Kermode & Mayo’s Take - Now and Ben: Carey Mulligan and Tim Key

Episode Date: June 6, 2025

Welcome to another Now & Ben! This little nugget of bonus interview goodness features Carey Mulligan and Tim Key—stars of the new wholesome folk musical The Ballad of Wallis Island—in cinemas now. Ben sits down with them to talk about this British gem of a film that’s got Richard Curtis cooing. Plus behind the scenes goss on everything from corpsing on camera to sliding into dms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oh hey, this is Simon. This is Mark. I'll give you a pretty penny, Mark, if you can name any film festivals that are on the horizon in June. Transylvania Film Festival, Film on Film with the BFI, Tribeca, that's three pretty pennies, you know me? An esteemed critic like yourself cannot be in all those places at once, but you can get pretty darn close to it with NordVPN. Saving on travel and jet lag to unlock the best films from around the world sounds pretty good. But it's not only that, Mark. No, you can log on to public Wi-Fi anonymously, leaving no

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Kerry, you will know this, but for years I was on the circuit with Tim and Tom. And one thing that occasionally happens every now and again is a crazy rich person will invite you to come and do a really awkward gig. Just in their living room? Yeah, it happens. It shouldn't do. It shouldn't do a really awkward gig. Just in their living room. Yeah, it happens. It shouldn't do. It shouldn't do, but it happens. And obviously when I was watching this last night,

I was thinking, was that the initial spark for the short? Was that what you guys were talking about? I can't work it out, but we did do one, and we're trying to work out if that was why we started writing this, or if that happened after we wrote the film, in which case it probably wasn't. But yeah, we went to one in Cornwall or something with five of us, I think like a very, a lot of money that they'd paid and a very small living

room and very expensive chairs and not many of them, maybe about eight people. And it doesn't recollect it better than I do. He was telling me, he remembered them like, they'd go, yes, we'll have the other chap back on, please. Not you, just you. You have the chap with the guitar? I did one for Toshiba once, just me and Jimmy Carr in a house in Watford. Doesn't get better than that.

And I could just see the guy doing the wind up on me. Can we have the main guy? Once Jimmy. Mmm. So, Kerry, how, obviously, you know, I started watching this and thinking, okay, this is Tim and Tom doing their shtick. For the uninitiated, how does Nell, your character, come in and change proceedings? I mean, I think with quite a lot of excitement. I mean, I think she's sort of, you know, the shtick until I get there,

is that, you know, that this is not going very well. Furious, Basden. Basden's furious. Not loving any of it. And it's pretty sour. It's all a bit orcs. And then Nell shows up and finds Charles quite funny and charming and is getting paid and it's pretty sour, it's all a bit orcs. And then Nell shows up and finds Charles quite funny and charming and is getting paid and it's nice. And she hasn't got to do this singing stuff for a while. So it does change the dynamic when Herb sees Nell

kind of enjoying him, you know, because he's so automatically set to just being annoyed from the minute he pulls out of the boat. Yeah, which is fair enough. Fair enough. But he doesn't give my character a chance. No, you don't have a... There's not a second. But then fair enough, I guess. Yeah, which is fair enough. It's fair enough. But he doesn't give my character a chance. No, you don't have him, there's not a second.

But then Nell comes in and thinks like, oh, what a sweet, funny person. So it sort of changes Herb's perception a bit. Yeah, and I felt like it changed my perception of Charles as well, because before that, I was getting sort of misery vibes, and then it became more Nuts in May vibes. Yeah, good.

And then I was like, oh no, wait a minute, I love this guy. I love both of those films. But Nell is like, Nell is the change. When I saw that tap that works too well, if anything, I was thinking about being stuck, because Charles is kind of stuck in this cycle of grief kind of thing and Tom's character Herb in a similar way and just that tap being stuck on and the water draining away but it's the same thing. It made me think of both of you, both of your characters and Nell provides

this option of change. She's changed her life. Yeah that is what's happening. Hi there Mark, do you know why hiring the right people quickly is so important? Well the world of weekly film podcasts is so breakneck that when a vacancy comes up we need to fill it fast. Good thing that there's indeed sponsored jobs then when it comes to hiring, indeed is all you need. Stop struggling to get your job post seen on other job sites, indeed sponsored jobs

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Just go to indeed.com slash KermodeMeo right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Hiring Indeed is all you need. This is an advert for Shopify. Mark, do you remember when we started this podcast? I do. Plunging into a world of subscribers, ads, merchandise, a lot to get done, a lot of different hats to wear. And hats to sell, of course. That's where the ad hook comes in.

