The British dark comedy is based on real events.
Summary Simon Pegg brings a unique historical figure to the screen in Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose. The British dark comedy movie centers on the eponymous real-life parapsychologist, disillusioned and cynical for every case investigated, as he learns of reports of a talking mongoose on the Isle of Man, leading to a tangled web of potential trickery and secrets.
Alongside Pegg, the star-studded cast for Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose includes Minnie Driver, Christopher Lloyd, Edmund Kingsley, Tim Downie, Ruth Connell, Paul Kaye, Gary Beadle and Neil Gaiman as the voice of the mongoose, Gef. Staying true to its real story while mixing in original characters and dark comedy, the movie is a tricky and fresh twist on the biopic formula.In anticipation of the movie's release, Screen Rant spoke exclusively with writer/director Adam Sigal to discuss Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose, wanting to avoid making a straight biopic, the unique story behind Neil Gaiman's casting as the titular creature, and Simon Pegg's dedication to both the movie and his role. Editor's Note: This interview was conducted during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, and the movie covered here would not exist without the labor of the writers and actors in WGA and SAG-AFTRA. Adam Sigal on Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose Screen Rant: One of the things that blew me away right out the gate was that I didn't realize this was based on a true story until I started watching it. How did you first come across this insane true story, and what about it really sparked your interest? Adam Sigal: Yeah, it was so random, I heard about it on the radio like 10 years ago, and they just kind of like brushed off and said, "Oh, yeah, there was this paranormal investigator named Nandor Fodor who investigated this talking mongoose on the Isle of Man," and I was like, "What, what? Did I just hear that properly?" Then I was like, "Okay," and so I would always tell people, as I made other movies, "I'm gonna make this talking mongoose movie someday," and they're like, "What the hell are you talking about?" Finally, I kind of peripherally experienced a very odd sort of religious thing with a friend, and that was it. The two married, because I never wanted to do just a straight biopic about it, that didn't interest me. But when I found that metaphor within the story, I was like, "Okay, now it works," so I wrote it, and that was it. What was it like finding that right balance and tone, ensuring that this stayed true to the facts of the real story, while also doing something different? Adam Sigal: It's kind of picking and choosing, you know? The story is so interesting, and so crazy, and there are aspects of this film that are directly from what happened, like there's a section toward the beginning that, as I was editing, I was like, "God, this thing seems kind of long," but it's directly taken from the notebook of a guy named Dr. Harry Price, who went out and investigated this. I literally, like, cut and pasted, I took it from his actual notes of this incident and depicted them on screen. Those kinds of added to the overall sort of story that I wanted to tell, and the sort of undertones and stuff like that. So, a lot of it is real, and I mean, at least really happened, and then a lot of it, I used to kind of suit my own narrative, I would say, Can you give me an example of one such scene that suited your narrative instead of strictly being factual? Adam Sigal: Yeah, absolutely. I created a couple characters, like the character Minnie plays is fictional. The themes that I was trying to explore with this film are mostly about cynicism and faith, and their relationship with happiness, right? So, obviously, Nandor is fighting so hard to not buy in, and Anne isn't, she's open to it. There's kind of a progression with the characters of a descent into further unhappiness with Nandor and his staunch refusal to accept anything spiritual could exist, and then the opposite with Minnie's character. So, I would say it's not a scene, but as a character, she was serving that purpose, and I think did an amazing job. Everybody loves Simon, and he's shown such a great range. I think The World's End is one of my favorites of his performances of how he can be just as dramatic as he can be comedic. When looking for the perfect person to play Nandor, was Simon one of the first people that came to your head? Adam Sigal: So, after the script was done, and we were starting to put it together, our casting director had a list of names. I zeroed in on him, I was like, "Oh, yeah," because I knew I needed somebody who could do comedic and dramatic, because