Happy Sad Confused - Jonathan Bailey

Episode Date: August 22, 2024

Jonathan Bailey soared to new heights thanks to BRIDGERTON but it's FELLOW TRAVELERS that landed him his first Emmy nomination. He joins Josh to chat about it all including WICKED and his upcoming starring turn in a JURASSIC PARK movie Subscribe here⁠ to the new Happy Sad Confused clips channel so you don't miss any of the best bits of Josh's conversations! SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! ZocDoc -- Visit ZocDoc.com/HappySad Check out the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Happy Sad Confused patreon here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! We've got discount codes to live events, merch, early access, exclusive episodes, video versions of the podcast, and more! To watch episodes of Happy Sad Confused, subscribe to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Josh's youtube channel here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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You know who you are. That knocked... Put me in a box for about six weeks. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins now. I'm Josh Horowitz, and today on Happy, Sad, Confused, it's Jonathan Bailey, whether it's Bridgerton or fellow Travors, Wicked, or a Jurassic Park movie. He's in something for everyone.

He's a very busy man, and I'm thrilled. He's making the time to do this little podcast for the very first time, Jonathan. Thank you, Josh. This is a real pleasure. Well, I'm saying I'm honored to be here because I love your podcast. Thank you, man. You're killing it lately. There's a lot to talk about.

Congratulations on all things. You're in my neck of the woods, I know. Even though we're doing this on Zoom, you're in New York. I can say it's the same. Smellivision is in full effect. Do you feel guilty? If you've left Scarlet Johansson to fend for herself, if a velociraptor eats her, that's on you, man.

I know, that's true. I mean, if there's one person we know who can fend for herself, it's Scarlett, but she is, I sort of have separation anxiety from her and Mahershala as well, you are. They're both. They're both. Thank you, yeah. Amazing.

I'm sure she'll be fine. We'll get to that in a second. First, on the New York front, I was going to get into the theater as a part of your career. Why have we never seen you on stage here? What is happening? What's going on? Well, I mean, the idea of going to New York to do theater is like, for me, the sort of holy grail slash, yeah, something that's felt, I mean, I'm so in awe of theater generally and especially when I come to New York. And, yeah, the opportunity hasn't, hasn't, you know, popped up just as of yet.

But, you know, one day I'm sure I hope we'll find something really good to do with here. Is there kind of a dream New York theater scenario, whether it's a original piece, a great revival? I just want to say, you must have daydreamed about this at some point. My daydream currently is to be Colostola's dresser. You know, Mary. but I saw Amerian Stereophonic I've seen so many brilliant things here and it's been sort of incredible

sort of transcendental theatre experiences where you can't really see the edges and I thought Stereophonic was just there's something you know these things these magical theatre moments come by very rarely but when they do it's like the ultimate satisfaction so yeah I mean

I would be amazing to see something like that but the problem is with these things is that they're so good that you can't see the work, so you don't know how, you know, is this sort of struck with all. But no, I think, you know, if, yeah, I'll, I'll jump into, maybe I'll play Fiera. Yeah, exactly, exactly. So, okay, so let's talk a little bit. You're spelling the good word on fellow travelers, which is a great gift that we are still talking about this. It debuted, I believe, eight, nine months ago, you know, people, you know, people make fun.

And I make a white of kind of like the awards process and awards. And awards are kind of silly and fun. You have to keep it in check. But there is a beauty of it because it lets us, you know, talk about this and revisit this. I mean, frankly, isn't that right? I mean, like, a lot of people are just coming to this limited series now. So I'm thankful that this is giving us an opportunity to spread the good word. Completely.

And because it came out when we're in the strikes just at the end of it. And I remember, you know, it's the first time I did a sort of two days after the strike broke was my first sort of interview in America. So the whole experience has been such a learning curve, but also, you know, for all of us talking about it with Ron and Matt and Noir and Jolani, I think the fact that it's sort of been a slow, that we've been allowed to talk about it over to is it sort of makes sense for the fact that it's such a special. And I think sort of it's kind of original and groundbreaking in the way that the story's being told. So it's okay for people to take their time to find it. How brilliant that because of the Emmys we now. get to talk about it again. But yeah, it's been, it's been amazing. And I feel, yeah, incredibly proud of it. We should say it's nominated for three Emmys. You and your co-star, you've met reference to great Matt Bowmer, who's done this podcast. He's always been very kind to me over the years. He has a gem, as you know, obviously. What's it been like to kind of go through this whole process with him? Not only the acting, but the press, the awards, the whole thing.

