Garth Jennings
Dukey: Ladies and gentlemen, we're honoured tonight by the presence of Garth jennings. Garth, thank you very much for joining us tonight, and the first two questions must be the most pressing and obvious ones; Which one is Hammer and which one is Tongs? And secondly; why was Nick wearing the obscene wig in "Don't Crash"?
Garth Jennings: ah, good questions! neither of us are called Hammer or Tongs but it seemed like a good name 10 years ago! And as for that wig - Lord knows what goes through Nick's mind. He is a man of surprises!
Totta: Some of us have now read an earlier draft of the script where there were lots of material that didn't make it in to the final movie. Who decided what to cut and what to keep and did you have a all-embracing plan of some kind?
Garth Jennings: how much earlier? earlier than the one I was sent? I felt like we took the obvious steps to complete it.
moongoddess: Congrats on the movie, Garth! Well worth the wait. So, tell us ... was the fez cameo in homage to The Continuum or just because of your own (understandable) love of the fez?
Garth Jennings: I loved that you all had Fezs! I think it just seemed funny at the time. I drew some boots for George Lucas too. It's funny how carried away you can get!
DarthBastard: Was there any material planned for the DVD that didn't make it onto the disc? Are there any plans for a 'Special Edition' DVD?
Garth Jennings: Yes! I shot quite a lot more. There's a lovely interview with the second head, A Vogon writing home to his auntie (I always loved that scene in the corridor of the vogon ship before they get thrown in the air lock.) We adapted it into a DVD extra. There's also a lovely little song the zooey did waiting to be tortured.
Lord-z: Were you surprised of the, I think that it is safe to say, great boxoffice succes of the movie?
Garth Jennings: Yes. It was a lovely surprise to be number one in the opening weekend here and in the U.S. People really enjoyed the movie - hooray!
DaveH: What was it like having a documentary shot with you at the centre?
Garth Jennings: it was great to have grant shooting the documentary. he's our friend so it never felt like we were being filmed really. despite being a tall fella, he is very it's very discreet. funny to see the other making of documentary - I look like I need to go back to bed! with the studio stuff you always feel like you need to be convincing people everything's cool, but with grant you can be yourself.
Finbom: Who's idea was it to use the BBC-series Marvin in the queue-scene on the vogon planet? (That gave me a nostalgic laugh)
Garth Jennings: ah, I think we wanted an excuse to put him in from the start. Martin does a great little double take. We found him in a box at the BBC - like the end of that movie SE7EN! Took a lot to make him look good again. and he did.
Chris Casino: Hey, Garth. First off, I would just like to say I'm really looking forward to the DVD as with the exception of a few lines I didn't care for, I loved the movie. My question is this: If Restaurant at the End of the Universe, God forbid, doesn't happen, could you at least see yourself and Nick working with the unlikely, yet terrific, cast members you hooked up with on h2g2 again, because the three male leads in particular I thought should work together again.
Garth Jennings: It would be great to work with the cast again. I'd love an excuse to meet those people for breakfast once more! but I haven't heard anything that suggests a sequel would be made. It's in the hands of the movie Gods. Honest.
Totta: The way the movie ends really opens up for a sequel, especially since the Humma subplot isn't finished either. Who's decision was it to make such an open ending? And, will there be a sequel?
Garth Jennings: We had to leave it open - I like open endings. I had back to the future in mind, "roads? where we're going we don't need roads..." voooooooooosh! It's exhilarating to shoot off on another adventure. We just had Neil Hannon instead of Huey Lewis! I'd love to see what happens to the second head. It would be lovely to have an Indiana Jones style rescue before the real story kicks off. But maybe I'm losing my marbles.
Ford Prefect - Milliways Br: The opinions about the movie go from the "best movie ever" to the "worst film try ever"... Why you think there are such extreme opinions about the movie?
Garth Jennings: It's different from the norm. Which is where we should be. Much better than being in the middle.
DarthBastard: Getting Grant Gee to do a 'making of' was a stroke of genius, how did this come about?
Garth Jennings: We have known him for many years. After he directed Meeting People Is Easy about Radiohead he joined our production company to direct music videos. We used to help on each other's shoots. I had a camera on his video for Blur's "Tender" and he shot some second unit stuff on an Eels video we made. In fact, we both just shot a video for Supergrass. He's a super chap.
RowdyAngel: Do you know if the US will get the "Dont Crash "segment when we get our double disc in December?
Garth Jennings: I don't know. I hope so. It's worth it just to see Vogon Boot Camp! Sorry I don't have a more specific answer for you.
DarthBastard: What is you favourite guide entry, from the film and from the books?
Garth Jennings: I always liked the babel fish (non existence of God.) It's the puff of logic that gets me. I'd love to have got that in the movie, it just made the whole thing grind to a halt. Funny things those guide entries, tricky getting the balance right. You can see our animatic on the DVD. Shynola rule.
Scratch: You seem to really enjoy working with all kinds of techniques, did you consider H2G2 the perfect film to get you started in the movie biz? Incidently, I worked on the Easy Rider pigs for your BT Broadband commercial!
Garth Jennings: No way! Those pigs were fantastic. I could have happily made the whole thing about them. Did you work with the guy at Aardman who collected human hair? Maybe not. Anyway, we had no intention of making a big film - big films are normally made by commitee and rarely a labour of love. We had already started on our own small movie (casting etc) when this came through. We resisted at first but who could refuse? It's a peach!
DaveH: Any truth in the rumours of a Hammer & Tongs music video collection on The Director's Label series?
Garth Jennings: yes. we are starting work on it soon. lots of stuff to get on there. lots to make too. hope to have some of grants extra bits.
Finnn2: Directing a major film is a massive and stressful job. Did you get any sleep during the last year or so?
Garth Jennings: Funnily enough, I did sleep well, but I could only dream about the film. It gets a bit weird after two years!! You go strange. We both took two months off and it's done the trick. I have a very tolerant family who never gave me a hard time when all I could talk about was Vogon lips and space ships. I had a great time. A dream come true.
Cagliostro: Why no towels entry? I went to the movie with a towel and a friend who had never read the books before, and he wondered why I had the towel. I told him, "just wait." He never found out, and shame was upon me. Thanks for the film though. We both loved it (the towel, however, never gave an opinion).
Garth Jennings: Good question! We did have the towel entry in when Ford runs to protect Zaphod from the Vogons on Viltvodle. It was in our first test screening. It didn't work. We moved it around, tried it in all different ways but it never translated very well. I have no idea why, it just didn't work.
Dukey: Ok, that's it, folks. Garth, many thanks for taking time with us. Just stonking. And sorry about the server acting up. The floor is yours if you want to say a few words before you leave. Thanks.
Garth Jennings: Thanks for having me. This has been a pleasure. I hope you enjoy the DVD and thank you very much for supporting us over the years. We really appreciate it. Especially the Fezs! Bye bye.
Dukey: Oh, and before you leave, Garth, there is one other question, demanding an answer: whose idea was it to have Douglas face on in the ending? It was brilliant and moving!
Garth Jennings: Douglas scanned his face in for the computer game. We used the data to turn his nose into Humma's temple, but when we saw it we realised he had to be the last thing we see. However, he is also a planet in the factory. Look behind Arthur and Slarti and you will see a huge Douglas planet. It was the very least we could do! He is the reason we were all there!
Dukey: Lovely! Superb! Thanks very much! Be well!
Garth Jennings: off you go. na night.
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