Kate Winsletand Idris Elba reveal rather a lot about filming their new movie, Chris Rock jokes about Trump and Liam Gallagher apologises for his ‘out of order’ tweets
On tonight’s show(Friday 6th October) Graham welcomes Oscar-winner Kate Winslet, Luther star Idris Elba, stand up comedian Chris Rock and singer songwriter Liam Gallagher.
Kate, talking about filmingThe Mountain Between Us, in which she stars with Idris, says, “Filming in the Rockies was amazing and I couldn’t wait to get there. I was so excited. Can you imagine flying by helicopter to work in the morning? It was incredible.”
Talking about how the director had never done a love scene before, Kate says, “I had to get quite bossy. I’ve done quite a lot of these scenes before and poor Hany (Abu-Assad) was really quite nervous and had an extensive shot list and I thought, ‘We are never going to get this done.’ Idris was a bit nervous too and everything was moving a bit slowly so I just said, ‘Okay boys, this is what we are going to do...’ and we just got on with it.” Adding, “We got naked but Idris asked me to keep my socks on – I thought he didn’t like feet but, it is the opposite, Idris loves feet!” Idris interjects rather bashfully, “I’ve just got a bit of a thing.”
Asked about her early career ambitions, says, “I thought about being a hairdresser and once tried cutting my own hair with paper scissors which wasn’t a great idea. When I was a bit older an old family friend agreed to me doing his hair and I inadvertently cut off a bit of his ear! It was just a little nick. It was really, really small but I remember it falling to the ground. It turned out to be his claim to fame! Lucky man!”
Talking about filming with Justin Timberlake on her new Woody Allen movie Wonder Wheel, she says, “It was very low budget and I ended up sharing a small trailer with Justin with him at one end and me at the other with a very thin partition in between. I tried to practice the art of not hearing but I could hear everything including him weeing in the morning so I would be like, ‘Morning Justin Timberlake!’ He would shout hello and then start singing and I thought, ‘I really do quite like my life!’”
Idris, talking about the sub-zero conditions he and Kate endured during the making of the film, says, “The director was very clear from the beginning how cold it would be. I kept saying, ‘Jamaica’s got mountains. Why don’t we just go there?’ but he wasn’t having any of that!”
Providing a lot more detail about filming in -38°C temperatures, he says, “Don’t try and take a pee… there is a lot of steam and then frozen crystals… bing, bing, bing! You have to put everything away very quickly!”
Asked about his lack of romantic leads, he says, “I just haven’t had the opportunity. I’ve done a lot of films where there are a lot of guys so I just haven’t had the chance.” Chris interjects, “That’s no excuse!”
Talking about his early career ambitions, Idris says, “I originally wanted to be a radio DJ. I wanted to be like Chris Tarrant. I love him. He was the man. Him and all those other guys on radio had such rich voices and I just wanted to do that. When I was about 13 I got my first gig on hospital radio. It was lovely but the shout-outs were a bit weird.”
Chris, talking about his return to stand up with a new tour, and asked if it’s because there is such rich pickings in the world at the moment, he jokes, “No. I’m doing it because I am broke! I just got divorced and need money! It’s killing me.” Drinking some water, he says, “Watch this. My wife just got 30% of that sip!”
Asked if the Trump jokes write themselves, he jokes, “I like Trump. It might work out. Give him a chance! I used to see him at clubs about 20 years ago and girls would be all over him. He was the man… now he’s the Devil!” Adding, “The tour evolves as I go along. You never know what Trump will do next and you have to be ready.”
On being entertained at the White House by the Obamas, he says, “I was talking to Michelle and she was like, ‘I don’t know what will happen and what we will do.’ And I said, ‘You’ll be alright. You’ll get on something. Maybe Housewives of Atlanta. You will be fine. She looks at me and goes, ‘I was talking about the country!’ I have never felt so stupid in my life!”
Liam performs For What It’s Worth live in the studio before joining Graham for a chat. Talking about his reluctance to bring out a solo album, he says, “I prefer to be in a band. It’s better when you are with the lads. But it’s good to be back making music.”
Asked why he stays on Twitter, he says, “God knows. But I like winding people up. Without a doubt that is what it is about. Everyone is a bit square at the moment, a bit serious and miserable. Some of my tweets are a bit out of order and I do apologise for them.”
And on the antagonistic tweets between him and his brother Noel, he says, “They are for real. We don’t like each other. Lots of people have asked us to get back together and they keep adding noughts. They’ve offered us millions and millions but its not about the money.
Revealing why they originally fell out, he says, “The grudge started when he was about 19 and he bought a stereo. I’d had my first drink that night and got up to pee. I couldn’t find the light so I relieved myself over his new sound system. He was livid and that’s where it started.”
On making peace with Chris Martin and Coldplay, he says, “We are good now. We don’t go out for stroll or anything like that but it’s fine. I was only messing anyway and they liked me taking the mickey.”
And finally, Graham pulls the lever on more foolhardy audience members brave enough to sit in the Big Red Chair.
The Graham Norton Show, BBC One, 6th October10.35pm.
Pictures are available from PA
Notes to editors – all quotes in this release were said during the recording but won’t necessarily appear in the final show.
Next Friday(13th October) Graham’s guests include Jane Fonda, Nicole Kidman, Colin Farrell, Bryan Cranston, Matt Lucas, Niall Horan.
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6th October 2017