Four Lions director Chris Morris studied terrorism for three years before setting to work on his satire about a blundering gang of wannabe suicide bombers. Among his findings: Muslim extremists identify with movies including The Lion King, 300 and especially the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

“They see themselves as the force for good and Sauron is basically George W. Bush,” Morris told Wired.com in a phone interview.

His new movie will likely spark conversations when it opens in limited release Friday. Handling a volatile subject with deft satiric touches, the film follows a group of hilariously inept Islamic Brits (played by Riz Ahmed, Kayvan Novak, Nigel Lindsay and Adeel Akhtar) as they bumble a plan to blow up … something.

“There’s a long and dishonorable history of cock-ups in the execution of terrorist attacks,” said Morris, who talked to imams, law enforcement experts and hundreds of Muslims in an effort to wrap his head around the jihadi mindset.

“Even those who trained and fought jihad report the frequency of farce,” he said. “What struck me in my research is that the [news media] narrative makes it seem as if we’re dealing with a different order of being. In actual fact, I noticed that there were some pretty odd and silly moments with people involved in al-Qaida.”

Four Lions exaggerates the absurdist aspects of terrorism, but not by much. “Terrorist mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed spent two hours looking for a costume that wouldn’t make him look fat on camera,” Morris cracked.

Citing rock mockumentary Spinal Tap as a seminal influence, the British filmmaker honed his comedy chops as co-creator of Steve Coogan‘s TV news spoof The Day Today. In keeping with those types of send-ups, the characters in the R-rated Four Lions are funny precisely because they take themselves so seriously, according to Morris.

“This film understands jihadists as human beings and understands human beings as innately ridiculous,” he said. “Within that context, terrorism is about ideology, but it’s also about imbeciles.”

Still, a comedy about terrorists isn’t exactly an easy sell in Hollywood. Morris figured Four Lions would be a difficult pitch, so he took the direct approach with prospective financial backers.

“You had to be upfront,” Morris said. “Once you’ve announced that you want to make a comedy about jihadi terrorists, you just hope that those people who don’t run out of the door screaming are prepared to take part in a serious conversation.”

Four Lions opens Friday in some markets and expands next week. See the movie’s website for screening details.

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