Ayoades referring to his new film,The Double,a brilliantly surreal and poignant dramastarring Jesse Eisenberg.

Its Ayaodes second project as director, and follows his stunning debut,Submarine.

Heres what he had to say.

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Well, thank you very much.

I thought of it as a kind of dystopia of the mind.

Is that how you intended it to be read?

Its all from his point of view, so yes.

It was trying to be very subjective and not to present it as objective reality.

Youre very much in his head.

I think the book does that.

I like very subjective films, likeTaxi Driver,that have a strong point of view from one character.

DoesThe Doublereflect your own worldview, or maybe your feelings when youre in public?

Emotionally, you feel completely engaged with it.

Thats something Id never seek out oh, this persons like me except in a film.

Like, its more that something either feels right or not.

You just sort of feel it subconsciously somehow.

All the situations in the book where everyones laughing at him.

Its not that Ive ever necessarily been persecuted or anything, but you know that feeling.

I think you know those things, even if it hasnt in this exact way to you.

So I definitely felt it when I read it, yeah.

All these people bring their abilities to it.

From the story we had a sense that it should be in a specific world.

You have to accept it as an alternate world, almost like science fiction in a way.

I recently saw Her, and I really liked the design of that.

I didnt really question it.

I guess, in a way, [The Double] has similar aims to that film.

Doppelgangers arent uncommon in cinema.

Did you think about other films with doubles in them?

For example,Double Impact?

I havent seenDouble Impact,to my shame.

But I think my editor did some work on that, I think.

I remember him saying to me that he did some work on it in the 1990s.

Then you have the shots where youre shooting over the shoulder of somebody, and thats a real-life double.

So youre going, Are they really looking at one another?

Does that really look like his shoulder?

Those are questions you wouldnt normally ask, so you have to be more precise about it.

Because films are shot in a certain way, you cant have correct continuity.

You have all these counter-intuitive things.

But thats a long answer.

We dont want it to look as though we shot it for effects, I guess.

Well, thats good.

Thats as much as you need.

Its a good visual shortcut.

So how did you go about subtly differentiating for the audience the difference between the two Eisenbergs?

It was important that there shouldnt be any visual difference between them at the start.

And theres no reason whatsoever why.

But really, theres no reason.

And its that nightmarish aspect that appealed to us.

He modulates his voice between the two, but not in a really caricatured, obvious way.

But instantly youd know.

So yeah, all credit to him.

Its a stunning performance.

Its so hard to imagine that youll get to make another film [laughs].

I was so grateful I got to make this one.

I dont know exactly.

These were two very different sources, though, I guess.

Joe [Dunthornes] book is really good, but very different to the Dostoevsky book.

So theyre always likely to be very different.

I cant imagine doing another film like this because of how singular that book is.

But I like being in that world and being involved in it, yes.

Can you imagine doing something quite big and Hollywood-like if the opportunity were to come up?

Its not like a specific ambition at all.

And in a way, the scale of something isnt really in your mind when you read it.

For example, I wasnt reading Joes book and going, Oh, well this is this budget range.

Its more how you respond to it, or have an idea that you like.

I cant imagine being asked, really!

Its quite unusual for a British film to deal with a characters psycho-geography, if you like.

Do you agree with that, and if so, why do you think that is?

No, I agree.

A more documentary punch in of lens.

Im interested in that question, but I dont know the answer.

And that interiority is more of a feature of the American 20th century novel, and European novels.

And maybe that isnt the English tradition, which is more descriptive and in a social tradition.

But when I think of first-person novels and that colloquial address, its more American, perhaps.

I dont know, what do you think?

I think youre right.The Doublereminds me of European writing and filmmaking.

I havent read Dostoevskys novel, embarrassingly, but the film reminds me of Camus and Kafka.

But also it reminds me of American filmmakers.

Its sensibility doesnt necessarily feel British.

Its not a country of existentialism, England, is it?

Its more a kind of reasonable, or satirical culture.

[Laughs] Its hard to have an everyman.

The idea of an English Tom Hanks isnt conceivable.

Do you know what I mean?

Being an English person, and also being the centre, its not a very English attribute.

Theyd rather be on the fringes.

Well, it looks as though I have to go now.

But could you tell me whether youre going to make a Garth Marenghi film?

yo tell me you are!

I dont think so, unfortunately, no!

Well, I had to ask.

Richard Ayoade, thank you very much.

The Doubleis out in UK cinemas on the 4th April.

You canread our review here.