- It's funny because people are like, "You guys are in the same show. You must hang out, you
must know each other." Actually, we don't.
- We don't (chuckling). - And perhaps there'll be
some scenes with us together. - Hopefully.
- That'd be awesome. - I don't think they'll
end well but (laughing). It'd be like an explosion,
I think the whole sort of "Euphoria" universe would
just (mimics explosion). Yeah, that's how it finishes. - Exactly, you're like, oh, Nate, Ali. - [Jacob] Face off.
- Face off, exactly. (jazz music) - Coleman. - Jacob Elordi.
- Mate. - Hey Buddy, how you doing?
- Good, good. I think this is the first time
we've had an actual, well, it's gonna be the first
conversation we've ever really had. - Absolutely, well, yeah,
it really is actually. - 'Cause we're always in passing,
we're ships in the night. - We see each other every
so often at like a premiere or something like that,
but never having this time. So this is like an overdue coffee. - It really is, it really is. Without the coffee,
- Our "Euphoria" connection. - Yes. - First of all, how has it been for you? I felt like you were sort
of shot out of a cannon when you started "Euphoria"
in terms of like -- - It was.
- Right? - [Jacob] It was a little
bit, I think it was like that for everybody when the
first season kind of came out. Everyone was kind of like,
"I don't know what this is. It feels really good, it
could be really great." You know, and you were doing
a completely separate part of the show that I sort
of had no idea about. And then it came out, and then it sort of became the world a
little bit, you know? - I mean, but also you play
like such a interesting, dark, beautiful, broken character. - Right. - And what do you tap in
for a character like that? I mean, as I've known you, you're like a happy-go-lucky,
easygoing guy. - Right, (chuckling), right.
- Is that a lie? (Colman laughing)
- No, no, no, it's not. It's no lie, I try my best. Do you know what it is? I actually had seen something you said, "You're a geek, it's the nerd in you." And then it was the same
thing for me with "Euphoria". It was, how much can I study? How much can I learn? It was my sort of first opportunity 'cause I'd done movies
before where they kind of didn't demand so much of me. And then the kind of films
that I was watching before I'd even made movies, the
performances I wanted to do, I kind of hadn't had the
opportunity to do them. And then when I got to "Euphoria", I realized that I had an
opportunity with this character to be the actor that I kind
of always dreamed of being. - Wow.
- So I just went insane. It was like, how can I become this person? How can I push it into sort
of a different kind of place? But it was so long ago now,
too, I feel like I've -- - It feels like a long time ago. - Yeah, I've watched my face change because I think I was
19 when we started that. - How old are you now?
- 26 now. - Oh, wow. - Did you audition for "Euphoria"? - No. - You went straight in
there, I know about that. - I was at the set. - I was at four or five
or six auditions in there. Sweating, living outta my car.
- Are you quite serious? Really?
- Yeah, three or four. Yeah, I was living in
my car and I went down. - Wait, where was your car? Were you living in your car in LA? - Yeah, for about a week or two. - And you had an audition for "Euphoria"? - That was my last one
before I was going home to kind of just take
a debrief and see Mum. - Are you kidding?
- Yeah. And I went in and fudged my lines. I was like, "Does anybody
Jules know who she is? Does anyone know Jules?" - Oh, that's it.
- Completely blew it. - Are you serious?
- And then Sam asked me back. And then read with him two or
three times and then, yeah. And then that was kind of -- - When you got it, how did you feel? - Euphoric.
- Yeah (laughing). Cheesy, I love it.
- You fool. - I thought you were a fool, yeah. - No, I knew I was where
I was sort of meant to be. - So "Euphoria" sort of changed your life. - It changed my life, it
really changed my life. - Yeah.
- Yeah. - I think that's a beautiful thing about a show like "Euphoria"
can change all of our lives. - Yeah, how'd it feel for you? Because again, you've been working up -- - The show, great. I think the idea that
Sam wrote Ali for me. I mean, I didn't think anybody
was writing anything for me. And Sam was like, "I see you, and I wanna write towards
what I believe you can do and how you can exist in a series." And I felt incredibly blessed
because it's a dream role and the language that he is given and the tricky, complex character he is. I just love it, and that's
what draws me to Sam. I love Sam Levinson. - I love Sam Levinson, man. - I think he's --
- I owe Sam Levinson. - Spirits walking this planet. - Oh, he's an artist, man. - He's an artist-artist.
