00:00Anything is easier than squatting down in a tiny little thong made of plastic bags,
00:05covered in mud, looking up at Ian, who's got flowers in his hair.
00:11Hello, I'm Jonathan Bailey, and I'm here with The Hollywood Reporter
00:14to share with you some of my close collabs.
00:25The first film, obviously, with Ari, the collaboration was, like,
00:29putting a mento in Diet Coke, and it was twinkly, to say the least,
00:37and that was right for the chemistry between Fiero and Galinda,
00:40and that sort of ability to keep everything alive and playful.
00:44I look forward to working together again, for sure.
00:48So, yeah, with both of them, actually.
00:54It's just amazing what you can do with eye contact on a set,
00:58and that's especially true with Matt Bomer.
01:01We just can check in with each other,
01:03and especially when you're telling this love story over 40 years,
01:06a love story of two men, obviously,
01:08at a time where the government were crippling the gay community.
01:12But the playing of that and being around those people
01:15showed me what it's like to have a true confidence
01:19in an environment where you can just soar and fly
01:23and, as you go forward, we see each other all the time.
01:27I love Matt, I love Noah, I love Jelani,
01:29and Ron makes me sort of well up when I see him.
01:33I think a lot of us have got a lot to thank Ron for,
01:36and it's amazing when you think about Philadelphia,
01:38obviously extraordinary, Denzel Washington, Tom Hanks,
01:41and then we had a series played by a gay cast.
01:45There's nothing to be prouder of, really, than that.
01:52We actually met doing Broadchurch,
01:54and she came into the second season of a TV series in the UK
01:57called Broadchurch,
01:58and she came in as my sort of, like, love interest.
02:02And we spent so many hours in a courtroom,
02:04and I was at the back as playing a journalist,
02:07and she was playing, I think, the prosecuting lawyer,
02:10or on the lawyer's team.
02:10Anyway, so we sort of got to know each other there.
02:14We really bonded one day after a really hot,
02:17endless day filming in this sort of varnished cauldron of a set.
02:24And we got in the car and had a beer on the way back,
02:26and we just sort of really clicked.
02:28And I didn't know then that we ended up, you know,
02:31doing crashing together.
02:33And I've described filming crashing before
02:35as being on the brink of an orgasm for six weeks.
02:38And the truth is,
02:42I feel like I'm on the brink of an orgasm every time I see Phoebe.
02:45She really is an amazing sounding board,
02:47and I think our brains just go,
02:49a bit like Tetris.
02:52When Fierro meets Elphaba,
02:59she's the first person that he meets in his life, I think,
03:01who completely sees through that and shuts him down.
03:03So the collaboration with Cynthia,
03:06especially going into the second film,
03:07proved incredibly vital, tender.
03:13And we know what Cynthia did in the first film,
03:16which was sort of Olympian and smart
03:22and beyond even, you know, what her talent could achieve.
03:26And in the second film,
03:27she just continues to mine a performance
03:29that was really astonishing to play with.
03:32And our collaboration really was about,
03:34which I think was true to Fierro and Elphaba,
03:35was one of making sure that there was everything she needed.
03:40And it was just a joy to be able to unpeel
03:44and to, yeah, together,
03:47because that's what they do, really.
03:48And she inspires that in him,
03:51and she inspired that in me.
03:56He played King Lee,
03:57and I played Edgar with him
04:02at Chichester Festival Theatre,
04:03which is where the National Theatre was founded
04:06in the 60s.
04:08And it was a kind of, it was a, you know,
04:10it was a spiritual, religious experience
04:12going to work with one of our greatest Shakespearean actors,
04:17greatest actors.
04:20And you work with someone like Ian,
04:21and you know that you just want to work as hard as you can
04:23so that you can play as fiercely and as intelligently
04:27and, yeah, as sillily as he does.
04:32And the one thing I learned,
04:34he played Edgar before,
04:36and so it was amazing to have him there as a sort of mentor.
04:39But it's one of the hardest parts in Shakespeare,
04:42so having done that,
04:43I realised anything's easier.
04:44Anything is easier than squatting down
04:46in a tiny little thong made of plastic bags,
04:49covered in mud,
04:50looking up at Ian,
04:52who's got flowers in his hair,
04:55being amazing.
04:57But every day we'd get,
04:58we'd get drenched on stage in a rain machine,
05:00and then we'd come off stage
05:02and like sit by the sort of electric fire,
05:05have a little snack,
05:06and put the world to rights.
05:12Jurassic World Rebirth.
05:14So much to say.
05:15About to go on a press tour,
05:17and I'm sure a lot will be covered.
05:18But Gareth Edwards,
05:19I wanted to say,
05:21is one of my most important collaborations.
05:23You know, his films have been,
05:25I've been a massive fan of Gareth's,
05:27way before I even knew I'd get to work with him.
05:30I think many having seen the film now,
05:31which by the way is like knockout,
05:33and I can't wait to see you in the cinema
05:35while I was watching it.
05:36Some of the most beautiful human moments
05:39weren't scripted,
05:41and they sort of came up with it
05:42in the moment.
05:44And so we sort of managed to really,
05:46to build on,
05:49for Loomis, Dr. Henry Loomis,
05:50the love, the wonder, the awe.
05:53Everything that, you know,
05:54I think we so loved about
05:55so many films growing up,
05:56and so much of the way
05:59that Gareth talks about his process,
06:00I really understand,
06:02and meet and feel the same way.
06:05Ultimate collaboration is,
06:13and hard to choose one,
06:15so I've just said the Bridgerton family.
06:18Filming with, you know,
06:19supporting Phoebe Dynevor in the first season,
06:21and then going into our own,
06:23and having Shelley,
06:25Shelley Conn and Taritha Trandon as well
06:28as the Kuthani family.
06:30With Simone,
06:30it was like tunnel vision,
06:33and it's an amazing,
06:34enemies to love a story.
06:36And, yeah,
06:37but really,
06:38it's this amazing opportunity
06:39to share a whole lifetime,
06:41you know,
06:42as characters and as siblings,
06:43and that plays out.
06:45I am going to be an older brother
06:46to all of them
06:46until the day I die.
06:49I've been Jonathan Bailey,
06:53here with The Hollywood Reporter,
06:55sharing with you
06:56some of my close collabs.
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