He's been through it. He knows the drill, and he's got such a good head on his shoulders. It must be invaluable. Yeah, it really, yeah, it really is invaluable. And I think there were sort of amazing moments when we were filming and, you know, you finished the day and you go, it's a predominantly gay sort of creative team as well and going for dinners and the nuance of the conversations that you can have about what it's like being in this industry. And for Matt, having had so many more, you know, he looks unbelievably, he looks younger than me, but he's a, yeah, he's been a hero way before I even met him. So to be able to share. experiences is amazing, but then also on top of that to, yeah, to have someone as sort of

sensitive and creative and kind as he is as well, made it all the more special. But, you know, he was there getting it commissioned with Robbie Rogers, who is an extra bowler, and he's gone into producing, and he's literally changing the world, sort of one project at a time. And obviously, Ron Niceway in a rope Philadelphia. Yeah. So, you know, just for me and Matt, we were sort of boogie boarding together, or Maybe I should say we're on the banana boat together behind the, behind the motorboat of Ron and Robbie and Dan Minahan and the director.

So, yeah, it's been amazing. And I think we've all just sort of just, you know, it's been really energizing and grounding. Please give him my best when you see him. He, I will forever be indebted to Matt. He, I did, you know, we're kind of in the junket scenario, though. We're obviously doing the long form thing. But I wrote a junket Comedy Central series years ago. he did me a solid and appeared as himself.

In one of the stupidest best jokes I think I ever wrote, he appeared in the movie within the show called Judge Hoddy. He was a character named Judge Hoddy, and he nailed it. Brilliant. I mean, the self-awareness. The best. You mentioned, it's funny, you mentioned Ron Nyswammer, and I remember growing up, I've got a few years on you,

but I mean, some of the works that he's adapting this work, obviously. But, like, as you mentioned, he wrote Philadelphia way back. when and I remember I was a teenager when that movie came out and people may not remember a younger generation might not know how ground breaking a piece of work that is centering that kind of a story with Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks, Jonathan Demme, coming off of Silence of the Lambs and just normalizing a story of gay men going through the AIDS crisis in a major Hollywood way. I mean, you were probably a little young when Philadelphia came around, but I'm curious, like, did you have comparable works where you saw yourself reflected on TV or film that were kind of really special to you growing up? Yeah, of course.

It's funny, the sort of order I get, the more I realize, like, in terms of the fellow travelers, fellow travelers of it all, is that, you know, when Philadelphia came out, it was still a sort of very rapid response piece to the AIDS crisis that actually was in within 10 years. And, you know, when someone says to me, 10 years ago, I think it's 1990. just because everyone sort of freezes at 18 or something. So you realize the older I get, the more I can cherish the vital nature of Philadelphia and for everyone to allow that story to be made. But no, for me, you know, Russell T. Davis, I think, it's funny, when I talk about filmmakers and writers who created those sort of gay narratives growing up, which sort of for me, groundbreaking and, you know, allowed me to understand certain things, I sort of get

giddy and it's it's because it's unlocked something but rossal t davis is someone who i feel incredibly sort of um i sort of shudder when i think about him because queer as folk was um a complete uh game changer in the ukraine and i know it was it came to america um and you know i remember i remember brock mountain led me from i was writing a my final year at school i had this incredible teacher called dr brunton who um was incredibly inspiring, but I was writing about the representation of Hutus and Tutsis in the Rwandan genocide

in shooting dogs in Hotel Rwanda. And then Broe Back Mountain came out. And I was like, right, how can I find a reason to go to that and see that 15 times? And so I changed the essay to the representation of homosexuality in Brokeback Mountain. And my teacher, I just said, look, I think I really want to do this.

And he just said to me, I think you're on something, Johnny, go, go, go. And it was all I needed. I look back now and I go, God, he was so perceptive and just but um so yeah so you know if you think about angli and gus van sand with with milk and um you know i think or Morris as well um because of the spider woman um there's so many incredible i remember one of my first dates i went on with the guy that i my first love was there's the warmest color and it's just there's a real sort of connectivity to

you know the queer experience and brilliant cinema and also art like It's amazing when you then finally find your tribe as you get older and you leave school that's obviously always really complicated to various degrees, is that you realize that the people that you end up being best friends in adult life all have the same sort of responses to the same things. Right. Those touch points are the same. Those touchstones totally.

Yeah. You know, we're talking like, you know, Shakespeare's sister. We're not talking like George Michael, which is obviously he's incredible, but it wasn't the sort of underlying sort of warm bottom notes of. of queer culture that you pick up on. But yeah, so there's so many incredible performances that and that sort of were stunning portrayals of gay life and also that, you know, because these actors decided to, you know,

we got to see them. So it's amazing to see how that's changing as well, sort of blossoming. What did strike you when you started to read this material? I have a feeling anyone watching or listening to this knows what we're talking about, but fellow travelers is this epic decades-long saga primarily based around this key relationship and you know reflects that fictional relationship through the prism of the queer experience in America over a series of decades um as you say i'm gonna i'm gonna copy that that was amazing oh wow that was so hard to say it at a second but you just it's a lot it's a lot but what

