Happy Sad Confused - Eddie Redmayne, Vol. II

Episode Date: November 13, 2019

Somehow it's been five years since Eddie visited Josh and lo and behold quite a bit has happened since then. Josh and Eddie discuss Eddie's Oscar win, how it changed his life, his adventures in the Wizarding World, his forthcoming film with Aaron Sorkin, and his new collaboration with Felicity Jone, "The Aeronauts"! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

D.C. high volume, Batman. The Dark Nights definitive DC comic stories adapted directly for audio for the very first time. Fear, I have to make them afraid. He's got a motorcycle. Get after him or have you shot. What do you mean blow up the building? From this moment on,

none of you are safe. New episodes every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins now. Today on Happy, Said Confused, Eddie Redmayne, reteams with Felicity Jones for The Aeronauts. Hey guys, I'm Josh Horowitz. Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused, Yes, the great Eddie Redmayne, one of the more charming, sweet, talented gentleman on the

planet, returns to the podcast today for another random, fun, interesting conversation about a great many things, including his excellent new film, kind of like an old-fashioned adventure story with him and Felicity Jones, as I mentioned. They've re-teamed. They of course starred together in The Theory of Everything. That one worked out pretty well, where Eddie took home an Oscar for that. And in this one, they play to, he plays like a meteorologist, a scientist. They are in a gas air balloon, and they, it's kind of like a real-time adventure set, you know, many, many years ago, obviously, and they are kind of testing the limits of science and exploration and find themselves in a really harrowing adventure. It's a, it's a really, it's a great film to see on

the big screen. They're both excellent in it, and I had a great time with it. It opens on December 6th. You should check it out. It is called the Aeronauts. So that's the plugging for Eddie's new film out of the way. Other than that, I just want to mention that this conversation, you know, really runs the gamut. He was last on the podcast. I think it was about five years ago, surprisingly, although I've talked to him, obviously, many times for on-camera conversations for Fantastic Beasts and other projects. But it was really fun to, it's always fun to kind of like really go deep with Eddie in a kind of a little bit more of a haphazard conversation, a little extemporaneous conversation. He's currently shooting a film that we

reference in this chat that I couldn't be more excited about. It's Aaron Sorkin's new film that he wrote and directed called The Trial of the Chicago 7. We allude to the fact that this is a true story about anti-war activists that were put on trial in the late 60s. You can look up the details if you want. That's going to be coming, I assume, probably late next year. I bet it's an Oscar-y kind of a film for next year. So that's very exciting. Also talk about his many friends that are currently, you know, working on Broadway, whether it's, you know, Jonathan Price or Tom Hiddleston or Charlie Cox, who again was in the theory of everything, he really came up with this amazing crop of young talented actors who are all now, like, hitting their stride. I mean, they've been

hitting it for a few years, but they're like kind of ruling theater and film. So that's pretty cool. But yeah, you know, if you've seen Eddie talk, you know he's charming and self-effacing and just always a delight. So really thrilled that he came back on the podcast to talk about the aeronauts today. Other things to mention, let's see, other cool things you could watch that I've done recently, had a great chat with Amelia Clark and Henry Golding. Their film last Christmas is currently in theaters. They couldn't be more fun and charming to talk to. That conversation is up on MTV News's YouTube page. You can still check out my personal space conversation, my extended chat with Jason Mamoa, who was just a blast to talk to. We went to Rivington

guitars in New York to talk about his life and career and his new film on Apple C. And then I talked to the Charlie's Angels gang, all of them, the three leads, including Kristen Stewart and Elizabeth Banks, the writer and director. So that's going to be up on MTV News's social platforms and YouTube page very soon. I think by the end of this week you'll be able to watch that one. So lots of good stuff, lots of good movies out there, guys. Ford v. Ferrari he opens this Friday. I would highly recommend that one. That's James Mangold's latest film. Another True Story starring Christian Bale and Matt Damon. Yeah, there's a lot of good stuff. Marriage Story is playing, I think, in New York and select theaters. That's going to be on Netflix

in a little bit, but that's one of my favorites of the year. It's turned out to be a pretty great year in film. So hopefully you guys are enjoying the newest offerings as much as I am. And that's about it. Let me toss it to my big old conversation with the great Eddie Redmayne right now and with one last reminder to review, rate and subscribe to Happy, Say, Confused. Please spread the good word. And I hope you guys enjoy this chat, the one and only, Eddie Redmayne. Can you believe, okay, Eddie, it's been five years since you've been on the podcast.

Has it? Yeah, isn't that weird? I mean, I've seen you a thousand times in the interim. In the interim. doing other things, like making faces. Yeah, it's like doing happy second few spaces, which we'll do again, of course, today. Yeah, it's five years since you broke the Birdman action figure.

Well, thank you. I broke that. God, that was vicious of me. I'm about to work with Michael Keaton, so I'm... I was going to say, you can hash this out. I'm so excited. He's, yeah. Did you get to know him a little bit on the Oscar service that year?

Fleetingly, and I liked him so much, and we've just, we haven't, we've got, Two scenes together in this movie, the film that I'm filming, sorry, currently. But I'm really excited. I'm also looking at your table of things, and most terrifyingly, I'm seeing a poster for Willow.

