Ep14 - Dev Patel / "Lion"

please don't let me know. Uh. People have their their ways of getting at us on Twitter is a great phrase. Yes, yeah, absolutely getting under our skin. I did send up a flare this week though, to get some questions and help us through some of our chatter this week. Let's dive into those because actually, before that, can we just talk because it's so I want to do this. It so rarely happens that I'm right about something, and I predicted Latka would go with Moonlight. Yeah, I mean, I look,

let me have this. I know it's not like a huge surprise out of left field, but I never get the critics awards right. They can be tricky. I thought that New York was going to do Manchester too. I was gonna do Moonlight. Did not see La La land coming for New York. I thought of anything La La land would come from l A. And you know, I mean, let's be honest, I think Moonlight was always going to win the l A Film Critics. But New York picking La La Landa's best picture, I'm sure made some people

not want to pick it. Oh yeah, like Peter said on our on our show last week, sometimes l A will look at New York and say, Okay, I've taken that off the table. We can't not let it affect you. Although um, I do have to point out that Mihrshela ali one best supporting actor in both he is uh, I think he's who won the No, they don't do supporting right, and he was wrong Ensemble Award for that, so I don't think they were eligible. Oh by the way, I'm just seeing you now. I didn't get to tell you.

I ran into Peterburg yesterday and asked if he knew what a fan um we were specifically you and uh, He's like, yes, I'm me up, So make that happen. An email in my inbox right now? Really about see how it works fast, but he is delightful by the way. I mean, have you ever interviewed him, No, I've just seen him at like functions and stuff. I mean, no

nonsense and funny. And some of the stories he has about Patriots Day, I kind of don't want to spoil it because I know, like, um, but there is something to do with an on star tracking device that I was asking if it was true or not, and he has He has an amazing story about that. He's an amazing story about the actor who plays the main bomber, how he basically walked in off the street and got this part. The guys, he's fantastic, like a spinning image.

It's freaky. Yeah, uh yeah. I remember I met Peter at some bar party and the girl he was with was named Happiness. That's what I remember. Oh what did he tell me yesterday? Oh? Do you know how he got a sag card? Oh? Boy, let's hear it. This is Janelle's favorite question every Q and A. Has anybody ever like had to answer that question? Obviously? I guess they have, like multiple times because they're always on panels. No,

I try not to if I know I've asked them. Um, yeah, sometimes I start with like, Damna, Janelle, I told you this last time. Yeah he was Anthony Edwards is stand in on Miracle Mile and yes, and then um they needed somebody to basically like jump in a helicopter or something and say a line. So he did it and he got a SAG card and Mark Wahlberg was with him, and then was very intrigued to know if um, Peter Berg was on Chicago Hope at the same time Anthony Edwards was on e R. And Peter was like, yeah,

I was. And Mark was like, so You've just been following his shadow all these years and Anthony's directing now Anthony uh Edwards? Oh yeah. I think for a while, I think maybe TV, but maybe I'm wrong. Hang on, I must know you've got a computer here and everything. This is great because I thought that he was just now doing a feature for some reason. I thought he'd been directing TV for a while. But that's possible. I mean, people like direct TV like nobody's business and you never

even realize it. Yeah, yeah, or make commercials. I was born in Santa Barbara, who knew the Internet? My dead Boyfriend, that's the movie he has this year. He did he directed a bunch of R episodes, he did, I see, That's what I thought, but I wasn't sure. But there's this movie called My Dead Boyfriend anyway, so let's throw it up to the crowd. Uh, we've got a question from Thomas laugh. You know Tom Ras. I love Tom Ris. She's curious to know. Uh. She says she's embarrassed to

behind a couple episodes. How dare you? How dare you? Uh? How likely is it for who Pair to win Best Actress instead of Portman or Stone? You don't think so? I mean I have to say the thing I always say is critics aren't voters. But I mean, for a long time I wasn't even sure who Pair could get nominated, And now she's looking like more and more of a surer thing just knowing what that movie is. It's kind of hard to imagine the entire Academy saying, yes, my

favorite performance of the year. It is a great performance, and she is a legend and all of that, but you know, a tough movie subject matter wise, and uh, I just hope she gets in because I know we've talked about this ad nauseum, but some great people are going to be left out regardless of who the five, I think she's in. Do you think Amy Adams is in? Feel better now? I haven't all year, you know. I guess she's closer now than ever. Really, in my mind,

I think she's in. The person I'm worried about is Annette Benning. Okay, that would be striking, It would be very strange. I don't think. I don't. I still have her in there. I mean she looks, she's fantastic, and she's Meryl, but it's it's I mean, you look, you've got Ruth Nigga, You've got Natalie Portman, You've got Emma Stone, and you've got t Rogi p Henson. You don't think Taragi is it? No? I do, but um, it depends on I think that movie is going to be huge,

so we'll see. Well, I think Emma's winning this, yes, and cake Walk at this point. That's the one movie that I've watched twice this year. Watched it again over the weekend on screener because my wife wanted to see it. I'm so mad because I had the screener of La La Land and I put it in and this Marvel menu came up and I was like what is happening?

