On this week’s show (13th February), Graham welcomes Adolescence star Stephen Graham, Big Bang Theory’s Kaley Cuoco, Olivier award-winner Adrian Lester, White Lotus and One Day star Leo Woodall, and British band Gorillaz.
Stephen, congratulated on the success of Adolescence, says, “It’s been so surreal, we never expected it. We just caught something in the zeitgeist and its success has been unbelievable. Erin (Doherty) says, ‘it is the gift that keeps on giving.’
“The awards have been wonderful, but the impact it has had on social awareness is incredible. It has achieved more than I could have ever dreamed of.”
And on his upcoming book, Letters to Our Sons, which was inspired by the series, he says, “The scale of it is massive – it spans every walk of life, every subject matter, and every sort of father son relationship. It is something I am very proud of.”
Asked about his new dark comedy thriller The Good Boy, he says, “It is really a strange little film. It’s weird, but good weird. It has a wonderful script, and I play a great character. He is bizarre and very different to anyone I normally play.”
Kaley, talking about her long running hit series The Big Bang Theory, admits her fiancé had never heard of the TV show, “He had no idea about it when we met. The first time I met Tom’s family his mom’s partner kept calling me ‘Penny’. I didn’t say anything because I thought it was sweet, but I could see Tom looking confused, and when we got in the car he said, ‘I am so sorry, I told him your name so I’ve no idea why he called you Penny all day.’ I had to explain it was from the show. And, he still hasn’t seen it!”
Asked about her new TV mystery series Vanished, she says, “It’s a good four-parter – it’s fast moving and looks great, but I hate trains – I’m claustrophobic and I get nauseous – so I was worried about filming on a real train – I had thought we would film against a backdrop. The way it made me feel definitely helped me get into character.”
Adrian, talking about his new stage adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac, says, “It is probably one of the most romantic stories but also very funny.”
Talking about the prosthetic nose he wears, he says, “There have been a lot of different noses used for the character in the past, but we wanted to make sure it was believable as a big nose. `It started off quite small but gradually we made it bigger and bigger. I can’t turn too sharply on stage as I have the constant fear it will fly off!”
Talking more about the show, he says, “I have to do a fight scene while reciting very complicated poetry. We are using real weapons, so we have to be so exact. We have done lots of rehearsal. Luckily, we have a fail-safe feature built in just in case we get too close to hurting each other.”
Leo chats about his age-gap romance drama Vladimir, which he describes as “Yummy, quick and funny.” Asked about working with Rachel Weisz, he says, “It was amazing, but her character breaks the fourth wall by talking directly to the camera, which on the first few takes was very odd as I had to sort of disappear. It was an interesting new challenge.”
Discussing his upcoming movie Tuner, he says, “Working with Dustin Hoffman was surreal, and improvising with him was wild. I was a little scared to begin with but he’s such a generous actor it was fine. He is a genius and I tried to be a sponge and absorb everything.”
Revealing he almost missed out on being Dexter in One Day, he says, “I nearly didn’t do it because I was filming White Lotus and was covered in fake tattoos when I auditioned for One Day. They thought the Cowabunga one on my neck was real. I had two weeks between roles to lose weight, change from an Essex accent to Dexter’s posh voice, and remove all the tattoos, which is a lot harder than you’d think.”
Gorillaz, featuring Kara Jackson & Anoushka Shankar, performs Orange County live in the studio before they join Graham for a chat.
The Graham Norton Show BBC One and iPlayer Friday 13th February 10.40pm
Next week (20th February) Graham’s guests include Benicio del Toro, Jennifer Garner, Gordon Ramsay, Charli xcx, and Foo Fighters.
Picture: BBC/So Television/The Graham Norton Show/Christopher Baines