Willow was a film that I was taken to see when I was about eight years old. And I went to the loo about 26 times during it. And I was taken by a grown up. She was like, you're all right? I'm fine, I'm loving this movie. I was so terrified of that film. Queen Babmorda is an imposing...

Was that her name? A wicked witch stealing babies... What's weird about that? What's creepy about that? Beyond. And genuinely, just seeing that image is PTSD. PSTD. Eddie is broken out into a cold sweat.

It's genuinely, genuinely. So is New York a temporary home right now? It is. So my wife and I have moved over here, with other ones for four months and loving it, absolutely loving it. So is this the first time you've lived in New York since Red?

Since Red, yeah. So I did a play here, God, it feels like yesterday was probably a decade ago. Yeah. And it is as vibrant as ever. It's just filled with life. And it's, there's something about the, also one of the first film I did,

one of the first films I did was The Good Shepherd and we shot that here. And it's the first time I've kind of, we're shooting in New Jersey, the first time I was shot over here for an age. Well, it must also be, I mean, like, obviously your life has changed quite a bit. You've got a full-on family. So you're a different, it's a different, Eddie, in some respects that's living in a New York

life right now. We were just talking about, like, all these restaurants, the restaurants, I haven't seen them yet. Yeah. If I get to bed my time, I'm fine. Yeah. It also strikes me, I was looking around, you know, I see a fair amount of theatre here. I feel like everybody you've ever worked with is currently on stage here right now.

This is quite true. Yeah, which is probably a sign saying that I should go to do a play. So Tom and Tom Hiddleston and Charlie Cox doing betrayal, which I saw in London, was fantastic. And Jonathan Price is here on stage. Yeah, that's amazing. Aaron's doing a Luan Rouge, right? Aaron Tavit is doing Milan Rouge. Have you seen that?

Yes. Is it extraordinary? It's spectacular, as you would expect. I can't. Clearly the tickets cost $9,000 and are impossible to get, but I'm going to have to pull as many progressive strings. That's the hardest ticket in town right now. I had to put a lot of strings that get into that one. And Aaron Sorkin's a favorite movie.

I haven't seen that yet. Killer Rocking Bird. So I've got plenty of theatre to... And then this amazing play which was on in London called The Inheritance, which is just opening here that, again, I didn't see in London

so I'm hoping to catch here. I'll add that to the list. So is theatre... I mean, again, you've got a lot going on at home. Is theatre something realistic at this point to get back to, or... Always realistic. But for me, I suppose there's a certain sense

with British actors that there's this like canon of part that you're meant to sort of play. A lot of them are Shakespeare and classics. And when I started doing theatre, my first play in London was an Edward Albee play. Right. called The Goat. And then I did John Logan's play, Red and a Christopher Shin play called Now Late.

They were all new plays. And I loved having the writer in the room and getting to create characters sort of for the first time. Yeah. And so the last play I did, which wasn't age ago, was Richard the 2nd. and so since now I've been sort of craving to do a new play and finding

what that is has been a little challenge. You were kind of spoiled the ones you rattled off there. You're absolutely right I've been so spoiled and I've had this weird thing in the theatre I mean films I've done lots of sort of films that are hit or miss but theatre I've the difference

with theatre is you my way of choosing theatre is I always go okay worst case scenario right you and the director don't get on right the rehearsal process is a nightmare the reviews are horrendous no one comes and sees it like is there enough in the part and the play yeah to still give you kind of sustenance continuously for for months on end when you're playing to empty and so weirdly that's quite kind of an easy decision to make whereas with film there is an alchemy which i've never quite understood you know there are scripts

that i thought were brilliant yes that end up being bad films there are scripts that i thought or a bit dodgy that end up being good films. Like there's something in the process of making it that is, that is an algorithm. Which is wonderful. You mentioned, and I've seen betrayal, I saw both in London and in New York,

so I saw Charlie and Tom do their thing along with Zahwe. Zahui, who was extraordinary, yeah. So did, I know you knew Tom in school, Charlie just on the circuit? Charlie I met, but I'll tell you why I met him. I met him when I was doing, it was the opening of the goats. They said, would Albi play in London

at the Almeada Theatre. And Charlie had just finished doing Merchant Venice with Al Pacino. And he came to see the play. And we were both, and we met and clicked and became fast friends. And then when he did The Theory of Everything, it was kind of the most, it was amazing in theory of everything because obviously Felicity and I had sort of showy a part. And yet he grounded that film and this real man in his. wonderfully, and so that was special for us.

Does the peer group that you kind of got to know early on, like when you see Tom's career, for instance, is that like what you would have like, yeah, oh yeah, he's going to be this like, I mean, I looked out of the theater with him once, and I saw, I've never seen, I've never seen people react to a human being. I don't think any of us, honestly, had, and what I adore it is that there was this troop. Like, we were all auditioning, whether it's Tom or Charlie or Rob Pattinson or Tom Sturridge.

