First film from IT Crowd star

The first film to be directed by The IT Crowd star Richard Ayoade is to receive its world premiere at the Toronto film festival tonight.

Coming-of-age comedy Submarine is about Swansea teenager Oliver Tate – played by newcomer Craig Roberts – who is determined to both save his parents’ marriage and lose his virginity before his 16th birthday.

Ayoade – who has previously directed music videos for the Arctic Monkeys and Vampire Weekend, among others – has also written the script, based on Joe Dunthorne’s offbeat 2008 novel.

Totronto festival co-director Cameron Bailey praised Ayoade’s film-making skills, saying of Submarine: ‘Even with the shades of Godard and Wes Anderson, this vibrant film comes off as a real original and marks the beginning of a career to watch closely.’

The film has been produced by Warp Films, which made Chris Morris’s recent Four Lions as well as current Channel 4 drama This Is England 86.

Founder Mark Herbert said: ‘We had been working with Richard on his Arctic Monkeys videos and we were big fans of Garth Marenghi, so we had wanted to work with him for a while.’

Producer Andy Stebbing added: ‘Richard is one of those directors who has it all. He is very good with the talent, very good technically, he has fabulous film grammar and is also very original.’

Submarine has been made in association with Ben Stiller’s company Red Hour Films. Stiller who shares the same US agent as Ayoade, came on board after reading the script.

The film – which also stars Sally Hawkins, Paddy Considine and Yasmin Paige - will also be playing at the London Film Festival next month.

Meanwhile, the Toronto festival is also screening Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon’s film The Trip, a fictionalised version account of a culinary excursion to the Lake District.

The improvised film is in the vein of the pair’s version of Tristram Shandy: A Cock And Bull story and is again directed by Michael Winterbottom, with both comedians playing heightened versions of themselves: Coogan as a pompous artiste jealous of Brydon’s mainstream success. It will also be made into a six-part series for BBC Two.

Published: 12 Sep 2010