On this week’s show (26th January), Graham welcomes Hollywood stars Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Bryce Dallas Howard, British actor Daniel Kaluuya, top comedian Kevin Bridges, and Brit rock band Elbow.
Bryce and Bryan chat about their spy caper Argylle, which Bryce describes as, ‘Bananas.’
Clarifying Taylor Swift’s rumoured involvement in the movie, Bryce, says, “We can’t pretend she was involved. The reality is she was in many ways a great inspiration. She is a cat lady, she’s got this awesome backpack with a cat in that she walks around with, she loves a good argyle sweater, and there is a sort of unapologetic dorkiness about her. That’s a little bit like what my character is like.”
Asked whether she enjoys doing stunts, she says, “Yes, very much so. I won’t take risks in life, I just won’t, but on a movie set all bets off. I will do any stunt as long as I can heal within a week. Sometimes I’ll push it to two weeks if it’s not an internal thing! If I thought I might break an arm I definitely wouldn’t do it.”
Bryan, talking about the stunts he had to do on Malcolm in the Middle, says, “They started to think, ‘What can we write that he won’t do?’ I was strapped on a moving bus, I had 60,000 stinging bees on me, and I did a thing where my character was covered from head to toe in blue paint which wasn’t safe. I started to physically shut down, so they threw me in the shower. It was weird.”
Daniel, asked if winning an Oscar for Judas and the Black Messiah, has changed his life, says, “It’s nuts. When we went to a party after everyone just gravitated towards me. It was great because it was just after the pandemic, and everyone was out. I was so happy.”
Talking about directing and starring in the dystopian sci-fi The Kitchen, “I love directing. I trusted my crew, who are the experts, which made the film more collaborative. The film is about a community, but we also made a community on set.”
Asked if he will return to acting, he says, “I’m down for it and my bills say I should, but I’m not in a rush. If the right thing comes the right thing comes.”
Kevin, talking about his new new stand-up show The Overdue Catch-Up, says, “The show started as one thing but ended up entirely different because the world changed with the pandemic. I try and move with the world.”
Bradley and Carey join Graham to chat about their Oscar-tipped Bernstein biopic Maestro.
Asked about the transformation, through prosthetics, he went through to become the legendary conductor and composer, Bradley says, “I had to age from 24 to 67 during the film. The makeup was amazing. It was also interesting that on young Lenny filming days I was popping all over the set and when I was the older Lenny, we had much slower days.”
Talking more about the make-up, Carey reveals, “I was quite ill on set and a doctor was called to give me antibiotics. When I told him I was 12 weeks pregnant he was not at all convinced. I then realised I was still made up to look 57 years old. I couldn’t wait to tell the make-up artists how good they were.”
Asked about their first meeting Bradley says, “It was dramatic. Carey was in a one-woman show, and I went backstage to meet her and realised something was not right and I insisted on taking her to the emergency room.”
Carey explains, “During the show a bit of set hit me on the head, I carried on but when it was over, I started crying and thought I was a goner. I was sobbing on the floor when Bradley turned up and, realising I wasn’t okay, he took me to hospital. You can imagine how delighted the nurse was!”
Asked about the acclaimed Saltburn, Carey says, “Poor, poor Pamela. She was so much fun to play, and it was so very generous of Bradley to let me have time off to do it.”
Elbow performs Lovers’ Leap live in the studio before Guy joins Graham for a chat about their new album and tour.
The Graham Norton Show, BBC One, Friday 26th January 10.50pm. Also available on BBC iPlayer.
Next week (2nd February) Graham’s guests include Dakota Johnson, Sterling K. Brown, and Paul Russell.
Picture: So Television