Andrew Garfield We just for years We were scrappy Hungry young actors Like and and but But it did We were just going up for tiny parts and tiny things And we'd be like

Looking slightly kind of Dishevel Wandering around Soho in London Where all these audition rooms were In the basements of these Underneath the Edit Suites And we'd go for these auditions And you'd end up having catastrophic auditions

And going to the pub and kind of laughing about it afterwards. And it felt, we looked back on it with great romance. It was probably horrendous at the time. But what was lovely was that you were, what's been amazing is from that group, we've all won some and lost some. And so that, and of course there's competition

and there's, and over the years, but the wonderful thing is because everyone has sort of had an element of success. By now it's like, okay, everybody has gotten their due and figured out their path a little bit. But also, I feel the wonderful thing about acting is you get to work with older actors from the word go. And you see, and you hear from them in kind of mentorish places that obviously careers in our world are, they oscillate. They never go, they never start in one place and end up continuously being fantastic.

They're kind of, their ebbs and flows. But the lovely thing about working with elder actors is that they're still doing it and they're still passionate about it. and that you can have moments that hit at different times and parts that suddenly appear and then you can have periods where it's... So I feel like we all have a reassurance in that. Yeah, well, you mentioned something like Jonathan Price, who's somebody that, like, when I was a kid,

like I loved, he was in Brazil and it was amazing. And there have been probably five, like, five-year patches where I haven't seen Jonathan Price in a film. Yeah. And, like, he's probably been working steadily. But, like, for whatever reason, like, right now he's got the two popes and he's on Broadway and it's like, he was in the life last year. Exactly.

Well, so Jonathan is, firstly, gave me, so he basically put me in this play, the goat, this Albi play when I started and really was a mentor and I adore him and his wife, Kate Fai, he was also in that play. And similarly I learnt so much from him and continuously go and watch him on stage and do brilliant things, you know, on screen, but getting to then that extraordinary thing when a part hits the right person at whatever point in your career you are and seeing two popes, which is a masterclass from both him and Anthony Hopkins was just yeah I find really emotional I was really moved by it because it all all Jonathan's work has always been exceptional but for me this was sort of

other level yeah no I will say I mean when you were talking about your you're kind of your friend group it's funny because like in a different way like obviously I talk to you guys too over like the last yeah like you're like a therapist you're like obviously it's like I do feel like this weird like I'm rooting for all you guys and I have this connections like I knew you before like fantastic Classic Beast happened and I, and I knew Rob way before, like, I saw Rob at a party this weekend and I'm like, you're Batman. What is this happened? Yeah. And it's great to sort of just like even be like, to watch the ride even for a little bit more. But also what's so weird is when you've been in it long enough, like our relationship with you, for example, it's this sort of,

we meet in these odd environments and you're a kind person and you are, no, but you have a like, a warmth to you. That it is a sort of, it's lovely to, and, but that's what. But that's the industry is, is that you realize when you start out, you feel like it's going to end with the next job. Right. And the wonderful thing when you've been doing it long enough that whether it's journalists or actors or people, that there's a familiarity. It's a question of people, human beings. And you're not a one person band, basically, which to begin with it feels like, it's good. So, we should mention, you mentioned Felicity, who obviously you've re-teamed on for this new one, the aeronauts. So when did you first meet Felicity? We contest.

I feel like we met at a party of a playwright called Polly Stenham who was actually a kind of almost a sort of ringleader in some ways of not a ringleader but she housed a lot of these young reprobate actors when we were all starting out she's a wonderful playwright screenwriter and I thought we met at her house once but Felicity thinks we didn't and we met an audition. We met an audition for a film that never got made called Mood Indigo in which Felicity was cast and she was telling me the other day it was me Tom Hardy and Andrew were testing

for this part opposite and Dominic Savage was directing it and we had to stare he told me to stare into Felicity's eyes just to see if we had chemistry for sort of two minutes and I didn't get the part so it's always been a bit of a thing that like occasionally when a reviewer goes Felicity and Eddie have great chemistry I'm like it feels very warming because there was a period when it clearly wasn't there. But we met there and then, but we really became close. And again, so similarly to the guys, you know, whether it was Felicity or Carrie Mulligan or Haley Atwell

and all these sort of actresses that I've worked with over the years, you know, we were all pals as well. So it's kind of, it's wonderful getting to work with mates. It's funny. I think when I saw you, and maybe it was for The Last Fantastic Beasts, I think we were just chatting and I was asking about this film. And I was so like under the, I didn't realize what this, film was. I was like, oh, it's going to be a sweet story of just like, you know, hang out

hot air ballooning. It sounds like such like a nice little romp. You're like, uh, no, I'm dying. It almost killed me. Yeah. And, and yeah, it's basically, it's like gravity in a hot air balloon. I mean, it's, it's what I loved about it. And it, so when you read a script, we were talking about alchemy, like, what makes it? I just read this script and there is a moment in the film where Felicity client, which may have glimpsed in the trailers and which she, you You know, she climbs on top of this balloon and she is literally on top of the world. And I read the description of it. And I said, you know, in this time where everyone's questioning cinema and the role, I was like, I want to see that.

Yeah. I just want to see it. And sometimes the reason one chooses a job is can be to do with who you're working with. It can be to do with the character. It can be, you know, collection of things. But for me, I just want to see that. Like, I would like to be in a movie that that happens in. and it weirdly sort of fulfilled that for me

and the weird mixture in this film of in the one hand you have the intimacy of two people confined to this two meter by two meter space and then you but on this canvas it's like this thrilling macro adventure so I thought those things were kind of intriguing and a clever kind of construct where it's essentially in real time but you're flashing back to earlier portions of the relationship

I mean there was a point where our director wanted it. So the balloon journey takes place, as you say, in real time. But there was a second when he wanted it to be exactly second to second to second to second. And I was like, I think that's going to be a bit ambitious. I'm not quite sure those timing is going to. Is anyone really going to... Exactly.