- Through and through. - Yeah, and I think that's what he demands of his company as well. Remember that table read of season two. - Yeah. - The first thing he
said was something like, "Let's forget that season one happened." - Yeah. - 'Cause he wanted us to remind ourselves to be artists again.
- We're doing something new. - Something new, don't be
attached to the fan base. And people love it, and oh, you know. - Yeah.
- All the critics picks. You're like, "Oh no,
let's get back to it." - It was just pure creativity. - Yeah, I look forward
to getting back to work when we get back to work.
- Me too, man. - It'll be great.
- Me too, beautiful. - That's been a journey, man.
- It has been a journey. And it's wild that we've
barely sort of crossed paths, which is kind of a gift too,
because I can kind of sit back and I just get the marvel at your work. - Thanks, man. - 'Cause I've got no
concept of it, you know? 'Cause I'm not there around
you and seeing how you work. - We just sort of like
circle the same world. I feel like I began to have friendships with people like you and Sydney Sweeney. Of course, Zendaya.
- Yeah. - Because I admire you
and what you guys do and the way you guys work. And I'm sort of like in my own little silo with Z, which is kind of cool. - Right. - And it's funny because people are like, "You guys were in the same
show, you must hang out." Actually we don't.
- We don't. (men chuckling) But you knew you knew
Sam Levinson beforehand. - Yeah. - 'Cause you guys did
"Assassination Nation," but you knew him even -- - No, I met him actually in the basement of a premier at Sundance. And then we stood in the corner and just talked for like an hour. Because I think that's the nature of us. It's funny, people always
think that we're the most, I think I probably give
off the fact that I'm very, I am outgoing, I like to talk
to people, but at my best, I like to be in a corner
talking to one person at a party and really
getting to know them. And so Sam Levinson and I sort
of fell in love that night because a week later I
was going back to New York and Sam was gonna be in New York, and we had such a bro
date at like "Soul House." And we were both very nervous. He said he threw up before
because he was so nervous because we both wanted to
be each other's friends. - Yes, I know that feeling. I have that with you,
which is why I've been -- - I have that with you too. - Terrified to have this conversation. - Are you serious? - Because Sam had told me about you, and he had pitched you in
this severely-talented, deep thespian, which is
all I've ever wanted to be. That's God to me. So I was always kind of a
little bit intimidated on set every time I saw you
because you're about it. You're about your craft.
- Thanks, man. - So I'm here now, I was
at home sort of last night, like doing a deep dive,
doing all this research like I was about to play
you in a movie or something, because I was so nervous. I was like, I need him to understand that I care the same way he does. But I think there's an
understanding in that. It's like a silent language or something. - But that's what I've
seen you, to be honest. I really do see, like, as I
started to do a deep dive on you and your career and the
choices that you've made, and then we'll get to a couple
of your things right now. I see that the craftsmen in you and someone who's really
crafting character and really in a very
deep, extraordinary way. I saw "Priscilla" and
"Saltburn" and I was like, very different performances
and very different things that you had to do that is not easy. - I'm Felix.
- Oliver. - Oliver.
- Yeah. - Oliver, Oliver, I love you. I love, mwah, I love you. Mwah, I love you, I love you, seriously. - Okay.
- Thank you so much. - It's really difficult territory
and even performance wise, 'cause I can tell with from
one director to the next, even their style of directing. Sophia Coppola seems to
lock off a camera bit more and lets the scene play like a play. And then I started to
think, when I saw that, I wonder, "Has he done a lot of theater?" - I mean, when you grow
up acting in Australia, there's not a great hope
of making it to America. It seems like the furthest
place away possible. - Really?
- On the earth, yeah. So for me, you're kind
of bumbling around, like, "Oh, what's an agent, how
do I find one of those? So the goal is to basically
get to Sydney Theater Company and maybe, you know --
- So, you're from Sydney? - No, I'm from Brisbane,
which is easier -- - Wait, I love Brisbane. And nobody ever talked about.
- Why? - That's the only place that
I've been to in Australia. - Really?
- Yeah. I went to the "Brisbane Powerhouse" where I did my solo show. - Wait, that's where I did my first play. - Are you serious?
- Yes. - What?
- Yes, in the Powerhouse. - I love the Powerhouse! - A play called "Slammed" there,
it was my first play ever. So you played in there?
