There is nothing particularly funny about homelessness. I am the first one to admit this. What is happening across our country, on and off the streets, is an epidemic. A poverty epidemic.
So why did I decide to make a comedy about homelessness?
The very fact that homelessness exists in a society of such extreme wealth and abundance is absurd. It’s nonsensical. As such, I felt it fitting to make an absurdist film about homelessness – in spite of people telling me that it was a bad idea. And there were many, believe me.
When I first moved to London to pursue filmmaking I was genuinely shocked by the amount of homeless people on the streets. I was also equally disturbed by how people could so easily ignore them. I know it’s not entirely their fault, and sadly yes, as the years have gone by, I too have become slightly de-sensitized to it all.
Comedy, especially in cinema, has a long and colorful history of imparting truth. From Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator to the Monty Python films; comedy is among the most effective ways of removing the great, social veil and revealing to people what is actually happening behind the proverbial curtain.
I think one of the reasons the Basil Fawlty character, for example, is such an engaging and memorable watch is because, deep down, we can see parts of ourselves within him. He informs us – in some strange, dark way – of who we are.