00:00 since you work so closely on set,
00:01 do you and Tom still hang out?
00:03 - All the time, you know, he happens to live in LA too.
00:06 And you know, we've been social distance
00:07 hanging in the backyard.
00:09 - Yeah, I figured as much.
00:10 That's exactly what I had in mind.
00:12 - Tom and Jerry are about to start over.
00:14 ♪ 'Cause that's what friends do ♪
00:18 - In the big city.
00:20 (upbeat music)
00:23 - I was wondering if on a set like this,
00:25 you ever feel the urge to adjust jokes
00:28 or improv new stuff?
00:30 - I mean, it was a good group of actors, you know,
00:34 like we liked trying things out on set
00:36 and Tim's story was very encouraging of us
00:38 to sort of find other things in the moment
00:41 and at least try them.
00:42 I mean, that's the nice thing about
00:44 when you're filming something versus SNL, SNL's live.
00:46 So there's a limit to how much you can try on the fly
00:50 because you know, you might not get caught on camera
00:53 or it may mess up other things in the show.
00:55 So this was really, it was fun.
00:57 And I think we found a lot of comfort
00:59 like with Chloe, with Michael Peña, Rob Delaney.
01:02 I mean, Peña made me laugh so hard.
01:06 - Enjoy while it lasts, cousin.
01:07 - So there's so many takes I'm sure were,
01:10 are unusable because I'm just laughing.
01:12 And there's so many takes that are unusable.
01:14 He would make fun of me so much.
01:15 I would just walk into a scene, completely miss my mark.
01:18 And I was like out of focus for the whole take.
01:21 I'd have like a long speech, completely out of focus.
01:23 And he would just stand there knowing
01:24 and just laugh at me and knowing,
01:27 not interrupt me, not stop me.
01:28 Let me do the whole thing out of focus.
01:30 Cause that's how much he wanted to make fun of me about it.
01:33 - Oh yeah. Congratulations.
01:34 Teamwork is dreamwork, right?
01:36 - I talked to Jost yesterday and he said
01:39 that he had a hard time keeping a straight face
01:42 with you on set.
01:44 I was wondering if that's like something
01:46 you ever intentionally do,
01:47 try to get your co-stars to break.
01:49 Is that a part of the process?
01:51 - No, but for me, I don't know why,
01:53 but if I feel like I'm touching on something
01:55 that could potentially make me laugh,
01:57 you hope that that will make another person laugh as well.
02:01 And sometimes you do try to break up, depending on the scene.
02:04 Jost is a funny guy.
02:05 I mean, he's just a really funny guy.
02:08 You know, I went golfing with him a couple of times
02:09 and I was like, even the stuff that he just normally says
02:12 without trying to be funny, he's one of those.
02:14 I mean, he did go to Harvard.
02:15 You know, he's a smart guy.
02:16 - What was it like acting alongside so many characters
02:19 that were not in the room with you?
02:21 - The best scene partners a girl could ask for.
02:25 No, I had a lot of fun kind of trying to figure out
02:30 the technicality of that and what that would feel like
02:33 and what that would look like.
02:35 Oh, wow, this is so detailed.
02:37 And it really, honestly, has changed
02:40 and shaped me as an actor even now.
02:43 I think it really put me to the test
02:45 and it was a bit of, you know,
02:48 acting gymnastics after a while.
02:51 - You rode in on a giant animated elephant.
02:53 What is that like being on set
02:55 with something that's not there?
02:56 How did you guys even pull that off?
02:58 - Well, the good thing is I have no experience
03:01 with a regular elephant, so I have no comparison.
03:03 I wasn't like, this doesn't feel real or,
03:05 but you're on a weird green box
03:09 and just, it was set up with a crazy,
03:12 like, automatronic thing.
03:16 Animatronic?
03:18 Whatever it is.
03:19 But it was like a huge, like, gyrating box
03:22 and it's like whipping around.
03:24 And they're like, so hop on, but we got you.
03:25 And, you know, if it's ever too much, just tell us,
03:27 you know, and you're like, oh God,
03:29 this is like how every set injury starts.
03:31 There's a bar in New York that has a bull,
03:33 like a mechanical bull that we'd sometimes go to,
03:36 like after the show at SNL
03:38 and make each other try to ride the bull.
03:40 And that was, this was the closest experience to that,
03:43 except I didn't have the satisfaction
03:45 of watching Michael Che get thrown off of it.
