Further to Saturday’s Herald Magazine interview with Jim Broadbent, here’s an added Q&A with the actor in which he talks about his strange, disturbing new graphic novel Dull Margaret, created in collaboration with the artist Dix.
It’s a strange, disturbing, darkly humorous tale of a middle-aged woman who lives in a hovel in the middle of a marshy, bleak landscape. It’s a world of eels and rats and treasure and spells and even a broomstick.
Here, Broadbent, talks about how he turned his original film script into a graphic novel and finding the right Margaret for the project.”
TELL US ABOUT MARGARET?
“I don’t quite know where the idea of her being witchy came from. I read a lot of fairy stories. I suddenly got hooked on fairy stories. I got hooked on the succinct narratives. Keep it very tight.
“And then I suppose the idea of Margaret evolved out of those things really. Eels have fascinated me for a long time. Eels, I started investigating early on in research. The life cycle of the eel and the eel catchers and the eel hives. And the story started to evolve.
I definitely tried to work it into a film script, but couldn’t get anyone to make it or fund it. It didn’t fit any known genre. A lot of directors wanted to do it but the people who had to put up millions didn’t see it as viable I don’t think.”
HOW DID THE GRAPHIC NOVEL COME ABOUT?
“It occurred to me early on that it could be a graphic novel. It’s a series of images. It’s not a dialogue-heavy piece by any means. And around that time, I was enjoying Dix’s strip in the Guardian, Roll Up Roll Up, which ran for a year or two. I thought if I ever did go for a graphic novel I’d get onto him. Years later I thought I’d try him. I Googled him and introduced myself.
“I said: ‘Would you be interested in reading the script?’ He nervously said yes and he loved it.
“It was an instant easy working relationship. Entirely by email to start with. He’d send images and I’d enjoy them or question them. I printed off these various versions of Margaret and had them pinned up all around my office and we settled on a Margaret we both liked. One was too fat, one was too neurotic, one was too vulnerable. Beautiful characters, all of them. But we just had to find the right one for Margaret.
He sent me the image on the cover very one early on and we decided: ‘Yes, that’s her. He loved that too. He thought he couldn’t really improve on that. It’s got a lot of her character.
THE STORY IS SET IN A STRANGE OTHERWORLDLY PLACE – IT COULD BE THE DISTANT PAST OR THE DISTANT FUTURE. DO YOU KNOW WHEN AND WHERE IT IS SET?
“A fairy tale world. Northern Europe. Maybe the middle ages. But it’s timeless really. We had a discussion early on - could it be post-apocalyptic? It could have been far more current – the bits of flotsam and jetsam could have been plastic bottles. But we chose not to. It’s not specific.
HAVE YOU WRITTEN BEFORE?
“Not for print. I’ve done short films but I’m only writing in order … it seems to be based around a character for me to play. It always seems to be based around a part for me to play so it’s another way of inventing characters. And I sculpt as well. That’s another way of inventing characters. And I don’t know if you saw the short film I made? The Sense of History? That’s in a similar vein of dark humour that appeals to me really.
SO, THIS IS THE REAL YOU IN THIS BOOK?
Somewhere.
Dull Margaret by Jim Broadbent and Dix is published by Fantagraphics Books, priced £25.99. Broadbent and Dix will be appearing at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Thursday at 3.15pm.
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