struck you i mean look there are familiar tropes to this but they're there are roundbreaking i think elements to this too um what what surprised you excited you when the material was presented to you I think what surprised me was the history and the facts and the truths that were, you know, just the lavender scare in itself. It was just an incredible moment in time that I hadn't, and I didn't know much about. And this is so much, I think it was this sort of brazen depiction of power within oppression of minorities and about how that directly affects, you know, what in this case, one man that's played by Matt Bowmer, but then also of course his lover and his wife and it's the social the sort of psychosocial exploration of the characters and how shame permeates through and I just think the relationship between the two of these men meeting you know as 2 a.m. in an apartment to you know the Eisenhower and McCarthy and Roy Cohn of course and the parallel between that felt incredibly important and and also it was just like a

an invitation to be able to, like, live a whole sort of queer existence in six months and to do all that research and to understand, I guess, more the world and the misunderstandings of the gay experience that have been problematic. And so then, you know, basically, you're left with a residue, a sort of brilliant residue of empathy for people who otherwise wouldn't, are threatened by it. And you hear the rhetoric that was talked about. And that was in the first I think the first two episodes, and that was on the page, which I thought was just really disarming and alarming of, you know, Senator McCarthy talking about the version of gay men and that they're the threat to society. And I just think seeing that on the page and then, you know, combined with a rich, detailed gay characters, and knowing that Matt was already on board, I knew that if they were going to cast, you know, three other gay men alongside him, it would be something that, you know, we've been waiting for. well and also this this this is such an expansive story it's not telling one experience it's obviously telling different perspectives and different experiences and i like i had this conversation when all the strangers was out with i with andrew scott and how how he was so moved by the fact that in his story in that in that film it it finally showed a different uh a different story wherein we're used to seeing kind of like the parents that disapprove of a young man coming out and it's not always that well

maybe that has happened a lot. Of course it does. There are many parents that approve and love their gay children. And it's all about the variety of experiences. And for the gay culture, it feels like for decades, we've been getting a narrow slice. Completely. And something this expansive, fair to say, lets us see the good, the bad, the ugly of the gay experience in America over a series of decades. Yeah. Well, I think true of a spectrum, of sort of LGBTQ community, there's a spectrum of, you know, how the society sort of relates to gayness.

But, yeah, I thought the inclusion of Noah and Jolani's characters and looking at the intersection of sort of blackness and queerness and about colorism within that, and then to be able to go through, you know, these moments and then expand on it, I thought it's brilliant. And, yeah, it seems like historically, you know, the pain and the bruises of, of, you know, I suppose the result of being oppressed

and, you know, is the thing that makes stories worthwhile. And I think telling this and opening it up and, of course, all of our strangers, and there are loads of amazing stories being told now, which do expand that. But yeah, I totally understand what Andrew was saying that. During the Volvo Fall Experience event, discover exceptional offers and thoughtful design that leaves plenty of room for autumn adventures.

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Minio Pizza-Hat My-Box, the shoroot-octa-harmes, Pizzahat, I'll-tlop the day. Do you feel more exposed, like doing the press circuit for something like this, where invariably it connects with your personal life and people like me will connect it. And like, you know, you're a private guy generally in the past. And now with something like this, you know, you've chosen and rightfully so, it makes sense for what the story is to connect it to your own experience to a degree. But do you feel like it's been an interesting experience for you to have to open up yourself a little bit more? Completely. I mean, it's been a complete game changer. And I'm sort of, I'm entirely grateful for it. I, yeah, and otherwise wouldn't necessarily, there wouldn't be any reason for me to talk about my sexuality.

I really strongly believe that it should be secondary to the work. But the fact that I have means I've had endless sort of energy doing it. And it's really exciting to talk about. I dread and fear the moment that, you know, you'll have to do a press. for something that doesn't feel so connected. But I do think Ron has spoiled it, spoil it for Matt and I, because it's set the bar so high for something that's so rich and detailed. And, you know, I'm incredibly proud to, it's not, it's not at all a worry to talk about how I relate to it. And, yeah, I think it's, I'm all the, I've experienced press in a very different way because

of it. So I'm, yeah, I'm glad. bad one aspect of the press experience the last bunch of months is you've been asked a thousand times about the intimate scenes and like you know there's this is like endless fascination for those of us that never will have to do that yeah you know in front of a camera and a crew there is that kind of like how does that work how can you possibly even do that so i mean do you understand kind of the fascination on a level where does it bother you that you're you and mad are constantly talking about it i completely get it and also i think it's more it shows how sort of how quickly becomes sort of mundane and I or because you know I I remember sort of like sort of three in the morning after eight in our day having to go into an infancy and you're just like oh my god right you're like listening to Enya to try and calm yourself to just summon the angel but no it's um I think with it with fellow travellers I think I think the fear is always um for people to miss the nuance in the