It was Captain America Civil War. I don't understand how that happens with the two studios, Like, no, it wasn't them, it was the Oh I shouldn't be saying this, but someone lent me the screener and I called them and I said, I said, gave you the wrong one. Well, but then they said, I don't own Captain America Civil War. So I don't know what This is a mystery worthy of Paul all right, Mary Kringlefick, what a name? I think it's real name is Murphy. Uh. He's concerned about

different films winning picture, director and screenplay. He seems to think that La La Land will win picture, Moonlight would win best Director, and Manchester Slash he thinks Silence would win screenplay. But that's not gonna happen, Sir is adapted anyway, right it is? Yeah. His question seems to be like, is it best to spread the love like that? Or is having a Best Picture winner that doesn't take director

and screenplay bad? I don't think it's bad. I mean they're all you know, there's a holistic way to look at things, but then everything is its own discipline. So is the best film of the year, the best directed film of the year probably, But I think there's examples where you can spread the love and feel safe and it's not weird. I have a weird alien and I reserved the right to change her mind that director and

picture will not split this year. Yeah, I think. Uh. I mean, look after I saw Silence, which is embargoed, I finally was able to say, Okay, I think La La Land is winning like eight oscars. Like I just at this point, I feel like I could be dead wrong. I mean, this hasn't happened since Slumdog. It's sweepers are very rare nowadays. But you know it's going to be so easy to give it like production design in costumes

and stuff, when you could see that happening. Crazy competitive category, yeah, crazy. But I think it's tough to deny La La Land because the songs really are integral to the movie, although I have to say in Hidden Figures, Farrell has two songs that are so right for the period and also really sort of deal with the plot. Well, the first one does running. That's the one I think they should focus on. Actually I do too. What is the other one? I see a Victor Victory, which actually is a song

that I love. But but Running is the one that I feel is that's the one that when they have that screening of all of the songs and context, that's the one that will probably pop. And obviously mo wanna and I don't know that, you know, he says Moonlight winning director obviously Barry Is. We just said before we started that when he's won the trifectas so far, Um, I don't you know, I don't know that means he's gonna win the Oscar. I think he absolutely deserves it.

But you know, this is a tough one for me because both movies are so beautifully directed. They're so different and amazing, and like you know, they have a chance to make history and award the first African American director an Academy Award. Um at the same time. Oh and he also did a great job I should add it to not just about that. Um, I think he's won the screenplay really yeah, see that's that's interesting. I think

that he'll he'll take that from Manchester. You don't think feel like weird right now because I never get into predicting winners until like I know, I know, but now it's fair to start talking about it because we've basically seen everything and we kind of know it's down to these three. Yeah, or maybe four. I'm still saying hidden figures? Could you hidden figures today? Uh? Today? I've been been pretty big on Hidden Figures since I saw it, mainly

because it's going to be such a crowd pleaser. We've got Kevin Costner coming up on the podcast in a couple of weeks. I think he gets nominated, and it is possibly the only threat to Martial Ali. Really, I do. He's so good in that movie. This is from Josh Tarpley. Interesting last name. I thought I saw that yesterday and I thought it said Tapley, and I was like, that's my brother. Do Academy voters put any weight behind the critics groups? Are they influential at all in the collective?

Maybe because you just everything, all the noise is influential. But you know, no one says, well, the New York critics picked, I don't. I don't really see. I mean maybe regionally, Like I'm sure I spent a year covering the season in New York and that was a very different group of Academy people. You would see it every event and there was a smaller group. Maybe they take a lot of stock in in New York critics, but yeah, I don't think. I think it's only in the aggregate

that things start to influence personally. I mean, look, it can't hurt, you know, keep seeing as about who Pair's name out there, and then maybe that's where it helps. Whenever someone's like on the bubble and it's like, well this apparently I guess about who Pair is great in this film, and they put it in there like yes,

and and that helps absolutely. I think that's the critics job really this time of year, is to help elevate certain things that aren't getting the love, you know, speaking of can we talk about the Critics Choice Award nominations real quick? And I'm very disappointed and all of you who did not put Vigo Morton's in in for a

