Extraordinary's Luke Rollason stars in two upcoming films
- Luke Rollason co-writes and stars in Quiet Life, a silent BBC short about a luddite resisting modern technology
- Co-written with Alex Bruce, the comedy co-stars Ella Bruccoleri, Ali Brice, Mark Silcox, Rosa Garland and Aruhan Galieva
- Meanwhile, Rollason also leads the largely improvised feature Two Big Feet, in which he plays a monster hunter who believes he's seen a saquatch
Extraordinary's Luke Rollason stars in two films being released later this year, British Comedy Guide can exclusively reveal.
The clown comic has co-written and leads the BBC comedy short Quiet Life, a silent, slapstick farce of "existential sadness" in a "disconnected world", and is making his feature film debut in monster comedy-drama Two Big Feet.
In Quiet Life, Rollason plays Geoffrey, who buries his phone and shuns technology in a one-man silent rebellion against the modern world.
However, when a potential new human connection comes knocking, Geoffrey is torn between the world he has created and the one he left behind.
Airing next month on BBC Three and co-starring Ella Bruccoleri, who appeared in Extraordinary and Polite Society, Quiet Life features leftfield comics Ali Brice, Mark Silcox and Rosa Garland (AKA Trash Salad), plus singer-turned-comic Aruhan Galieva, winner of the first Luke Rollason Memorial Bursary in 2022, which Rollason set up to back alternative acts.
Shot in October, the short is directed by Ladhood helmer and former character comic Ruth Pickett and is co-written by reviewer-turned-comedy writer Alex Bruce, who enjoyed Luke Rollason's Infinite Content at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe so much that the pair began collaborating together.
Featuring an original score by Tom Penn, part of the sketch troupe Privates with Rollason and Christian Brighty, Quiet Life is produced by Anthony Caveney (Live At The Apollo) for Open Mike (The Last Leg, Wonders Of The World I Can't See) and is executive produced by Andrew Beint, Emma Barnard and Ben Caudell.
Also today, BCG revealed that Siobhán McSweeney's directorial debut Spud will be the first BBC comedy short to air since the broadcaster announced 13 films for BBC Three and iPlayer in May.
Meanwhile, Rollason, who is reprising his role as Jizzlord in Extraordinary alongside McSweeney and Máiréad Tyers when the Disney+ superpower comedy returns on 6th March, has shot Two Big Feet.
In the largely improvised feature he portrays Lad, a down-on-his-luck, hobbyist monster-hunter, whose friend Bud, played by Oliver Woolf (I Hate Christmas), fakes a sasquatch sighting during a camping trip to cheer him up.
The debut feature of writer-producer-director Noah Stratton-Twine (Young, Young Men) for his production companies Cedar Roost and That's The Fish, the filmmaker likens Bud's charade to the deceptive conceits of Mrs Doubtfire and Tootsie, with Lad seemingly unable to recognise "his friend in a gorilla costume 200 yards away".
The plot "is somebody pulling the wool over someone else's eyes and seeing how long he can get away with it for," Stratton-Twine told BCG. "Luke's character is into the Loch Ness Monster, all those sorts of things. Conspiracy theorist is a harsh term for him but that's essentially what he is.
"[Bud] is about to deliver some bad news to him but instead fakes a sasquatch sighting, which is ridiculous as there have never been any sasquatch sightings in the UK."
Currently in post-production, the micro-budget independent film was shot in two blocks over five months in and around London and is currently in post-production.
Co-starring Samiah Khan, Honor Koe, Kenichiro Thomson, Heidi Parsons, Toby Hart and Jack Redmayne, the picture is being readied for an initial film festival circuit release.