Love on the Run: David Schwimmer's Rom-Com 'Run, Fat Boy, Run'
Thandie Newton in Run, Fat Boy, Run
Courtesy of Picturehouse
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Thandie Newton
Thandie Newton has long worn several hats: award-winning actress, wife and mother, Live Earth and Amnesty International spokesperson. And now she is also adding screenplay writer (and perhaps director) to her impressive résumé. Born in London to a Zimbabwean mother and an English father, she was raised in both the United Kingdom and Zambia. A starring role at sixteen opposite Nicole Kidman in John Duigan's Flirting launched her acting career which now includes roles in dramas such as the 1998 adaptation of Toni Morrison's novel Beloved, Bernardo Bertolucci's Besieged and the Academy Award's Best Picture of 2006, Crash. There have been some action thrillers along the way (The Truth About Charlie and Mission: Impossible II). Of late, Newton has discovered her comedic timing in Norbit and Run, Fat Boy, Run. And aside from her own script and film project on the horizon, she'll also soon be seen in Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla.
You seem to pick your films quite carefully, averaging about two a year. You could make five or six if you really wanted to.
I know, but I've got children. I love my job because I get to work three months intensely and then I'm with my kids. So I love my job because I have a choice in how much I work. It's like being a part-time employee. It's brilliant. You're right, I could do five films a year and people do. I don't know how they do it!
So then why a romantic comedy?
I didn't put it in a category like that actually. I thought it was more comedy than romantic comedy. But maybe it's the other way around. Maybe it's more of a romance. I don't know. But what's different about this film is it isn't relying on the set pieces for the entertainment. It's not one of those movies where the trailer gives you every frigging good moment in the movie. And you watch it and you're like: "Well, I've seen all of it!" But with Run, Fatboy, Run, you could have a romantic trailer, you could have a very funny trailer, you could have a father-son family trailer. There are so many ways of looking at it. And I think that you get much more than just a romantic comedy.
You have made two comedies back to back, Norbit and now Fat Boy. People don't necessarily think of you and think of comedy.
No, of course not.
Yet I read that while waiting for Al Gore at Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, you had to entertain the crowd.
I did stand-up! Live! I loved it. I couldn't believe how relaxed I was doing that. I was on the Wembley Stage and two billion people were watching. I had to fill in for four minutes. It was just thrown at me and I had to make good — I wasn't going to stand up there like a jackass.
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