Lead actor nomination. He got the comedy nomination. That's how That's how the b f C A like gets away with basically nominating everybody for everything, like yeah, they have comed categories and fantastic and so if he Goes got a comedy nomination there and Gnome Chomsky is hilarious. I mean, the movie has comedy in it in the same way that Manchester by the See has some really funny stuff in it. But you're looking at me weird, but it's

so funny. I was we had a Q and A last week for Manchester by the Sea, and I was waiting in the lobby and I heard like these peals of laughter, and I was like, am I at the right theater? And then I remembered, like, oh no, there's there's some really funny parts. They have all these categories, these genre categories. It's like it's like the year they nominated Jennifer Lawrence, like for Hunger Games and Action movie and for Silver Linings and comedy or whatever it was.

It was just like all these opportunities to get her on the stage to give a speech, and the questioner is accepting his award during the commercial break. That's really smart. But I've rated them enough about that. Andrew Garfield silence or haxel Ridge cancel himself out. I agree. I think Haxall is going to be the more well liked film across the board. God, I'm turning into one of these

people who speaks as the Academy as a whole. But the Academy voters that I've talked to really love that movie. I think it's in for Best Picture. I think Gibson is probably getting in. See it possible, Yeah, it seems very possible. I told you, I think that. Over the weekend, I was at a hotel and they must have been doing some press for hacks our Ridge, because well, first I saw Vince Vaughn walked by and I was like hey, He's like hey, and then I'm like, oh, I don't

know you. Sorry. You know when you see someone like that you're really familiar with, and then realize, oh, we don't know each other. Um. And then I briefly ran into Andrew Garfield and I saw Mel Gibson leave, and thirty seconds later Denzel Washington walked in and I was like a conversation. Yeah, can I tell you a quick sidebar and a funny Denzel Washington story. Um, we were doing a Q and A for Fences, and I mentioned, um, how thrilling it must be to bring August Wilson's work

to a wider audience. And he interrupts me and says, you did say wider, right, And he's like, sorry, couldn't resist. I'm sure that clicked immediately. Yeah. What uh, this is a good question from Marshall Schaefer. That last one came from stone Field source. By the way, oh the Silencer, And now I haven't seen Silence, I should admit, But I just think hacks out Ridge is that he's good in Silence, and it's it's it's a more internal performance,

I guess, although it's he does emotional stuff. I just think that this boils down to the movie, and I think hacks All is going to be more well liked for Marshall wants to know which of the big three that we're talking about, Moonlight, La La, Land and Manchester is likeliest to peak early, like Social Networker Boyhood. That's always a good question. Um, I don't know. I mean the time and I mean La La Lan finally opens?

Is it this week unlimited release? Yeah? I think that, you know, people think that a movie peaks early, like like the answer to this question for many is probably gonna end up being Moonlight after the fact, But that's simply because they think that it's the Best picture threat right now. And I do not think that it's a

threat to win Best Picture. Yeah, I just I think it's a It's an amazing film, the best of the year, but I don't think it's one that will translate to a vast body of people like this and that La La Land is so much such an easier vote. Interesting though, you talk to people who see Moonlight and everyone connects with it. Yeah, I haven't seen to a single person who said it was okay. If it wins, it would just it would be staggering to me, like I would

be so impressed. And I've never been so impressed by the Academy, so why should I expect to now? And again, it's not like I'm beating up on them. It's just that it's such a fast group of people. I mean, you're talking about like seven thousand people. And you know, how how how does the musical that takes place in Los Angeles that is critically acclaimed and just win New York Film Critics Prize not win that award and leave

you smiling all day? But I think at all three have done a really good job of not peeking too early. You know, we're not December, and we're not sick of any of them. You know, give it time, right, And then last one here from Daniel, do you think the Oscar is so white movement will take hold this year, especially with a film like La La Land destined to

win big. That's a good question. I mean, if obviously it's not going to take hold in the nomination, I think that there's going to be an outsize number of nominations for people of color, which is pretty really exciting and all deserving. But then if La la En ends up being the sweeper that I'm talking about, does that then open the door for that conversation to poke through. I don't know. I mean, I think that Denzel's winning

Best Actor. I think that Violet Davis is winning Best Supporting Actress, and Marshall Ali seems really strong for Best Supporting Actor. That should be a pretty big moment, and especially Denzel because he'll be one of like seven people to have won three Oscars for acting. I'm really you know, for the longest time, I was after I saw Fences,

I was like, well, it's over. It's Denzel. I I don't know, you know, it's it's obviously down to him and Casey Affleck and both deserving, both fantastic, both in you know, just powerhouses, and uh, for a long time I thought Casey couldn't take it because it's such an internal performance. But the more I talked to people, the more people really really love that movie. Those are the two.