If I, you know, it's so critical, because if you're going to show, you know, the power that's, you know, that controls these people. And when they come together, the power plate is so important to studying. I think it's inate you silly as well. And it is so, you know, I think for me and Matt, we both saw the opportunity in it because we've both, you know, done sort of into the sea scenes before. So we knew, like, so we got over all that stuff. but they are just so silly and funny and I was looking at I was going through pictures

just to have a little trip down memory lane and we had two you know I think straight stand-ins who and I just there's just some I just remembered how the only way to really show the ludicrous nature of it is that they had to stand in and you know

we would sort of rehearse the scene and would step out then you'd look and he's amazing and they were brilliant and uh god when you see it's a same street out of love actually remember exactly i mean which i didn't really understand that storyline when i but now i really really do um so yeah so i do i i completely understand it i think it's also um um yeah it's just so funny that it just becomes so such a rather than now sort of daily daily occurrence as much as a consumer of film and tv and now being a participant in those kind of intimate scenes.

Do you have pet peeves about what you see in a sex scene and an intimate scene? Like, do you hate like the cutaway to the roaring fireplace? Like, what do you like or dislike? Yeah, good question. I think I think I don't need it to be heavily scored. What are with music while? You're saying you don't want to you. Well, I think sometimes, I don't know.

I'm just trying to think you don't want the saxophone, the Kenny G. Saxophone typing it. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I think I just got it. I think also just like, I said it depends on the character you're playing, but I think it needs to be shared. Like, you know, people need to listen. I think that's, I mean, sometimes they don't.

It's a bit like, what? And also, you know, if it's, I think, I think we've moved past the bit where, you know, sex is included just for, innovation, yeah, but, but no, I think it's so different for, it depends. There's so many, there's so many variables that affect how a sex scene is filmed. And so, yeah, I mean, I would hate, you know, you can't try and lots and watch the critical eye, I don't know. Fair enough. So a little bit of background stuff. This is not a fake accent you're putting on. You are a legit Englishman. I take it. This is not an alabaroos. No, no, no. I promise you legit. Do you enjoy flattening into our sad American accent? I recently caught up with talking about Russell, Shudigatwa, loving to do practices. Courtney Kardashian to get down the flat American nasal tones.

What's your key into the American accent? My key is about 50,000 hours of one-on-one Zoom practice sessions. Yeah, no, I think singing in an American accent is a lot easier. And I think actually Brits do, you know, we sort of fall into that anyway. But, yeah, I'm trying to think of what my buzzwords were. I think Hawke was really hard to say for ages. so I was like and actually it doesn't sort of

I couldn't I still don't that's just something there's certain words you just have to learn the sounds and then you just have to sort of yeah but on fellow chablers I was like goodness

there's so many people that you meet on set as well they obviously people at home see the performance but it's so many amazing people that you collaborate with along the way and yeah

Michael Armstrong was like a total co-pilot and he was strong you know by name and nature because I you know It's to carry, there's so much of the American accent that unlocks, I think, the American. But no, I think singing in American is first step.

And then it's sort of, yeah. So there's a version of fellow travelers who are just singing every line just to get it right? Yeah. So you were, as I understand it, a child actor, a child performer. My bias against that is how were you not insufferable? Were you insufferable as a child performer, or were you adorable? I think I was probably inseparable. I remember when I did Les Miss when I was really, I mean, the fact, I think I was sort of,

I was literally scouted in like a local church where I did dance and they were looking for a little kid to play tiny tim. So I think that probably the fact that my family were like, what's going on? And I had no one in the industry. So that would probably help them up. I remember when I do lame is they nicknamed me Gizmo, presumably because I had a mass of eyes, I was quite cute, but I assumed that I meant that if water touched me,

I turned into a little monster, which I think probably is true of my whole life. No, it's funny. You know, when you meet child actors and actually working with Scarlett, Johansson, it's amazing that there's such a, it's so funny, you look back and I remember it was always like, oh, well, you know,

because I didn't really, I saw it as completely as a hobby, and then as you get to sort of like 15-16 people are just like we can't the transition is impossible you know so you're like actually when people say you know as a gay actor playing you know feeling out there's a glass ceiling

I think the first thing that I had to overcome was that everyone was like you know I thought I was going to be like what's her what's short of thinking of a name with curly hair who's a lollipop oh Shirley Temple

Shirley Temple that was my rough I was like I can do what shirt is how old are you? John, that's you. I'm an old soul, John. Yeah, what you reference? The first time jumping way past those child years, probably the first time that you registered on my radar was Broadchurch,

which would seem to be an important moment just by the company of actors you're in, you're with. Fair to say, yeah, looking to the left, David Tennant, Jody Whitaker, Olivia Coleman, you're like, Vicki McKeown. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, It was why I remember, you know, every step of the way, I've always been like, God, I mean, that's an amazing, you know, I never, I've always felt like going into auditions that, you know, it's not going to, yeah, I've been, I've been driven by the feeling of I don't know if I can do that.

