- You started acting when you were four. - Yeah, I did. - You meanly corrected me the other day when I said "When you were five, right?" - And I was like, "Four. Do your research." When did you start acting Taylor? - Acting a fool? I was pretty young. (jazzy upbeat music) (jazzy upbeat music continues) Let's reminisce. - Taylor.
- Joey. - Taylor Zakhar Perez.
- Joey King. - Look at us. We're
doing Actors on Actors. - Did you ever think this would happen? - No.
- Together, I mean like. - Together? I hoped not, but here we are. - Separately. Together.
(Joey laughs) But we're here.
- I know. I'm so excited for us. This is a big deal. - It's a huge deal.
- This is a big deal. - I'm honored to be here. - My heart's beating a little bit fast. - I'm kind of sweating.
- To be honest with you. I'm a little, I don't know why because it's just you. - And we just gave our waters away.
- You know why? It's 'cause it's Variety's
Actors on Actors. Because it's a big deal.
- It's a big deal. - Well now that we've established
that this is a huge deal, why don't we talk a little
bit about how we met. - How we met. I met
you when you were bald. - Yes.
- For the third time. - [Joey] Well, I wasn't totally bald. My hair was growing out. - Okay, let me tell you
what you looked like. - Okay. You tell it. Okay, tell me what I looked like.
- You were so cute. You had daisies on a headband. - Did I?
- And you were in a jean outfit. - I feel like this is not, you're not painting a
very pretty picture here. - I thought-
- You're like, "You had like a Bohemian
Coachella flower crown on." - No, you did. I mean,
I vividly remember it. But yes, we met at a
studio during our test for "Kissing Booth 2."
- Yeah, so we met on "The Kissing Booth." - Yeah.
- Two and three. - Two and three.
- And we met while doing a screen test, which you were fabulous in. - Was I?
- Yes you were. And you ultimately got cast
as Marco because of that. - Because of you.
- But no, because of me and Vince and everyone was obsessed with you 'cause you were just-
- Outta here. - So charming and gorgeous
and all around wonderful to be around.
- I was very nervous. - It showed. - Wait, take it back.
- No. - Then we went straight
into dance lessons. - Yeah, so-
- Guitar lessons. - Something that you don't
really know much about "The Kissing Booth" two and three movies, Taylor and I have some pretty
elaborate dance numbers in those movies. And so we kind of really got to know each other while
doing dance rehearsals for those movies. - Two weeks before we left. - I remember you asked me a question, this is like, I'm jumping
forward a little bit. But I remember you asked me a question kind of in the middle of
filming "Kissing Booth" and you were like, "I don't know, I just wanted to ask you, do you normally stay friends with people that you work with? Or do you kind of, like, be really close to them on set and then you just don't talk
to them very much afterwards?" And it was-
- Valid question. - It was a really sweet question because I felt like the subtext was like, "Are we gonna be friends after this?"
- I mean, that was the subtext completely.
- The subtext was, "Are we gonna be friends?"
- Strong. - And I told you, I was
like, "It depends." (laughs) - It does.
- It does depend. - But we were together,
what, we had rehearsals and then went to South Africa
for five months together. - Yeah.
- And on our way to South Africa- - I love this story.
- We stopped in- - I love this story. We had a layover. I
won't name the country. - And you wouldn't go out with
me for the seven hour layover because we were all kind of scared to not make our flight back. - So yeah, we had a long layover but it was in the middle of the night so we couldn't even explore. But we were in parts of the world where, you'll see where I'm getting at with this. But on our layover, I was on my period and I needed a tampon and I was trying to
find one in this airport and I just, I asked some airport employees and they pointed me in the
direction of USB chargers. - Yes.
- For phones. - There was no tampons.
- The white brick with the cord out of it.
- Yeah. They were like, I showed
them a picture of a tampon, 'cause there was a language barrier. I was like, "I need one of these, please." And they were like, "Oh right this way." And they took me to the electronics store. - And they gave us the brick
and we're like, "That's not." - That's not.
- "What we're looking for, but thank you so much."
- So then Taylor took it upon himself to ask
around the entire airport and find me-
- And we sourced one. - A tampon and then I knew, I was like, we're gonna be really good friends. We're gonna be great friends. - Or how about when I went to the bathroom and there's toilets and then
there's kinda just a hole. - Yep.
- And you kind of was like, "Choose your adventure."
- I was like, "This is what leg day is for." - Yes, and I didn't know that toilets were actually an option. And so I went into one of them and there's just the hole in the ground and you're like, "Okay, well there's a first for everything." - Yeah.
- And then I see a guy walk out of the bathroom, like clearly a toilet is there, and I was. - Yeah, but it's a little
bit easier for you, don't you think, to go to the bathroom in a hole on the floor? - Well, I, well who? Yes, yes, yes. - Rather than me.