Those are the two that are contending. I mean I was when I was watching La La La again, I was like, is there a possibility for Gosling to swoop in there? Because he has I wondered about that too. To be honest, the powder dry on him in a way because he's been doing Blade Runner the whole time he's in town. He's doing He's back this week and it's like, it's interesting, you know, he's probably gonna win the Globe, right, Like, yeah, I think his only competition

would be Hugh Grant. Really yeah, so he's gonna win that. Um yeah, No, I I am definitely not ruling out Ryan Gosling. There's a lot of road left on this season. If I sound nasally, I'm still fighting over I'm also sick. I don't know if you can tell. I'm sorry everyone. The two interviews I recorded last week, Kevin Costner and Deaf Patel, which is this week's interview, I had like congestion for both of them. I was fighting it so much. So if you hear that on the interview. I'm so sorry,

but he had he was sick too. Oh yeah, he was like burning the candle at both ends. I saw him. Um, he did some Q and as at the Arc Light over Thanksgiving weekend end and he was with Sonny the little Boy who plays him as a kid in the real Seru Brierley and my god, that sunny. I think he's seven or nine somewhere around there. He is a superstar in the making, definitely. Yeah, he is charming, adorable and a really good actor. Well, uh, it's a great

conversation we have with so. I'm sure he's amazing. So enjoy that. After this, it's so stop where you're from? Calcutta, hitch pod, I'm adopted. I'm not really. I mean we're starting to remember. So got a beautiful boy, very proud of yourself live. I'd forgotten. Okay, I had another family, her mother, her brother. I can still see their faces, and it happened. How long are you on the train? A couple of days? A couple of days. They would take a lifetime to search all the stations in India.

What if you do find home keeping, I don't have a choice. What was she like? Yeah. Every night, I imagine that I'm walking those streets home and I know every single step of the way. I wish gerdery. Welcome back everyone. I'm here with dev btel star of two films this year and as I'm missing one actually Ryan and the Man who Knew Infinity. Thanks for coming on

the show man, Apretyanks, thanks for having me. Uh, I want to go back, you know obviously too too when most people became aware of you, obviously some some dog millionaire eight years ago. Now, Uh does it feel like eight years? It feels like Uh, it does feel like. Hey, yes, absolutely, I've been doing a lot. I've been doing a fat

bit um. It's yeah, it's been an interesting journy when you kind of first shot out of the cannon, so to speak, with that movie, Uh, what was your like personal mandate, Like what goals did you have for yourself in this business? And however they may be shifted in the last couple of years, they are. You know when I that was my first film, and I came off a television show that had been literally plucked off the streets from so I was still still trying to grasp

the art of acting in front of a camera. You know, when I was did the TV show before that, I didn't know what a boom might look like, or what speed meant or anything but the word action. And then the next audition I got was for this film, and I got it, and it was a real blessing because

it opened up so many opportunities for me. But at the same time, you know, I felt, you know, for your first film to come out, and when eight oscars and you're you're suddenly like you say, cannon balled into this limelight and you're walking these carpets with these cinematic grates, it kind of gives you a level of anxiety because you you know, I was seventeen eighteen at the time, and I was like, God, I really haven't been able to really test the waters, make mistakes and understand build

a taste really or a style. So you know, that's been interesting coming out of that. And you know, if I never quite felt worthy, I would say, you know when I was walking those carpets with all those great people with those really long um resumes. So it's been a it's been a driving force in a way too earned that place, you know, if that makes sense, Yeah, definitely, I was looking at some you know, just online yesterday preparing and I was looking at some photos from that time.