This must be like Al Roker's favorite movie. You're celebrating meteorology. This is it. There you go. This is fun. Like the movie he's been waiting for all his life. It's like someone was describing it's like the most British film ever. It's like two people in a balloon.

in Tweed, talking about the weather. I promise you it's not on that move. It's much more than that. Yeah, what, yeah, so did you, I've never hot air ballooned. Yeah. Okay, I'm going to call you on this story. It's actually gas air balloons. Okay, and there is a difference just because,

so basically gas air balloons are literally a balloon filled with hydrogen and helium, with ropes attached to it, attaching it to a basket. Whereas hot air balloons, you can turn up the heat, which judges how high it's going. And so the only way that you can let a gas air balloon down is by letting the gas out, pulling on a rope that lets the gas out. Got it. And it means that the only way that you can keep going higher is by letting sandbags out, losing ballast.

Anyway, when Felicity and I made the film and they built this gas balloon, because they don't really exist in Britain anymore. So they built one, which has to go through the same testing as aeroplanes. The aeronautical tests are sort of... Good, I would not. Yeah, which is fine, which makes it sound really safe, but it was in nowhere safe. and we very nearly died. And after Felicity and I had done all this research

on these 19th century air balloonists, and they all basically end up dying. And then suddenly, after we did our first flight in which they were being shot from, we were being shot from helicopters and drones. And that was all very great and peaceful and beautiful. And then, but when we tried to land, we did crash into a forest and come hurtling down,

and Felicity very nearly died. And I was like, oh, why did it not? Why did it not occur to me, having read all this 19th century literature, and knowing that basically the technology hasn't changed in 150 years? Right. Why did I think it was going to be any different from that? Well, now you know why they kept going back up and then let themselves get into that situation. But the honest thing was that whenever you do a film,

the insurance medical thing, they want to check that you're not going to sort of die of an illness while you're doing it because all this money's been invested. And on this film, the insurance rigmarole, they put me through. I had to, like, run topless with things attached to, what are they called, oids, attached to my, to see whether I was healthy enough. And I love that they sort of put all of that to check that I wasn't going to get a stitch, you know, or get, like, breathless. But at the same point, they were very willing to put us into a death machine.

Yeah, anyway. Are you, like, have you jumped out of a plane? Have you bungee jumped? Are you any of that stuff? No. I'm not that guy. I don't feel. I didn't want to judge you, pre-judge.

You did preach it. I saw it on your face. I'm not that guy. but I will um yeah no no urge if I were to do it I probably would jump out of a plane rather than bungee jumping because I just feel like bungee jumping is just like years of osteopathy afterwards jumping out of plane you're putting your trust in one expert yeah I'll have to what I have done is I've like jumped off I have like paraglided off a cliff like up a mountain okay don't sell yourself sure buddy there you go there you go take that judgmental

face back was someone chasing you or was this volunteer just kind of walk off I actually skied off like a mountain. Okay. It's great though because you don't have to have the moment of going, oh, I'm jumping off a cliff because you just gently ski and then it catches the air, you know, it catches the parachute behind you and then you're, I mean, I was attached to someone. I wasn't, okay. But, um, yeah, but the great, yeah, yeah. Is, um, so what percentage of the actors that we've talked about would you want to be confined in a basket with, for for months on end? With all those guys? Yeah. And you know what? All are the ones I've mentioned. I would be very happy to hang out and have, oh, they are pals, nice history.

I haven't, I haven't named any of the turks, hardcore enemies. So, okay, so we, although I know that's what you're looking for. No, I'm not. By omission now I can figure it out. Oh, wait. Okay, so since we haven't ever had, we haven't had this kind of a chat post, remarkably posted the amazing theory of everything, Oscar run, did it, did it change a lot for you personally and professionally, in retrospect?

Ah, it, um, I mean, what it changed was it just gave you more choice because again, the other thing is the sort of, um, you know, the reality of our industry is all financial and that you're all on lists. Apparently,

I've never seen these lists and how financially viable you are internationally. And so whether small movies can be put together with, and, and I again watch it with older actors and you're, you're on a list at a certain place and, And you don't know where that is, but you're conscious that you're not being offered the work. And then suddenly for a moment you're on top of that list

and you get offered more things. And then again, that'll change and shift as people's. So what it did is it allowed choice, which I hadn't had in film for. And that, but what's interesting about that is, whereas when at this time, when we were all in Soho and going out for auditions, is what happens is you get sent an email by your agent that says,

you know, this is Elizabeth the Golden Age starring Kate Blanchett, you know, directed by Shaker Kapoor with Jeffrey Rush, and you're like, wow, all those people are brilliant and they want you to audition for this part. And so you go on audition for that part, and if you get it, you do it. You know, whereas suddenly what happens when you, is you're now being sent these scripts before they've maybe got directors attached or maybe got, and you're the person who has to, whose taste I suppose is being challenged or um right and whereas before you a lot of the you're a cog in a machine you're like okay well you're a cog in a machine but you'd also go well

