Natalie Portman & Paul Mescal | Actors on Actors transcript

- I always love anything that makes me just feel out of myself. Like, it's so much easier. - It's too scary to exist, yeah. - The hardest thing is, like, if it's something that's close to who I am, I'm like, oh, shoot. - I can't possibly do that. - Yeah. (both laughing) (upbeat music) - Hi, Natalie. - Hi, Paul. - How's it going? - I'm good, I'm so glad to see you. - Yeah, likewise. First of all, I want to say, like, I want to get the sycophantic stuff out of the way, but if my drama school self knew that I would be talking to you, I would pinch myself many, many times.

But I just want to say how utterly brilliant you are in "May December," and the fact that it is innately or a huge part of it is about an actor's process. And we're going to be here talking about process and many other things, but I want us to know if that was a big part or a big reason for you to say yes to that project. - Well, I'm going to start by sending it back to you. I mean, I remember seeing you in "Normal People," and just being like, oh, my gosh, who is this talent?

And then everything you've chosen since then has been so interesting and so smart and so intricately played and so incredible. - Thanks very much. - So I'm mutually eager to talk to you about it. And "All of Us Strangers" is so beautiful and moving. And your portrait is just like nothing I've ever seen before on screen. Just so human. - I've always felt like a stranger in my own family, and then coming out just puts a name to that difference.

It's always been there. - Yeah, preparing is such a amazing thing that we do and also such a tricky thing we do. And I feel like "May December," Samy Burch's script, one of the things I loved about it was all the questions it raised about performance and how we as actors, and I guess artists in general, are seeking to understand the human heart in such a beautiful way. But there's also the paradox that you're, like, cannibalizing emotions. - Totally. - Stealing people's true stories, true feelings, and exploiting it in some way can be exploitative.

So that kind of ethical. - Yeah, I think the film navigates that in such an elegant and actually quite funny way. Or to begin with, and then you suddenly start, or, I don't know if you agree with this, but your perspective on Elizabeth suddenly shifts into, she becomes malignant or this kind of slightly terrifying, but also from an actor's perspective, she's doing, she's incredibly diligent and approaches her work in a very kind of thought provoking way.

And I wondered if the duality of those things was something that interested you or not? - Yeah, well, I feel like we always say, I'm sure you've had it before, when people are like, how can you play a bad character, or something. And we're like, we don't judge the characters. We're here to understand human behavior. And sometimes you play someone who's a criminal, and that doesn't mean, but also, ultimately, is it possible to really be amoral with your art?

Like, is depicting something somehow endorsing it? Or somehow, when you're portraying something, are you somehow popularizing it in some way? And when you see how that bleeds into her personal behavior, you kind of feel like that's a dangerous. That can be a dangerous stance. - Totally, yeah. - Have you ever felt like you've had judgment on a character? - I think when I'm reading a script for the first time, it's probably when I'm at my most objective with what I feel like the social politics of the film are trying to say.

But I think once you decide to play a role, you've got to become subjective with it and protect your character, even if you don't necessarily agree with how they engage with the world or their ideations or anything like that. But I played a role that came out last year, actually, a film called "God's Creatures" where, - [Natalie] So beautiful. - Yeah, but, and obviously what Brian does in that film is abhorrent. You've kind of got, I don't know, I feel like you've got to leave that to one side and let the directors look after how they treat that character in the overall context of the film.

But you've got to look after your little patch of land with each of those characters. And there's something kind of, I find artistically or creatively liberating about, I don't want to play people who are perceived as good all the time because I think films and art would be very boring as a result. - Well, that was something in "All of Us Strangers" that I was so impressed by, because I also am always interested in characters that are kind of tricky.

And your character is like dream, dream man. He's so emotionally available and caring and loving. And it almost, at some points, I was like, is this also a fantasy? It feels so beautiful, but you manage to make it so real. When you have a character that's so good, obviously he's flawed, but how do you make him that human? - Well, it was the kind of, my hook onto that film was the first scene that you see Harry and Adam together when he kind of arrives to the door. - Drink.

