Q&A: Stephen Frears

Two-time Oscar nominee Stephen Frears has carved out an enviable career as an award winning director for hire. After directing Michelle Pfeiffer in last year's Berlin Silver Bear winner "Cheri," he turned his attentions to " tamara=""> an ensemble British comedy based on a graphic novel drawn and written by newspaper cartoonist Posy Simmonds. Adapted for the big screen by Moira Buffini, the movie's cast including one time Bond girl Gemma Arterton, British heartthrob and "Mamma Mia!" star Dominic Cooper, U.K. comedy royalty Tamsin Greig and newcomers Charlotte Christie and Jessica Barden. A classic British comedy, it details the story of the fallout after a hot young newspaper writer returns to her hometown in the English countryside, where her childhood home is being prepped for sale, stirring up old and new local passions. The source material owes much to Thomas Hardy's "Far From the Madding Crowd." A stickler for believable dialogue and pace, Frears talks to The Hollywood Reporter's U.K. Bureau Chief Stuart Kemp about directing British beauty Arterton's fake nose, attempting his first film based on a graphic novel and the word "cunt."