- It's true. - It was a little, it
took some maneuvering, holding onto the walls, things. - Marble and porcelain and yeah, you're slipping everywhere. - I have some really strong quads. Really, really strong. - So I've been told.
- So you've been told. - So Joey, after our five
months in South Africa. - We went our separate ways.
- We went our separate ways. (Joey and Taylor laugh) No, we became such great friends. - I know.
- I was so lucky getting onto that set because
the first "Kissing Booth" was such a success and you had such a wonderful cast of South African actors
that you had spent, what, how long were you
there the first time? Two, three months? - Two three months. Yeah.
- And then we got five months with them and we all just bonded because everyone was so
grateful to be working. - Yeah.
- And that was a wonderful set to step onto because this was my first
major project that I was doing with an incredible number
one on the call sheet that, I mean, I'm gonna say it, like you, I think you lead a set in a way that makes everybody feel comfortable and you raise the energy levels and people want to come to work. And for me, you were my intensive on how to lead a set, on how to be on set. And I mean, still today, I'm like, I'm getting hot talking, warm
talking about this right now, I don't know why I'm
embarrassed, but like seriously, you've become a sister to me. But also you're a role model and a mentor to me on how I want to be. - Oh my goodness gracious.
- And I take it with me on every set I go to and-
- That's very sweet. - It sounds corny but you totally inspired
me to be, you know, to be like you on a set. - That is so sweet of you to say, you're actually
being nice to me for once. Is it because there's
cameras around? (laughs) - Did I say all that right,
that you told me to write? - Yeah. I told you to
write that down last night. You said it pretty much word for word. Just a little tweak here and there.
- I added some spice to it. - Let's take that back again. But I really appreciate it because you know, I know
that I have been the lead of a couple things before and the role of being the lead, not
just in a particular thing but also on a set, it
can be really important. You know, I've worked with
people who are the leads who maybe aren't as . . . - Joey King like?
- Kind maybe, or kind or just lead with, you know,
they don't lead with grace. And I think I've learned
from both positive and negative experiences of different kinds of
people leading the projects I've been on, on what
kind of person I hope to be if I'm in the
position of being a lead. But I have to say, it's not
like this like, you know, performance of any kind
to try to be this kind person on set. It's just when I'm working on something I'm really excited about and
I have really lovely people, like yourself, around
me, it's just easy to be, I mean it's always easier
to be nice than to be- - Yeah.
- An a-hole for PBS. - Yeah. What is it, you
attract more bees with honey? - Is that a saying?
- I guess. - Should we just speak in
idioms the whole interview? I'd like that. - I'm not prepared.
- But I really, that is like so sweet of you to say. It makes me, like I'm trying to be a big girl and take the compliment. - Take the compliment.
- It's very difficult to sit here and say, "Thank you." - Well just take it, take it.
- I'm crawling inside of my skin.
- I know, I was crawling saying it 'cause it's just like, saying it out loud to someone that you care so much about
and respect, you're like, "Okay, I'm sweating." - Also you and I don't talk
about serious things ever. - No we don't. We're always just joking. - I was just Joshing.
- Just joking all the time. - Well-
- But- - Oh.
- You. - No, please. Us. - Us together at the, one two. So you.
- So you. - It's like Kat and Garth from "SNL." (Joey laughs)
God it's the best. Okay, so but you started
acting when you were four. - Yeah, I did. - You meanly corrected me the other day when I said, "When you were five, right?" - And I was like, "Four.
Do your research." When did you start acting, Taylor? - Acting a fool? I was pretty young. - How long have you been acting? - I've lived in Los Angeles for 14 years. - Yeah. - I feel like I started acting
when I was in eighth grade. But it was one of those
things where it was like, either you're doing sports, 'cause you're gonna get a scholarship to go to college or
you're gonna do acting. - Something creative.
- Creative. And my dad was like, "Cool, you could do theater, that's great but how you're getting to college is you're getting a swimming scholarship." You're like, and I did, which was great, and then I forwent that
because I was like, I don't want to swim ever again. And after moving here, you
know, just like a leap of faith. - What made you know you
wanted to be an actor and then what made you fall in love with it when you started acting? - I wanna say "Saturday Night Live" lit my fuse because my sibling, I
have, you know, I grew up with seven siblings and
we would watch it as kids. Like we would watch Chris
Farley, Dana Carvey, Maya Rudolph, Tina Fey, just the greats, and we would reenact it the next day. Like on Sunday morning after breakfast, we were doing "SNL" skits. And so that was like,
I think my foray into the creative brain with my siblings. And I mean, 'cause when you're a kid, you play house or you play, I don't know, cops and
robbers or whatever. And for us, it was like, "SNL" stuff. - That's so cute.