It's Japanese. It's meant to be the best in the world, but I couldn't tell you why. - There's a sexual energy to that scene. But there's also a, I found Harry to be quite unsettling in that. He's kind of on the front foot. He's asking to be led into this flat. I found it very unbelievable, because I was like, (Paul laughing) who would say no? How is he saying no? - I wouldn't let him in. I feel like somebody walks up to the door with half a bottle of whiskey, it depends on what night you're looking for, I suppose. (Natalie laughing) But I think with that scene, I think it was important for me to have that scene at the top because that's also his spirit and the kind of fantasy or the dream boyfriend is kind of almost another part to his character and to get to play both of those things.

I know it sounds general, but to play love is such a great privilege, I think, to get to really, and to do it with Andrew Scott, who's, I think, the king of playing love. And it's just, like, innate in his being both as an actor and as a human being. But to kind of go into scenes with him, it is one of the greatest kind of honors of my career to date. - It's so beautiful. It's so rare to see something that's so romantic and really also has so much about how love is so much about being a good friend.

They're such good friends. - Just showing up for each other, yeah. - So it's weird that we don't have more of that. - Yeah, I know. - It's like the essence of what life should be about. - Totally. - Thank you, Lydia. This is Elizabeth. She's playing me in a movie. So I'm trying to show her a good time. - That I don't doubt. - Can you talk a bit about what it was like being in scenes with Julianne Moore? The great. To have it a conversation with strangers is a totally different energy to that film and that central relationship.

But the word chemistry is thrown around all the time. And we talked about it before this. But the way that chemistry exists, it's so kind of twisted around on itself. And I think that's a testament to you both as actors. But does that come from the script or does that come from conversations that you had together, or Todd, or where did that relationship kind of flourish? - Well, I mean, probably from just extreme fandom on my part.

I was so, I've just admired her for so long and especially her collaborations with Todd. I mean, "Safe" is one of the performances I have in my head all the time, all the time. I watch it almost every year. It's one of my favorite films and really one of my favorite performances. And then to work with both Todd and Julie together, I almost blacked out, just mainly trying to stay calm and soothe myself that it was going to be okay.

And then I discovered that they're both, like, the most loving, generous, wonderful humans, which is so incredible to see Julie's work here, where there's so much cold and lack of empathy and lack of understanding that you feel in her character, because as a human, it's like she's just taking care of everyone all day. Even her choices for the character were so thoughtful for me, because while she was creating her character, she was like, what can I give Natalie to copy? - Whoa, okay. - Like, she could have made choices that didn't have a lisp, the gestures.

She was like, I need to choose things that are right for the character, but also that Natalie can grab onto, which was, not everyone would do that. - And I think that's, yeah, as you said, that's just, like experience and actually, like, a creative generosity, which I think to bring it back to "May December" is kind of, it's a case study, and I don't think Elizabeth probably would be the ideal scene. I don't think she would be doing that for an actress, like, what Julianne's doing, it's kind of the opposite, which I think is such an amazing study, because it's like, the idea and the concept of craft is so individual.

And I'm wondering, where, is there any part of your process that tracks with Elizabeth? Or, yeah, where did that kind of meta element kind of intersect? Or did it? - Yeah, no, it was super meta. I mean, Julie was talking about how she did all this research for her role. Like, she spent time with a baker and a florist to do the flower arrangement. So she was like, I was an actress studying people, and then Natalie was playing an actress studying me.

Like, the levels of meta are so amazing. And I feel like it's really important for women, I think, particularly, like, it's all humans that construct their identity from various layers of performance. But I think women in particular, required by society to perform in so many ways. Like, someone says something rude to you and you have to smile and be polite, and not, you know. - The way you do that line at the restaurant when the other family come in, and they're like, and she goes, "I'm a really big fan of your work." And you're just like, "Thank you." It's unbelievably good because it's like, the humor in that film, for me, is so rooted in human condition, but also very kind of specifically as well, like how actors engage in the world, especially kind of from a public facing. - Oh, yeah. - And it's those tiny observations that I think just really elevate the film.

