'Serious' Steve heads to LA

Steve Coogan is heading to the States to escape the spectre of Alan Partridge.

He's keen to be treated as a serious actor, but fears it will never happen in Britain where he will be forever pigeonholed as a comic.

But in Hollywood he's known for his starring roles in 24 Hour People and Around The World In 80 Days ­ and is keen to build on that reputation."

He told the Telegraph's London Eye diary: "I'm flying to Los Angeles in a couple of weeks and will start work straight away on two new films.

"I'm not going to have comedy roles at all - I'm just going to be acting straight. That's why I'm having to go to America. After 24-Hour Party People, over there they just see me as a regular actor.

"But the British think of me as Alan Partridge and I'm always going to struggle to get away from that."

The films 38-year-old Coogan is working on are a courtroom drama called The Alibi and a romantic comedy called Happy Endings, opposite
Ray Liotta and Friends star Lisa Kudrow.

"I know it sounds rather slushy, but it's not, it's a really clever script," he said at the premiere of Simon Pegg's film Shaun Of The Dead.

Published: 31 Mar 2004