-You know our next guest from
shows such as "Banshee," "Gen V"
and "The Boys," where he stars as Homelander. New episodes premiere Thursdays
on Prime Video. Let's take a. -You have brains, Sage. But I have wisdom. And what happens
if those brains of yours get blown out again, leaving you talking
like a gibbering idiot? Firecracker and I
will find the leak. -With respect the last time -- -Respect? I don't hear no [bleep] respect. In fact, I am
personally offended by the way you are talking
to this great man. -You just focus
on the shooter, make sure he's good to go
on the 6th. -He'll be ready. -Please welcome to the show,
Antony Starr, everybody. [ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪ Welcome to the show. -Oh, my God,
thanks for having me. I'm so pleased to be here. This is your first one of these. -It's my first one of these. And I've been a fan of yours.
-That's too kind. -For quite a while, since the Foreign Correspondents
Dinner of 2012. -20 -- Yeah. That was --
Let's not talk about it. Um...
-We don't have to talk about it. -We don't talk [bleep]. I'm very --
I'm a fan of yours, and I have been since
I first laid eyes on the show. This is season four.
-Yeah. -From season one,
uh, Homelander, really one
of the worst people on TV. [ Laughter ] And so,
so great to meet you backstage. And you're such
an affable fella. And I realized, wow,
you're a really good actor because he's a real piece
of [bleep]. [ Laughter ] -I think that's a kind way
of putting it. Um, yeah.
No. It's amazing. You know, I'm still getting
people coming up going, Oh, well,
he's actually nice. -Yeah.
-And, yeah, I don't fly. I don't laser people. I don't do any
of those things so. -This is --
It should be noted for anyone
who hasn't seen the show. Um, you know, we obviously are living
in an era of a lot of superheroes in pop culture. "The Boys"
is unlike anything else. It really stands alone
in its take on superheroes. Were you familiar with any of it
before it came to you? Like the comic it was based on
or anything? -I wasn't familiar
with the comic. Uh, I was actually
filming something else when they asked me to audition,
and I was like, I'm far too busy
doing this other thing. And then, um, that's true. And then, uh -- But I finally put a tape
down almost out of spite because my reps kept
hassling me about it. I went to my trailer
and at lunchtime and got my iPad out and just
literally spat an audition out, sent it away, and went,
Right, done, back to work. And then of course,
they love it. -Yeah.
-And then I thought, [bleep]
I better look at what it is. So I looked at the comic book
and oh my, my nerves. [ Laughter ]
-Yeah. -I was like, how the hell
are we going to put this on TV? You can't screen that.
This is obscene. Oh, my God. -It's it really is obscene. -It's obscene.
-Yeah. -So -- So the show is taking
a lot of creative license. I think one of the
beautiful things about the show is when it comes --
I've heard this, this phrase, a phrase thrown around a lot, "superhero fatigue." And I think we are
the antidote to that because our universe is
completely 180. -Yeah.
-The good guys are the bad guys. And the bad guys are
the good guys. Right? So I am --
Homelander is... Sorry,
all the Homelander fanboys that thought
he was the good guy. Uh, the giveaway was
when he killed a guy on a plane. -Yeah, pretty early on. Pretty early on.
-Episode one, season one. -Yeah.
-Um, but then, you know, I don't think there is
superhero fatigue. I think everyone's
going to be really interested in storytelling
when it's done right. And we've just got
such a unique angle. -So I think that's really it.
-It's also nice. I think, for anybody
who decides, oh, I'm going to start
from the beginning, like it's not based on anything. You know, if you start
episode one, you're like,
you're in on a world you didn't have to see
another movie or another show. You can see it.
-100%. -And that's really cool.
-Yeah. It's really cool. And it's really fun
to be a part of something like that,
you know? I mean --
I mean, I -- Who -- This character as well,
we've developed it in such a way that it could literally go
anywhere. Yeah.
So I could cry like a little toddler, or I could be
like a horrible beast for a day, and then you just drop it all. -We've seen --
-I leave it in -- I leave it in the Spandex. I'm going to say something
with, oh, I hope I'm not giving
anything away. There's been some
breastfeeding scenes with you. [ Laughter ] [ Laughter and applause ] And -- And and let me say -- And let me say the weird part.