Like, when you're sitting down with the students in the school. - [Student] Have you acted in sex scenes? (students laughing) - You are staying late. - Yes, I have. - You don't have to answer that. - No, it's fine, I have. - And just seeing her, and I don't know if you agree with this, but seeing her relish the questions because it kind of feeds two things. It feeds the kind of conversations around craft, but it feeds her ego.

And it comes at a really interesting junction in the film, I think, because it is exactly what she needs, right? That conversation. I don't know really what the question is, but I just feel like that is both really funny to observe and also kind of serves as a warning to actors in general. - Yeah, no, absolutely. It can be dangerous. I mean, even that, like the opening barbecue where, I talked about it a lot with Todd, like, how we wanted to enter the movie because it was very attempting to make fun of actors and come into this small town and be kind of absurd. - And he was no, no, no, like, we need to trust you as our guide through this story.

That's how we start. But even that's performance of, like, look, I'm just so normal. I'm just a normal person at a barbecue. - With a notepad. - Yeah, just really serious about my work. That's performance also. And I was so amazed because the last time I saw you perform was on stage in "Streetcar," and it was such an incredible performance of so much toxic masculinity and that machismo. And then to see you in this, where you're so delicate and able to explore this very emotional, vulnerable, different side, how does that kind of gender fluidity inform what you do and how conscious of it are you? - I would say conscious.

I think I enjoy as much as possible existing on both ends of that spectrum, because I do believe humanity is contained on, all parts of that spectrum is contained within us all. And I think, without kind of sounding like, I enjoy interrogating those parts because I think it's an artist's responsibility to kind of go to places that are both comfortable and uncomfortable. But also playing somebody that toxic was actually really fun, you know? - I'm sure! - Because you can't, nor do I want to kind of go around my life existing like that, but it's also to work with that material and to get to play somebody who is so brilliantly motivated by the writing, but so far away from my own kind of thought process.

I think when you can become frightened when you're working is such a kind of fizzy feeling. And that was definitely one of those because I wasn't sure if, I hadn't played a part like that in quite a while, probably since drama school. So when you're about to walk out on opening night and it's a Tennessee Williams classic, and you're like, backstage looking at the light that's red and then it goes green, and you just go, oh, Jesus Christ.

For it to kind of come together the way that it did, and I was just really proud of it. But then to kind of go back and be talking about a film like this is probably, like, through, say, "Normal People" or "Aftersun," there's definitely, I would say, a through line with those characters in some capacity like that, maybe, how to say, without being general, a kind of sadder disposition, like a kind of back-footed, cerebral, protected quality to them.

And I don't know if it's a commentary on me, on whether directors think that I can do it or not, but it's something that I really enjoy doing as well, yeah. - I mean, I feel like you can do all of it, which is like, what's so amazing. I watched you on stage, and I was like, oh, Paul's kind of got, like, a brutish thing going on. And then I watched this and I was like, oh, my God, there's so much heart and soul. I mean, there's heart and soul in Stanley too, of course. - [Paul] Yes. - You don't need to be shy around me. - Yes, that's easier said than done. - I really did love the intimate scenes in "All of Us Strangers." I mean, they were very hot. - Yeah, we did our best. - But also, they were very tender and rare depictions in any sex scenes of just, like, tender love.

Why do we see that so rarely at all? And particularly, of course, for same sex relationship coupling. - Yeah, I, I think it has to do with the junction that I think we're at in the industry. And I think films like this are an indication of a distance that we've traveled. But ultimately, there's still quite a ways to go. But I'm probably not equipped to answer that fully in terms of what that actually means. All I can talk about is my experience with filming those and the attempt to make something that felt both, as you said, like trying to make something that felt really hot and sexy.