- And so that really, I think that was the
first thing that was like, "Oh this is really fun."
- That makes sense to me because someone who's seen you act and has also worked with you, I think that you have a knack and an innate joy for comedy, and you have got such good comedic timing. And I was actually gonna ask you, because of what you just
mentioned with your siblings, you come from a very large
family, and of course I know, but for the viewer, what birth order, where do you fall in your
siblings in terms of birth order? - Number six of eight. - So you were close to being the youngest. - It's weird though because
my family is in pods. So the oldest three, a middle two, and then a youngest three. And so I always was raised to be an oldest for my younger two siblings. But then I was still the
youngest for my older siblings. And my sister, Kristy, who
passed away last year, was 44. So she was 12 years older than me and so she was gone,
like as you get older, they just leave, they go to college, and do their own thing. And so you are, like, I was the oldest. - First of all, I just wanted to say that I'm so sorry about your
sister passing last year. She was so amazing and
such a bright light. Seemingly, I didn't get
to really know her, but. - She loved you.
- She was so funny. - She was so funny and just
was always like, "How's Joey? She just seems like the best." And it's weird because every
time I would talk about you and I would go visit her, you guys had very similar qualities. - Yeah.
- And just like loving, caring, always accepting. And I mean, she was the glue
that kept our family together and made sure we all were
going on trips together and the kids were involved. And I think it was really
hard, no, it was really hard, doing "Red, White, and-" Now I'm gonna start crying. Doing "Red, White" and
knowing that it came out two months later and she
didn't get to see it. Our cover of "GQ" came out in June and then the film came out in
August and it was really hard. And my director, Matthew
Lopez, he was like, "Hey, do you mind if I put 'For Kristy' at the end of the film?" And that just blew my mind that somebody was so thoughtful to think of
my family in our time of need and mourning and like, we're
coming up on a year right now, and it's just, it's tough. It's tough in the creative role 'cause I think people throw themselves into projects to forget or to soothe themselves.
- Distract. - Or something, distract. And
I was like, "I can't do that. I need to be with my family." Like I've been with my family this past- - I think that's the right way. I think the hard thing
about our industry, too, and just like our country
in general is like work, work, work, work, work. Like, the more you work the better. And so I think that sometimes
people forget that, you know, tending to your real
life as well as the life that we have as people
who are in the industry is just as important, if not, I mean, it's the most important. It's the most important thing. - You've taught me that.
- Well- - Like you're so grounded
with your family, your mom. I could text your mom, call
your mom, FaceTime your mom. She'd answer. She'd be there for me. If I call you, I have a question. She doesn't answer, I'm calling your mom. You have such a strong family life and growing up in Los Angeles and starting when you're four, you've seen the track record with actors. - Yeah.
- And you are an anomaly. And like, how do you
keep that groundedness? - When we're talking about the trajectory that a lot of child actors have gone down and the tragedy of it, it's really sad because like you said, the
statistics aren't great, but like you were saying, I
have a really strong family that just really keeps me very grounded. And, like, when you were telling me that stuff earlier, when
you were saying those lovely things about me, I feel
like when I hear things about that, like, about myself, I don't feel like you're talking about me. I feel like it's associated
with someone else. So I've never really looked at my career, looked at my accomplishments, and kind of felt that, I always feel like it's
happening to someone else or it's about somebody else. Not in the way that I don't appreciate it or feel how big and beautiful it is, but I don't equate myself with like, giving me a certain status of any kind or giving me like a leg up. And you know, I mean, I just
appreciate it for what it is, but I also am like, it's
hard for me to recognize that about myself, that these, and hard for me to say
I'm proud of myself. I always joke around that I'm like, some days I'm like, totally have no confidence, and other days I have a God complex. Well I mean, I am a
confident-ish person, but like. - Yeah, when you were
talking about "Bullet Train." You're like, "Oh yeah, I'm
working with Brad Pitt." I'm like, "What?"
- I know. - "Joey, do you not know
how big of a deal this is?" And you're like, "Oh."
- Who is that? I don't even know who Joey
King working with Brad Pitt is. Like that doesn't make sense to me. - I know.
- I don't even know who she is, but also like, that
was me and that was amazing and the experience was so
fabulous and I soaked it all in. But I think that, you know, my
family keeps so, so grounded. And I also, I can't
remember who said this, but my friend Phoebe Dynevor, she worked with an actor recently who said something very
wise to her, which was, in order to have an extraordinary career, you must prioritize an ordinary life. And I just love that, you know, and I've always felt that way and that quote kind of just
contextualize a feeling that I've always had, which is, you know, it's easy, really, really easy to get distracted by the exciting things that present themselves in our industry. But you also have to know, like, you have to tend to the things
that really, really matter and really water them and
give attention to them. And so, you know, my family, my husband, my husband's family, like all these people that surround my life and
that I surround their life, it just feels like this
world I want to tend to and I want to be in. So it's very important.