- Yes. (using accent) I played at
the Brisbane Powerhouse. - I played --
- I played. But that's the only place that I've been. I've been to Brisbane and people are like "Brisbane's like -- They're like Brisbane's like a beach Town. - Well, there's not so
much going on there, especially, you know, I mean,
we try to have the arts, but it's no Melbourne. - But I think maybe it's
because Brisbane Powerhouse was such a beautiful artistic place. - It is, yeah, that's
where all of our kind, speaking of the theater, that's where all my theater classes were. It was the first place I
saw "True West" put on. - I wonder if we were
there at the same time. - So what did you do there? - I did a solo show
called "A Boy and a Soul." It was a solo show that
I wrote in like 2005. And I performed it, I think in 2012. - Right, so you're traveling
the world writing plays in 2005 and performing them, that's crazy. That's crazy. I do need to know about this
'cause that's what I was looking through because
I've noticed your face kind of across things since I was a teenager, since I started devouring movies. But now you have this, this sort of, I hate to use words
like incredible moment, 'cause we were talking
about this earlier, right? About how a career can
kind of be looked at as like a, "Well, if I
do this kind of thing, then I'll do this kind of thing, and if I'm this kind of actor, then I'll be this kind of actor. And then maybe I'll be a leading man. And then maybe this kind
of thing, you know?" But your career is so unconventional. But when I look at it,
it is an actor's life. Like, you are like the actor's actor. So what is that like,
working so sort of diligently and I don't wanna say in the shadows 'cause I don't wanna underplay
it, but it feels like, like in the shadows you just
kind of cultivated your craft without a pat on the back or accolades or anything like that 'cause
I'm new to this, you know. - Dude, that's exactly it. I mean, the strangest thing is
for me to sit across from you knowing that I've been
in the performance space longer than you've been on the planet. (both men laughing)
You know what I mean? I'm like, wow, my hope my
career has been about 33 years. - (whispering) Wow. - I started when I was about 21 years old. I'll be 54 this month, and
really my whole journey has always been about
being a multi hyphenate. I started out, yes, as an
actor, but I was always just interrogating the work as
a writer and as a director and then as a producer,
how to make things. I just wanted to make things. - Yeah. - And I always felt like that
the only way I could have some agency in this industry is to own it. And now I ask you this too. Your journey has come
because you came to America when you were 19?
- 19, yeah. - 19.
- Yeah, tail end. - [Colman] First of all,
I think it's seismic what's happening for you too. And you have this incredible fan base. Anyone I bring your name up to, it's like a huge fan of yours. But I love, it's for a
couple reasons, though. Of course, there are all the young girls and young boys as well, who are just like, (squeaky voiced) "Oh, he is so cute, he's so handsome, oh, so stylish." Wonderful 'cause you're charismatic, you're charming, you're good looking. But also, I think they see the craftsmen. I think there's something
special about you and about what you're willing to learn and do and grow as a craftsman. Now that you're having
sort of this moment in film and television, do you still
feel like you have freedom and liberty to actually
almost go the opposite of me and just go play in some sandboxes that are not so shiny or -- - You know, I feel the most free in my career that I ever have. Before I started working, I
made a decision when I was 15, I read "Waiting for Godot" and something happened in my brain. I was at an all-boys Catholic school. I was sort of deeply unsettled. I wasn't happy and I didn't know why. I had this kind of burning
sensation in my gut. And in theater class I
read "Waiting for Godot," and I didn't understand it, which I think is kind of the point. - The first time you read
it you don't understand it. - Right, but it meant something,
and something changed then. Everything that I kind of believed in, unbeknownst to me, just
went out the window. You know, relationships,
people, everything, and I became an observer in this kind of, I don't know how else to say
it without calling it a church. Acting and performance and
story, it became my church. And then from that day,
I worked 24 hours a day, just devouring everything that I could. My whole sort of personality changed. And then I started making
movies and it went away. I kinda lost it and I couldn't find it. And for two or three years,
I was in kind of a scramble. Even sort of during "Euphoria"
I was trying to catch it and find it again 'cause
it's kind of all these rules and ideas start getting put on performance and then you --
- It's about the product. - Yeah, and you the person
becomes the performance and you're bringing
yourself to the performance. And my whole thing was about losing myself in the performance but now I'm bringing Jacob
Elordi to a performance, which was such a heady,
kind of trippy thing. So I've been in the
process of losing that, trying to ignore it, trying to shake it as it grows kind of bigger and louder. But strangely enough, I think I'm in a place
now where I feel free. I'm hoping to go into the
theater next year to go back and just to kind of -- - I would love to see you --
- Reset and keep exploring. I feel like the theater is a place where you can break into a sprint. But I'm interested, when did you learn that you could do what you do? Like what made you go into
the theater in San Francisco? What lets you know as a kid that, what was that kind of thing? 'Cause you said something
about your mother, you said in the interview, "We are the dreams of our mothers," what did you say exactly? - Something like I believe that "Where will we be without
the dreams of our mothers?" - Right, but you're like
a living embodiment of -- - I'm a mama's boy.
