On this week’s show (1st November), Graham welcomes comedy legend Billy Crystal, British stars Hugh Bonneville and Emily Mortimer, musical great Pharrell Williams, and singer-songwriter Michael Kiwanuka.
Billy, talking about his psychological drama series Before, says, “It’s perfect for Halloween season. Everything will make sense over the course of the 10 episodes. There is a new episode each week which I love, because good drama should not be fast food.”
Asked if the role is as big departure from the norm for him as it seems, he says, “It’s a long way from ‘I’ll have what she is having’ for sure. But, at any time in our careers it is great to do something new, to be stretched to do something different. I love this job, and I love being in this very dark mysterious world.”
Talking about his regret at not doing Toy Story, he says, “I was the dope that turned it down, but it wasn’t about the character, it was a business thing, and my agent said not to do it, so I passed. Then it comes out and it is genius.
“Two years later when the producers of Toy Story first mentioned Monsters Inc., I said ‘Whatever it is say yes.’ They convinced me by showing me a screen test they had done of me as Buzz Lightyear in the scene from When Harry Met Sally where I am yelling about a wagon wheel coffee table. They even had a little Buzz under the table. It was astonishing, and if I had seen that I would definitely have done Toy Story.”
Hugh and Emily chat about playing Mr and Mrs Brown in the new Paddington in Peru.
Asked about Paddington getting his very own UK passport, Hugh says, “The producers wrote to the Home Office to ask if it was okay for them to use a facsimile of a passport in the film and they very sweetly issued a real one. In the passport under ‘any distinguishing features’ it says ‘Bear.’”
Talking about the exotic locations for the film, he says, “Put it this way, seven weeks were filmed in Colombia and Peru – all the jungle and river sequences – that is real, but with the cleverness of technology some of us didn’t travel very far from Borehamwood! The compositing they use now is amazing.”
Emily, talking about playing Mrs Brown for the first time, says, “It was really nice being married to Hugh, so it was easy in that respect but nerve-wracking stepping into this incredible thing. I was worried about feeling like an imposter as I couldn’t hope to emulate the most amazing performance that Sally (Hawkins) gave, so all I could do was bring my own version and hope it was halfway as good.
“I know people always say this, but it really is the sweetest, kindest, loveliest set with the most thoughtful and caring vibe. It sounds soppy to say it, but I think there is something about the spirit of Paddington that makes everything okay.”
Pharrell, talking about Piece by Piece, the animated story of his life and career, and asked how it came about, says, “I do things that I am curious and enthusiastic about and a documentary about me is not interesting, so I said no at first. Then my very persistent agent said I could do it what any way I wanted.
“When I said I wanted to do it with the best documentary maker Morgan Neville and for him to tell it anyway he wanted, but in Lego, my agent said, ‘No, no, no.’ But then everyone said yes. This project is the sum of lots of yeses and is what impossible looks like. Whether you are eight or 80 it’s not too late to build your dream piece by piece.”
Asked if the likes of Snoop Dogg, Gwen Stefani and Justin Timberlake, who appear in the film, knew they would end up as a plastic character, he says, “No – we told them it was a documentary and that it would be animated. We wanted everyone to be themselves and not act in a certain way.”
Michael performs his current single The Rest of Me 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 Big Red Chair to tell their funniest stories.
The Graham Norton Show, BBC One, Friday 1st November 10.40pm. Also available on BBC iPlayer.
Next week (8th November) Graham’s guests include Jennifer Lopez, Kate Winslet, Dwayne Johnson, Jharrel Jerome, and Celeste.
Graham Norton Picture credit: BBC/So Television/Christopher Baines
