Simon Farnaby and Craig Roberts talk The Phantom of the Open

On June 3, a brand new film starring Mark Rylance, Sally Hawkins and Rhys Ifans comes out in The Phantom of the Open. We had the pleasure of talking to the writer Simon Farnaby and director Craig Roberts.

The Phantom of the Open follows Maurice Flitcroft’s (Rylance) story, a big dreamer who managed to gain entry to The British Open Golf Championship Qualifying in 1976. But unfortunately, he proceeded to shoot the worst round of golf in Open history. Because of this, he became a bit of an icon in the process.

The film is quite an inspirational tale of following your dreams and something that we can all relate to along the way. I found myself laughing, crying and even jumping for joy throughout the entire film. You won’t want to miss this charming little film when it comes out.

Hidden Remote had the pleasure of chatting with Simon Farnaby, who wrote the film and Craig Roberts, who directed the movie, about what inspired them to tackle this incredible tale.

Check out the video version of the interview here.

Simon Farnaby and Craig Roberts talk The Phantom of the Open

Hidden Remote: Craig, What about this project made you want to direct it? 

Craig Roberts: Um, well, a lot of things really. I’ve been a fan of Simon’s work for a while the script was just amazing. It really felt like a movie I would want to see. And that’s, that’s half the battle, really getting into something. I loved how funny it was the heart. And I loved the character, he reminded me. It reminded me of somebody like I knew and felt like a family member, but also kind of had a Rupert Pupkin kind of, you know, attitude about the world. And I think that’s, that’s a wonderful thing.

HR: What about Mark Rylance made you decide he was your Maurice? 

Simon Farnaby: Craig was the first to mention him. I, when I was writing, because there is footage of Maurice, so I only had him in my brain. But then when Craig said, Mark, I went, That’s a good idea.

Roberts: Yeah, he just grounds it. And you know, we really wanted to lean into it, the script was very, very, very funny. And I loved that. And that sort of also scared me at the same time, because you’ve got to make people laugh. So if say, inviting people to a swimming pool with no water, if you don’t. So, bleeding into the drama kind of helped that, I think, and he was, you know, he’s a character actor. So he grounds it completely. He was also he was amazing to work with. He was really fantastic. He had so much time and just so much energy and yeah, and fantastic ideas.

The Phantom of the Open hits theaters on June 3.