You just doesn't sense, but that I remember with knowing. So, yeah, all of, it was like the sort of, in Crem de la Crem, and Andrew Buccan, who I saw Andrew Buccan, who's an amazing actor on stage when I was sort of 16. And I was just like, he's knockout. And to be working with it, you know, so yeah, across the board, it was great. And Jacob Anderson, of course, as well. I get there is that that fear of just like, I don't want to be the one to let these people do to me. There's an amazing quote that says, like, a read-through.

If you think that you're not the worst, you probably are. And if you think you're the worst, you're probably doing fine. So that's, I think that's the general rule to live by as an actual and in life. Have you, I watched the clip recently of your, crashing collaborator, Phoebe Waller Bridge, being unable to recognize who John Crosinski was quizzing her right. That's just you. Yeah.

There are like 20 questions leading towards your name. He's like Hansen John. I mean, John Cuisinski's an absolute hero. Yeah, I know. But that to me is in quite, you know, you see Moza, that is bizarre. Obviously, I know Phoebe, but yeah. And you know both of them.

Obviously, you were also in Jack Ryan. I was in a car. Yeah, I was in a car with John Krasinski and Wendell for like three days. We did this like ridiculous, like this set piece that was at, well, I look by now. And I can say this happily, having, you know, got through it on skates, but it was the most terrified I've ever been. And I did not sleep a wink the night before because the sequence was a plane landing and them getting off the plane, me welcoming them, introducing them, getting into the car.

And then I had to drive this vehicle as the camera, I had a little platform and they sort of hooked the camera on the side of the car. We had to drive through and be escorted and then stop three times. And all the while I was sort of talking about, you know, some, you know, drug family. And it was the first time I sort of met that. It was terrible. But, you know, that's an example of just like absolutely lovely people because me, John and Wendell. I remember we sort of put the world to write some various things.

But yeah, he was great. Amazing. Absolutely. I work with him. He's like, I think he's going. We asked, obviously, I have to talk a little Bridgeton. which there are i i've experienced a lot of fandoms in my life fair to say the bridgerton one is a unique uniquely intense one um is that the word intensity what do you make of the fandom

that is developed for this show for your character i'd say like like a horny intensity just like really boldly vanda um but also you know passionate and all the things that come with romance i suppose yeah yeah i mean it's it yeah it's it's bizarre also because that happened in the pandemic. Right. I mean, I managed to go to the like New York premiere of season three. And that was the first time really that we'd seen, you know, or being in the same place where people really turned up.

So I feel like, yeah, the passion for it is sort of supernova. How does it affect you? Well, I look, I'm no stranger to look at romance, intense fandoms. I made my bones on the Twilight films with teenage girls, so I know that look in the eye, I know. Yeah, yeah. But also, because I think it's, um, it just

shows like how people connect to literature as well. And I think that's what is the Julia Quinn novels just meant so much to so many people. And, um, you know, it's interesting to see their responses to, to shifts in the adaptation, which for me is actually sometimes quite upsetting to see, you know,

the way that they've, um, they've changed gender of Michael Sterling to Michaela Sterling, which I think is brilliant and exactly what should be happening. So yeah, but ultimately, you know, the fact that they are going to be, I hope that they're going to be, I know they will be fed along the way

and it's going to be brilliant. I mean, I'm sure the fans also appreciate the fact that, look, as you were getting some amazing opportunities, we've alluded to some already with Wicked and Jurassic, but you know, you're sticking with it. Like you've obviously like, you know, popped into the show as it's progressed. Has it been important to you to kind of make time to a show that was so important to your career, even as the career progresses? Yeah, I mean, totally.

The opportunities that was afforded. But also I understand what it's like to love some, you know, to love a world and the characters that you fall in love with. And it's so, you know, it's just specifically about a family. And not only that, but I just sort of love everyone there. And, you know, I think I've got my date set for this year. So summer's here, and you can now get almost anything you need for your sunny days delivered with Uber Eats. What do we mean by almost? Well, you can't get a well-groom lawn delivered, but you can get a chicken parmesan delivered.

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Alcohol and select markets. Product availability may vary by Regency app for details. Oh, hi, buddy, who's the best? You are. I wish I could spend all day with you instead. Uh, Dave, you're off mute. Hey, happens to the best of us. Enjoy some goldfish cheddar crackers. Goldfish have short memories. Be like goldfish. Um, so we are going to see you season four. That's the plan. Yeah, I've got, I've got, um, I've got a couple of weeks. set for this year and yeah we'll see going forward i mean i absolutely would love to be there and i'm yeah and you're excited for luke to take front and center this next season

is going to blow people's socks off yeah he's and i've known luke for years but yeah he's and you know there's so much to look forward to in terms of um you know where they can go with the world and how they can change elements of it but also the actors and the performers that are yet to come and we haven't even met their lovers but like claudy jessey playing and louise is going to be amazing and the younger kids in knockout Hannah Dodd. It's going to be, it's great that it changes, yeah, you know, every two years. And I think almost like the palette of it changes. So, yeah, I think Luke's going to be amazing. today.