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That's good news. With Amazon Music, you have access to the largest catalog of ad free top podcasts included with your Prime membership. To start listening, download the Amazon Music app for free or go to amazon.com slash ad free podcasts. That's amazon.com slash ad free podcasts to catch up on the latest episodes without the ads. But I don't know, I don't remember talking to Tom about any of that when we were writing it.

And I remember when we were at the short film, we had the tap in that. Was the tap in the short? Yeah, and the tap's on and I'm just like, I watched that and every time I see the tap, I think I'm really glad we have that tap on. Wonder what that tap means. But yeah, it is exactly that.

It also, you know, there's obviously an element of the tap being like Charles, Charles' personality. Time doesn't wait. He just goes on and on and on. You know, the sort of, he can't switch off. But yeah, that thing of being stuck is probably at the heart of the film. Charles, he really reminded me, there's like a British busybody, like IRL, that you come across every now and again. Sometimes it's those people that laugh at everything, no matter what's going on, you know? But the one thing that they all share is they can't

deal with a silence within any aspect of the brief relationship. I think we're gradually drilling down on who this guy is. It made me wonder if there was anybody that you stumbled across that you thought... of the brief relationship you've got. I think we're gradually drilling down on who this guy is. Which is... No, I think... It made me wonder if there was anybody that you stumbled across that you thought... No, I think it's adult, it's parents, friends. I think I know this person, you know, who just... They go into your house and you're like, you know,

you're young and there's just another adult and they're this person and then they're sort of going into the kitchen and going, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da Including probably myself, but people who do feel silences and that's the thing There's there's some jokes floating around in the film, but mainly the main joke is that the that he's not saying jokes He's just looking at things going ah a rowing boat There's a lot of the stuff that people say did first off you didn't use. Yeah, there's stuff we did news It's that it's all of that I can only imagine It's all of that stuff. Yeah.

I can only imagine. Speaking of the stuff that you didn't use, was there like, were there corpse in moments where it was getting to the point where it was, we're not going to get this for any of you? I was allowed to laugh. That was the beauty of it for me. I felt there was some natural laugh reaction.

Very natural. Yeah. Yeah. I think those are some of my favorite scenes in the middle where Nell comes, Clary's character, and she's able to laugh. And like what we were saying about my character, he doesn't give me a chance, Herb. But then I love those moments where Nell laughs. Charles hasn't got a clue what's going on.

No one's laughed at anything he's said for the last 10 years. And so he laughs as well. And there's like these little moments of there's a connection,'s a connection, but they're very different people, I think. But there's a sort of sweetness that comes from that. In terms of corpsing, yeah, there's like... I think we're just absolutely, resolutely trying not to. And I don't think it was a big issue once. There was once or twice, but mainly, I think...

But it was just the longer that you guys went, the more successful it was. And then I was allowed to laugh as much as I wanted to, but you weren't. And then after a while, Griff, our director would come in and say, -"That's enough now." -"Don't do that anymore." -"I don't need any of that." -"Basmus, he's so furious with himself." Like, if we have to cut, because he's laughed, he's like, after, just sort of... Come on, let's go. Yeah, he doesn't like it.

And I think you two get... You you sometimes on shows where people like that, it's a good energy if people are corpsing. But yeah, on our one, people were like, okay, well. Well, there's only 18 days as well. There's 18 days. 18, so it wasn't a long time for, yeah. There's a limit to how fun a director can find a corpse. Were you there for all 18, Carrie?

No, I was there for 10, 10 of the 18. Because you just had a baby as well, right? I just had a baby, yeah. Who was there too? Yeah, because you there for ten. Ten of the eighteen. Because you just had a baby as well, right? I just had a baby, yeah. Who was there too? Yeah, because you have family nearby. So my whole mum's side is from that part of Wales. Yeah, so I brought my whole family, but then also saw lots of family when I was there. So we shot near Tenby.

Yeah. And yeah, so that whole area was where I grew up. Great advert for Wales. Isn't it a beautiful advert for Wales? I mean, that beach. Yeah, so that whole area was where I grew up. Great advert for Wales. Isn't it a beautiful advert for Wales? I mean, that beach. Yeah, so pretty. Did you have to deal with any hardcore elements or was Wales good to you?

I had to go in the water. Natural elements. You went in the water. Yeah, we all went in the water, but I went in the water only in a wetsuit, I think, because I was always clothed. My camp was always clothed. You went in it.