But also that doesn't work, I think, in a narrative context, if it's not motivating characters. Like you have Andrew Scott's character, Adam, who is in his mid forties, who has a difficult relationship with his relationship to sex. And then you have Harry come in, who is much more comfortable. And Harry serves as a kind of safe landing space for him to re-explore his sexuality, which I think is both really moving and also really sexy.

I think sex in film or in any kind of form of media, when it can be healing and sexy at the same time, I think that's when it's at its best, I think. - Yeah. And it's such an antidote to all the other depictions of sex, - Oh my God, yeah. - That are, like, bombarding. - I feel like we're slightly moving away from that, or I hope so. I don't, like I've never, I don't know about you, but I have been lucky that I haven't been in a sex scene in a film where I'm like, I don't know why this is here. - Right. - And I don't know what your relationship to that is.

But I also think that the sex scene in "May December" serves a huge moment in the film. And it's so stark. And I think that wonderful line that your character has, which is so terrifying, when Charles is at the end of the bed and you say, "It's just what adults do," my stomach dropped. I was like, this is so cruel. - So callous, so callous. - It's so cruel, but it's also like, I think that's where the film is really in its sweet spot because she's saying something that is, like, true, but it's devoid of any care. - An idea of what it must have felt like. - What what felt like? - I was sneaking around with you.

I probably shouldn't have said that. - Such an interesting moment in a screenplay and to get to play that must have been, I imagine, really fun - Brutal. - Brutal and fun, yeah. - Brutal, well, yeah, it was just amazing to have these two female characters who we don't usually get to see having that obsession with telling the story over everything else. And they kind of are trying to control this man's narrative, because whoever gets to control that gets to tell their truth of the story, and then he's struggling to find his voice through it.

And, yeah, that scene, I remember reading it and just being like, Samy has been saying, the writer, in some of our conversations, about how so many of the characters are just not speaking the truth. And you're just like, please, someone just say something true. Someone say something that is honest. - That feels true to me in that moment. That's why I found it so stark. It's like sometimes the truth is the thing that you shouldn't say. - Right. - And that's one of those moments that's kind of ingrained.

It's like, think that, don't say it. But I think that Elizabeth feels an obligation. And you can tell me if I'm wrong, but she feels this kind of like, unerring, almost like a gravitational pull towards the truth, which actually sometimes isn't the right thing to do. But I really need to talk to you about the monologue into the mirror and how the hell you did that. - The feeling I get when we look each other in the eyes.

Do you feel that, too? - When you see that scene on a call sheet, are you the kind of actor who is acutely aware of where that exists in the schedule? Do you try to not think about it? How long does it take to shoot? All of the above? Please tell me. - No, definitely, where I'm sure you've had those where there's, like, one thing that you're, or a few things. But we shot the whole thing in 23 days. How long did "All of Us Strangers"? - Six weeks.

So probably 30, 32, in and around that, yeah. - So we were just like lightning fast. Which, I mean, Todd was so prepared and so precise with what he was doing that it still allowed us room to play within our scenes, especially, he chose these shots that would be, - Two shots where you're both in it a lot of the time. - Yeah, and holding throughout a scene. So we got multiple takes, which was really lucky. And we talked a lot about that scene, of course, at the beginning, that for someone who's performing all the time, that maybe the only time she's honest is when she's literally performing.

That would be the. There's actually some emotional truth. - What is the moment when you, like, Because it's such a, like, I love when I'm watching something, and I don't, I'm feeling something, but I don't know what it is exactly that the feeling is. And that kind of, the physical gesture at the end, it feels like both relief and there's a kind of sexuality to it. And I was just like, this is so, the craft of it is so unbelievable, but just the kind of culmination of the filmmaking style, the bravery of shooting it through the mirror.

But also, I also know the difficulty of having to look down the lens. You can't hide as a performer there, I imagine. And it's just. - Have you worked with Gerry Grennell? - Gerry Grennell? I worked with him a little bit when I was shooting Carmen. I worked with him. Yeah, he's wonderful. - Yes, he's the best. And he talked to me so much about camera because it's something we have to interact with so much, and so often you can see it.

