Felicity Jones talks about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Armie Hammer says he now has to live up to Martin Ginsburg’s high standards, Stephen Merchant says he was humiliated by ‘The Queen’, Rob Beckett jokes about his family and Calvin Harris and Rag ‘n’ Bone Man perform live in the studio.
On The Graham Norton Show, airing Tuesday, 26 February 2019 on BBC BRIT (DStv channel 120), Graham welcomes British Oscar-nominee Felicity Jones, Hollywood star Armie Hammer, comedy genius Stephen Merchant, comedian Rob Beckett, and Calvin Harris and Rag ‘n’ Bone Man.
Felicity, talking about being a British actress portraying such an iconic American figure as Ruth Bader Ginsburg in her new film, On the Basis of Sex, says, “She is so beloved that really the only person that could play Ruth Bader Ginsburg is Ruth Bader Ginsburg so I definitely had a lot to live up to.”
Revealing how she changed her look for the role, Felicity says, “I kept looking at Ruth and she had the most perfectly formed American teeth, and then I would look at mine, which are distinctly British and a little bit gnarly, so I had my pointy ones capped while I was shooting. It sounds painful but it wasn’t too bad.”
Armie, talking about playing Ginsburg’s husband Martin in the film, says, “When I read the script it described a husband that was incredibly progressive and supportive and perfect and charming and I thought, ‘This guy is too good to be true,’ so I employed a researcher to find out where the bodies were buried! I felt sure there was something wrong with him, but he really was the most amazing person and everyone loved him. He was so perfect that, as an actor, I found it hard to know what to do with him.”
Revealing that Martin’s fabulousness has cast a slight shadow over his own marriage, Armie says, “It’s a high standard to live up to, and now that my wife has seen the film, every so often if I fail to live up to his standards she casually looks at me and says, ‘Marty wouldn’t do that.’”
Stephen, talking about how his new film, Fighting with My Family, came about, says, “I’ve known Dwayne Johnson for a while. He was in the UK filming and happened to see a documentary about a family of wrestlers and he called me.”
Asked about the positive reaction to the film, he says, “It’s a great relief. It’s tough to get it right.”
Joking about the role he played in The Girl in the Spider’s Web, he says, “I only wanted to do it because there was an action element and I was very excited to be tackling an assassin in a fight scene. When we filmed it, the director just wanted me to cower in the corner while someone else fought the killer. I’m six foot seven, the assassin was six foot five and the person fighting the assassin was Claire Foy from The Crown who is just over five feet tall. I am all for empowering women, but there is nothing more humiliating being an Englishman cowering in a corner while The Queen kicks someone’s arse!”
Rob, talking about his new tour, Wallop, says, “It’s just silly jokes about my family. My family is very working class and my wife’s family is very much not compared to mine. For example, when she was young she saw Prince William and Prince Harry play polo, which is quite a posh thing to do, whereas when I as a kid, I once saw a horse being put in the back of a transit van!”
Asked about the return of All Together Now, he says, “The first series was brilliant, people watched it and we had a really good reaction. I really enjoyed doing it.”
Calvin Harris and Rag ‘n’ Bone Man perform Giant live in the studio, before joining Graham for a chat about working together.
Talking about Giant, Rory says, “I wrote the song, but it wouldn’t be what it is without Calvin. He breathed new life into an old song from four or five years ago. When he brought it to me I actually couldn’t remember it so it was a really pleasant surprise. I still don’t know who got it to him, but it’s amazing that they did.”
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 BRIT, Tuesday, 26 February 2019 at 21:00.