My Box today, and let's it on your wayfick. And the time of your side of your other, or a drink. Chirotersk, your not to end uptieh. Hey, shorthic and your to retort you, like, to love you. Meenu Pizza Hut, My Box, the new Pesahawks, and your,

Pizzahat, O'Tlop, today. Okay, it's official, we are very much in the final sprint to election day, and face it, between debates, polling, releases, even court appearances, it can feel exhausting, even impossible to keep up with. I'm Brad Milkey. I'm the host of Start Here, the Daily Podcast from ABC News, and every morning my team and I get you caught up on the day's news in a quick, straightforward way that's easy to understand with just enough context so you can listen, get it, and go on with your day.

So, kickstart your morning. Start Smart with Start Here and ABC News, because staying informed shouldn't feel overwhelming. I'm sure we're going to be talking more later this year when Wicked comes around. This is going to be ginormous. Can you tell me, I'm just curious. First of all, I mean, look, John Shue, so talented, the source material needles to say. Can you recall what the audition process was like, what you were singing, what you were doing in that audition? Yeah, I can remember it all, visibly.

I was doing play at the time in London. They'd said that, you know, they were going to film Wicked and it looked like I might be available. And they, you know, obviously had to sing into some scenes. And I could record the scenes. But the play that I was doing was just like sort of, I sort of just like unstitching myself and throwing my heart to the audience every night. And as a result, I didn't necessarily have my dulcet tones or my top, my top one inch. Less pickle and more bagpipe. So I sort of said, I'm not sure about the thing.

And they said, just to just do something. And it was just before I was going to go on stage. And I'm sure this video might kind of come up in the future at some point. But I just sort of sang a bit of dancing through life. And as I was doing it, I was being called to stage because I was too late, which was by accident. But anyway, so I did that and sent it off. And they were like, look, it looked like fellow travellers was popping up. And I really wanted to do fellow travellers.

I knew that that's. And they wicked weren't quite sure or weren't ready to offer. So I went and they just said, go and, you know, did do what you want to do. So I did fellow travelers. And it just happened that the date shifted. And it was one of those mercurial magic things. And actually talking to Cynthia and Ari and Michelle and Jeff and John and Mark Platt, obviously, it's, everyone's had that sort of weird. There was this sort of magic.

Well, that film was supposed to start and stop with 10 different directors over the last decade. So it's meant to be clearly with this group right now. Yeah, it felt, well, it did feel special. and you know it's amazing like talk about source material but that mark platt was there in the room with the first workshop and it was his idea on the first place so yeah it was amazing to go into it you know other than that i just had a chat with john and then had a quite an awkward you know my britishness of like zoom generally it's like kind of um terrible but like we were talking to them about um they wanted to know if i could dance and so like and then ari and cynthia popped up and gate crashed in zoom and we're like coming to shiz university so yeah oh they were So that's how you know. That's how I found out, yeah. But I think because of the fact, I assume that the fact that that video wasn't, it hasn't been shown because I was just like, okay, yes, that sounds lovely.

When do we stop? I am indeed available. Thank you for the opportunity. Okay. Not nice everybody. What time is it that? Oh, is it raining? Fair to say prior to this and Ariana fanboy and what's it like to finally work with her up close.

Yeah, amazing. And also, you know, between her and Cindy, Yeah, singing duets with both of them, I think I sort of had a natural facelift. The G-force of vocal prowess. No, we, both of them were just incredible musicians, but I remember, so the dancing through life, we actually filmed really early on and I finished fellow travelers when straightened to Bridgeton and he had about four days off, so I found myself just like sort of in the middle of this music video.

And, and it was amazing, like, Ari was just so generous and just locked in. and obviously she there's nothing she can't do in terms of an innate talent but also her spirit she was so generous she was just like and I was like you know Sony wires going in your ears and I was going to say anything else but yeah

she was there just so she was incredibly supportive and then you know obviously with Cynthia we get this amazing sort of no spoiler alert but like we get a huge sort of love story and and there's a duet that we sing together in the second half that was just so she's just so but like, like, I don't know what happens when she sings, but right, makes you believe in kind of

everything. Yeah. I want a presence. What a talent. Exactly. And also, yeah, so with Ari, it's just to me, and I remember going to see Beyonce with Ari. And it was, when you're aware that you're, you know, you obviously know someone who's brilliant day to day and she's like super special and then watching like an arena tour. And I cannot wait to go and see her perform. Right. I've now knowing her just because do you get to now go with Beyonce to see Ari? Is that how it works?