So often you can see your reflection. - I try to hide. - He's like, if you're doing the work of blocking it out, that's too much to add on to what you're doing. So he talked to me so much about absorbing it and absorbing the camera into my eye and making space for it that it was in my head. - How do you do it, through exercises? - Well, he just talked about this thing of, like, the way your eyes work is that there's like crisscrossing optic nerves that go back to your brain.

So to imagine that there's like a map of everything that's in front of you inside your brain, so that everything that you see is inside. And then if you can just take it inside, then the camera, all the crew, all the people in the room are like part of you and inside your brain. - And innately part of your process. - Yes, and then it allows you to not be actively blocking it, but embracing it. And it changed everything for me. - But that's one thing in theory, which it sounds so impressive, but to actually do that, I think any actor in the world would tip their hat to you in that because it really is one of the best moments in film that I've seen in a long, long time. - Thank you. - And one of those things that's frightening to watch.

Do you ever get that feeling when you watch a performance and you're like, holy shit, how did they? And you're both jealous and scared, and you're like, well, what's the point? What is the point anymore? Because it's just like. But that was the feeling that I had watching. - Thank you. I feel like your choices are always so incredible, and I'm amazed by it because I feel like I saw when you started out and then you kept making this really interesting films, and I'm kind of like, maybe it's because you're in them that everything you do is incredible.

But you've chosen so many first time directors, and how do you know that you're going to be able to make magic with these people? - I don't know. I imagine it's similar for you. It's like a gut feeling. Like, I feel very lucky that I know what I like, and I think that's not something that actors talk about enough, actually. I don't believe in the concept of building a career, or I think that comes through kind of cultivating your taste and knowing what you like and trying to find filmmakers that cater to that or challenge that.

And films like "Strangers" or "Aftersun" feel very much in a family or in conversations with each other. But also, I don't want an audience to be bored or to expect that kind of film for me. But it's all motivated by the script and reading it for the first time. And whether it feels like I can do it, or whether it feels like if I work really hard at this, I can get there. But it's not a, there's no master plan, because I think if I started doing that, the kind of creative field of vision would just become narrow.

And then it becomes an exercise in finding success with the projects. And I think I've been lucky that the projects that I've loved the most have found success because it's made by people who adore the subject matter. I think that's maybe the big learning that I've had in the last, however long I've been in it, those two or three years. - They're a very beloved part of this community. - I can see that. - Let's talk about protein shakes. (laughs) - Let's talk about protein shakes.

Protein and more protein. But I think something that people quite rightfully would associate with you as an actor is the level of transformation, both psychologically and physically, that goes into it with, ones that come to mind are "Black Swan," obviously, and even the kind of, like, vocal affectations in this. And it varies from kind of big physical gestures to the stuff, and this feels, in "May December," feels so psychological, but it's manifested physically.

And I'm wondering, are there projects, obviously, that require more and less of that? Or where do you start with that kind of physical/psychological process? - Well, I feel mutually with you. I mean, the gesture is so subtle in this, and "Strangers" it's like, and the movement, I just recognized it so much. Like it was like someone I knew. It was so beautiful. And I am appalled by your ability to shape shift from different ages where you're like a high school student, and you're like a father, and you're like, I don't know how.

You're, like, 27? - 27, yeah. - Oh, my God, that's crazy. It's crazy, but, yeah, it's amazing. I love when I get to learn something for a part. And I also am very curious about, you're so good with accents, and, - Thank you. - I love the one you chose for this as well, but I always love anything that makes me just feel out of myself. It's so much easier. - It's too scary to exist, yeah. - The hardest thing is like, if it's something that's close to who I am, I'm like, oh shoot. - I can't possibly do that. - Yeah. - I think it's that.

I love when a director tells me to do something. I know that sounds like such a basic thing, but either physical or kind of like with dialect or anything like that, I get into a, prep for me is a blind panic all the time. I never know really what to do unless there's a horse riding or like a skill to learn. - That's comforting to hear, because I always imagine, like drama school kids. You went to drama school, right? - I was that guy. - That you have, like, a method.