You were such a baby man. You know you've got the main You've got the I'm jealous of the hair, I know. I tell you it's it's it does its own thing. It's an absolute nightmare, but yeah, it was. I was really young and it was a lot to take in. I grew my hair out recently, a year ago. I had my little midlife crisis. You've got that's the ways off. But my hair is very straight, so I'm very jealous of kind of bend in your hair. Uh do you you think there's any chance you and Danny

might do something again? Hey, look, I would love to. We keep in touch, touch once in a while and always pop him an email to congratulate him for jobs, all the stuff he's up to. I'm really excited to see trains something too, but he Yeah, I would love to. I would absolutely love to. He created a career for me and really, you know, hatched a lot of bets on a complete unknown with very little experience and and

and change my life. And he's a unique filmmaker and how he works as well, So I'm sure that was a unique experience. I mean, not that you even knew because it was your first movie, but to kind of come out and work with a guy like him the way he works on set completely. I say it as a silly anecdote, but I say, you know, Danny Ball put me on the map and Garth Davis put me on Google Maps. But it's they are of the same milk.

They are totally immersive filmmakers, and you really feel like they're in the trenches with you, and they come at it from a real space of raw emotion and the soulfulness and and there's a carnality to both of them in the way they describe things to you. You know, Danny, you know, he's his hair standing up on his head, and he's sweating and he's almost on the verge of tears trying to get, you know, explain an emotion to you.

And the same with Garth. You know, he'll just come over and hug you for like ten minutes to ground your energy. And both of them give a part of their personal life to you. You know. So you know, because when you're on camera, it can it can be very selfish in a way because you're you're constantly exposing yourself, and they're filmmakers that come in and you feel objectified.

But these those these two filmmakers in particular, they'll be like, no, let me tell you about a moment in my life where I went through an emotion like this, or I felt a heartbreak or this, and you you will go an extra mile for a person like that. Well, that's on the on the subject of Garth, let's let's dive into Lion this movie. You know, I cried. I also had my wife and I had a son this year. So this kind of subject matter, it's a little tough

to wright go within a theater. You know, thank you, But you know, what did meeting the real sorrow do for you? I'm I'm often curious, you know when people play real life characters, like if there was anything about the person that they wanted to carry across in their performance. Well, I didn't meet him for so I prepped for eight months and then that the first thing I shot was the climax of the film, so you didn't meet anymore.

So I hadn't met him before we started shooting, and I for the audition process, I'd spent weeks just absorbing all the material I could about his life watching. The great thing about playing someone that's still alive is that you know, and Google is very active. Suru is very active on the Internet, so he goes and dust talks around the world, you know, explaining his story. Google talks things like that. But I I felt like I had captured his essence. I really related to a lot of

his journey. And then I got to meet him when we finished the Indian portion and flew to Australia just to begin the main part of my character, my part of the journey UM and he we we shot minutes from his home in Hobart and we had breakfast together and it was a really really nice experience, you know, to meet him. I was very nervous because we've got the biggest scenes in the cans, so I was like, I hope he accepts me. But he It was really warm and funny and just validated the thoughts I had

about him. But he's the epitome of a fiercely driven young man. You know, he has an incredible memory. I met him after a long time for the second time on this press tour and he told me the eggs I ordered that day, the clothes I was wearing, the music we listened to on the car on the way to this barbecue together, everything, and I said, God, you've

You've got an astonishing memory. But we spoke a lot about, you know, the idea of this guy finding a needle in a haystack from space, like he found his mother from space, and that blew my mind. And I was like, how how did you remember those images so vividly? Because I hardly remember anything from when I was a child.

And he spoke about astral travel and I've never heard of that concept before, but he goes as soon as I went to Australia I got adopted as a child, I would go to sleep in my heart would begin to race really fast, and I felt like I had come out of my body and drifted into space and I was looking above India and then I would all of a sudden materialize on those streets and I would be with my mother and my brother and I would

do that every single night. And it just so happened that at this time this app had come out that could mirror that he could go into space, horror over Indian and zooming, and I was like, Wow, that's really really amazing, and then we had conversation is about being a product of two really loving environments and feeding a sort of survives guilt and trying to suppress a part of his identity to fit in, which I could relate to bring a British Indian kid going to school and

trying to hide part of my Indian heritage just to fit in and not get bullied and whatever. There's a lot of things we could relate to without hopping on Sorry we'll speak no police. Speaking of the guilt element is what's interesting to me, just zeroing and on this idea of the guilt that he felt. You know, when you watched the film, I kind of feel like, uh, you know, you're sitting there you almost want him to

snap out of it. But then when he relays that idea that he felt so guilty knowing that his mother and his brother were looking for him, that is such a powerful thought and and that's when for me it really just kind of clicked in. Uh, talk to me about that kind of stuff, because there's a lot of internal work that you're doing here and working with Garth the director and kind of bringing that stuff to the surface. Yeah, it was it's really you know, it's not a performance

space I've been in before. You know, I've played slightly louder characters. People will know me from the Marigold Hotel films and things like that, and it requires a bigger command. It's far more exhausting actually. And he's looking at this blurry laptop screen and he's trawling the ghosts of his past.