- Me too. When you said that, man, I
started crying because I realized I take my mom everywhere with me. But I realized in that moment, I was like, "Wow, every performance I give is really just an extension of the
things that she wanted for me. - (slapping hands) Yes. - And you said that and I was like, "Wow." So I'm interested to hear
how that pushed you into, 'cause she's the only
reason why I do what I do. - Listen, and your
mother's still around then? - And she's still around, yeah. (lightly tapping hand)
And I let her know every day. - Oh man, you're about to make me cry. It's beautiful man, because
my mom was my best friend, and we talked about everything. She was such a dreamer. She believed and she was spiritual and lovely and believed
in the good of mankind. And I think she impressed that upon me. I was a very shy kid and it may be hard for many people to believe,
but I was very shy, and very bookish and very awkward and very skinny and not cool at all. And inner city, West Philadelphia. And my mother would put me in programs to sort of get me outta my
shell 'cause she was just, I dunno if she just wanted me to just be a working human being
and have a personality. And she's very gregarious. So I remember she put
me in this summer camp and we had some acting classes and it sort of like a sense of play and sort of got me outside
of myself, which was great. I put that away, I remembered that. Later in my life I took an
acting class as an elective in college because my mother also said, she influenced me a lot, she said, "Take something just
for fun, just for you. Don't just take matriculating
classes and journalism. Take something for fun." So I was like, "Oh, I
remember that feeling I had in the acting class, let me take that." Now again, I wasn't a cool
kid or anything like that. This is all made up, actually. People are like, "Oh, you
look very cool and chic." I'm like, "Lemme tell you this,
it's a lot of work to get -- - I believe it.
(Colman laughing) But dude, let tell you,
I took this acting class and one of my teachers,
he took me aside one day and said, "Have you ever thought
of acting as a profession?" And I thought, "No, I don't
even know what that is." He said, "Well, I think you have a gift. I think you have a gift in this art form. And I would be very curious if
you follow through with it." And it was the first time anyone
told me that I had a gift. Which is why I love teachers, and for them to understand their influence and how profound they can
be, and they can change the course of someone's
life like this teacher did. So I started taking classes off campus from Temple University and quietly too. Lay on the floor and
do breathing exercises. - Yeah (chuckling).
- All that stuff. Filling your body with
orange juice and all that. And I loved it, I loved all that work and all that preparation and all that care to create character. And now I continue to do that and I do it, and actually why I'm
bringing back in my mother, because I do it for her. I lost my mother in 2006 and as we know when your
life and your creativity, it intersects in such
an extraordinary way, a lot of the work that you receive and you're given helps
you work out something that you are going through in your life. When I lost my mom, I was devastated. And I had a good friend
talked to me and I said, "Well, what am I gonna
do with all this love?" I knew that I was a good son and I didn't know how to be in the world. And she said, "You're gonna
pour into everything you do." Which is why my production
company is named after my mother, which is
my mother's tattoo is on me. It's a reminder of actually
how to be in the world based on what you've been
given from your mother. So I know that I started to
create work in a different way. I think that it's even more meaningful and even more intentional. And it does matter if other
people love it or respond to it but it's more about
being true to my mother and what she gave me. - Well, I'm the exact same way. - Yeah. - I'd said I've always called myself the most selfish actor alive
because whilst it is universal and you are giving something, whatever I'm doing, I do it to satiate me. And I am an extension
of her kind of thing. - Tell me about your mom. - My mom is kind of the
same as what you're saying. Unconventional in the way that she would support me in doing things. Like "Do something for
fun, express yourself. Don't do math, don't do science. You should do this other thing." - (laughing) Wait, don't
do math, don't do science. - Yeah, because she knows I can't count. (Colman laughing heartily)
That's something about myself, I can't even do the months of the year. I'm a real shocker. So maybe she just kind of
realized I was a little slow at other things and I needed
to be doing something creative. But she was a stay-at-home
mom with us our whole lives. And then she worked at
the school cafeteria where I went to school and I got to hang out with
her every day at lunchtime. And it's just the way
that she treats people is how she's an artist. And that's where I learned art from her, is the way that she lives and breathes. Everything she does is
beauty and excellence, and she expects that of me. And she's the one that kind
of suggest that I do theater and that I do use my voice. And then she was the
first person to tell me that maybe my gift is not
athletic or something, maybe it's in the arts,
maybe you should pursue that. Which is strange 'cause
we didn't come from money or anything like that,
you know what I mean? But she gave me the liberty
to breathe, really, you know. I like when you said, "What am I gonna do with all this love?" Not all this grief, not all this sadness. "What am I gonna do with all this love?" And that comes out in your work. - Thank you.
