Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones, who famously played the Hawkins in 'The Theory of Everything' reunite onscreen for Tom Harper's film 'The Aeronauts.'
00:00If your cast were to rob a bank, who would be the mastermind and who would be the getaway driver?
00:07I would say you're the mastermind and you're the getaway driver.
00:09Oh really?
00:10Yeah.
00:11You're the brains and I'm the muscle.
00:13Yeah.
00:14No, no question, but if it was the three of us, I would be the one sitting in the back of the car, you'd be the getaway driver and you'd be the mastermind.
00:23Alright, okay.
00:25I'm just, like, coasting.
00:30The Aeronauts is about two people who in 1862 try and go as high as they can in a gas balloon.
00:39They get 37,000 feet and it doesn't all go their way.
00:43And I heard you guys were looking for something to do together, but you received this script separately from your teams, of course.
00:48But do you call each other and say, like, let's give it a go? How does that work?
00:52Yeah, we did actually.
00:54Because Tom and I had actually met years and years ago and had wanted to find something together for a long time.
01:01And then I remember hearing about The Aeronauts and initially I thought it was a Russian period drama.
01:07The Aeronauts.
01:08I thought it was like the Romanovs or something, just from the title.
01:11And then read it and absolutely loved it.
01:15And then we had heard that Eddie was interested as well.
01:19And then Eddie, I think you called me.
01:21I called you, yeah.
01:22I remember I was coming back from set Fantastic Beasts.
01:25It was one of those scripts I just read and sort of drank it in.
01:30And I just had never seen anything like it.
01:33But a lot of the film is two people in a basket about the size of the sofa.
01:37This is our comfort zone.
01:39This is the goods.
01:40I read it knowing that this was doing it.
01:43I was like, there are very few people, I think, that you can spend three quite intense months in that.
01:47And the space was so small that even things like make-up checks, we'd do each other's make-up checks because we were up in the basket.
01:52It was very, very intimate.
01:53And he was really good at it.
01:55You were the only person I would trust in that basket.
02:00What's so exciting about you guys being here, it's the only interview I'm going to do during the festival that's about a balloon ride.
02:05The only one.
02:06I think that's true.
02:07For a few years.
02:08We're special.
02:09Yeah.
02:10And the only interview with these two special talents, what makes them so special as a pair?
02:17Well, in truth, I think it's just that they are both so talented.
02:24And they get on so well together.
02:26And there's something.
02:27I think that all creative endeavour really is about taking risks.
02:32And in order to take risks and to make bold choices, you need to feel safe.
02:39And these two not only have extreme talent, but also encourage each other and dare each other to reach beyond their comfort zones.
02:49And that results in amazing performances.
02:52I think we were really lucky that we had a lot of rehearsal time.
02:57I think we ended up rehearsing for about four weeks, didn't we?
03:00We all went through most of the film and a lot of the stunt sequences.
03:04And I don't know what our shorthand is.
03:07I think we just really push each other.
03:10And then Tom pushes us even further.
03:13So it's an extreme experience.
03:15Look back on the film.
03:16That rehearsal process was so important because normally when you're filming a scene, if we're shooting it here, we arrive as actors with the director.
03:23And you have like maybe half an hour to block it.
03:26And you normally end up taking the first choice.
03:29And what was important was that this basket and the balloon sort of became the other character in the film.
03:35And how you make the balloon itself change and transform.
03:40And that's why I think those weeks of rehearsal were kind of essential.
03:43Because it allowed us to really investigate that space rather than just take it for what it was.
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