-What's so cool about that? -Not -- Not flashbacks. [ Laughter ] -But I -- -But those scenes
are so difficult. That's like the weirdest scene
I've ever done. I've done some pretty weird
[bleep] in my career. -Yeah. -But when I read that
and I was like -- I'm so used to reading like
the bizarre things on this show. I read that and I'm like, Ah,
just another day at work. [ Laughter ]
-Yeah. -But then we get there
and I'm getting almond juice squirted in my face, and I just had this instinct
that it would be -- That it should --
I don't know, I don't know. A lot of that time, I don't know
what I'm going to do at work. -Yeah. -Like I've prepped so much
that we can just go anywhere. And it just I started
getting really emotional and it turned into a love scene
where I'm basically going, Oh, my God,
you did this for me. And she's all like,
I'd do anything for you. And it's like something
out of the bloody "Notebook." -Yeah.
-And it's, um -- But it's about breast milk
getting squished in the face. And I remember talking
to Valorie Curry that plays Firecracker. She's brilliant. Uh, and we were
on the same page with it. I remember after a take
just going, "What are we doing?"
[ Laughter ] I could have been a lawyer.
I could have -- What is this job? -Uh, speaking of,
what are we doing? So I've had some
of your cast members, Jack Quaid, Jensen Ackles.
-Yes. -They've been on the show
and they've talked about Eric Kripke,
uh, the creator. If he finds out
there's something that makes you uncomfortable
as a performer, he will not do the polite thing
of writing away from it. He will write towards it. -Mm-hmm.
-You don't care for heights. -I'm not particularly fond
of them. -All right, so here is,
um, a clip that you brought. Uh, this is, uh, yeah.
-No, you've got the clip. -So they put. Yeah.
[ Laughs ] Earmuffs. We're gonna -- We'll beep it
for people at home. But we're gonna let everybody
in the audience, uh, listen to... [ Cheers and applause ] -Mm-hmm. All right,
so here you are, Antony, getting lifted up into this --
into the sky [ Audience laughs ] [ Laughter ] [ Laughter ] -Oh, yeah, oh. -I was raised --
I was raised by pirates. What can I say? -It's a great cast,
as I mentioned. But you were starstruck
by one person, And I don't blame you. -Oh. Um, yeah. So when I was little, uh, and she was actually
not much older than me, uh, but slightly, I was a big fan
of the "Karate Kid." -Yeah. -Uh, I used to do karate when
I was a little -- a little kid, and my dad took me to see
the "Karate Kid" at the movies. -Yeah.
-And Ali, aka Elisabeth Shue, was, like, probably my
first onscreen crush. [ Audience awws ] -This is such
a weird crowd tonight. -Yeah.
You guys are so full of it. -50 seconds ago,
he was screaming you [bleep] on camera. --And now all
of a sudden you're like, aww. [ Laughter ] -Yeah, I'll take it.
Um. Uh, no. So -- So then all of a sudden she gets cast
as Homelander's boss. -Yeah.
-In this evil corporation. And I'm like, I've got to work
with Elisabeth Shue. Oh, my God,
what am I going to do? What am I going to wear?
Am I going to look okay? And, uh, turns out she was --
She is the nicest person. Like, I, like, to the point
that we were on set and she was, uh, you know, she was -- there was --
There was props, lots of props. They backed her up
with so much props. And she was like,
I can't do this. And I got to --
I was like -- She came up and she goes,
I'm feeling really -- I'm not feeling good
about this scene. I feel it really insecure. And I said,
"You're Elisabeth Shue." You don't come to this little
jerk and say that . I don't know.
I'm trying to learn from you. -Well, I will tell you that,
um, uh, it was fantastic,
the two of you. She was --
She was equally villainous. And it was a wonderful. Wonderful to watch
you guys together. And it's just such a great show.
And I'm so happy you were here. Thanks so much.
-Thanks, man. Appreciate it. -What a pleasure. Antony Starr, everyone. New episodes of "The Boys" are available Thursday
on Prime Video. Stick around, we'll be
right back with Julia Phillips.
