Stephen Merchant: ‘I want people to see I can do more than just comedy'

Stephen Merchant has said that he doesn’t want to be pigeon-holed in comedy and is keen to be recognised for his dramatic work.

The English writer and actor, 43, rose to fame alongside Ricky Gervais in Extras and Life’s Too Short but recently made the leap to big screen drama, starring alongside Hugh Jackman in Logan.

“It’s very hard sometimes to break out of the pigeon hole that you’re in,” he told the Standard at the Empire Awards.

Citing Oscar-nominated director Jordan Peele as an inspiration following his move from comedy to smash hit horror with Get Out, he said: “I love he fact that he’s been able to do that and I’ve been trying to do that.

Despite launching his career on the stand-up circuit, Merchant admitted that he personally prefers watching drama to comedy.

“I don’t watch comedy, I watch drama or more serious-minded stuff so I’m very pleased to be able to try and do that,” he said.

“There are filmmakers I admire from back in the day like Billy Wilder who would do a comedy one movie, a drama the next and then a thriller and they could jump from those different genres. I think that’s harder to do now but that’s something I’d like to try and do.”

As well as forthcoming role in The Girl in the Spider’s Web opposite Claire Foy, Merchant has written and directed new film Fighting With My Family, starring Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Lena Headey.

“I just wrote and directed a movie last year and it’s coming out this year about a young woman who becomes a professional wrestler,” he said.

“Although it has comedy in it, it is at its heart a family drama so I’m hoping that when people see that they’ll see another dimension to what I do and just keep moving forward from there really.”