- You're very good at it. You're such a family person. I mean they visited you how many times in South
Africa, in Romania? - I know.
- I visited you in Romania. - Taylor visited me in Romania. We were filming "We Were the Lucky Ones" for like seven months in Romania. - Seven months. I was in London. I was in London.
- It's so- - It was a little jump, skip, and a hop.
- It was a quick flight. - It was like flying to Chicago. - Okay. Yeah, exactly. You're like, "Oh my God,
I'm coming from LA." I'm like, "No, you're not. You're coming from London."
(Joey and Taylor laugh) But I was so appreciative,
I missed you so much, and I was so happy you came. - When I showed up, I was like, "Joe, are you okay? 'Cause you've lost a lot of weight." - It's interesting that
you kind of say that. My family was also like,
when they came to visit me, I opened the door and I was like, "Hi." And they were like (gasps). Like I got very, very,
very thin for that show because, you know, my character, she's a Jewish woman
passing as an Aryan woman. But at the beginning of the war, they're living off of rations and then the access to food is so limited and part of the story is just, there's so many situations
that they find themselves in that they want to appear healthy and appear like they are well nourished and well taken care of. And in our scripts it was
like, but they clearly are not. They are clearly very not well. And so I did, I lost a lot
of weight for the show, which was really difficult. I mean, I'm hesitant to even discuss it because I feel like it sounds so precious and it's like, "Oh, look at me. I lost all this weight for the show." But I did. And it was tough, and it was
something that, once I did it, I then was like, "Oh, I get why people talk about it afterwards, 'cause it's so hard." - But you were so mindful of it. I think we went to ramen
with your cast one morning and you kind of were eating half of it. - Which is so not like me.
- So not like you. You're like, "And donuts
and extra, extra, extra." You're so lucky to have such a devoted group of actors with you.
- All of us were really trying, we
were trying to be as smart and safe about it as possible, but also, we were trying to
be mindful that, you know, the responsibility we have
to this story is so immense. The least we can do is find
discomfort where it's necessary. Which was, you know, some physical and also the emotional discomfort of filming a show so heavy. Which is again, the least
we can do as actors. We're not actually going
through the Holocaust. We're portraying a family that is. So at the end of the day, like yes, we should feel uncomfortable
when, you know, doing these scenes that
require such heavy emotion. But it's one of my
proudest accomplishments. I'm just so honored that I got to do this and I got to portray this
real life woman, Halina Kurc, who's just a miraculous human being. - She's a hero. It's like a family of heroes. - It's a family of heroes, and who by the way, didn't
see themselves that way, who were just trying
to fight for survival, to fight to see each other again, and to keep each other alive. It's just, it's really amazing. I'm sitting here and I'm
kind of zooming out right now and looking at this, the
fact that we're here, the fact that we're discussing this show, I'm just, I'm very, very proud. We should not be here!
- But we are. - People left. We could have left. - No, this is our home. - And similarly, mister, mister, Mister Movie, Mister Mister Movie Man. Mister Leading Man of a Movie. - It's hard to zoom out though. - It is hard to zoom
out, but it's special. Like I'm sure you find this too, when you're doing press especially, it's hard to slow down and kind of realize the moments that are
really big and soak them in because it's just like,
everything you do, it's like, get in the car, you get there, mic you up. It's like roll, roll. Going so fast. There's not many moments to just be like, "Whew. Wow.
- Yeah. - Look at the set, the
Actors on Actors set, and all these wonderful people
sitting behind these monitors who are here and we're here for them and they're here for
us and this is so cool. - Yeah, I was-
- It's amazing. - Telling somebody about it the other day and it just kind of rolled
off the tongue like, "Oh, we have Actors and Actors on Friday." And they're like, "Wait."
- I know. Me too.
- "That's really cool." - It's so huge. It's so huge. - It's so.
- It's so, I went to say cool and huge at the same time, I said "Cuge!" - But I feel like, after my sister passed, and then all the, you know, the double strikes, not
being able to promote it, not having, I've never
had a premiere, Joey. - I know!
- I've been to your, I went to "Bullet Train." - I know!
- When you were in London 'cause you invited me and I was filming and that was incredible
- Yeah, Taylor never had a premiere.
(Taylor mimics crying) - No, it's really been-
- Cry for him. Tiny violin time.
(Taylor laughs) - Tiny violin. Henry does the best freestyle raps. - Well.
- Come on. Do a little for 'em.
- No, that's, no. Why? - She wants to hear it. Remember that one? It was
just like (vocalizes). - Your movie that you are a co-lead of and you do it so beautifully. "Red, White & Royal Blue." - Quite enunciated.