if these great quality people are attached then you you know and suddenly you're sort of having to sort of make some of the calls and and and that's been curious I've kind of loved it in some ways and uh but but sometimes are you a good judge of a script like first read do you know what my I often have an there's an instinct Alfred Molina said something when we were doing red

which is that you sort of read a script and there's a moment where you feel nausea which is when you basically realize you've got to do it you go from reading it as an objective thing to kind of see and I feel

sort of the same about that but then what's lovely is when there's a no brainer which like for example the film I'm doing at the Chicago trial of Chicago 7 where where this thing just leaps off the page

in a way that you just go, well, sign me, I'll do craft service. Like, I'll do anything to that. So let's talk about that one for a second, because I'm so excited for that for a number of reasons. Aaron Sorkin. Yeah, I don't have a bucket list, basically. This is quite often when you're acting, people go,

you know, who do you want to work with? What do you want to do? Who are the actors? And I don't really have any answers those questions other than Aaron Sorkin. So when this came around, it's... Yeah, it was a moment when the phone call sort of happened. And then I read the script that was sent,

script going, please, please be good, and it was. And for those that don't know, I mean, I know a little bit of this, I remember I saw a doc, I think was by Brett Morgan many years ago about these guys, anti-war activists, this is a project that's been around for a while too, Spielberg was going to do it. I remember at one point, it's an amazing ensemble. You're playing Tom Hayden, anti-war activists. Yeah, talk to me a little bit about, also, here's something that occurred to me. I don't think I've heard you, at least in a while, speaking an American accent.

Yeah. How's that going? Well, I find really weird about that is I had years of doing these tiny little films that always went to Sundance. Yeah, Yo, Hankish you were saying, yeah. Playing all these Americans and on theater, on stage, you know, red and playing American. So I felt like basically my whole 10 years of my career was doing it, but the answer was no one saw any of those movies. So it doesn't feel strange to me. Well, that's a good sign.

But it's also, no, it's been wonderful. I've been to work with, I actually love dialect because I tend to approach it in a way. It's a bit like playing the piano or learning a dance or something. Like, I'm a really crap dancer and it takes me forever to learn the move. But once I've really got them embedded in me, I can kind of sell it. And so what I love, you know, as an actor, you're always trying to work out what your route through a character is, what the process is and what's lovely

when you're doing a specific accent is you start in a really technical level months beforehand is how I like to do it and then by the time you're playing it's so embedded that you actually it frees you in a weird way so yeah what was the question I don't know that's okay

we both are very extemporaneous the perils of this podcast did you know much about this history though like it was this I knew nothing about it and then I read the script and it's you know, it's a film about these anti-war activists. It's about the state making an example of them.

I've got to find a way to talk about the film. It's a courtroom thriller, but it is the most scintillating writing that I've read in an age, and it has this thrilling kind of urgency to it. And it's a proper ensemble. And that's what I suppose was something that I hadn't realized that I, you know, whether it's The Theory of Everything

or the Danish Girl or Aeronauts, and Fantastic Beast is much more of an ensemble, but to get to work with this array of actors. And I knew that because of the quality of the writing that Aaron would attract wonderful writers, but the film's not, you know, since I was attached to it, it fell apart a couple of times.

And it's, and the, You know, that's been quite emotional because we were sort of all ready to go. You're really invested in it, yeah. You're quite invested in it. But yeah, you've got what Sasha Baron Cohen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Mark Rylands. Joe Gordon-Levett and lovely actor, Alex Sharp,

and John Carroll Lynch and Michael Keaton. I mean, it's really filled to the brim. And like Mark Rylance literally gave me my first ever job playing viola in 12th night opposite him playing Olivia almost 20 years ago and that got me an agent and a career

and so getting to and because a lot of it is courtroom at Frank Langella is in it as well getting to watch Frank Langella and Mark Rylance Masterclass It's genuinely it's like we all We just sit there kind of

Yeah the last yeah it's funny Because I didn't realize he was playing William Consor Who I mean as a New Yorker I grew up Like that's a I can see Rylands doing that Yeah yeah yeah no seven anyway um so also so you know we've also made a light of the fact that like part of what i appreciate many people i think appreciate about you is like um your kindness but also you're so

self-deprecating and sort of like very like own like your nervousness at times in situations that's how it can be summed up right if there was a sound that embodied any red name yeah yeah yeah yeah so neurotic self-floating but here's the thing okay so like so even post oscars is that's not something that where you can like if you're in your nervous moments on a set you can you can think like i have got i've reached the the top i have been celebrated in that way no not really because you because you know that look the thing about acting is that anyone can have an opinion because you're playing humans and so any human can stop and go i think that's unreal i don't like that. And in acting, you're made aware of it. People, and they tell you lovely things, of course,

and they tell you when they think you fail. And so what's, so it's a life of any, I suppose, person working in the public eye and something, you're up for people's criticism. But the interesting thing is that no one is as critical as, I heard Kate Blanchett said, actually. It was interesting to see it again from people that you think are formidable. But no one's as critical as you are about yourself. And so what's sometimes tricky with acting is when people are going,

I don't believe that. You're like, no, no, no, don't worry. I agree. I'm way ahead of you. I'm not sitting here thinking I freaking nailed this. And the weird thing about film more than anything is you can't do anything to change it. So you're in the hands of others and that's what and you own people go

you've got hundreds of takes you really don't and particularly something like the Sorkin movie which is sort of a low budget indie film in some ways you are you get you're in and out

you are and there is a and then you just have to wait and then see the things that you are upset with whereas in theatre you can go and try and mend it and that is the constant appeal of theatre

is you can kind of go and have another it's iterative It's sort of like, yeah. Well, it's also you're making a, I'm really struck by actors that have to, like, make choices on that first day on a set that you can't, like, there's only so far you can vary now from that initial choice. You need to be consistent.