He's in the land of nostalgia. And that was what we spoke about, was there was a young man you see glimpses of being really cool and funny, and you know, falls in love with a girl and then all of a sudden when this Pandora's box is opened, where he sees these jelly bees, which are like Indian fried street food that he always yearned to have as a child and he couldn't, and he sees him at this home

in Melbourne. He he which starts to retreat into a land of nostalgia and becomes less present, and that, you know, it affects the relationships in his life, the one with his mother, the one with his brother, his father, and of course his girlfriend and he you know, it was

it's difficult to really portray that and not overcook it. Um. You know, there were there were some scenes in the film that I sometimes wish were there where you see him at work and you see, ah, you know, all of a sudden that that anxiety starting thrall him, and it gives you more of an idea of our way. This guy was trying to function in life, but this

thing kind of was crippling, and that's what happened. Yes, he became a sort of reclusive, but we didn't want to go full you know Howard used with it, and you know, it's it's it's you watched the film and then you'll all of a sudden realized, God, this guy has gone so far into this nostalgic world. How is he going to put himself out? You know? Yeah, I think he struck the right balance with it. Uh. And

let's also talk about Nicole Kidman. The role has written is interesting because I was kind of worried, like, oh, she's just going to be in it, you know a little bit, and then that'll be that. And she's got a good amount of screen time, but she does so much with it as well. It's it's you know, she's obviously one of our great actresses. But how did you like sharing the screen with her and what was working

with her? Like? Yeah, completely. I mean I'm a dude from Rayner's Lane, so in London, which is like the last stop on the Piccadilly Line. So to get the opportunity to share the space of the Nicole Kidman is

pretty mind boggling. But she she's amazing. At the moment she walked in the room for the first rehearsal, it's like, well that's Nicole Kidman, you know, six ft two, glides in and she yeah, she she The first scene we did was quite a very heavy scene in the film where she reveals to her son a really big part about why she adopted him and is she is just

so amazing in the movie. She really opened up part of her own personal life and you know, she's she's as a mother with adopted children and this is kind of a node to them for her. And it was a real joy just being in the space with her. She's you know, got a real presence. Yeah, like I said, a great film. I remember when I first heard about it. Uh, Greg Phrasers a friend and h I think he was more excited to shoot this movie than Rugue one he's just so pumped to go up there and do this movie.

And he really is a big star of the film. Like everyone talks about the you know that the actors and stuff, but the two other big characters in this movie are India and Australia. And the way Greig captured them. He didn't exploit the poverty in India, but you felt like you were there with this child, and it's so to to capture scaling cinema is amazing, but then to also make it so intimate. That's what he did. These

landscapes they plant in the audience's mind. At the bright at the beginning of this start credits, you start to see the big sea and Australia and all these things, and then you go to the red oakah land and that's purposefully there to plant that in the the viewers mind so that when I stumbled upon it on the laptop, they can all of a sudden it's there's a light

bulb moment. Wait a minute, I've seen that somewhere. And he just you know, for any actor, you would die to be captured like that, you know, with that intimacy and that that taste. And he just won a very deserving award a fromage you got the Golden Frog. Let's talk a little bit about the man who Knew Infinity. I just saw that this this week. Actually, did you

know help me with the pronunciation raman ramanagen? Did you know that story before you took on this I And then when I was reading the script, I was like, oh, wait a minute, this is that guy that Robin Williams was talking about in in good Will Hunt, that Indian guy Plaque from Execurity who but even he got the great He changed the world of mathematics, but all his equations are a gift from God in his mind. He was uneducated and he's just one of these great minds.

And I was like wow. And the script had been floating around for ten years, I think, before I landed on my lap, and you know, I spoke to Matt and I said, this film is really interesting for me to be able to take part in this journey, but it's too mathematically dense and it's alienating me. So what we worked on together for a year before we sent it to Jeremy was the idea of pushing forward this relationship between this older, stiff colored British you know, academia type.

