Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent
15 October 2012
Dustin Hoffman so loved Billy Connolly’s stand-up that the Hollywood star cast him in his debut film as a director — and even let him ad-lib.
Connolly, who will walk the red carpet at the British premiere at the BFI London Film Festival tonight, joins a stellar British cast of Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Pauline Collins and Sheridan Smith in Quartet, a comedy about opera singers in a retirement home.
He revealed that Hoffman allowed him to bring his wit to the script which Ronald Harwood adapted from his own play. “My character, Wilf, was a dirty old man in the nicest imaginable way. But I found him one-sided,” the comedian said. “So I ad-libbed a lot. It took the grubby air off me.”
The Big Yin, 69, got to know Hoffman, 75, in America where the Oscar-winning star is a regular at the Scotsman’s stand-up gigs. He said he was momentarily overwhelmed to be asked to join the cast but accepted after remembering how much he enjoyed playing Queen Victoria’s Scottish servant in Mrs Brown.
“I just kept thinking about Judi Dench and what a pleasant experience that was and not to be a coward.”
READ MORE: http://www.standard.co.uk/arts/film/billy-connolly-plays-it-for-laughs-in-quartet--hoffmans-debut-as-film-director-8211726.html
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