- I did, I really enunciated. "Red, White & Royal Blue." So tell me, Taylor, I
wanna know a lot of things, but I wanna know, you
know, you were working with Uma Thurman, who like, wow, how cool is that? She's playing your mom.
- I know. Talk about zooming out.
- Talk about zooming out. There's a scene in the movie
where you make an oopsie and she says to you as
you leave the Oval Office, you say, "I'm sorry, Mom." And she goes, "I know you
are, baby. Now fix it." I was shaking in my boots. I was so scared of her in that moment. - Right? It's just like.
- She's so great. - Layer on layer of it. Like first of all being Uma Thurman. - Yeah.
- Secondly, president of the United States. And like, most importantly, mom. - How cool was that working with her? - Seriously, the best. And it's interesting, I just watched "Red, White & Royal
Blue" for the first time. I didn't even see the finished product. I was in London and I think
Nick and I had a project, like a shoot, and they're like, "Hey, we're gonna show you
a screening of the film." So I saw it and he's like,
"This isn't fully done yet. It's not color corrected."
- I saw it before it was fully done too.
- Yeah. Oh yeah. - Yeah. You brought me.
- I brought you. And I haven't seen it since then. And so watching it the other
day, I was actually able to zoom out, see the trees for the forest. Another idiom. Right? - Wrap it up, please.
- Is it? - For God's sake, no one cares. - See the forest for the trees? - Stop trying to sound smart. We're over it.
- But working with Uma, I was hyped, and you
know, going through all of my prep and research for everything and just knowing, you know, it was almost looming. There was a two week period
that we shot together and I was like, "Okay,
when does Uma get here? When does Uma get here?" And this is my first biggie of a scene. And for some reason I just felt ready and maybe 'cause like as actors, right, the most important thing is genre, given circumstances, and relationship. And so like, I just-
- Sorry, I glazed over, what was that?
(Joey and Taylor laugh) Sorry.
- Okay. - I'm sorry. This is us. - This is us in a nutshell. - Wait, okay, so continue, 'cause I have more questions for you. - Okay, okay, I was really
nervous, but I was ready. And I just think, like
she's such a powerhouse, and she lets you play and when it's not her coverage and it's on you, she does different things to get different reactions out of you. - I love that. That's so considerate. - Yeah, I'm so grateful for it because I've worked with the actors, and I know you've worked with actors, where they will not act on your coverage. - It's honestly the most
heartbreaking thing, because to me when
people do that, I'm like, "Oh, so you don't love acting." Because when it's not my coverage, and I wanna be there for you, I'm also having fun in the scene with you. - And like, depending if
it's like a crying scene where you're like, "I
gotta reserve a couple of these tears for your stuff." - Yes, of course, that's different. - But when it's like,
when they're mumbling and it's your coverage,
you're like, "Really? I just gave you my all and now you're not giving me anything." - I gave you my everything.
- I gave you my everything. - My heart on a platter.
- Yeah. And it's so rude. - I can't date.
- Oh my God, Henry, I have no idea what you're talking about. - Christ, you're as thick as it gets. - Okay, I just wanna talk about the scene in "Red, White & Royal Blue"
where your character, Alex, and Prince Henry kiss for the first time. - You okay.
- Oh my god, no, because I re-watched
the movie the other day and I was sitting in
bed, like kicking my feet and giggling under the covers because I had to rewind
that scene about 14 times. I'm, man, I love that scene so much. So steamy, so sexy.
- Thanks. - And "Red, White & Royal Blue" is absolutely getting its
flowers and it deserves it because it's just such an
important movie to have rom-coms that are sweet and fun like
this for the LGBTQ community. And I wanna know what
it feels like to have that kind of response from the community? - Yes, it's for the LGBTQ+ community. - It's for everyone.
- But it's for everybody. - It's for everyone.
- And I think that was the most remarkable.
- But to have LGBTQ people represented on screen in a
story that's just so, ugh. - Yes.
- You just love to watch it. - You love to see it. - You love to see it.
- You love to see it. Okay, I'll explain, the inside
joke when we would be on set. - Oh, you're gonna
explain the inside joke. - Well because you know,
if they're watching and they're like, "This is annoying." When we would come to set and Joey would have one
line or I'd have one line. - Oh yeah. Oh this is.
- You'd roll up and be like, "You love to see it."
- "You love to see it." It's kind of like a day off when you have one line.
- It's like a day off! - You're like, "Oh yeah. Just get to kick back and relax today." - But it was such a great responsibility and Nicholas and I both had
that weight on our shoulders and Matthew and Sarah and
Greg and everybody involved. But knowing that, like you said, this film is for the community, but it's amazing that it's universal for everybody to watch, which I think is new in
queer cinema because- - As it should be, it should be for everyone's consumption.