And then you talk about, and I was, Paul Dayno is a good friend, and he was directed a film recently and was talking about how riveting as an actor it is being in the edit suite and seeing, from our points of view, you see as an actor, you have an instinctive choice, that you've sort of created in a vacuum because you've been working by yourself for an age and when you have four takes

do you choose those four takes to mine that specific choice? Do you see what I mean? Because you've got this idea but you want to like make sure that the camera captures the best version of it or you just let it go or do you totally let go

and get four different, complete different variations and hopefully consistently listening to what the other actors are giving you back and it was interesting hearing his take on that having stepped from you know, behind the camera. So what does he as a director want?

Does he want variation? Yeah, well, he says, well, I think it's, I think it's more complicated than one or the other, but it's riveting to find the, and I think that the more I sort of, I find that, all of that compelling, but there was an actor who said, and I'm totally misquoting,

because I was told secondhand recently, that there's a sort of, that one of the things that makes acting unfulfilling, sometimes is that when you go home, there's just a graveyard of untapped ideas. You know what I mean? And so rather than going, oh, you got those ones,

but all of these other things that you could have... It's been a number of variations you never got to. And that maybe is slightly kind of obsessive. But when someone told me that... I was talking to Mark Rylands about it the other day, and he described it as trying... And he's such a sort of beautiful optimist.

And he was like thinking of it more as a meadow of... of growing ideas. Of course he does. And which I thought was, so I've tried to take that. There you go. Think about the meadow, Eddie.

Yeah, absolutely. Meadow, the happy place. Was I told him that recently, recently my wife and I rent a house in the countryside, England, and she's a great gardener. And she, I'm super impatient and not a great gardener.

She said, go and just throw these seeds down and just make a meadow of, you know, the meadow and I was like, I thought you just had to rattle these seeds around. It then transpired. You had to sort of dig everyone in with sand. forever.

Meadow died. Meadow died. So I was like, when Mark was telling me about this meadow of ideas. I literally kill meadows. That's what happens. I'm a meadow slayer. That's your nickname. Yeah.

Is there a point now, it's still in every film where you, you, even if it's not a rational thought, you think you're going to get fired? You think it's not going to... I think I'm sort of weirdly over that bit. But what happens definitely when it started, like, for example, theory of everything. I was cast without an audition. I was cast through a long discussion,

and I think there were various other actors that James Marsh had sort of wanted or spoken to. But sweetly, he cast me without an audition, which is amazing, but God, it would have been terrifying to try and audition as Stephen Hawking before, having done four months' research.

Sure. But I do remember day one on set being like, here it is. Are you, and at the same with the day, although it's interesting, and the Danish girl we did some tests very early partly because I wanted to

and because Tom Hooper wanted to see just months before we started filming and then but I yeah and so quite often for example now it'll be when you're auditioning with other actors who are auditioning for it that directors will get a first glimpse of something

and you're always like is that what you are? How are you going to? How are you going to have any bull? Yeah. You don't still have to audition. Can you, are you done? Not, not, I mean, at the moment I don't, but, but.

Because we've been through the traumatic audition. We have been through the automatic, but at the same point, as I always say to, you know, I think what the other thing that happens is within an industry, you're seen in a certain way. And I've done, as we've said, like years of doing English period dramas. And, you know, I always make it absolutely clear that you are then, as you just said, you haven't done an American accent for a while. and the fact that those little films that you've done, the people that you care about,

the directors you'd like to work with, obviously haven't seen those because they were tiny little films and they weren't necessarily. But so I'm always an advocate of you put yourself on tape to prove people that you are capable of something different.

So I don't, there's no kind of, there's no like I wouldn't audition for anything. And you watch what your friends have done at recrafting people's interpreting. of them. Yeah. Is, um, so in retrospect, in the decision process for Fantastic Beasts, was there much doubt at all or was it like this is, there's too many pros, there's too many obvious great benefits

to this to have much concern? You know that I got to read the first script and I just, I loved the magic and of the world of it and I found the character unique because he was, he felt like an anti-stereotype really in the midst of a of a big sort of movie world I like that's not the yeah that's not the protagonist we're used to see and and um so that was there was no question yeah and I've got to say I have loved making them they're it's a really creative bunch um yeah do you still do you keep in touch with cast in between the uh yeah there's big as a beast's a WhatsApp group I was gonna say there's got uh Alice

is currently in Australia, I think. So he's just back in New York. God knows where Ezra is. Who knows what he's up to? Yeah, and Ezra is, who knows where Ezra is? But he just makes me so happy that human being. All of them do. I've got to say it's like, it's a great.

