NEW YORK — Absolutely Fabulous’s Edina and Patsy are back with stars Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley bringing boisterous and brash characters to the big screen for Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie. Not surprisingly, gay men found much to identify with in Saunders and Lumley’s portrait of two ridiculous women refusing to grow old quietly. The pair sat with OUT Editor-in-Chief Aaron Hicklin for the magazine’s August 2016 cover story to discuss bringing the beloved characters back to the screen, their onscreen relationship and the current state of comedy.
Excerpts from OUT’s Ab Fab cover story include:
Jennifer Saunders on how comedy has changed since Ab Fab premiered in 1992:
“In the beginning you were allowed to offend people much more. Now people are up in arms if you say the wrong thing by mistake even if you are trying to be on their side. Suddenly everyone has become an army of haters. Is it the power of Twitter? Let’s loosen up, otherwise it’s all going to be so black and white. The truth is that people shouldn’t be offended by Patsy and Edina, because they represent people who are offensive. These aren’t role models – they are not saying what I think. They’re just who they are – great big mouths. They are natural offenders. That’s their job.”
Saunders on the decision to finally bring Ab Fab to the big screen:
“There’s a point where you go, ‘Fuck it, let’s just do it.’ I suppose we just kind of miss them. For me and Joanna, they are alter egos in a way, and everyone keeps wanting a bit more. So I’ve tried to keep them going as they would keep going, rather than just go back to where they were. Even Joanna and I get tired of drinking and smoking. Of course, they still do that.”
Saunders on Edina being more of her time now, in a world of reality TV and social media, more than ever:
“For Edina it’s all about aging and the modern world. It’s harder to get old now and still pretend you’re young because of social media and stuff. Edina does take selfies in the film, but they’re always shit. Luckily she never has her glasses on – it’s just a tiring, tiring thing.”
Saunders on Lumley’s comedic ability and poise:
“She is astounding. Even in the film she pulls expressions that I never saw at the time. It wasn’t that she didn’t do comedy; it was that no one expected her to because she has this otherworld loveliness, this poise. I always notice that when people imitate Patsy, they go for the degraded Patsy, but actually most of the time she is beautifully turned out, beautifully dressed. Edina is a mess, but Patsy is always immaculate – the hair is up, the earrings are in. Just occasionally she turns into Eurotrash.”
Lumley and Saunders on the strong female relationship at the center of Ab Fab:
Lumley: “It hasn’t got any of that man-woman love. It’s got a different love, which I think people recognize, and is the oldest and ins some ways truest love of all – the love of friends.”
Saunders: “I think they’re happy being who they are with each other, and it doesn’t rely on a safe heterosexual relationship at the center of it. There was one moment when Edina nearly got a boyfriend, but just as she’s about to get a shag, she looks over and sees Patsy under the sofa.”
Lumley on the attraction to playing these parts:
“It’s very liberating to be able to act and speak as grotesquely as Patsy does. She’s so uncaring about everything, so furious and so demanding and so funny. I think what attracts both of us to these characters, and why we love them so, is that they’re so ridiculous.”
Read the full Ab Fab cover story here.
