David Schwimmer may forever be known as Ross, but not for lack of trying. After cutting his teeth directing episodes of his money-maker, Friends, he has churned out the British comedy Run, Fat Boy, Run, starring Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz lead Simon Pegg, Thandie Newton and Hank Azaria (in the buff!). We met with Schwimmer for a Q&A during his press junket last fall at TIFF, where we found him texting with his mom.

Congratulations, I hear your film hit number one in Britain.
Oh, you heard! Thank you. Yeah, that’s a relief that a couple of people came. They seemed to dig it. They loved these actors a lot. They loved Thandie, Simon and Dylan Moran so….

I think your name helps, too.
I don’t know. I hope that Canadians and Americans get the film, so we’ll see.

Do you think there’s a difference between the British and North American sense of humour?
I actually don’t. I think we find the same things funny. Of course there are cultural references and some words that are lost in translation but our two cultures find the same things funny. Great relationships in funny situations are universal.

Tell me about the relief you’re feeling with your film being a success so far.
Any director wants their film to be seen. They’ve put at least a year, in some cases 10 or 20 years of their life into this thing. I worked really hard on it for two years. Of course I’d like people to see it so I’m just really happy that the distributors both in the UK and the States believe in it and put advertising money into it to give it a shot at least. That’s all I want, is for it to have a shot.

Well, I did see the press screening…
I hear press screenings are chilly.

Usually they are, but people were laughing.
Wow. Maybe because it’s such a relief from the heavier stuff that’s out there. When they told me it was in the festival, I thought, “Really?” [Laughs.] The only films I’ve seen here are longer, darker, heavier material.

What’s the key to making people laugh?
What we find funny is seeing ourselves reflected in other people and we laugh out of relief that it’s not happening to us. We’re laughing with relief and empathy because we identify with what the character is going through. Someone once said comedy is tragedy plus time. It’s seeing terrible things happening in a way that is funny because it’s not happening to us.

Why did you identify with the main character, Dennis, so strongly that you felt you wanted to make this movie?
When I read this script, I couldn’t believe I was laughing so much out loud while simultaneously being moved by it. The title might imply maybe there’s a big fat suit or something but that’s not the kind of movie I want to make. I’m more interested in films where I become invested in the characters. When I read this script, I was deeply moved by this journey of a guy who really believed he was doing his fiancée [played by Thandie Newton] a favour by leaving her at the altar. He had such low self-esteem that he really thought she would be better off without her. There’s something about that that I identify with personally. Don’t know why; I’m probably troubled [laughs].

Have you ever gone through a Dennis kind of journey?
I think I may be going through it these last several years. Maybe that’s one of the things I’m going through myself in terms of professionally and my relationship to work and to my own happiness, trying to find more of a balance between work and a personal life. I think I’m trying to make a change myself so maybe that’s why I do identify with that.

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