Love, Laughter, and Chaos: Inside The Roses with Jay Roach and Tony McNamara
What makes a marriage workor fall apart? That’s the razor thin line explored in The Roses, the sharp, darkly comedic new film from director Jay Roach and writer Tony McNamara. In our recent conversation, the duo opened up about crafting a story that constantly teeters between romance and implosion, fueled by biting humor and escalating conflict.
For McNamara, the script was always about tension, never letting the audience know whether the central couple would make it through or combust entirely. “Sometimes I thought they should [be together], and sometimes I thought they shouldn’t,” he explained. That tension created the heartbeat of the story: two people who may love each other deeply, but can’t always exist in the same space.
When Roach first read the script, he was struck by its unpredictability. Even on the page, he recalls, the infamous dinner party scene made him laugh so hard he knew he had to direct the film. Casting also played a critical role, pairing actors like Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman with Andy Samberg and Kate McKinnon, Roach wanted a mix of “British acting royalty” and “American comedy royalty” to heighten the tonal clash at the film’s core.
McNamara leaned into his own international experience growing up in Australia, living in the UK, and spending time in the U.S. to explore clashing comedic sensibilities. That cultural friction shows up in the characters’ banter and in the dynamic energy between the British and American performers.
Both writer and director emphasized the story’s relentless escalation. What starts as playful jabs spirals into devastating truths and, eventually, physical chaos. “Always be escalating, but mostly towards making things worse,” Roach noted, quoting author George Saunders. That philosophy shaped everything from dialogue to camera work, shifting from warm group scenes to isolating close-ups as the relationship frays.
The film also examines the disequilibrium in modern relationships—how one partner’s soaring career can mirror the other’s collapse. McNamara wanted to capture the gendered dynamics of ambition, ego, and support: “It wasn’t like he was jealous of her. It was more that his entire sense of self was in disillusion.” The result is a nuanced portrait of two people struggling to balance love with personal identity.
Even as the couple’s fights turn physical the filmmaking never abandon McNamara’s razor-sharp dialogue. That blend of witty cruelty and absurdity keeps The Roses firmly in its own lane: both hilarious and heartbreaking.
Watch the full conversation below:
Q&A on the film The Roses with director Jay Roach and screenwriter Tony McNamara.
A tinderbox of competition and resentments underneath the façade of a picture-perfect couple is ignited when the husband's professional dreams come crashing down.