I'm here. I'm here. Yeah. I mean, I'm actually, yeah, I'm actually a massive Beyonce fan. No surprises. But I, yeah, I just think, I think when people say when you get starstruck, I do think it is

anyone who can use their vocal sort of and holds an arena. Command 50,000 people at just like, yeah. I mean, it almost gives me vertigo thinking about it. Yeah. Like, but yeah, it's, yeah, I'm, I'm in awe. Um, speaking of being in awe, we're going to be in awe of some dinosaurs and you and

Scarlet before too long. Jurassic. I'm hearing Jurassic World Rebirth. Is that what we're talking it? What do they call it on set this movie you're in? I can't hear you this coming up. Okay, fair enough. We'll be asking more general question because I know I know a lot of.

We call it. What do we call it? we just call it sort of, it's not one ever, guys. It's so, it's so brilliant. Obviously, it's, you know, it's an amazing. The Jurassic part for me, I remember that. This really, and yeah,

to be a part of that franchise in that world. And with Frank Marshall on set and Spielberg, you know, on the end of a face time, at Gareth Edwards, I think, is just a knockout visionary director. And he's shooting it on film. David Kep is the original writer. And it feels, I think we're all just, yeah, just can't quite believe it.

And I saw a little teaser, sizzly, sizzly, sizzly something that they put together in the John Williams score. And it was just like, you know, goosebumps. So much goosebumps that I ended up looking like little. But yeah, it's great. And it's just, you know, to do that with Scarlet as well. And again, Maharshan is just amazing, you know, it's a really, it's a different way of telling the story.

And I think I'm excited to see, yeah, how it comes together. Are you in full dashing hero mode in this one? Are you, you and Scarler are the co-leads, as I understand it? Is there a romantic entanglement? Can you tease a little bit of what the... I don't think it can. I don't think I can. I'm blushing, I do.

But no, I think it's a little, there'll be lots of little flavors. Lots of the above and some extra stuff. Last question on this. Are you screaming? Get away from that T-Rex in your British accent or an American? No, I tell you one thing. Oh, okay. I can't.

It might be. This is dangerous territories for me. Okay, okay, further. I feel like talking to you now is more than looking at a tennis ball going. I feel like, suddenly like, do the girl in the original Jurassic. Right. The gentleman. That's me now.

Wait, are you that girl grown up? That's the, there's the spoiler. I'm not saying anything. Let's end with this. The Happy Say I Confused profoundly random questions. You can't get in trouble. You can't get fired from Jurassic Park. Don't worry.

Jonathan, are you a dog or a cat person? I'm now a dog person. I had cats growing up and I didn't realize. I would say cat, but I'm actually incredibly allergic to them. And I found that out when I left home. When I came back one Christmas about a year later, I was like, oh, okay, go on. So yeah, I'd say dog, but also just animals in general.

I'm an animal person. What's the wallpaper on your phone? Oh. It's, it's, um, it's me and all my niece is doing a handstand. Oh, what is it? I was going three bushes up. Last after you were mistaken for? Does it happen?

Oh my gosh, does it happen? I was going to say Tim Henman, but he's a tennis player. Not he's like, sure. Who do I get? No, I mean, people, yeah, I mean, generally, like, people who don't sort of know who I am, it's just like you're, you know, I've probably, you know. I Bridgeton. I go to school with you.

Oh, I see. Yeah. One of those Bridgetton dudes. Yeah. I wish I'd happily be, you know, good company to be in. What's the worst note of director has ever given you? more like Michael Serra What

Back home That was like an exorcism Where I came straight from the ground Yeah there was no delay Clearly that was a moment What's he wanted to say that for so long More like Michael Sarah You know who you are

That knocked and put me in a box For about six weeks So just like go go dry Go like It was just I knew exactly what it was around the time of Superbad And obviously Michael Sarah

It's just so singular and brilliant And, but yeah, this one director, I remember in a studio shouting, and it was relentless. And I remember then going, I don't think I've got a career in this. This is great. Not cut out for this. But you know, the joke is. Yeah, but the joke is. You get the worst notes and you get treated appallingly when you're signing out, you know.

And then it gets easier because you get to work with kinder, more creative people. But yeah, more like Michael Serra, it was painful. You know, obviously, you know, he's so singular. But I just would say energetic, you know, in terms of energy, I think me and Michael are quite different. Let's say so. In the spirit of happy second views, who's an actor that always makes you happy,

you see them on screen, on stage, happiness. I was going to say, Christoph Wolves. It's an interesting, glorious bastard's just thrilled to see him. His performance in that. I mean, it doesn't bring me joy. I just, you look at him, you're just like, oh, who else makes me? Nicholas Cage. Yeah.

