James Buckley swarmed by stunt ants in The Inbetweeners Movie
James Buckley has revealed he was swarmed by real ants to film the scene in The Inbetweeners Movie where his character Jay falls asleep in an ants' nest.
James Buckley was swarmed by trained stunt ants in The Inbetweeners Movie.
The 38-year-old actor played foul-mouthed Jay Cartwright in the comedy film and the Channel 4 TV series, and a fan favourite scene is when Jay is found by his friends after falling asleep in an ants' nest drunk with the insects crawling on his head, face and one even on his tongue.
James has now revealed that the ants were all real and were trained by an “ant wrangler” called Merlin who directed the bugs to crawl all over his face as the sun beats down on him.
Appearing on the Joe and James Fact Up podcast, he said: “That was another one of those situations where we read the script and go, ‘Oh, this is f****** funny, I wonder how they’re going to do that. Jay has got an ant in his mouth; I wonder what movie magic they’re gonna use to do that?’ Then its, ‘We’ve got a load of ants here can you put some in your mouth please.’ They were trained ants.”
James’ co-star Joe Thomas – who played Simon Cooper in the film and series – added: “The ants they had to crawl over you, they were trained ants. The man who trained them was called Merlin, he came on set, he was the ant wrangler. The director Ben was going to the ants, ‘And… action!’ It was amazing.”
Last year, The Inbetweeners creators Iain Morris and Damon Beesley signed a deal with production company Banijay UK for which "unlocks the rights and potential to bring The Inbetweeners back for new audiences across a range of platforms including film, tv and stage”.
In a statement, the two screenwriters said: "It’s incredibly exciting to be plotting more adventures for our four favourite friends (ooh, friends)”.
Banijay UK chief executive Patrick Holland, said he was “delighted to pick up the conversation about the future of The Inbetweeners with them”.
He added: “They have an infectious creative vision for the brand which will resonate with audiences old and new.”
Joe, 42, admitted he is keen for a reunion and that the four main stars - which includes Simon Bird, who played Will McKenzie, and Blake Harrison, who portrayed Neil Sutherland - still remain close and would want to do more Inbetweeners.
Joe said: "All of us feel it would be nice to do.
“We’re all still around. We’re all still in each other’s lives. We all still like each other.
“And if it was something that came up, I think we would want to do it.”
The coming-of-age show ran for three TV series on E4 from 2008 to 2010, as well as two films that came out in 2011 and 2014.