I knew my intention with the film, from the beginning, was to focus to an extent on the comedy, because I knew that it would be dramatic. I knew there were those moments, but I wanted those moments to happen naturally within a comedic setting, that's why the film is a shorter film, and it's edited somewhat [quickly], it's supposed to move. So, I did that intentionally, because I wanted it to be comedic, and Simon's obviously a master of that. He really identified with the character, and getting him on board was a pretty smooth, seamless thing, which was amazing, and he's one of my idols, and a guy I've wanted to work with forever, and his performance is phenomenal. I'm curious if there was anything he brought to the role that you didn't already have on the page or that you didn't already have in mind. Adm Sigal: Yeah, every note that Simon had with regard to the script or anything was great, the guy is such a pro. Sometimes actors will give me notes, and I'm like, "Eh, eh." With Simon, everything he [gave me] was like, "Oh, man, that's spot on." He did the accent, and I was not sure when he was like, "I want to do this sort of Hungarian-American accent." I was like, "So, here's this very prominent British actor, who everybody knows as a British actor, surrounded by British actors playing British people, and he wants to not be British." And I was like, "Alright, I love it. Let's do it." Then he worked on it, and debuted it for me, and I was just like, "Oh, my God." It sounded like Christoph Waltz, it was beautiful, I loved it, and so I said, "Yeah, man, let's do it." So, he brought a ton to the role that wasn't on the page, and so did Minnie. I have to say Minnie, that character was not written as funny, and Minnie is hilarious. She has some of my favorite comedic moments in the film, she's really funny, and I'd never really seen that sort of very quirky, funny sensibility from Minnie, it was great. I love Minnie, and one of my favorites to this day is still Grosse Point Blank. You just mentioned the comedy that she brings to the role, but she also brings a lot of warmth to it. What was it like working with her on set and trying to find that right balance of humor, heart, and curiosity that the character invited? Adam Sigal: Yeah, my general way that I work with my actors is I give them free rein, to an extent. Like, my general philosophy about actors, especially actors like Minnie Driver, or Simon Pegg, or guys I've worked with before, like John Malkovich, or Tom Berenger, these guys who have been around forever, they're better at acting than I will ever even conceive of being, they know more about acting than I will ever even know. So what I try to do is I just give them insights about the character, and what I intended for the character, and what I intend for the tone of the film, and then I let them interpret them. I really do try to give them free rein, and to let them interpret those things, because they're going to know better how to do that, having done it so many times, than I am. So all I can do is kind of serve as a guide, and so with Minnie, it was the same thing. She would come to me with a suggestion, and she would always have an extremely good reason why she thought she should do it, and I would say nine times out of 10, I said, "Yeah, that's a great idea, let's do it." She was spot on. Neil Gaiman is such a unique casting choice, and one that I think plays well for Gef. How did that come to be? Adam Sigal: We actually had a relative of his in the film, so it was very random. As we were filming, I kept saying, "I need somebody to voice Gef, I want somebody cool, I want somebody interesting." And he one day said, "Hey, man, what about Neil, my uncle?" I was like, "What? Really?" And he's like, "Yeah, he's got a great voice." And I was like, "[Excitedly] Okay." There were a number of high points for my career as parts of this movie, just things I'll always remember, and one of them was my first call with Neil, or first conversation with Neil, where he said, "I read the script, and I absolutely loved it. It was brilliant." I was like, "Oh man, you don't know what that means, you're one of my favorite writers." He knew about Gef, and he knew about the whole story, and he loves Simon, and he loves Minnie, and he was very excited to come on board. I met him at a refurbished church in upstate New York in the middle of nowhere that serves as a recording studio, and we recorded everything in a day, and it was beautiful. I let him do whatever he wanted, and have free rein, and it was just amazing spending time with him. He's a lovely guy. I love the visual look of this film. It feels like a horror movie at times; it feels like a period drama; it feels like an outright comedy. How did you go about working with your