- Yeah. - It should be more normal
to see this on screen. - Growing up, I never watched
any queer cinema, did you? - Me neither.
- It just wasn't there. Again, rewatching it the other day and finally being able to
remove myself from the equation, like stop judging the acting and judging the continuity
or something, whatever. You know, you're just always in your head and watching it like a giddy kid and being like, "Oh my gosh. Wow. What a positive
representation of love on screen." And that's very new, I think. - You were telling me something
the other day in terms of those kinds of scenes, like the kiss and like the sexy time
scenes, about how you, I just wanna talk about this
'cause I think it's so funny because we all feel this way about things that we watch ourselves in. But you hate watching yourself do those kinds of scenes.
- Yes. Yes. - Tell me more about that.
- My shoulder just starts to slowly raise and tense
up when I'm watching myself. - It's specifically when
you're doing the like, make out or like sexy scenes-
- Yes. - And stuff like that, right?
- Yes. Or even in other projects
I've done where like- - You're like, "Every time
my face appears, I'm like." - Like if my butt's in it or like part of- - You got a great butt!
- I'll take that. So do you.
- Oh, thank you. I know. (Joey and Taylor laugh) - My sister was there when I
was watching it the other day and commenting and she's
like, "You okay in there?" And I was like, "Yeah, I'm just, I'm uncomfortable
watching myself right now and I'm just kind of making comments." - You're just like making noises. - I was, I was like-
- Oh, ah. - All right, okay. Yeah. But I was like, "Why didn't
I just fast forward it?" Having that responsibility
on your shoulders and what's the response you get, right? I've been stopped by a ton of people from, I mean, from 15 years
old to like 80 years old. Men, women, whatever, telling me how much this film means to them. - Yeah.
- And I stop and talk to them for like five minutes and my friends and family
are like, "We gotta go. Like, we're going to the
movie, we're going to dinner." I'm like, "Oh, okay. Sorry." Like I just get like-
- It's really special though. It's touched people. I've been with you when people stop you and it's really beautiful, 'cause you're so gracious and sweet- - Again.
- And receive it so well. Don't
- Thank you. It's 'cause of you.
- Don't. - It's honestly-
- Say another nice thing about me, I'm sick of it.
- Because when we started filming our first project together and people would come up to you
and I would take the photos, I'd be like, "I'll take the
photos, I'll take the photos." And now people see us together and they freak out all the time. - They do. Yesterday I was at the airport and these gals were going to
Vegas for a bachelorette trip and they recognized me and I
was on the phone with my mom and then I hung up and they turned to me and they go, "Excuse me, Ms. King." And I was like, "Oh, yes." And they were like, "Will you
do a tequila shot with us?" - No way.
- I was in the airport and I was like, "Yeah."
- Yeah, why not? - "I will." And I did.
- It's a short flight. - It was really fun.
- It's a long flight. - Fans are fun.
- Fans are fun. - Fans are super fun. - But that's how I've learned
to be gracious through you and not annoyed and like of course, because so many people have come up to me and said, "This project changed my life. I almost killed myself
before I read this book. I had suicidal thoughts before-" - That's so heavy.
- "I watched this film." And it's so heavy and giving them, you know,
a minute, two minutes, whatever, the photo, it
means the world to them. I wouldn't mind doing this again. - Me neither. Similarly with you in
"We Were the Lucky Ones, you have such a great responsibility to tell this story for the Kurc family. And what has the response been for you? - Oh man, well the response has been so overwhelmingly wonderful and positive and I think that is so
special and means so much. And the thing I was
really nervous about was Georgia's family. So Georgia Hunter is
the author of the novel our show's based on, "We
Were the Lucky Ones," and it's about her
family, her real family. And I was nervous for them to see it. So the character I play, Halina Kurc, and the rest of the characters
represented on screen are now deceased, but their children and their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren,
they're all alive. And so I've met so many of
them and that was incredible. - Were they on set ever? - Halina's daughter came to visit set, which was, my God, it was so sweet. Her name's Anna and she came up to me when she
saw me, having never met me, and stretched her arms
out and said, "Mama!" And I was so emotional-
- My gosh. - Because in that moment, I just felt so, like she didn't have to do that. She didn't have to, she has no idea what my
performance is like yet. - Chills right now.
- She doesn't know me and yet she's there,
basically embracing me with her words being like, "I trust you with my mother's story." Like it just felt, it was really special. And then I got to meet Halina's
son, who was wonderful, Ricardo, and their children
and their grandchildren and having their approval was so, I was so nervous for them to see the show and to see it and I got to
attend a screening that, it was the first time they'd seen the first episode.