You know, Jeremy irons character G. H. Hardy, who is the mentor slash father figure to this young man who's come from India off a boat, broken all cast, it's never worn a suit or a pair of shoes before, and now he's there, you know, looking up to the man and it's that. It was that that was really interesting to me. How do you like working with Jeremy. Jeremy's an absolutely superstar. He's so special and you know,

he is an absolute technician of the craft. You know, he even in a read through with him, the way he can modulate his voice, it's like it's just listening to an orchestra coming out of one man's vocal box, you know. And he was really generous and funny, and you know he can be intimidating when you first meet him, but he's the coolest, coolest guy. And I've really got to know him on that process and most of it has me and him sitting in a room together, and

he taught me a lot. You know. We talked about lying and that reserve you're talking about. That was what Jeremy told me. He's like, you know, reserve is the hardest thing to capture on camera an emotional reserve and then you know you want an emotionally orgasm when the audience does. And that line is a key. I came straight off Infinity and that was fresh in my mind Jeremy's words. It was okay because as an actually want to overcook every moment, you want to get every emotion in.

There is a young guy like myself. I can prove I can do this, I can do that. You know I can, but it's still waiting, which is more important anticipation. It reminds me of something Michael Shannon said one time. Uh. He's Michael's funny because he has weird sayings he'll drop from time to time. But one of them was I like to keep some of the juice in the lemon. Yeah. I had no idea what that meant. The more I talk to actors and more it makes sense. Uh and Uh.

I wanted to talk about You know, this concept of diversity in the business is really under scrutiny the last couple of years, and deservingly so I wanted to ask you if you've ever felt like opportunities are at all limited for you? Because I look at you know your range of work and it's all great. But a lot of the times you look at Last Air Mender or Best Exotic or even these two films, they're ethnic, ethnically specific. So do you ever feel like certain doors aren't open

to you? I mean, it's a really tricky question that because would you. I mean, there's Robert de Niro play ethnically specific characters, right, Yeah, you're right, And we don't. We don't. We don't torture him for the fact that he's playing a white guy or an Italian. We don't. We just embrace it as Hey, this is who this man is, and now he's trying to play a plethora of roles that are honest and true to his identity.

So it confuses me sometimes because I feel people are mad at me for playing a coup as a British Indian guy. You know, I went to the church and the temple, I did it all, you know what, you know, that's part of it. So I when I look at line and look at a guy, I want people to look at the transformation I went through. I don't want him to look at me as an Indian guy. I want them to look at he put on twenty five pounds worth of waight. He changed his voice to sound

like an Australian. He spent eight months prepping. That's what I want them to see, because that's difficult. I don't want them to be like he's playing an Indian guy, because I'm not. The whole beauty of the story is there, Seru as a man was torn away from India. And then there's a moment in the seat scenes the film where I come out of the water and it's a baptism.

He's an Aussie, he has he's an alien to India. Actually, that is as close to me as I can get when I was going there on slum Dog, trying to discover this country. And now that being said, you know, are their scripts flooding in? Good scripts flooding in? There are scripts coming in, you know that are Indian Centric.

But are the good ones coming in? No? Um, And I would like to pride myself and the fact that out of the hundred Indian centric scripts I guess and the five I've chosen have landed in a way infinity as in a way the Marigolds have some dog whatever it was. Um, you know, it's just me being selective and those somehow breakthrough and get a lot of air time. I'm not saying it's because of me. I just we've recognized a good story and we fought hard for them.

That's audition, hard for Um Marigold, for instance, to fight for that. There was a forty five year old middle aged man when this, when the script was in the one wanted to test me for it. You know, I was too obvious for lying coming off. Some dog got to fight for it. So I just hope people don't look past the struggle it takes for us, because then

they're doing us a bigger injustice that way. Um, But yeah, I would I'd like, you know, I'd love to play a role that it doesn't matter what his name is or where he's from, you know, just maybe a man in love or whatever it is. But you know, it's happening slowly, you know, And it's not to do with awards. It's to do with the birth of the stories. You know. There needs to be more ideas coming in and more

people writing diverse stories. And you know, I'm also proud of my heritage because I've started to understand it growing up. So I'm enthralled by it and I don't want to be ashamed of that. I want to go there and tell her it's a population of like over a billion people, so that I'm sure there's a lot of stories to come out of that country. And I would love to

be a man representing out of the Bollywood field. I don't you know, I want to be that guy that's doing I can be someone that people like me can relate to, guys growing up in America, London, wherever they are. Oh man, look he looks like me, Like I did when I snapped downstairs and watch Enter the Dragon for the first time and saw Bruce Lee, I was like, God, there's an Asian guy leading commanding the screen. You know,

it's cool. Do you get asked about that a lot all the time, all the time, And I think I've been thinking about it more and more because I don't want to feel guilty about it. Why should I? That's unfair? You know. Would you go to Michael Jackson and say, why do you keep playing? You know? You know we try. Now the roles are getting diverse, Like if you can't compare Infinity to Marigold Hotel, but people will be like they're the same. He's playing an Indian guy, and I'm like,