It's a really, I was not seeing all of you best together. I mean, except for the fact that when we came and did your thing, it's just like, it's like sort of wrangling. No, I love it. Ezra sent me a video. I feel like dad occasionally. I'm like, hey, listen. to Josh.

I will just say I've gotten some choice videos sent by Ezra to me randomly. Amazing. From the streets of like random streets around the world. And I'm like, what are you doing? What is, I'm amazing. He's amazing. You've got to cut them all together. Yeah, I know.

I was, yeah. So is, it sounds like the third one is moving forward. Steve Clovis is now helping to write it. Yep. This is exactly what I've heard. So we're on the same page. We're on the same page. I mean, I really don't know.

I don't know any more than that other than it's got to be exceptional. It's got to be something wonderful because it's such an astonishing world and it's a world that I loved in the Potter films swimming in and there is a fan base, fan base, God, that sounds well, there are just people that love that world that have expectations for it and we need to hit those.

So I'm excited to go into it with everyone having, you know, firing on all cylinders and wanting to make it the best you possibly can be. Are you sensitive at all, or do you, like, watch or the reception of it? It's so funny because, like, the second film, I think, made, like, literally $650 million. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And there was also, yeah, there's also some perceptions that it wasn't as great as the first one. And some people, for whatever reasons, it were.

I mean, I'm not, I mean, for better or worse, I hear all of that. And, and the reason when people say, do you read criticism, I'm like, I do, because it sort of galvanizes you. And that's why, I mean, I was totally open-eared to all of that. And, and I think that everyone was. because, again, because JK Rowling has created something that is so, is this weird thing where

world's reach of a status where they're almost owned by the fans. I know exactly the way you're going with this, yes. They feel like they are partners. And rightly, and as a fan of her world, so it's this complicated thing

where it's course still her baby and her imagination, but the Xbox expectations are high. And so I think, yeah, we're all going to go in with our all guns blazing. I just hope if you... All ones. Oh, Christ. I just hope you guys, so supposedly it's set, at least partially in Rio, just let you guys go to Rio at least. I mean, if you're going to have a film in Rio, Eddie should get to go to Rio. Frican, tell me about it. Tell me about it. Let's have Newt, in his speedos, walking down Copacabana. That's not where I was going. I don't be... The pallid, pale, red mane forward slash commander skin, like strutting down Copacabana had the cover with, like, I don't know.

I like it. Do you reckon? Yeah. I mean, to be honest, Josh, if what you're saying is, can you actually go and shoot on the locations, can I just make it absolutely clear that I have fought hard to go to every, I sort of write emails. relatively consistent to one of our producers going so are you just on a like scouts in this country looking at what the you know so that you can rebuild it in these because i'm quite excited what i am quite excited is if we are shooting which we are shooting i think quite a lot in leavsden yes they are rob and zoie and paul are all shooting um batman in leesden that's a nice benefit

which i have you know busy pitching for like although i think that's been cast as well now I was like, basically, I could come dressed as Newt's Commander. I could be the butler, you know. Andy Circus says, Alfred, you missed out on that one, too. Like, Alfred's pal. Wait, Harvey Dent. Do you know about Harvey Dent? Two-Face?

Yes, yes, yes. Apparently, they're still looking for that. Oh, are they? Okay. There's like desperation, and there's desperation. I'm like, Warner Brothers are making it. They know me. They do know you.

If I was crossing their mind, they would have called. Well, you're happy for your friends. The fact that we're shooting at the same time. That's why I'm not a catwoman. Are you okay with, do you feel like you still need to check the superhero box? Or is it sort of like? I might honestly, it's script by script. I would never, I know it sounds silly, but you don't, I never say never to anything.

There's certain kinds that I could. I mean, like your buddy Benedict, like you could have done Dr. Strange. That makes sense. Like that kind of. I don't feel like I have the physical presence as, Ben does. You know, he's got like the... We've never seen him in a speedo on the Copacabana.

At the Copacabana. Yeah, it's like, okay, that's how to make sure Fantastic Feas 3 does worse in Fantastic Disney. Sorry, never mind, no, right. Okay, so do you know what's coming up after? You're in the middle of this. You're just starting getting started.

Yeah, we're halfway through. We're literally halfway through shooting. Jeremy Strong is in this movie as well. Have you watched Succession. Oh, my God. So I've known Jeremy for many years, and he is just so, wonderful in this. Again, talk about an actor

finding the right part at the right time. It's all clicking. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, but, so we're right. He was pointing out that we're literally

halfway through. Yeah. But I've still got my Michael. I actually break the Birdman wings. I don't think I did. It wasn't like you cracked

it in half over your knee, but you picked it up. It was probably already a precarious construction. Okay. Well, that wasn't on purpose. I thought I just

hurt the, I remember losing the Inception Those are gone I think those are Oh see you're passing it off Like you didn't steal it But we know now

Okay I'm gonna check your trailer On the set of this one It's filled with Josh Horowitz shit Literally Everywhere I love it It is a thing

You're always welcome here To go off E T Spielberg came on set the other day Yeah How was that That was pretty cool What do you say to Spielberg

Are you good in those situations? I had met him once when um when i was doing red yeah and um and i was really hung over so they have this thing on broadway where they do like sunday matinees which in the uk you don't work on a sunday and it was the first week and i had done the first week and i'd sort of forgotten there was a sunday show so i'd got to saturday where you have two shows and i'd gone out and it had been press week and i'd gone out and got really, really obliterated and then turned up the next day. It's really one of the only times I've ever been slightly out of it on stage, and there were only two of us on stage,

so I felt like I was floating the whole way through the play. And then at the end, as I was coming down past Alfred Molina's dressing, and he's like, hey, you can't come from meet my friend Stephen. My leg sort of buckled with shame. So I did, I haven't, that was about, again, 10 years ago. I hope you didn't apologize again when you saw him the other day. Like, I mean, I was on the verge of it. I think I just sort of sculpted into. the back room, yeah. He's clocked me, he knows. No, he's it.

