Jonathan Schey’s debut feature is eye-catching in every sense. The provocatively titled Everybody Wants To F*ck Me world premiered as a Special Presentation in Toronto and stars Taron Egerton alongside Jessica Henwick, Charly Clive and Mia McKenna-Bruce. Produced by Studiocanal, LuckyChap, Film4 and Parkville Pictures, the dark comedy sees Egerton play a man with a performed “nice guy” persona on the London dating scene. After his behaviour is called out on a date, he finds himself pursued by women in increasingly unhinged ways.
Schey’s concept for the film was, “What if a Woody Allen movie turned into a psychological horror?”. The tones of dark Scandinavian comedies such as Kristoffer Borgli’s Sick Of Myself and Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person In The World were also an inspiration. Film4 developed the screenplay, co-financing with Studiocanal.
Schey is a graduate of the Royal Court Theatre’s Young Writers and Studio Group and has been trying to make his first feature for almost 10 years. His 2017 short The Entertainer — starring Toby Jones as a washed-up bar mitzvah compere, and inspired by Schey’s own experiences — was nominated for a Bifa, secured Schey an agent and led to TV work, including directing the first two seasons of Liam Williams’ Ladhood. Schey says he approached the BBC coming-of-age comedy like a film rather than a sitcom: “I came in with a lot of passion and short-film energy. I brought to it lots of my taste.”
Schey has definitely caught the big‑screen bug: he dreams fondly of one day opening his own cinema (“I am constantly Googling abandoned cinemas in the UK”) and is planning to stay in features for his next projects. “I am just trying to write what I’d want to watch,” he says. “My favourite movie experiences are when everyone’s having a good time and they go for a drink afterwards to talk about the film. The buzz of a cinema is definitely what I’m trying to achieve.”
Contact: Kelly Knatchbull, Sayle Screen
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