And I'm like, - Oh, fully. - I wish there was a method, yeah. - So self-serious. Taking notes, and kind of, I think that was an important phase for me to go through because then I discovered that my favorite thing about it all is actually play. It's got to be something that is malleable. It can't be a fixed exercise in torturing yourself because God knows some films require that anyway, and you just can't avoid it. But I love it when a director just goes, "Go off and learn horse riding," or, "Go to the gym," or, "Eat lots of protein," do this or do that, because it gives you a kind of anchor and time to spend.

Because I think a lot of the time for me in prep is just like rereading the script in a blind panic but just kind of percolating. And this thing called 24-hour mull over where you kind of imagine how your character would interact in a totally different setting to what they're interacting with in the film because it just doesn't impose on anybody else's process, it's noiseless, and it feels private. And you can kind of make mistakes in your own brain. - Of course. - It's liberating in that sense. - That's amazing. - But, like, with, say, something like preparation process for something like "Black Swan," for example, obviously, I imagine, it was very different to this, and was that a thing of being taught, well, you obviously had to learn how to dance that way in "Black Swan." But also, what was the key parts of "May December," like, what was being asked of you in that set, in prep? - Yeah, well, the thing I find that's interesting about the physical preparation that's so great is that often you get so much of the character through it, because, like on "Black Swan," I was spending so much time with ballet dancers.

And you talk while you're doing all of your exercises and learning the choreography and everything, and all of a sudden you're getting all this information about their lives and their personalities and things that you're like, oh, I'll take that, I'll take that, I'll take that. And it was amazing, like you said, just to have that time. This, I mean I've been working for 30 years. I've been working longer than you've been alive, man. (Natalie and Paul laughing) I've been researching this, and I've been obsessed with these questions of, like, private self, public self, performance, identity, truth, all of the questions that this raises.

So, yeah, there wasn't a particular, apart from just working with the script. What about you? What was your prep? - For me, it was finding the accent, because I think it was important for me that Harry wasn't from London because of his relationship to his family and feeling marginalized from them. And Andrew Haigh was so, is just such a brilliant director of actors that he was able to kind of hand that over to me. And we agreed on this kind of Leeds accent that, I don't know, just felt.

Do you know, when you try a kind of voice on for the first time, you're like, oh, I can imagine this character sounding like this. And sometimes it's an instinct, or in this case, it was an instinct that kind of felt correct, and one that helped with just the story of him being further away. - Eating take away on the sofa, watching old episodes at "Top of the Pops" from before I was born. - You know? Not having his familial support network around him.

And I think it kind of makes it all the more sad. Like, when he says, "How come no one found me?" - Oh, it's heartbreaking. - That was one of those days that I was like, I hope we never shoot this, because it's too, like, of course you're excited to shoot it, but it's one of those that you're like, there's a long runway to try and get to that moment. And just the kind of, the brutality of the reality in that moment was upsetting to shoot. - Yeah, it's wild to see how both of them have their private pain and then how they can give that empathy to each other. - I love that message in the film, that if these two people who are pretty much at rock bottom have the capacity to find love in each other, I've seen some people kind of talk about the film being depressing, and the film is definitely sad in its tone.

But I think ultimately, it's a hopeful message of, like, it can be difficult, but to step in and really seek love in somebody else and give it to somebody else is one of the great privileges I think we have as human beings. - And it's like every love story is a ghost story. - Yeah, totally. - Everyone brings their stuff. - Baggage to the door, yeah. - It was really beautiful. - Oh, thanks. (sad music) - The future doesn't matter.

Does that make sense? - Yeah. - So you were also a producer on "May December," and I'm wondering not just with this film in particular, but the relationship between playing in a film and producing it at the same time. Is it a hat that you can take on and take off? Yeah, talk to me about jumping between the creative element and then the production side of things. - Yeah, well, I felt like it helped me, becoming a producer after working for so long from the time I was a kid, it felt very much like a childlike role to me to be an actor.