I had wetsuit trousers on. Right. And a swimsuit top. And then there's one scene where Tom's in it, and yeah, he's wearing just his little knickers, and that was not easy for him. It was chilly. Going out to find the paper lantern.

You feel like in the interviews since that that comes up quite a lot. I think it was, I think it affected him quite deeply that afternoon. What being the so-called and what? I don't think he liked it. When I went- At the time he was like a trooper,

and now like, you know, a couple of years later he's like... Sure, yeah. A bit of a wretch. Yeah, that was... Yeah, I didn't enjoy that. Are you crushing your bills? Defeating your monthly payments.

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So drink it up with Tim's ice lattes now whipped for a smooth taste. Order yours on the Tim's app today at participating restaurants in Canada for a limited time. I was going to, I was going to open this interview, Kerry, by asking, you know, how did you end up working with these clowns? But this morning, yeah, yeah, here we go this morning, because I'm so rock and roll, I was listening to Radio 4 and Tim and Tom were on it talking about the movie and it came up that you were already a fan. So what were you a fan of?

What did you see? What an amazing question. I'm just fascinated to know because I've known these guys a long time. What's that about? I was a fan of the Late Night Patriot. My husband was first. He was a huge fan. He DM'd you. He DM'd me.

But wait, what stage is this at after you've sent the script? No, this is years ago. When did he... This is not even connected. He DM'd you in like 2018 or something. Yeah. Not a regular DMer, I will say. But he DM'd you.

Slid up in there. Happens to Keir. Happens to Keir. Yeah. It can happen. So you had a sweet little Happens to Keir. Yeah, can happen. So you had a sweet little back and forth. Yeah, I was very touched. And then we needed a host for a charity event

that we were putting on. And I emailed, I got his email and I emailed him and said, would you host our charity event? Polite note. Polite note. I can't host things. No, we don't. I know now.

Should have slid in my DMs and said, Keir can't do it. No, we don't. I know now. I know now. Should have slid in my DMs and said, Key can't do it. I know, I know. Ask him. I understand. Now I know him. And then, of course, he had my email address. You don't dispose of that email address.

And so then he emailed me in 2023 with an email entitled Film Opportunities. I love that. We just checked. That is what it is. Film opportunities. I remember it being film opportunities. We just looked it up. It was film opportunities. And said, would I read the script? And then he sent it to me. And then, yeah. And it was a no brainer for you? Like, once you read it? Yeah. Pretty much before I read it, my husband was like, well, you've got to do it. And I spoke to you and you said that your mum had told you as well. Yeah. And my mum said I should do it as well. Pretty much before I read it, my husband was like, you've got to do it. And... Yeah, well, and I spoke to you and you said that your mom had told you as well. And my mom said I should do it as well.

But that, I think, is because we had a handshake. Had you emailed her as well? Film opportunities for offspring. I'd filmed the entire network of Mulligan. You have no stone unturned. But no, it was a total no-brainer. I loved it. I thought it was so brilliantly written.

Did you want to make it into a feature from The Jump when you first made the short? Yeah, we did want to, but yeah, we didn't know how. And we talked about it and talked about it. And then after a little bit of that, we made something different. Well, we wrote something different, which never saw the light of day. And then returned to it 15 years later. Well, I think in all three of our minds, it was unfinished business. But yeah, just needed to work out what the feature would be,

which was when Nell came in. I can tell you, it's not even a question. It's my favourite film of the year so far. Thank you. SpongeBob Search for SquarePants comes out in December. Oh dear, OK. But until then... Until then we might hold the title.

Yeah. Now, I've only got a minute left, so AOB, I've got a little bit of AOB. Kerry, Tim and I played against each other in a football match a couple of weeks ago. Okay. And Tim scored an absolute worldie. I just wondered if you could talk us through the... Yep, Matt Wenning has the ball.

He sent an email to Luke McQueen the night before saying he's gonna destroy him. McQueen dispossesses him, runs down the wing, passes it back to Russell Howard. Russell Howard floats it across to the far post. It comes out of the sky and I just swing a boot at it and it flies into the bottom corner. Caught it on the volley.

Caught it on the volley. I was right behind it. If I'd have tracked back a little further. It's the best moment of the year. It's incredible. Congratulations. Celebrations were fantastic. And I hope the celebrations continue for this movie.

Curtis has gone off on one about it and he's right. So I just wish you guys all the best, man. Thank you so much. I love this movie. Curtis has gone off on one about it and he's right. So I just wish you guys all the best, man. I love this film. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.