But, um, yeah. No, I'm excited to see West Side story. I mean, who's not. He was saying that he had an amazing time doing that. I'm glad you're enjoying your time in New York. Yeah. I'm the time with Mr. Aaron Sorkin. Yeah, I could just talk you for hours.

People have probably checked out of this podcast about, no, not at all. You're always welcome here. It's not going to be five more years before you're back on the podcast. And as you can see, there's plenty in the office to stare at if you get bored. Yeah, but like, so just, I don't know, has, has this office been photographed? Can I talk about how creepy this office? The most creepy thing is a mixture, a sort of mash-up photo of Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper

that should be perfect and yet somehow is very odd. There's James McAvoy's Professor Triple X business card. This is a sketch I did with him. You know I'm always trying to get you into one of these sketches. Oh, wait, don't know you're not. We did a Hufflepuff one that was quite. We did. That was scratching the surface.

That was scratching the surface. Come on. If you see the stuff that me and Ezra have done, all I'm saying is... It's good. It's fun. It's good. You'll have a good time. I'll take care of you. Will you, though? Will you though? I did this one recently with James Corden, who I adore, and I love, no, it hasn't come out. Oh, I saw the one for a friend desk. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This one I think is going to be so humiliating.

It's sort of like, there are just levels of humiliation. We'll find the sweet spot of humiliation. Okay, good. I'll rein you back in from your Copacabana ideas. I'll take care of you. I'm here for you. Okay, good. Michael Shannon, the non-sexual escrow. Oh, wow. It's a lot to think about. I want to haunt your dreams. Is that a thing? That's what we did one of those.

Okay, guys, I need to go and check out your YouTube channel. Check out, Judge's YouTube channel. Not with the kids around. Not with the kids around. Okay, I mean, they're frankly so obsessed with seeing anything that's on a screen. Frozen 2 coming soon. Are they old enough to enjoy? Do you know, it's funny.

So my thing with my kids is that I feel like the second you've seen anything Pixar or thingy, you can't go back. Right. So at the moment, they're on the, on the, the. the old Robin Hood, which is my favorite cartoon ever, and Iris, my daughter, is really into that. But she's through, subliminally, through other kids, is singing, let it go. And so now she's in New York,

and Michael Grandage, who's directed Frozen on Broadway. So my wife and I are deciding, or thinking we probably should let her see Frozen, in order that she can then go and watch the theater. Did she do, like, Elsa for Halloween or anything like that? Or was she, John, she actually did Mary Poppins. She's obsessed with Mary Poppins returns.

And I'm obsessed with me. Has she met Emily yet? I would blow my mind. No, but I did send the photo of Iris dressed as Mary Poppins to Emily because I said to Emily, well, it's like the amount of effort that went into probably Emily creating, which I think is an amazing performance, by the way. But Iris was like so, so excited. She's broken her umbrella, though, which is a bit upsetting, slightly annoyed that she doesn't have a talking umbrella.

It runs in the family, like father or like daughter. They break things. Yeah. thanks okay I'm going to leave this podcast feeling no horror and guilt you to be fair you came in feeling that way okay good yeah yeah it's okay so it isn't a good therapy session no no progress just stasis stasis stasis no progress that's right see you again in five years yeah I can't wait I'll be exactly the same me too nothing will have changed go see the aeronauts that go though guys come on yeah go see the aeronauts if you come away with one thing besides our neuroses yeah it is to go and

and particularly if you have a fear of heights. Yeah. Yeah. Works for me. I have a fear of heights. Fear of everything. Yeah. That's why we get along.

A fear of everything. That's like a sequel to. Theory of everything. All right. We need to stop talking. Yeah, stop. Shut up. I hate much.

All right. Good night, night, night. Bye, everybody. And so ends another edition of happy, sad, confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley. I definitely wasn't pressure to do this by Josh.

Hey, Michael. Hey, Tom. You want to tell him? Or you want me to tell him? No, no, no. I got this. People out there. People, lean in.

Get close. get clothes. Listen, here's the deal. We have big news. We got monumental news. We got snack-tacular news. Yeah, after a brief hiatus, my good friend, Michael Ian Black, and I are coming back. My good friend, Tom Kavanaugh, and I are coming back to do what we do best.

What we were put on this earth to do. To pick a snack. To eat a snack. And to rate a snack. Nemptively. Emotionally? Spiritually. Mates is back.

Mike and Tom eat snacks. Is back. A podcast for. Anyone with a mouth. With a mouth. Available wherever you get your podcasts.