DP to develop this unique look and feel for this movie? Adam Sigal: My DP is incredible. Her name is Sara Deane, I found her during the search on Nandor, and I had seen a film she DP'd called Anna and the Apocalypse that I really liked. The biggest thing for me with a DP is just how I get along with them, and our relationship on set. She is a ray of sunshine, legitimately. I actually just shot a movie. I just wrapped it about a month ago, and I dragged her all the way from England to Arkansas to shoot it with me, she's my DP. What I wanted for Nandor was a very cinematic, traditional feel. I wanted a lot of you know cinematically lit scenes, smooth, slow camera moves, I wanted it to feel very cinematic. Sarah totally got that, and understood it, and it looks fantastic. She really knows how to make a scene look beautiful, she's an incredible DP, I have so much respect for her. It really is a rich visual palette throughout this movie. Did you have any key inspirations for the look of this movie? Because my mind, when Simon walks up to his house at the beginning, immediately goes to The Exorcist. Adam Sigal: Oh, that shot, that's like a direct homage to The Exorcist. That's probably the most unsubtle shot in the film, it was directly, I wanted it to look like the cover of The Exorcist. [Chuckles] Otherwise, British drama was kind of the concept that I wanted, something that felt very authentic. And, honestly, a lot of British television shows that I used to watch as a kid, that was kind of the vibe I was going for, I wanted it to be a British dark comedy. Inspiration-wise, yeah, almost like a gothic look to a lot of the sets, and then when they're out on the Isle, I wanted to really just have it feel like England, and show a lot of the moors, and caves, and rain. That was really the biggest thing, I just wanted the audience to feel the Britishness of it. Adam Sigal: Oh god, the hardest scene to shoot was at the cave, because it was just so cold, and so windy, and so rainy that day, I don't know how it looks as good as it does. We were in a real cave in the middle of the moors, and it was wet and slippery, and dark and windy as hell. I remember distinctly that day, I'd been on set for about two hours, just freezing and trying not to die, and the crew were up there, and then Simon and Minnie came up in the car that was driving them up this hill, because it was in the middle of the moors, so they were in kind of like a Range Rover, or something like that. They rolled up, and they were both real excited in the backseat, and Simon rolled down the window, and I just looked at him and said, "Guys, today is gonna suck, there's just no way around it." And they both were kind of like, "Okay, fine." They were both so cool about it, even Minnie was like, "We're shooting in Yorkshire, I was expecting this weather, this is British weather." I was like, "Okay, good, because I live in LA, so I'm not used to this weather, but I'm glad you guys are." [Chuckles] But that was definitely the roughest day of shooting, for sure, but it turned out to be one of my favorite scenes. You show parts of the mongoose throughout the movie, and given that you wanted to do something that wasn't necessarily a straight biopic, did you ever consider actually having a scene in which we fully see the mongoose? No, I specifically didn't want to, because one of the main themes in this is sort of the frustration that I think accompanies a search for truth in life. The fact that you can accept things, and people can tell you things, and you can accept them, and you can make yourself believe them, but searching for a really hard concrete, actual proof of various religious concepts is probably going to just frustrate you. So, that's what I wanted, I wanted it to be frustrating intentionally, because that's life. Well, it plays out very well for the themes of the movie, like you say. A part of me, admittedly, wanted to see it, but at the same time, as I took in what everybody was saying, I embraced it. Adam Sigal: Maybe the second one will be like the Nandor and Mongoose show, they'll have their own investigating crew. [Chuckles] About Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose Simon Pegg, Minnie Driver, and Christopher Lloyd star in this wildly entertaining adventure based on a true tale set in 1935 London. When famed paranormal psychologist Dr. Nandor Fodor investigates a family's claims of a talking animal, he uncovers a mysterious web of hidden motives. Soon, everyone becomes a suspect in Dr. Fodor's relentless pursuit of the truth. Check out our previous Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose interview with executive producers Jeff Annison and Paul Scanlan.Source: Screen Rant Plus
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