Page 539 - Guildhall Coverage Book 2020-21

says. “Obviously, it looked like we were having a good time because we
were blaring out Flo Rida and Ludacris to rev up the crowd inside. We had to

turn people away.”

Created by and starring New Zealander comedian Matafeo, Starstruck is a
wry, huge-hearted, infectious, messy joy of a romcom. It takes the dinner

party scene in Notting Hill – when Hugh Grant’s bookseller introduces Julia
Roberts’s movie star to his friends and everyone tries to act normal – and
stretches it into a series, which has already been renewed for a second season
on BBC Three.

The action kicks off with Jessie (Matafeo) and Tom (Patel) having a one-
night stand. It’s not until the morning afterwards that Jessie realises Tom is
an extremely famous actor, having glimpsed his face on a movie poster in his
swanky flat. As she stumbles out, she’s greeted by the flashes of paparazzi
cameras. But they don’t stay long, assuming that this startled woman with her
scruffy tote bag must be the celebrity’s cleaner.

Tom, meanwhile, is having an identity crisis after starring in a run of crappy
action movies. His lovely eyelashes and Michael Fassbender jawline might
make the girls swoon, but his agent (a brilliant, no bulls*** Minnie Driver)

has warned him he “must not f*** civilians”. When he’s not starring in films,
he bumbles through his personal life, blinking in bewilderment and forever
on the brink of a panic attack. Patel is spot on as Tom, his awkwardness and
reticence perfectly portraying the character’s internal conflict between being
the man the world wants him to be and the man he really is.

Patel, 35, says Starstruck is reality in reverse because, in actual fact, Matafeo
was the star who he had messaged on Twitter to compliment her work. She’s
a comedian on the rise, having won the top award at the 2018 Edinburgh
fringe with her show Horndog and starred in Taika Waititi’s feature

film, Baby Done, last year. “If anything,” Patel continues, speaking from his
flat in Kensal Rise, “I was the Rose Matafeo fan who was then in her
show.”

Like other post-MeToo hits such as Booksmart, Normal People and Sex
Education, Starstruck’s dialogue puts an emphasis on consent, with Jessie
asking Tom things like: “Do you want to have sex? I just want to check it’s
not a mistake.” Patel says it was refreshing to “engage with sex in a romcom
in a way that felt funny and not icky”. “You’re watching two people who are