- Whoa. - And I got so emotional, man. The whole press tour for "We Were the Lucky
Ones" has been so great. But like I was saying earlier, there's not been a lot of
time to just stop and feel. I feel like when filming the show, I was really feeling everything 'cause we were there and we were shooting and we were in the thick of it and I could really feel everything and feel that emotion. But since we've been promoting it, it's been very, you know, I've been really good about locking it up and keeping my emotions together. - It's such a serious project. - But the screening with all of them was like a floodgate opened and I just was so, so emotional. I cried and I was just, it was, I mean, I cried of joy. What a moment to be able to sit there with these wonderful people whose families survived
the ultimate tragedy. Miraculously, they were lucky. So many people in their same predicament, who made all, you know, all
the quote, "right moves," they didn't make it. It's just, it's luck. It's a miracle. And so to sit there with that beautiful bloodline in
front of me was incredible. - I remember a line, one
of your co-stars, Hadas, maybe episode six, when her daughter has dyed her hair blond. - Yeah.
- And they put her in a school as a non-Jewish person. - Yeah.
- And she comes home and you say to her, "You have sad Jew eyes." - Yeah. You have Jewish eyes. - Like that was, I had the chills again. I like wanted to cry in that moment.
- It's interesting 'cause that scene is supposed
to kind of be a moment of levity, but it has such
weight and darkness to it. 'Cause I'm sitting there, kind of teasing my sister,
who's played by Hadas Yaron, and I'm saying to her, "You have to laugh at the Nazis' jokes. You have to lift your spirits. You have to, if we look as sad as we feel, we might as well just denounce ourselves." This scene is supposed to be like, the way it's described
in the script is, like, a sister dynamic, they're
kind of teasing one another. But then when you look at the dialogue, it's just really haunting because this is where
this family found levity? By teasing each other about, like, this is where they needed, this was their lifeline to be able to have a
normal, sisterly moment, even while discussing
something so not normal. - But you were leading
that family, I think. - Halina was really quite this driving force for her family. She was this, she kind
of stepped into this role of orchestrating a lot of
the safety of her family. - Yeah.
- And it just kind of happened that way. She's very like, she was just on it, and she, you know, was in charge, kind of made herself in charge of getting people false papers, moving them from place to place so that they could stay comfortable and figuring out a way to orchestrate, figuring out the payments. - It's almost like a fantasy version. - I know
- Because, you were the lucky ones. - Yeah.
- And I know, early on when I was like, "Oh okay, so what happens in the end?" And you're like, "Taylor, the title is 'We Were the Lucky Ones.'" - I know, Grandma was like, "Do you guys survive?" And I was like, "Well, I'm not gonna tell you. But also maybe the title
of the film might be." - But don't have attitude
with your grandma. - I know, I know.
- And also both of our projects were books. - Yes.
- Right. And so, it's not often, I mean, I guess you've done a handful, I mean. - Mm-hmm.
- Of projects that were like, your source material comes from a book.
- Actually, like a lot. Almost most at this point. It's kind of crazy. - And you read the book?
- Yes, of course. - And like, before you signed on for it? - I did, I read the book and it was so, I mean it was so, so moving. Reality is so much wilder
than dreams sometimes and the fact that this is a true story. That's everything about
this show. It's true. You know, there's a lot of
fictional material about this time in history and not to say that that's bad. It's actually, there's been
some incredible pieces based on fiction to depict the
horrors of this time in history. But when something is actually true, it hits home in such a way that you can't even
really grasp or describe. Survival is fighting. It is, it's fighting. Wielding a gun is not the
only way to fight back. Do you remember who said that to me? We are switching gears to
a much lighter topic now. - Yes.
- And we're gonna play a little game Taylor. We're gonna play a game
where we read each other some previous dialogue of ours and see if we can
remember where it's from. So I'm gonna let you start. - You're gonna let me start. All right. (laughs) This is great. (Joey and Taylor laugh) Like that lizard gif. - I like. (laughs)
- All right, "We are going to need slushies, churros, and an ass load of quarters." - That is me from "The Kissing Booth" and I'm saying that to
Joel when we see your score for the DD-
- MVP! - Yeah, MVP score for the
dance machine has surpassed our high score. We are ready to gear up and-
- Winner. - Look at me. We are going to need slushies, churros, and an ass load of quarters. "When you're not sure where you stand, sometimes a leap of faith is
the only move you can make." - I feel like Clifton
Collins Jr. says that to me on "Red, White & Royal Blue." - Oh that's cute. It's
actually my line again. - It's your VO.
- It's my VO. - Yes.
- And I'm staring at a picture of Audrey Hepburn, I believe. And I actually, you know,
little inside secret, I hate my reading of
that line to this day. I think it's so corny the way I say it. Anyway, moving on. - Didn't you do a lot of
voiceover in the closet? Like over-
- In the closet? - In the closet over-
- In the closet. - Over COVID, right?
