HOUSE HUSBANDS is first and foremost a comedy. But it is a comedy with many potent and contemporary social dilemmas at its heart. It is what I call a real comedy as opposed to a fairy tale comedy. Gazza (Robert Carlyle) and THE FULL MONTY are ‘real’. The Prime Minister (Hugh Grant) and LOVE ACTUALLY are ‘fairy tale’. That is not to laud one and dismiss the other. They are both terrific performances in marvellous films. But real comedy allows for, indeed demands, deeper shading to lift the subtle highlights. Illuminating humour springs from the dark shadows of human suffering. This is the pallet of HOUSE HUSBANDS. With this film, production design, lighting, camera, costume, music, all creative departments, can embrace the rich tonal hues more commonly brushed across the canvas of a drama rather than the flatter glaring tones through which comedy is more often than not realized. The music playing now, the film’s main Love Theme, ideally illustrates, I think, the HOUSE HUSBANDS ‘vision’. It is mournful, sad almost, yet always uplifting, always hopeful. It reveals the inner life no matter what the outer life declaims. Real comedy may throw a veil over truth, but only momentarily. And the veil is always see-through.

Paul Rattigan’s brilliantly crafted script for HOUSE HUSBANDS has above all else I think that rare and intangible quality that audiences find utterly compelling - charm. The fundamental task therefore for the director in this script’s translation to the screen is to cast the roles impeccably and then make sure his role is invisible. And the script has indeed attracted an impeccable cast. It has also attracted a top draw behind the camera creative team who will ensure an equally impeccable cinematic environment in which this powerful cast can flourish and charm a worldwide audience with this wonderful story. Set the scene, let great actors deliver upon the written word and everything else will take care of itself.