- All the time. And not just in your work and
the way you carry yourself. Every room you walk into. I've watched you a lot 'cause
when Sam sort of told me about you I sort of sat back
and I've watched you move and I watched you work. The way you live your life,
isn't it, your performances are an extension of the way
that you move through the world. And it's noticeable, and
I'm just really, really damn happy that people
are noticing it now. You know, I really, really am. - Thank you, man. And I felt that when I watched "Rustin." First of all with "Rustin,"
here's my first thing. I felt like a fool because I turned it on and I was like, "I know
nothing about this." How am I gonna go and talk
to this man about this? And then I did a bit of digging and I realized nobody
knows anything about this. - Not many people know. - It's there.
- Yeah. - But it's not there kind of thing. So that made me feel a little
bit better about myself 'cause I thought I was deeply uneducated. - No, no, no. - But man, tell me about
that because first of all, your transformation was everything starting with your voice. There's not that many
videos of him talking. There's a few I found
online, but you nailed it. But you also bought something else to it that was kind of your own. - On the day that I was born black, I was also born a homosexual. They either believe in freedom and justice for all, or they do not. - I thought it was such a travesty the way to know anything about
Bayard Rustin and his story and his influence on the
civil rights movement. And then the idea that
someone like President Obama and Michelle Obama were ushering in making sure this story is told. There's a great sort of
weight and responsibility that you want to do all that
you can to just show a living, breathing soul who is just
an ordinary human being trying to do something
extraordinary for all of our good. So there's a line maybe in
the last act of "Rustin," that Dr. Anna Hedman says to Rustin, a story her father said, where she said her father would ask her every night, "Has she been useful today?" So I wrote that at the top
of my script and I thought, "Well, that was must be the
thing I must remind myself every single day when it comes
to creating this character and being a part of this
film and leading this film." And it's my first leading role in a film in my entire career. - I can not believe. - And I knew that I had
the opportunity to sort of, you know what I mean, if you've
been a supporting player, ensemble player, you've seen the way number ones act or
respond or move through. And I thought, I think
I know a way to do it, and a way to do it now that
I've been watching enough to make sure that everyone feels useful. And like you're saying that
the one thing I knew that I had is a lot of love and respect
for this craft and what we do, and I can inspire that. - Right.
- I did know that. I knew that I can take the charge -- - In the cost and the
crew and the everyone. - Yeah, I knew that that
would be my responsibility. And I took it on, I said, "No, no, no, the way this is gonna be
made is very different." And every department had
every bit of transpo, grip, best boy, they knew the set
that they were walking into, that it had to be done with love and grace because I respect this figure so much. And I wanted to do all that
I can to get the nuances of his body and his voice and
his mind, but also his soul. That thing that you can't get
from Wikipedia or research. You're like, "I've gotta animate
with something that maybe that could find that part
in myself, and marry that." You know, the voice,
all the technical stuff. - Sure.
- Haven't talked about that 'cause all the technical
work that you have to do to sound like someone, but
also I don't wanna mimic. - Yeah.
- So Bayard's voice is maybe three octives higher than
mine and a bit reedier. And I would find that middle ground, which still has a bit of me.
- You in there, yeah. - As well, because I'm like,
"I gotta bring me in some way." But it's Bayard fully but I've gotta -- - The spirit of him too, though, you know? - Right, if there's an
alchemy that happens after you've done all this
arduous research for months and learned everything you could, and I learned to play the lute
and sang in a tenor voice, you know what I mean, I'm a baritone. You do all this work and then you're like, "Okay, I have to trust that
the Divine will reside." - Yeah. - There's something that
I'm not even aware of that I have all of this work inside of me, and now I just have to be in the moment, listen and respond and
move through this space. And I feel like that's
something I witnessed with you. First of all, Elvis is iconic, right? And now you have an experience with this beautiful
filmmaker, Sophia Coppola. That is a quieter, and almost
felt dreamlike exploration and showed another dimension
to Elvis that I think that, usually you see the showman.
