One of the British films we’re most excited about for later in 2010 is Richard Ayoade’s “Submarine.” Based on the successful coming-of-age novel by Joe Dunthorne, about an eccentric 15-year-old boy trying to save his parents’ marriage while his pyromaniac girlfriend causes havoc, it’s being executive produced by Ben Stiller and his Red Hour Films shingle, and has a strong cast, led by newcomer Craig Roberts, with Sally Hawkins, Noah Taylor and Paddy Considine also on board.
Ayoade started as a comedian and actor — he’s the lead in cult TV series “The IT Crowd” — but moved into music videos in recent years, for bands such as Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Vampire Weekend, and, excitingly, it looks like he’s recruited one of his regular collaborators for his debut feature, as Contact Music (via NME) are reporting that Alex Turner, frontman of hugely successful British band Arctic Monkeys, will write the score to “Submarine.”
Ayoade directed videos for Arctic Monkeys tracks “Flourescent Adolescent,” “Crying Lightning” and “Cornerstone,” and their concert movie “Arctic Monkeys: At The Apollo” (which got a brief cinema release in the U.K.), as well as clips for Turner’s side-project The Last Shadow Puppets, so there’s definitely form there. The soundtrack marks Turner’s first solo project, and is being produced by another regular collaborator, Simian Mobile Disco member James Ford, who produced Turner’s last three albums (the most recent with Josh Homme), as well as records by Florence and the Machine and Klaxons.
There’s no word if it’ll be a straight-up instrumental score, or something closer to, say, Badly Drawn Boy’s work on “About A Boy,” but either way, we’re excited; Turner’s immensely talented, and from the observational charm of the first Arctic Monkeys record to Owen Pallett’s lush orchestration on The Last Shadow Puppets album, there’s always been something cinematic in his work, and we can’t wait to hear what he comes up with for Ayoade. We’ve heard rumors that “Submarine” may be heading to Toronto and the London Film Festival, so we’ll keep you posted on further developments. In the meantime, you can watch some of their previous collaborations after the jump.
