Interview: Mike Clattenburg, writer/director Trailer Park Boys; the Movie

By Anne Brodie Oct 4, 2006, 12:45 GMT

Writer/director Mike Clattenburg

‘Trailer Park Boys; The Movie,’ was inspired in part by the masterful cinematic works of Russian Filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick. That’s right!

Writer/director Mike Clattenburg told us in Toronto this week that these filmmakers influence his work, especially for the Trailer Park Boys now that it has made the leap from TV to the big screen. 

‘I wanted to recall the look of the TV series, but deliver a film’.

While shooting the TV series on digital handheld cameras, no light and no tripods, he says he must resist the urge to work in a cinematic style and it kills him, or so it seems.

But who would buy ‘cinema’ from those outrageous residents of Sunnyvale Trailer Park, those boozing, scheming, dumb but engaging terrors who enjoy firing off guns and sleeping in doorless cars?

Also, says Clattenburg, handheld shots, even effectively done, can be nauseating after two hours.

“But I still love it and we did a fair amount of handheld. But is nice to do a tableau shot here, fuck yeah, we’re going to do that way! This is a movie!”

“Producer Ivan Reitman loves the Ricky / Lucy relationship and we decided to go one for Julian featuring a romantic (weed) super-toke, incredible tolerance for mistakes and love that comes through.”

“Ivan Reitman one of the greatest track records in comedy history ... he had a lot of great ideas to transition for TV to film, I learned a lot from him.”

Trailer Park Boys is probably the rudest series on TV.

“It was a tough sell,” he admits. “Once Canada’s Showcase saw it and got it, they embraced it. No other network would have done it. My comedy has to be seen playing to get it.  I try to original and there are no references.”

The series has been bubbling under in Los Angeles for three years, according to Clattenburg.

He says the first response people have is “What the fuck is this amateurish bullshit? You think is this actually real. I say, if you don’t have money for production you go the other way and work it to your advantage.”

“There’s tons more TPBs to come, we just shot season seven it will be a hybrid of the documentary and cinematic style, as a result of the movie.”

Why is the show so popular?

“A lot of love holds it together ... the sense of family and people trying to have a family in the midst of belonging to destroyed and dysfunctional families. Anyone can relate to those relationships and you can do hijinks and swearing if there is some connective tissue to hold it together. Most of the trailer park characters are pretty tolerant and accepting, after all, they live together.”

Clattenburg has high praise for Jim Dunsworth, who plays the booze soaked trailer park supervisor who will do anything to get rid of the TPBs.

“Mr. Lahey isn’t evil. It’s more the liquor with him. But even when he’s not drinking, he’s just as fucked. Sometimes you can love him.  He’s an effective villain. John Dunsworth plays him with Shakespearian weight, as a classically trained actor.  I write to his strengths and you can often capture him doing something with incredible weight. He’s silly and heavy and you’re unsure of him.”

The Trailer Park Boys open wide across Canada October 6th.