I'm a big fan of Cook and Moore - (Especially Derek & Clive) Ho! Ho!
Rhys Ifans was so convincing as Cook - Thought he was great in Twin Town because I live down the road from Swansea and that film is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. But his potrayal of Cook was so well done I forgot I wa watching Ifans - the mark of a great actor.
Remember, never rat on your friends and keep your mouth shut! GOODFELLAS
I 100% agree. Ifans was out of this world, he is a superb actor.
Aidan McArdle was also excellent as Dudley Moore.
It was absolutely glued to it.
Ifans is a genius.
Absolutely agree. They were both flawless.
shareI've just watched the repeat showing on Channel 4. I saw this a couple of years ago when they first showed it and i forgot just what a fantastic impersonation Ifans does of Cook. Its absolutely spot on, including the voice, and he does look vaguely like him too. Ifans definately should have won a BAFTA or something for this film. Cook's mannerisms, trademark sneering, sarcasm, cruel wit and intelligence are all evident in Ifans fine performance.
In some ways Aidan Mcardle (who incidentally is Steve Coogans cousin!) had a tougher job being Dudley though. In the last 20 odd years of his life, Dud had been based in the U.S so was less familiar to those in the UK who weren't around in the sixties. Peter would still turn up on British TV, especially when he enjoyed something of a resurgence in the early 1990s so he was more familiar to us Brits.
Mcardle does a decent job of playing a character many of us were less familiar with, although i did find he sometimes had problems keeping the voice consistent. But thats just a small squabble and this was a very well cast and made film. In some ways i am a bit surprised it was never released theatrically (i found it wasn't dissimilar in topic to The Life & Death of Peter Sellers that was released theatrically in 2004) as i think it would have done well on a limited release.
[deleted]
[deleted]
Though at times he did fall into a Kenneth Williams style campness
shareI agree, both Ifans and McArdle were excellent. There's one scene (at least one) where Ifans as Cookie is about to make a particularly cruel remark when he slowly swivels his eyes onto his 'victim' that not only captures Cookie's cruel, cutting genius and makes my skin crawl, but it also reminds me so much of a former landlord I knew who could be very nasty when he was drunk.
...now I do it just to watch their f----n' expression change.