- I did a lot of voiceover in the closet, yeah. - All right.
- Surrounded by the spiders and my jackets. I'm like, "Ah!"
- I remember you telling me that.
- "Spider!" Tell me.
- Maybe I can do it better than I did it.
- Oh it's your line. Okay. Spoiler alert, it's his line. Damn it.
- Do we both hate the way we've said some of these things? - Yeah.
- Do you ever do that? You ever like watch something? I don't know why-
- You just went Jennifer Coolidge voice right there.
- You ever do that? Do you ever do that where
you watch something back of- - Yes, all the time.
- And you're just like, I mean, I don't do it all the time, 'cause I try to lose myself in stuff that I'm watching that I've done. But I'm like, "You should have really just
said that way different. You are so annoying. You're so annoying." - (laughs) I've heard you
say that about something. - Myself.
- Yeah. All right.
- About what? About who? - About yourself. "You can't really hold onto someone." - Oh. - "Because the tighter you hold onto them, the more they wanna slip away. All you can do is love them and make sure they know that
you're never gonna slip away." - The man spreads really helping this. - Who said that?
- Who said that? I believe it was you on the beach. - It was on the beach.
- It was on the beach. I don't know, it was you trying to get
me to break up with Noah. - It was and it didn't work.
- It didn't work. - Spoiler alert if anybody hasn't- - Yeah, if anyone hasn't seen it yet. - You can't really hold onto someone 'cause the tighter you hold onto them, the more they wanna slip away. - "I couldn't help but think of one thing. That all this happened just
because of a," well, you know. - End of "Kissing Booth 3." You riding down the coast? - Are you, is that, yeah, are you joking? Of course.
- Well, I wasn't sure if it was end of two or end of three. - The climax. Okay, no, so number two. Actually wait, I'm not so sure myself now. - Are you kidding?
- Are you kidding me? I think it was number-
- It is three. - It's three. Okay.
- Thank you. - Oh, you're welcome.
- Thank you. - Yeah, sorry, that was my bad. I thought maybe, I was gonna say I ended two.
- You thought wrong. - I thought wrong, I
thought number two I said kissing booth, but then
I got self-conscious after I criticized you. But it's funny when I think about it because all this happened just because of a kissing booth. - I think we have a very Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds vibe together, comedically wise.
- You think so highly of yourself, don't you?
- I, you know what? I'm a God in this moment.
- God complex activated. - [Taylor] Yeah, we could be Julia Roberts and I'm, who else? George Clooney.
- You think so highly of me now.
- George Clooney, probably? I don't know.
- I would like to- - No wait, hold on, Keanu Reeves and Sandra
Bullock in "Speed." You haven't seen it?
- I haven't seen it. - I gotta go.
- I am so sorry. He's just outing me. - Okay, I'm done talking
over you. Go ahead. - No, it's okay. Keep going. I really love it. I-
- Oh. - Ope. And I.
- Eh. - I would love to see you and I in a comedy again. I like doing comedy with you. (laughs) I kind of wanna see you for some reason, I don't know why this is like funny to me, play someone like, you
know the character Stefon that Bill Hader does on "SNL"?
- What? - Like, it's so not you. I wanna see you do something like that and I somehow wanna find a place in that. Like that would be so funny.
- What? Stefon! - Like the hair.
- Oh my gosh. Never. Never.
- Wait. No, why? - He just does it so perfectly. - I know, but not him. But like a character like that. - I would also like to
do something crazy dark. - Okay.
- Together. - I love how different our vibes are on this answer right now. Perhaps Actor on Actors part two. - Part two.
- Because we could just keep going.
- They've done that before. My sweat's dry already, I think. - I'm just getting started. (Joey and Taylor laugh) - What do you wanna do next?
- I don't know. That's a good question. I feel like whenever people
ask me that, I never have, like, I don't have this like big plan for what I wanna do in my
career in terms of like, you know, I have goals
that I wanna accomplish, but I think that I just
hope to have longevity. So like, I hope to accomplish those goals slowly over time and just
hopefully keep making choices that whether they're perfect or imperfect, that I just get to keep doing what I love. What about you? What do you wanna do next? - Spoken like a true politician. - I am very diplomatic.
- Your next role. I mean, you definitely inspire
me to produce my own stuff. And so I've been in that world of developing exciting things.
- That's cool. - And just trying to, I don't know, just do things that have
something on their mind. You know, I think both of our projects really have something on their mind and are like change makers
and make people think and yeah, I wanna keep doing
those types of projects. - I love that. Well you guys, you viewers? No, I sound so-
- That's all folks. - That's all folks. (jazzy upbeat music) (jazzy upbeat music continues)