03:47 That'll be the new wave in cowboy bars
03:49 in "Mechanical Elephant."
03:50 I will not let this hotel be ruined by a cat and a mouse.
03:54 - I'm curious, when casting news,
04:00 like "Tom and Jerry" is announced,
04:02 does Che or anyone write update jokes
04:04 to prod at you about it?
04:05 - I think he'll wait, he'll wait to see the film
04:09 before he writes some jokes about me.
04:11 You're gonna get me murdered.
04:13 He thought it was cool.
04:14 Like he thought it was, you know, he liked "Tom and Jerry."
04:16 I liked "Tom and Jerry" growing up too, you know?
04:18 So it's amazing people came up to me,
04:22 we were filming in London and people came up in London,
04:24 which I didn't even, I wasn't even aware
04:25 how much of a thing it was in London.
04:27 And people came up and they're like,
04:28 "Oh my God, you're in 'Tom and Jerry.'"
04:30 And like there were scenes where I was holding Spike,
04:32 the, you know, the dog in it.
04:34 And they were like, "I can't believe you're,
04:35 you get to be Spike's owner."
04:37 You know? And I was like,
04:38 "Oh, I never really considered
04:39 in the 'Tom and Jerry' cinematic universe
04:42 that that would be a big deal to people."
04:44 But it made me feel like,
04:46 "Oh wow, I really made it, I'm Spike's owner."
04:49 - That's cool, they have a UK market for that.
04:51 - Yeah, I, who knew?
04:52 I mean, again, when you grow up, you have no idea.
04:55 People are from Australia, you know,
04:56 and they're like, "I love 'SNL.'"
04:58 And I was like, "Whoa, you get it? That's crazy."
05:00 - I did interviews with you for "The Addams Family."
05:03 I was wondering if it's exciting to you
05:08 being able to take a fresh spin
05:10 on all of this nostalgic material.
05:13 - Definitely.
05:14 You know, I think I've really had some luck
05:16 to not only, you know, take a fresh spin
05:19 on these iconic pieces of, you know, IP,
05:22 but to really be able to be a part of projects
05:26 that the people creating and recreating
05:29 are as much in love with the original pieces as I am.
05:33 So they're handled with delicate care and so much respect
05:38 and not trying to reinvent the wheel.
05:41 You know, they know that it's kind of a perfect machine
05:45 and to fit a new story within these characters
05:48 that we love so much, you know,
05:49 and to not change it too much.
05:52 - Did you grow up on the cartoon?
05:53 And is that part of the reason you wanted to take it on?
05:56 - I did.
05:57 You know, I grew up in Chicago, so we used,
06:00 my brother and I went to this school
06:02 that was across the street from Cook County Jail.
06:05 It was awesome.
06:07 And we would, you know, we would run to the bus
06:12 and make sure that we were able to get the bus in time
06:16 for "Tom and Jerry."
06:18 We used to watch it all the time.
06:21 - Are there any other nostalgic properties,
06:24 maybe from your childhood,
06:25 that you would like to see rebooted?
06:27 - Yeah, I mean, the Wacky Racers would be really fun.
06:32 You know what I mean?
06:33 I'd love to get into something like that.
06:36 - Wacky Racers, is that Hanna-Barbera?
06:38 - Yeah.
06:40 - That is a whole new world
06:42 that needs to be explored right there.
06:44 - I really genuinely think it could be an incredible option.
06:47 I mean, it's something that I've spoken about
06:49 with some of the people over at WB,
06:51 and I would just, I would love to make that a reality,
06:54 because I think you could make it so cool
06:56 and so progressive and so forward
06:59 and kind of make it this really treacherous race
07:02 towards some really crazy landscapes.
07:05 - Is there any other old cartoon property you have in mind
07:09 that you would like to reboot in the future
07:12 in the same fashion?
07:13 - Oh, wow.
07:14 You know what?
07:16 If they could do this properly, not live action,
07:21 but like an actual, I would love to see the Thundercats.
07:25 Do you remember Thunder, Thunder, Thunder, Thundercats?
07:28 - All right, 2024, "Thundercats" reboot with Michael Peña.
07:31 Congratulations, man.
07:32 - I think I might've just pulled this off.
07:34 - Really?
07:35 ♪ We blowing up the whole thing ♪
07:38 ♪ Everybody in the bouncy house ♪
07:40 ♪ Going bouncy, bouncy ♪
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