- Sure, sure, yeah. - Black hair and more eye makeup will make your eyes stand out more. - Hmm-mm. - [Off Camera Person 1] It's
four o'clock boys, we gotta go, probably waiting. - [Off Camera Person 2]
Yeah, Let's go, let's go. - [Off Camera Person 3] Come on boys. - I lived in an Elvis cave. I was shooting "Saltburn"
at the same time. - Wait, what? - I got the rolls on
the same day basically. So I was shooting "Saltburn"
while I was prepping "Elvis." So I'd shoot "Saltburn" in the day and then I'd go home to my hotel and I'd covered every inch of the wall in photos of Elvis and Priscilla. And it was kind of with
the same thing in mind. If I can absorb all of this, I'm not even gonna think about it. I'm just gonna live in it and absorb it and it really was this thing
of like, "There's no way I'm gonna play Elvis Presley
unless the Divine comes in, unless whoever, whatever comes in." - And helps me make --
- And I can do that thing. Because you can learn how to dance. You can do your best to learn how to sing, and you can curl your lip (Elvis style of speaking)
and do those things and you know, you can do it, it's there. That's all mimicking and copying and letting it get into your bones. But I realized really quickly with Elvis that there's a deep
spiritual element to him. I've read these books by Peter Guralnick and pretty much they're
kind of this big, each book. And by the time I read this
much of the first book, the rest was tragedy. It was just this giant tragedy. And it wasn't even on the paper, but I could feel him falling
as I was prepping him. And it was like you said, it was, get all those things right. Do the nerd thing, do the study. You know, I've seen
everything, heard everything. And then it was trying to figure
out where's the boy in him. Like where's the little boy? Because there was this
idea, because he had a twin in the womb and the twin
passed away in childbirth. And we came with this
idea that thinking about that Elvis had to draw
sort of from the strength of his dead brother to
make it into the world. He kind of took the strength of two boys and came into the world and
he had it all centered here. And I kind of just trusted this idea that he had the kind
of ghost of his brother and his mother with him the whole time. And something happened on
the last day of filming when he says to Priscilla, he says, "You know, maybe another
time, maybe another place." And I said it, and it's
an emotional scene, and I'd been sitting with it and I hadn't really thought about it. I didn't wanna get too
bogged down in anything. And I just started weeping
in this hotel room in Vegas. Philippe, our DP, had set up the lights so that they were like a beating
heart that was slowly dying. Like the Vegas lights outside the window. These red lights were just, it was his heartbeat slowly going out. And I looked at Cailee and I was crying and Cailee Spaeny my costar and I said, "They killed this boy,
they killed this boy." And that was the Divine coming in, sort of informing whatever it was. And to this day, I won't ever
be able to put words to it or explain it or say it,
but it was kind of like what you were saying,
trusting in the Divine or whatever it was, and
I am deeply spiritual, but also not at the same time. I'm very analytical. - But like you're saying,
there's that part of what we do. I think that you have to be
open for that thing to happen and not try to press on it. There's something that I
found in your performance, there was a vulnerability. George C. Wolfe, who's
the director of "Rustin," we talked about vulnerability. He said, "Yeah, you
can't act vulnerability." The circumstances have to be set up in every single way for
hopefully it to happen. What was one of the biggest challenges that you had when it
comes to playing Elvis? - I mean, the biggest thing
is after learning so much about him, I didn't want
to do him the disservice of playing "The King"
that the world had made. Because I feel like that's
what hurt him so much. I felt like it was my job
to not play into his fame, but play him as a victim of it. And to play him as a
man who was suffering. - [Priscilla] He's not like you imagine. (crowds roaring) (camera shuttering) - With these kind of great
figures that we have, we never really think of them as suffering 'cause we just have pictures. I mean, you can see it,
little bits and pieces if you look closely enough
but I wanted to respect his suffering and I wanted to respect, that's one generation away. It's really not that far away. And we say Elvis Presley
and it's sort of all fine that he died the way that he did. But it's not, a little boy died. - Yeah. - And the weight of that kind
of sat with me the whole time. So I never wanted to get
up and throw my hips around and curl my lip and snarl and be sexy. And I really wanted to try
and show, 'cause of the way that Priscilla sees him
is a man who's suffering. And she loves this man who's suffering. So I just wanted to be
true to that, I suppose. - And did you have a chance,
knowing that you were, because the wildest
thing is, I did "Rustin" and then I did "Color Purple" right after. - Really, how long?