Talk about big swings, amazing. Big swing. Movie that makes you sad? Oh, my goodness. Lion King. I mean, I was going to, there are others, but that is like, I think Bambi. I mean, I'm just trying to think of like something, I went right back to. animation kids yeah yeah yeah either be whipped cream or beef fruit

with me in new york we were talking about this yesterday and um we were talking actually about rice pudding and how much i actually really like rice pudding and just as we were to you know she was like yeah she was like okay so now i put some apricot in it and it's like fruit so it's the condo once you start too much too much it's fruit i see in like hot fruit and the mixture I think just be one thing or the other and Trifle I think also is a very sort of obviously hangover from the 80s so I sort of grew up on it

and yeah jelly and custard and then bit to breathe it or good. Are you confused by that or do you It doesn't bother me so much but I understand it's the mixing of some things like in a totally different way from me I always say like I like a pickle but I can't stand a pickle on a sandwich because the pickle juice

destroys the integrity of the sandwich there's too much going on See, I love a pickle. Okay. And it can appear in a other than, you know, obviously a trifle of a pickle. No, it's not go crazy. I'm going to let you go, but I do have one question. I forgot to ask about a heart stopper.

We're very excited to see you joining, joining in a small role, obviously. But you were a fan, I take it. Is that how, did you manifest that yourself? Or did they come to you or what happened? No, well, I know, I mean, the first heart stopper, well, both of them. But when I saw heart stop, I just thought, you know, it's quite sort of full circle. when we started talking about stories we had growing up. And the one story that we definitely didn't have

is that of Heartstopper showing positive, aspirational, gay sort of teenage love stories. And I just thought it was for me, and, you know, I'm only sort of 15 years older than the cast and the stories of being told. But I found it incredibly melancholic. And then I spoke to, you know, other gay friends who are a lot older. and I just thought

what a brilliant thing no matter what happens to know that the next generation has that and the fact that it's so that you know the actors are so knockout that it's not a gay

people like they just see it as their teen drama and that to me felt groundbreaking and you know it's a small small world and there's a real brilliant group of people and one of Patrick Walters

who produced it is really good friends with Josh Cole who produced crashing And Josh's, I have a few friends in the UK who were like, you know, they're just, you know, you just have a bottle of wine, you can just chat about everything, but including gay experience. And we were talking about heart supper a lot and he was like, I'll let Patrick know. And I think, and I just said, look, if there's anything ever, and I would have, I would have served, you know, tea on set. Trifle?

I would have served trifle. No, that would have been. Pickles, I've given out for free. But no, I think, yeah, it was just, you know, I popped up. But it's just, you know, just, I think it's, for me, I just like, if I can, yeah, like, just contribute to something that that's, that, yeah, that's special. I really, I really, I can't say enough how, like, how brilliant I thought it was. And it just made me think about various things, you know?

Yeah. I just met Kit who's about to do Romeo and Julia here in New York to come full circle on Broadway so I know I'm really glad to see that I'm not saying wild robert I thought was just one of the most beautiful trailers I've heard great things yeah yeah I can check it out yeah

this has been a real pleasure man this has been overdue thankfully you have so much work coming up I know the conversation will continue congratulations in the first Emmy nom well-deserved fellow travelers if folks have not checked it out please do so it is a special piece of work for all the reasons mentioned and more. And yeah, man, we'll talk wicked, we'll talk Jurassic, we'll talk your eventual Broadway debut, I'm sure.

But bottom line, thanks for the time today. What can I just pretty say as well? But you know, through, like in being something like Bridgeton in the middle of the pandemic, and like this is an extraordinary thing happening, I sort of ended up relying on podcasts. And so I've listened to you over the year, so to be here is great. And just the way that you interview is just brilliant. and it gets such honest and insightful answers that actually was really helpful

to hear other people experiences. So I thank you very much. Make it, man. We'll share a trifle one day in person. You have, I'll just have the jelly. Fair enough, we'll share. Thanks again for the time. I do hope we see each other in person one of these days.

Thanks so much. All right. Have a good one. 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, and I definitely wasn't

pressure to do this by Josh. Goodbye, summer movies, hello fall. I'm Anthony Devaney. And I'm his twin brother, James. We host Raiders of the Lost Podcast, the ultimate movie podcast, and we are ecstatic to break down late summer and early fall releases.

We have Leonardo DiCaprio leading a revolution in one battle after another, Timothy Chalmay playing power ping pong in Marty Supreme. Let's not forget Emma Stone and Jorgos Lanthamos' Bugonia. Dwayne Johnson, he's coming for that Oscar in The Smashing Machine,

Spike Lee and Denzel teaming up again, plus Daniel DeLuess's return from retirement. There will be plenty of blockbusters to chat about two. Tron Aries looks exceptional, plus Mortal Kombat 2, and Edgar writes, The Running Man, starring Glenn Powell. Search for Raiders of the Lost Podcast

on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.