The darker and more troublesome the dark humor is, the more nervous the audience becomes, notes Cumberbatch when TT interviews him and Colman.
The two have known each other for a long time and it shows. They fill in each other's sentences, laugh and joke and seem to think it's quite fun to give interviews.
The old film, which in Sweden was called "The Wild Hunt for Happiness", was about a married couple who started to get on each other's nerves and where they finally tried to kill each other.
Turns into violence
In "The Roses” Cumberbatch is a successful architect whose career comes to a standstill, at the same time as the cooking wife's career goes straight up. Time for discontent that turns into violence.
There are those who want to see this as a gender depiction, how a woman cannot be allowed to become successful. But that's absolutely not the case, says Olivia Colman.
This could just as well be a same-sex couple. It's about a couple who lose touch with each other, they don't communicate and that's what tears them apart. It's not about gender, it's not about "if women get power everything goes to hell".
The film starts as a comedy but the story becomes increasingly dark and dramatic.
It was an incredibly good and well-written script. It had found the balance which made it intense. You have to take comedy seriously and root it in the authentic, says Benedict Cumberbatch.
Cut off fingers
Olivia Colman agrees.
You can go a long way in black comedy. Look at how they cut off fingers in "The banshees of Inisherin", disgusting but incredibly funny. I was once in a film where they boiled a dog, not for real, of course. It went a bit too far, but it was funny.
What does "The Roses" say about marriage?
They love each other even if it gets out of hand. They have never stopped loving each other. But it's much more fun to watch them than a couple where everything is perfect.
Cumberbatch fills in:
You have to keep track of when you feel that something is going wrong. You know when it's gone too far.
Corrected: In an earlier version, an incorrect figure appeared in the introduction.
Name: Benedict Cumberbatch.
Age: 49 years.
Family: Wife Sophie Hunter, three children.
Lives: In London.
Occupation: Actor.
Previous films in selection: "Atonement", "Tinker tailor soldier spy", "War horse", "A family", "The imitation game", "Doctor Strange", "Sherlock", "Thor: Ragnarök", "Avengers: Infinity war", "Avengers: Endgame", "The Mauritanian", "The power of the dog", "Doctor Strange in the multiverse of madness".
Current in: "The Roses".
Name: Olivia Colman.
Age: 51 years.
Family: Husband Ed Sinclair, two children.
Previous films and TV series in selection: "Hot fuzz", "Tyrannosaur", "The iron lady", "Locke", "The lobster", "Broadchurch", "Murder on the Orient Express", "The favourite", "The father", "The lost daughter", "Great expectations", "The crown", "The Bear", "The night manager".
Current: In "The Roses" with Swedish cinema premiere 29/8.