- I was prepping that. - At the same time.
- At the same time. They're so different.
- Very different. But I'm wondering with you, were you able to let go
of the process of Elvis, or did you just move whatever energy and transform that with your
character in "Saltburn?" - "Saltburn" was first.
- "Saltburn" was first. "Saltburn" was first, and
then we had three weeks until "Priscilla" so I
was basically playing what I describe as like the
personification of sunlight, which is Felix.
- Which is Felix, yeah. - And then sort of went into Elvis. But Elvis was kind of like a
nice sedative to playing Felix. And I was glad that I finished on that because like you were saying
before, whatever the job is, even if it's unrelated
to you, if in the craft you are expressing something,
even if you don't know it, that's going on inside,
and I think playing Elvis, there was so many elements
that were incredibly relatable. And I got to kind of get all of these things out
while I was playing him. So we finished that by Christmas. So then by Christmas I was
kind of (deeply exhaling). It didn't stick with me,
it didn't hang with me. It felt like he had come to
sort of gimme this lesson. - Teach you how to avoid certain things. - Avoid certain things, and
navigate art moving forward and then things like that. Things that I still haven't
even really digested, I don't think, you know. What about you shooting them so closely? 'Cause you went from "Rustin" into "Color Purple" to the devil. - I went to light to dark.
- To the devil, essentially, - You know what I think in
hindsight, try to think, "Well, why was I given these opportunities to explore and about myself? What did I need at the
moment from these characters? What are they teaching me?" And I know that "Rustin"
was teaching me leadership, and conviction, and intention,
strategizing, uplifting, even when the ceiling's falling down. But to also make sure that with have hope. And then when I moved
into "The Color Purple," I actually thought that I was gonna be able to like lay back a little bit. Mister, I come in and out. Yes, I come in and out
and perform my function. But there's musical numbers. There's all this stuff
for the women, cool. - And you're kind of -- - I've serve my function. - They're the ones that get you. - Yeah, but that didn't happen, actually. Actually, it required even more from me. I think it prepared me
to do "The Color Purple." I had to really do two things
at once with that role, which is play the truth
of my character's journey and his pain and his hurt and his abusive nature and his darkness. While also holding up these
women and making sure I gave them space to go to these
really terrible places. - I ain't gonna let you marry my son 'cause you in a family way. Pretty girl like you can take his mind, but you can't have his money. - He ain't got no money. - I actually had to practice a bit more self-care, to be honest. - Outside of filming? - Yeah, I knew already going into it, we shot a lot of it in Georgia and I had an apartment in Atlanta and I said, "I need light." When we're searching for a
place, I needed lots of light 'cause I knew that where I needed to go, I'm a very sensitive person. And it felt like a trap to get caught up in all that darkness. Yeah, and you could see where
it's going and I'm like, "Oh, no, no" 'cause I have
to go to these deep places. I'm gonna need light. So I made sure I had light and
I gave myself good dinners. And like a friend of mine said, "Sometimes you have to
throw money at the problem." So I made sure I went to really incredible dinners like
four nights a week. My business manager was like, "Wow, you're spending
lots of money on food." Yeah man, I gotta --
- But it's part of a process. - Oh, absolutely, that
was part of my process. Self-care, massages, all that stuff. So I can do that work. But also it was actually that exploration of looking into the
darkness, of looking at, I have darkness in me. People see this happy-go-lucky person, but I'm like, "I have everything
that Mister has in me." I just make a choice every
day to live in the light. But I could go to the dark
place too, and that's human. - I have no hesitation going into playing, if someone says a dark side
of Elvis or a Nate Jacobs, or even a Felix who is sort of messy in their own kind of way. And it goes to what you were just saying. We're all here, and we're all
struggling against the day where suffering and happiness and in sadness and all of these things. So for me, I don't see
a darker side of Elvis, I just see a human being who hasn't necessarily
been fully fleshed out. - Yeah. - And then it's like you said, it's like, "Okay, cool, let me go down into here. Oh, there's a little dark spot there. I know that feeling, I can
relate to that feeling," and then I start to express these things, that I'm the same as you, I try to lead with light in my day. I try to work, I try to create art from sort of a sunny place. So if I'm in a good place mentally, then I can go to those places. But I don't necessarily
feel fear going to them. - Neither do I. - Especially if you trust the director that you're working with, and
you know it's there on paper. It's not gratuitous. We're playing human beings. And God, human beings do
some things, you know? - Don't you think that's
our job, actually? It's like I have no intention
of just playing heroes. I love when I get the
opportunity to play someone that Colman feels is pretty despicable and morally wrong, ethically horrific. I'm like, "Oh, but I want
to get to learn why." - Right. - Why does that person do that stuff? What is their operating system? What happened to them? Who hurt them?