And there are aspects that are infantilizing when people are like, "Don't worry about it. Just keep pretending. We'll ake care of it." - Here's an umbrella. - Exactly, let me tie your shoes for you. So to be like the grown up who everyone comes to when there's a problem and you're the one who's going to fix it is very empowering. It's also kind of like, sometimes you're like, "Can I just go back to?" - Yeah, can I chill in my trailer for a bit? - Someone else taking care of the problems.

But it's a good lesson in de-dramatizing because you really don't want, the producers are dealing with all the drama and you really want the creative space to be devoid of that, except when it's on the screen. And so there's a lot of knowing what's going on and then coming back to the actors and just being like, "Yeah, it's cool." if there's, like, - If there's an issue with another actor and you're dealing with it in an email thread, and then you're like, "Hey, how's it going?" - You just really compartmentalize. - Yeah, do you have like a line in the day that you go like, this is my time, or it's probably not as clean as that and probably impossible.

Is there a moment in the day when you go like, this is for acting, and then the rest? - Yeah, I mean, when I'm on set and I have an amazing partner, Sophie Mas, who, she really is amazing at taking a lot of that weight off of me when I'm acting so that I can focus on that. And she kind of decides when to bring me in or not, depending on that, which is incredible. But it's nice to also just be able to be part of creating the environment you want to work in. - Totally. - It's so magic when it's great people and you have everything you need to. - And you're building it. - Yeah. - A little naive. - I am naive.

I always have been. - Yeah, I'm going to ask you. - You can ask me. Yeah, is there a director that has changed the course of your life, either creatively or personally or however you want to answer that? - Mike Nichols was really an important person in my life, both as a director and as a human. I mean, in so many, like, I could talk about this for years. I mean, as an actor, he was the first one to send me to a vocal coach.

He was the first one to talk to me about how I prepared, because he would say, like, you can tell the difference between the older generation, the younger generation, because the younger generation shows up and expects just magic to happen. And the older generation comes so prepared and knows that you do all this work, and then you get there and you let it go. - Yeah, that's amazing. - Just like, hearing that. And he also told me about how to do what you do you have to have an hour of the day where you sit and stare at the wall, lie down, just, like, - Percolate. - Allow yourself to be bored and not have your brain working.

And then he also would be like, tell me who to date and who to get, who to have manage my money. And he was really, just took me on as a mentor, which was so, and I realized later he did that for a lot of people. And so taught me kind of the power of that, too. Now, as I'm getting older, what I want to give to younger people coming up. - Yeah, amazing. - What about you? Who has changed you? I feel like I've been so lucky.

The ones that jump out to my head would be like Lenny Charlotte and Andrew as a professional actor. But I think the director of the drama school that I went to, the head of acting, her name was Hilary Wood. She's this larger than life, wonderful woman who taught me that it's okay to be bad when you're acting. And I think, I know it sounds, like, obvious, but I didn't know if I could do it or not. And I think she took the kind of the concept of getting it right totally out of my head and gave me the space to really fall in love with acting.

And I think it's such a gift to be able to give students, and I think teachers in the world are some of the most important people in it. And, yeah, she totally changed my life. - Yeah, it's most important to be willing to fuck up. - Yeah, exactly. - So, Paul. - Yes. - You are mid shooting "Gladiator." What has that process been like? And what's been the physical preparation? - Like, lots of protein shakes? (laughs) No.

Yeah, it's a big departure from everything that I've done before, and one that, I don't know, it's so unbelievably fun, and it feels like just exercising a totally different skill set and one that I haven't really got to do before, but I'm having a ball. We're going to finish it soon, post strike. - How much time do you spend thinking about the Roman Empire? - All day, every day. (laughs) Nice. - And we didn't even talk (crew applauding) about rolling up to your party, all the 40-year-olds. - Oh, my God, yes! - I thought that was going to come up. - That changed my life. (Natalie and Paul laughing) Thank you. - We crashed. (upbeat music)