a trouser-less politician in \u201cGhosts\u201d \u00a9 BBC\/Monumental\/Robbie Gray<\/p>\n
\n\tFor all the success of \u201cGhosts\u201d and the rewards it\u2019s reaped for the sales execs at BBC Studios (it was its top-selling scripted format of 2025), Farnaby asserts that it\u2019s \u201cnot as lucrative as people think\u201d for its troupe of creators. \u201cI think the days of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant are over,\u201d he says of \u201cThe Office\u201d pair who pocketed a fortune in royalties when their show sailed across the Atlantic. \u201cWe have a joke: when are we going to get our yacht? The yachts have not been forthcoming. But you can\u2019t complain.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe original British \u201cGhosts\u201d series wrapped in 2023 following five seasons, but a movie spinoff, based around \u201ca good idea that we hadn\u2019t done before\u201d (and with Farnaby back with no pants on), shot earlier this year and is due out in the U.K. in October.<\/p>\n
\n\tFrom his sleazy \u201cGhosts\u201d MP to the \u201cPaddington\u201d and \u201cWonka\u201d cameos and even Phoenix Buchanan, there\u2019s connective tissue linking many of Farnaby\u2019s on-screen creations. Primarily, they\u2019re often characters that have been granted a high status or level of authority, only for him to \u201ccut them down and make them pathetic and stupid.\u201d It\u2019s been a classic staple over decades of British comedy, which from Basil Fawlty to David Brent has rejoiced in puncturing pomposity to reveal idiocy and incompetence. But with Farnaby, there\u2019s definitely a more gentle, silly and surreal nature to it all. <\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWhat Simon\u2019s really good at is making sense of the ridiculous,\u201d says Danny Perkins, the veteran producer who tapped Farnaby to write \u201cMagic Faraway Tree\u201d and, while at Optimum Releasing and then leading Studiocanal U.K., was heavily involved in \u201cBunny and the Bull,\u201d \u201cMindhorn\u201d and the first two \u201cPaddington\u201d movies. \u201cHe\u2019s great at coming up with the most outrageous things that make no sense and then grounding them all, finding loads of humor, but real heart. It\u2019s crazy, but then it\u2019s really moving.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAnd there\u2019s plenty more moving yet outrageous craziness to come. <\/p>\n
\n\tFollowing our lunch, he\u2019s rushing home for a lengthy call about the Labubu movie, first announced last year by Sony Pictures with King set to direct. <\/p>\n
\n\tKing was originally co-writing with Steve Levinson, but due to the director\u2019s more immediate commitments on the Tom Holland-starring Fred Astaire biopic, Farnaby has joined the project, still in early development. To many, the Labubu dolls might be a mostly deranged looking line of collectable monsters with jagged teeth, and even Farnaby describes them as \u201cthe toys girls put on their backpacks.\u201d But he\u2019s since discovered that there\u2019s more behind the Labubu\u2019s demonic eyes, having had a \u201creally lovely backstory\u201d presented to him by their creator about where they came from, all based in Nordic mythology. \u201cWe thought there could be a really touching and beautiful film there, based on these stories,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhile their shot at \u201cStar Wars\u201d may have misfired, King and Farnaby\u2019s \u201cunspecified robot\u201d idea wasn\u2019t dismissed by Disney. \u201cThey basically said, it\u2019s not right for \u2018Star Wars,\u2019 but do you want to rework it as a sci-fi film?\u201d he says. \u201cSo we\u2019re working on that now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThere are also, hopefully, more \u201cFaraway Tree\u201d installments to come, with Farnaby working on sequels based on Blyton\u2019s other books in the series. But whether these happen may largely depend on how the first film does in the U.S. when it comes out later this month.<\/p>\n
\n\tOne sequel Farnaby says is unlikely, despite its success, is that of \u201cWonka.\u201d There had been plans for him and King to reunite to cook up more musical adventures in the confectionary, but he says the stumbling block is Chalamet, who since the first movie has underlined his serious actor credentials and landed two Oscar nominations with \u201cA Complete Unknown\u201d and \u201cMarty Supreme.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cHe wants to do one, but he\u2019s not sure about timing or what he wants to do next,\u201d says Farnaby, who claims \u201cWonka 2\u201d is \u201cdelayed indefinitely.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tBut a franchise that is moving forward is \u201cPaddington,\u201d with a fourth film recently officially confirmed. Farnaby and King are far too busy doing \u2014\u00a0many \u2014\u00a0other things to be inside the core creative team, but they\u2019ve been asked to meet with incoming writers Armando Iannucci and Simon Blackwell. \u201cSo they are involving us,\u201d he says. \u201cI assume we\u2019ll just be part of the conversation, but for me and Paul, they\u2019re really our comedy heroes. Just to get in the room with Armando for a day and talk about what he wants to do is going to be really fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tSome of that conversation should also be about where Barry finds himself in the next \u201cPaddington.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tBut where Barry does go next \u2014\u00a0and whether he makes it back to security following his stint in the air \u2014\u00a0he\u2019ll never top his greatest cameo appearance yet: as a footman serving the late Queen Elizabeth II afternoon tea in Paddington Bear\u2019s famed platinum jubilee sketch.<\/p>\n
\n\tAs it happens, Farnaby starred alongside an actual, real-life footman in the BAFTA-winning skit, which aired in the summer of 2022 and featured the monarch herself (just months before she passed away). The two wound up having an interaction so ridiculous he may as well have written it himself.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re standing there and he went, \u2018I suppose you\u2019re going to be called Barry in this, are you?\u2019 I said I hadn\u2019t really thought about it, but probably. And he goes, \u2018Do want to know what my name is?’\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIs it Barry?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201c\u2018Yes,\u2019 he said\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tFarnaby immediately apologized. <\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cAnd he went, \u2018No, I get it. You don\u2019t meet many Barrys. It is a funny name.\u2019 So we then had this really funny conversation, while both dressed as footmen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He\u2019s helped write movies that are widely adored and have collectively earned more than $1 billion. He\u2019s co-created…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":849536,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,48,75,337,142079,295543,225028,117528],"class_list":["post-849535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-paddington","tag-simon-farnaby","tag-the-magic-faraway-tree","tag-wonka"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=849535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/849536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}