- Right. - Those are the questions
I ask because I feel like a character like Mister,
immediately I thought, "I have to love him," I've
gotta love him so hard and believe that everyone
else is the villain. And he's the victim of circumstance. And he has wants and needs and desires like everybody else, but can't get them. In some way, so what does he do? He abuses others. And so for me, that makes him more human. And I can understand him. Maybe that's it, maybe like you're saying. There is something a little
selfish about this work. - Totally.
- Because I'm like, I think I wanna know more about people and find out what makes them tick and what makes them do what they do. Like you're saying you're an observer. - But wouldn't it be helpful if people did that a little more? I think about this all the time. If we did that on our day to day. The person that cuts you off,
the person that does this, David Foster Wallace
has a speech about it. It's called like "Water" or something. And he's like, "Even if it
seems like it's not true, think about what happened to
that person during the day. Think about what they're
driving to their sick mother. Maybe that's why they go
to get in front of you." And I think about stuff like that. And you do it with Mister so well 'cause the whole time I was watching him, I saw the sort of horrible
things, the craginess, but I saw a man who was
under immense pressure, completely restrained,
unable to express himself. So, of course he lashes out. He doesn't have the means to act the way that you and I would act in that situation 'cause he hasn't been given
the light from his mother the same way that we
have, you know, I assume. There's all sorts of different things. And that's interesting as an actor. That's more interesting
than sort of running out and being like, "Today I'm a hero." "For no reason, I help." - Absolutely. Did you feel that way when
it comes to Elvis as well? You felt the character had language to express himself and
understood his darkness. - Absolutely, I mean, it's as simple as everybody comes from somewhere. - Yeah. - Everybody has a is given
a set of circumstances, and I'm interested in what
those circumstances are. And someone like Elvis is, to me, that's as interesting as it can get because he has been explored and he has been kind of picked apart. And every single piece of him
has been put out to the world but I don't think it's
been interpreted properly. You can get so big that
people stop caring about you. You're so, so huge, nothing can touch you. You're a god so what could be wrong? And Elvis for me was like, "God, that is a boy who suffered." - Another thing I wanted
to just talk to you about while we have time, which is, I guess that we're both having
these moments in our careers. - Right. - Where there's a lot of amplification, a lot of lights on it. How do you remain human
and connected to people? Like you're saying you
don't wanna be in a tower. - No. - Because I think our business
is set up for you somehow to like, oh, when I have
to start doing this, you can't eat here, you can't do this. - Yeah, you become an island. - You become an island and
think you start to die. You're not the the artist or the person that you were supposed
to be, you wilt away. How do you do it, how are you doing it? What is your attempt? - The work, it's just the work. If I can continually explore the work, keep looking at it from a new direction. Every time that I feel my head start to get a little wavy, I'll pick up a play. And by the end of the play,
you know, I'll read "Our Town," get to the end of "Our Town," I'm back. - Yeah. - So the day that I don't have the work, but the thing is like you said, "When I don't have the work,
I'll make my own work." I'll stand in front of the mirror, I'll do monologues till I'm 80. - Yeah. - It's that selfish thing, that's mine. That's how I feel, what about you? - I think I'm trying to. There's a practice that I have and it's actually a practice
like any spirituality. - Right, right. - Which is speaking to people every day. If I go to the CVS, I
will ask the young lady who's just ringing me
up, "How are you today?" And she says, "Oh, well
thanks for asking, I'm good." And then just try to
have a small conversation of being connected in the
world for me 'cause I think that's what I need as fuel to
do the work that I'm doing. I need to know what's
going on with humankind and touch and feel and
actually have interactions. You know what I mean? And then I mean, we're artists, we need that so we can
actually replicate that. - Yeah, you need to be
a part of the world. - Exactly.
- You have to. So I think my mom gave me the same advice. - Did she, what'd she say?
- Every day she said, "Talk to someone, look 'em
in the eye and listen." She said, "Really
listen, actually listen." - Look at our mothers. We come from good moms.
- We're lucky. - I think so.
- It's a blessing. - It is a blessing, I think
that can give us fuel, that's not only about our
work and the way we crafted, but about creating a
healthy and whole life. And I thank your mom. - And yours.
- Thank you. (jazz music)
