Consider This from NPR - Cumberbatch and Colman team up to play a couple at war

Episode Date: September 1, 2025

So many movies are made about the beginning of a relationship. That first spark of attraction. That first kiss. The new dark comedy “The Roses” is about the other end – when it's all falling apart. Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman star as Theo and Ivy, a couple who was once very much in love. Two children and a transatlantic move later, they’re now struggling to save their marriage.No one thinks it’s going to work – including their therapist.Cumberbatch and Colman sit down with host Mary Louise Kelly to discuss how they leveraged their real-life friendship to play two people who love to hate each other.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at [e-mail] holiday episode was produced by Kira Wakeam and Kathryn Fink. It was edited by Courtney Dorning. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

There are loads of movies out there about the beginning of a relationship, that first spark of attraction, that first sweet kiss. Well, how about a movie that tackles the other end when it's all falling apart? Okay, so today's session, the ten things you love about each other. Theo, you first? Sure. One, I would rather live with her than a wolf. Did you say wolf?

Yeah. Wow. One, he has arm. Well, I saw a documentary once about a man without arms, and it looked like a difficult life, particularly for the partner. That's Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Coleman as Theo and Ivy, husband and wife, architect and chef, and the new dark comedy, The Roses.

The couple was once very much in love, but two children and a transatlantic move later, they're now struggling to save their marriage. No one thinks it's going to work, including their therapist. I don't think you have the capacity to fix your problems. Are you actually allowed to say that? That seems unprofessional. Yes, like mild practice.

No, uh... We'll be expecting a hefty discount. Time's up. Consider this. The Roses reimagines an 80s divorce comedy. Coming up, it stars are how they leverage their real-life friendship to play two people who love to hate each other. From NPR, I'm Juana Summers.

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Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Coleman play the very unhappily married Theo and Ivy in the new movie The Roses. In real life, the actors are buddies. And when they stopped by our New York bureau to talk with my co-host Mary Louise Kelly about the film, she asked how two Brits, playing two Brits, came to make a movie set in Northern California. This project was imagined around us. We're friends and have been for a long time and wanted to work with each other for a long time. So the idea of this film came about around getting us together. So, you know, it's a jumping off point.

The War of the Roses, the great sort of iconic film, Kathleen and Michael in the 80s. People may be starting to put together. The title is The Roses. It is about a marriage that spectacularly falls apart. This is a remake of the 1989 classic with Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas War of the Roses. But it's not a remake, I think we feel quite strongly about that. It's sort of a reimagining. Inspired by?

It's fired very heavily by the because we loved that film. Exactly. The thing that your characters, as the marriage is collapsing, end up fighting over, is the house. And to be fair, it is a pretty spectacular house. Describe the house. Oh, well, it's just a beautiful open... Ivy paid for it. Yeah.

Ivy paid for it. It's a very embedded, as in sort of, it speaks to its location, embedded piece. architecture that sort of comes out of this wilderness on a dramatic cliff and the sea and the forest exactly that you're doing a better job than me and it's surrounded by trees and bracken and this incredible vista that everything sort of walks towards and looks out over the north pacific coastline of california but it's interesting why is that the thing they end up because they don't fight over the kids they don't fight over there's a million things they could fight over it's because they're both invested in it you know my

I think it's the thing that's, well, for you, it's your most precious thing. So it's the perfect weapon for Ivy. Yeah, it's basically him. You know, he's suffered this massive collapse of confidence and ego and everything with his literal collapse of his building, which is where his career nose dives. Just to inject, Theo is an architect. Yes. He designs a building that literally collapses, a giant one. So this is his redemption plan.

He's going to build the perfect. house. Exactly that. I get very over-excited, as often architects do, with various details, including expensive Irish moss as opposed to Californian moss, and, you know, the tension starts escalate, even in the build of it. And at the same time, our children earn these scholarships, and we are empty nastas. As this whole battle royal is playing out over the house, did you ever wish you could just

say, oh, God, take it, just take it and just go. Yeah. Well, yes. I suppose Ivy, as she says, she thinks Theo has stolen the children. And so she thinks I'll steal his big child, his house. I mean, there are many moments, aren't there, when you could go, everybody stop, pause, count to ten. This could all be okay. But that's, it wouldn't be quite as fun to watch. They go beyond that point. They sort of it out. They really do. You know, I think they want to hurt each other by then. Yeah. And that's the thing. That's the terrain. I wanted to ask about a couple of specific scenes that I wondered if you each enjoyed playing with particular relish. Benedict Cumberbatch, there is a scene that involves your foot. Oh, yeah.

A microplane and a dish that your wife is trying to prepare and serve at her restaurant. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that was fun. A lot of that kind of stuff was fun. Yeah, a lot of that kind of stuff was fun. The dinner party scene was extraordinary fun. Yeah, it was both of our favourites, I think, wasn't it?

I really loved flicking you in the forehead. You like flicking you in the eye. It was like it. Oh, was it? Yeah, the forehead wouldn't have heard as much. That's okay. Your reaction was always just too funny. I did throw an orange in your face, although it was a phone one.

And that whole vice at the end, you know, I just... Yeah, that's fun. All that physicality and the comedy was great fun. The dinner party scene, you get very drunk. Your character gets very drunk, Olivia Coleman. You are absolutely savaging each other. And about half of your dinner guests get it and are appalled. And the other half are like, oh, this is this a new way to talk to you, your partner?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me join right in. The scene at the very end, Olivia Coleman, you are brandishing a gun without giving away quite how we get to this point or quite where it goes. Just explain the scene for people who haven't seen it yet. So a gun is gifted to us by our American friends much earlier in the film. And he just really pisses her off. So she gets the gun, says, I want you to get out. Oh, because you've tried to kill me with raspberries.

I have tried to poison you with raspberries. Your character is allergic to raspberries. Yes, deathfully allergic. Yeah. And he uses that to get her to try and sign over the deeds. And, you know, I think that's enough to push her over the edge. a near-death experience. The gun is warranted at that point.

And I'm not sure she means to shoot it, but it's got a hair trigger and it's quite delicate. And then it gets a little out of hand. This serious, real question, anything else you could whisper to those characters that you have learned over what I hope is the course of long, successful, very happy relationships where you think,

I wish I could just tell them this. Yeah. Not for public radio, no. But, yeah, don't have hard fruit that you can throw at each other. Yes, that's definitely something. Just drink of bananas. Also, I heard there was a documentary about couples with extraordinary longevity in their relationships. And one guy said, sometimes it's about what you don't say.

Initially, when you hear that, you think, is that, is that right? Is that good advice? And then, yeah, it is actually. So if you piss each other off one day, sometimes just wait until the next day. Just don't say it straight away. I find a calm moment, you know. And I think that was great advice. I remember hearing that and thinking, I'm going to try that.

One of our long-standing female Supreme Court justices here was asked about the secret to a happy marriage. And her answer was, you can be a little bit deaf. Selective hearing goes a long way in a marriage. Yeah, I think that's true. Olivia Coleman, Benedict Cumberbatch. This was a pleasure. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Thank you, families. This episode was produced by Kira Joaquin and Catherine Fink with audio engineering by Ted Mebain. It was edited by Courtney Dorney. Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigan. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Juana Summers. Want to hear this podcast without sponsor breaks? Amazon Prime members can listen to consider this sponsor-free through Amazon music. Or you can also support NPR's voice.

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