Interview - Chris Morris: Comic shock tactics – is this a step too far?

Morris is nervous. Minutes earlier he stormed out of a TV interview with an under-prepared BBC journalist when the repetitive nature of the questioning wasn't to his liking. Now, stressed and jumpy, he marches into Pictureville cinema where a sell-out audience awaits the UK premiere of his debut movie, Four Lions.

Anticipation is high. Morris, 44, has taken a huge gamble on opening his picture – a comedy focusing on a band of hapless jihadis looking to strike a blow for Islam – in Bradford, a city with a significant population of supposedly disaffected young Muslims.

It's make-or-break time. Morris strides onto the stage, launches into a witty and non-defensive introduction, and the audience applauds wildly.

Just over 90 minutes later, the scene is repeated to a new audience for a second capacity screening. Morris is calmer, less uptight. He gives another measured and witty introduction. After the screening, he eschews his traditional stance on not giving interviews to discuss the gestation of the film. Relief is written all over his face; he has a sizeable hit on his hands.

Always thoughtful, Morris is understandably cautious when answering questions about Four Lions. Early chatter has tagged the film as being heavily influenced by the events of July 7, 2005. With the terrorists concerned hailing from Leeds, perhaps this is a little too close to home.

I ask whether the time is ever right to tackle such a sensitive subject in such a blatantly comedic manner. What about the feelings of those who were injured in the London bombings? What about the sensitivities of the relatives of the victims?

Morris squares his shoulders and piles straight into his answer. "Those people are obviously in a personal situation which is far bigger than a film," he says quickly but not glibly.

"Their lives have been affected in such a way that they will know whether or not they want to see it. I actually spoke to somebody who was in one of the carriages that was blown up – because I wanted to prepare for this question – and, basically, I wanted to see what someone like that would think. This guy said to me 'I've got no objection to the idea of you trying to make a comedy about this. If it's funny, I'll laugh at it'. That won't apply to everyone and you don't want to generalise; people don't have to go to the cinema."

Movies were being made about the 9/11 attacks within five years of September 2001. Oliver Stone made World Trade Center. Paul Greengrass made United 93. Yet these were dramas. What's more, they dealt sensitively with arguably the rawest of emotive events in modern American history. No-one was laughing.

I suggest that some subjects should remain taboo from the effects of comedy. Morris is careful to neither agree nor disagree. Never shy of embracing controversy to create laughter, he appears to come down firmly on the side of comedic freedom.

His 2001 Brass Eye special, satirising paedophilia, made Morris the bte noire of British comic talent.

He's been hailed as a genius. Maybe he brings such a touch to Four Lions. Or maybe he and co-writers Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong are guilty of exploiting a subject many believe should be untouchable.

"The thing is, comedy is not about choosing which subject is appropriate and which isn't. It's just making sure whichever subject

you choose, you get it right," he replies steadily and forcefully.

"And that's what we tried to do with this. Death per se is not funny. Actually, we take death quite seriously. You have to. But that doesn't mean that people trying to organise something that is going wrong, and with the average competence of a group of five blokes to organise anything (doesn't create humour]. There's plenty of comic material in there."

Morris's style harks back to anarchic giants like WC Fields. Creating characters with names like Alabaster Codify, Sir Hugh Maharggs and David Quoosp allies him with Fields' predilection for potty names: Larson P Whipsnade, Egbert Sous and Eustace McGargle.

Morris, the so-called "media terrorist", is keen to place on record his assiduousness in researching his subject. The comedy, he asserts, is in the personalities, not what they are seeking to achieve.

"I met a bloke who had been in the BNP and used to beat up Asian kids," he recalls. "Then he decided to get more sophisticated and mess with their minds, so he bought a copy of the Qur'an. He thought he was going to beat them at their own arguments, so he read the Qur'an and he accidentally converted himself.

"Not only that, but then he ended up working for an organisation which was determined that the whole world should be ruled as one by an Islamic caliphate.

"And that was the clue – a radical mind finding available ideologies.

"I saw this guy, who declared himself to be an anti-racist, being asked

by a secular anti-racist if he would help them fight against the BNP in the upcoming elections. He just kept saying 'I'd love to help you but it's not an Islamic agenda'.

"You can find a lot of comedy in that. Hopefully, we explored that in the film."

Four Lions (15) is on nationwide release.