what that kind of speaks to something, doesn't it. Yeah, it speaks to it. Actually as even worse, you're doing me a great injustice. It's a period film. I've got a starch suit on, and it's fine, just completely different. And I recognize all of that. The reason I ask is just from an industry perspective, if because it's a business that likes to pigeonhole. Yeah, you know, constantly for various reasons. So it's just something that was Yeah, I mean, yeah,

he's the Indian guy. I would like to just be the guy. Yeah, that would be nice. Well, I think The Newsroom is a good example of and I wanted to talk about that a little bit because it's kind of a shame to me that that's not an ongoing series because I imagine he would have had reams of material for this past election and just what's what's going on in the last two years or whatever. But how did you like h the Aaron Stork and experience kind

of it was interesting? How to Q and A the other day and I was talking about news Room and the the first time I decided to sign on was when I went to the read through and heard Jeff Daniels do that amazing speech about why America isn't the greatest country in the world but it could be, and he completely blew it out of the park and everyone

started clapping, and it was really interesting. With this whole Trump thing going on now, it really struck a chord like Aaron had seen into the future in a way. But it kind of was amazing to be able to be a part of that. I felt completely overwhelmed and not intelligent enough. I don't think everyone feels intelligent enough. Everyding th stuff. You know, it's a big ask the amount of information and research that goes into each of

those scripts. He has to churn them out every two weeks. Yeah, it's it's basically impossible to do that and keep the same the same pace, this the same quality. So it's like, do we keep going because it's HBO and you have the bill viewers so you're gonna get paid or and risk losing the quality. Or do you step away when you've realized that this is as much as you can do and try and hold that same you know product.

And I just wanted to clothes here. Uh. We were talking a little bit beforehand but Anthony Morris is a friend. I know, I know my share of Assie is that guy. But you're working on the hotel one by with him, and I'd love to hear what how's that going. It's such an incredible story obviously, and yeah that was one again. People are gonna be like, keeps playing an Indian guy now,

just I'm just thinking that. But no, I I I had just left Bombay and landed in London and I opened the door to my home and my parents are looking at the TV crying, and that's when I was like, wow, you know they were watching these siege go on at this Tarch hotel and it just completely tore me up.

You know that those terrorists went to chatter up at the chival Gi Terminus ret station Victoria Terminus, which is the biggest train station in India where we danced at the end of SunDog and they opened fire with a K forty sevens and killed so many people. And when whispers came out about a film being made, I called out my team straight away and I was like, I want to be a part of this. I want to

help breathe life into this. My face should be a part of this movie and then we didn't hear anything. And then all of a sudden, Anthony popped out of the blue and said, I wrote this character for you, and it was this amazing synergy. We sat down and he's such a warm, genuine, very passionate director who just loved cinema. And the character was based on a real person, but I wanted to move away from that to change it up, so we turned him into a siekh man,

which is a person that wears a turban. There's a whole belief system to it. But in the nut show is a man with a big beard in the turban. And you know, hotels are fascinating because you know, the whole plethora of society can come and collide there. So you've got a poor boy from Islam who can barely

afford to feed his children going into this hotel. He puts on his magical uniform that allows him to pour a blue label vodka for a Russian oligarch and in the streets of India would never be allowed within hundred feet of you know, as such a person. And when terror happens to to a place like this, this microcosm of the world, this hotel, you start to see who the real heroes are, you know, and you and people's true colors come out. And he this man with a turban.

You know, people can turn on him because to the uncultured I he can seem intimidating. He can look like your stereotype of what you think a terrorist is. So it was my are and Anthony embraced it and we went and we've created this character and we haven't finished filming it yet, so I can't really say too much. I probably have said too much. No, no, no, I look,

I look forward to people discovering Anthony. I'm at Anthony Tell Your Ride like a film festival, like I don't know, eight years ago, seven years he had a short film and he's yeah, and he's such a talented guy and I think he's gonna he's gonna be a real discovery, amazing sense of humor and yeah, he's he's going to be one to watch. Yeah. Well again, the movies are the Man who do Infinity, which you can check out on DVD I think right now, and Lion, which is

in theaters. Go see that. And dev is at the tail end of a press tour. Here is a trooper. So thanks Man, I really appreciate you coming on the show, thanks to having me. Thanks for listening everyone. Remember to subscribe and check back next week when I'll be talking to The Jungle Book director Jon Favreau. You've been listening to playback ever right four