Chivalry Press Pack

Category: Press Pack

27 April 2022

6 x 30 mins

Baby Cow Productions

SERIES OVERVIEW

Steve Coogan (Alan Partridge, Philomena) and Sarah Solemani (Him and Her, Barry) team up to write and star in a timely comedy-drama.

Coogan plays as Cameron, a successful film producer and ‘ladies man’ and Solemani as Bobby, a passionate indie-darling filmmaker. Joining Coogan and Solemani are an ensemble cast including Emmy award-winning Wanda Sykes (The Upshaws, Blackish) as astute studio executive Jean Shrill, Sienna Miller (The Loudest Voice, American Woman) as Cameron’s leading lady, Lark, Lolly Adefope (Ghosts, Shrill) as Ama, Cameron’s latest assistant, Aisling Bea (This Way Up, Living With Yourself) as intimacy coordinator, Tatiana, and Adjani Salmon (Dreaming Whilst Black, Enterprice) as Bobby’s devoted and patient husband, Aston.

Chivalry offers a fresh new look on gender politics and romance and asks the question: can one build and sustain a successful, relevant career in Hollywood without sacrificing their principles.

Chivalry explores the truths and the myths behind these characters, their judgements of each other and their assumptions of themselves, seeking to break down and explore classic stereotypes. Chivalry grants the audience permission to laugh while asking complex questions that as a society, we often find hard to discuss.

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Press Pack

27 Apr 22 Press Pack Article

Interview with creator, writer and lead actor Sarah Solemani who plays Bobby

How did the idea for Chivalry come about? Steve Coogan and I were filming [the Michael Winterbottom film] Greed in Mykonos in 2018 when Me Too had just happened in Hollywood and we had a lot of debates about what it was and what it meant and whether it had gone too far. We hadn't seen anything before that unpacks what is happening between the sexes and what would happen if two people, pitted against each other on paper, were to develop feelings for each other. To put those characters in that debate so we could not only unpack what had happened but also laugh at it, felt like a really complicated starting point and journey to go on - and it turned out it was, in a good way. Laughter is such a big healer when you're talking about trauma and shame which Me Too is.

27 Apr 22 Press Pack Article

Interview with creator and writer Steve Coogan who plays Cameron

How did you and Sarah Solemani come up with the idea for Chivalry? We were in Greece shooting the Michael Winterbottom film, Greed, in 2018 when we had a discussion about Me Too. We talked about sexuality and gender politics and it got quite heated at times; not unpleasant, just quite vociferous. It was Michael Winterbottom who suggested we write something about it. I really like Sarah and I like having provocative discussions so we wrote a pilot and then during lockdown we wrote the rest of the series.

27 Apr 22 Press Pack Article

Interview with Wanda Sykes who plays Jean

How did you come to be involved in Chivalry? I met Sarah Solemani at a party once and she mentioned that she wanted to do something with me. I knew her as a writer so I was like, 'cool, yeah, if you have something, send it my way.' Years later I get a text from her saying, 'I wrote this thing with Steve Coogan that I think you'd be great for. I'd love for you to read it.' I read a couple of the episodes and I was into it.

27 Apr 22 Press Pack Article

Interview with Lolly Adefope who plays Ama

What most appealed to you about Chivalry and how did you come to be involved? Steve Coogan is one of my comedy heroes, so I would jump at any chance to work with him again. And I’m a big fan of Sarah’s too - I did a self-tape and very thankfully got the part.

27 Apr 22 Press Pack Article

Interview with Adjani Salmon who plays Aston

What appealed to you about Chivalry? They branded it as a 'Me Too comedy' so I was very curious to see what that looked like. When I read the script, I thought it was really funny but it also had an interesting perspective. It shows the complexity of Hollywood and how people get trapped in the cycle of misogyny, through a female character trying to climb the ladder. It shows how you can start making one or two sacrifices and the next thing you know, you're in it with everybody else. It's about how complicit everyone is in keeping the system the way it is.