On the latest show Graham Norton welcomes, Winston Duke and Michaela Coel stars of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Normal People star Paul Mescal, award-winning actor Emma Corrin, comedian and writer Richard Ayoade, and musician Loyle Carner.
Winston and Michaela join Graham to chat about the hotly anticipated Marvel sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Asked about the film without Chadwick Boseman, Winston says, “It was really just melancholic to step back into the shoes of it all. I was glad to get back with the rest of the cast but Chadwick left this huge gaping hole, which was really hard to fill and you really felt it.
“Visiting his grave to say goodbye formally and ask his blessing was really great to help deal with it because it was such a surprise – none of us knew that he was sick and we were only weeks away from shooting when we heard of his passing. The movie is deeply about grief and how hard and messy it is, there is no pretty perfect way through it, and you are changed for ever by it.”
Michaela adds, “For me visiting the graveside allowed me to not just see Chadwick from a Marvel perspective but to understand this was a friend to this cast and it was a real human loss.”
Winston, talking about his role, says, “I’m doing a lot more – a lot more noise and a lot more humour. I was inspired by Brian Blessed. I loved him in Flash Gordon – his character’s function is so like mine and I liked how he did it.”
Revealing his character’s barking follows him wherever he goes, he says, “I don’t know what they think will happen or why they don’t just say, ‘Hey Winston, I love your work,’ and it’s always in the most awkward places like public bathrooms.” Asked if he barks back at them, he says, “Of course, who am I not to respond to the call!”
Michaela, talking about the physical side of her kick-ass character, says, “I just assumed that there would be someone else to do all the fighting, that there would be people for that. Then they said about boot camp starting and I was like, ‘Boot who?’ And training was every day. I had never done anything like that in my life.”
Paul, talking about his critically acclaimed father-and-daughter drama Aftersun, and asked about working with his 11-year-old co-star Frankie Corio, he says, “We got incredibly close, it was essentially just the two of us for the entire film, but it is a weird position to be thrust into. Her parents weren’t there during the day when we were filming and I was her fake dad so it became a thing where I was responsible for this other human being. There was a day when we had to evacuate our accommodation because of a fire and I told her to pack a bag and she had three minutes to do it – I think a parent would do that!”
Talking about his upcoming role of Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire in the West End, and asked about following in the footsteps of Marlon Brando, Paul says, “It’s scary and am trying not to think about that – it is wild.”
Emma, talking about her new film, a new adaptation of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and asked why she wanted the role, says, “When I got the script Laure (de Clermont-Tonnerre) our director was already attached and she is incredible, and there was a crazy scene where they both dance naked in the rain. For some reason I was like, ‘Yes, sign me up!”
Talking more about that scene, she says, “I think certainly that it was the most exhilarating thing I have ever done in my life. In film making it is pretend so it’s rare that you are actually in a situation where you are literally thinking and feeling exactly as your character would be. Being completely naked in the Welsh countryside meant you didn’t have to fake anything, you were just feeling it and it was quite amazing.”
Asked if her family has seen the film, she says, “They all sat through it and all coped – weirdly I felt more sorry for my flatmates having to sit next to my family while they watched it. But, they are all still talking to me!”
Richard, talking about his new children’s book The Book That No One Wanted to Read, and asked what had inspired him, says, “I was going to the library with my wife and saw all the books that have never been taken out and I began to feel sorry for them and that’s where the idea came from.” Adding jokingly, “It’s not autobiographical, I had to imagine what it is like to not be popular!”
Asked if his own children have read it, he says, “They have been very accommodating and kind. I think they prefer it to speaking to me!”
Loyle performs Nobody Knows (Ladas Road) live in the studio, before joining Graham for a chat.
And finally, Graham pulls the lever on more foolhardy audience members brave enough sit in the world famous red chair to tell their funniest stories
The Graham Norton Show, BBC One, Friday 4th November, 10.40pm. Also available on BBC iPlayer.
Next week (11th November) Graham’s guests include Bruce Springsteen, Anya Taylor-Joy, Anna Maxwell Martin, Mo Gilligan, and Florence + the Machine.
Graham Norton picture: So Television
