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Johnny Vegas doesn't regret 'Sex Lives of the Potato Men'
Comedian says role in slated comedy was sought after.
It regularly makes it into 'worst movie of all time' polls, but still, Johnny Vegas maintains that the despised sex comedy 'Sex Lives of the Potato Men' wasn't all that bad.
The stand-up, who played Dave to Mackenzie Crook's Ferris, one of the movie's two leads, says that he wasn't the only person who wanted the role.
“I didn't have any regrets about it. The film is what it is,” Vegas told Digital Spy.
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“It's not everybody's cup of tea, but I remember reading the script and it was one of the funniest scripts I've read in such a long time.
“There are a lot of people since who I've spoken to who have quietly said they read the script and were desperate to do it.”
He goes on to say that there were other factors behind the scenes which were instrumental in its downfall, notably public anger at the£1 million of public money from the National Lottery that went into making it.
“It was on a bit of a hiding to nothing. It got caught up in a lot of politics with the Lottery Commission who put money in,” he added.
“It just seemed to be a big stick that they used to beat them with. There were other big film companies that put money in and invested, other studios.
"It's never easy having something out that's panned quite as much but then I don't think it got the time to find its audience at the cinema. Oddly enough, when it came out afterwards, there were so many people who saw it then and liked it.
"But I have to say it was never going to be 'Four Weddings and a Funeral', considering the subject matter! I don't know if it set my career back at all, but I genuinely didn't feel the need to apologise for it in the way that perhaps some critics felt we needed to.”
The film, written and directed by Andy Humphries, was indeed critically mauled.
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Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian wrote: “It's a film which isn't in the slightest bit funny or sexy, and is deeply depressing. It also diminishes the reputation of many excellent TV comics, who are made to look tawdry and naff up there on the big screen in an echoing cinema.”
Will Self in the Evening Standard called the film 'mirthless, worthless, toothless, useless', while The Times suggested it was 'one of the two most nauseous films ever made'.
Alongside Vegas and Crook were British comedy talents including Mark Gatiss, Julia Davis, Lucy Davis and, strangely, Adrian Chiles.
