Cumberbatch and Colman team up to play a couple at war

0:00There are loads of movies out there about the beginning of a relationship, that first spark of attraction, that first sweet kiss. Well, how about a movie that tackles the other end when it's all falling apart? Okay, so today's session, the 10 things you love about each other. Theo, you first. Sure. One, I would rather live with her than a wolf. Did you say wolf? Yeah. Wow. one he has arms well i saw a documentary once about a man without arms and it looked like a difficult life particularly for the partner so that's benedict cumberbatch and olivia coleman as theo and ivy husband and wife architect and chef in the new dark comedy the roses the couple was once very much in love but two children and a transatlantic move later they're now struggling to save their marriage no one thinks it's gonna work including their therapist.

0:57I don't think you have the capacity to fix your problems. Are you actually allowed to say that? That seems unprofessional. Yes, like mild practice. No, I'm not expecting a hefty discount. Time's up. Consider this, The Roses reimagines an 80s divorce comedy. Coming up, it stars share how they leverage their real-life friendship to play two people who love to hate each other.

1:27From NPR, I'm Juana Summers.

1:36It's Consider This from NPR. Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman play the very unhappily married Theo and Ivy in the new movie The Roses. In real life, the actors are buddies, and when they stopped by our New York bureau to talk with my co-host Mary Louise Kelly about the film. She asked how two Brits playing two Brits came to make a movie set in Northern California. This project was imagined around us. We're friends and have been for a long time and wanted to work with each other for a long time. So the idea of this film came about around getting us together. So, you know, it's a jumping off point.

2:11The War of the Roses, the great sort of iconic film, Kathleen and Michael in the 80s. People may be starting to put together. The title is The Roses. It is about a marriage that spectacularly falls apart. This is a remake of the 1989 classic with Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas, War of the Roses. But it's not a remake. I think we feel quite strongly about that. It's sort of a reimagining. Inspired by? Inspired very heavily by because we loved that film. Exactly. The thing that your characters, as the marriage is collapsing, end up fighting over is the house. And to be fair, it is a pretty spectacular house.

2:49Describe the house. Oh, well. Because Theo built it. It's just a beautiful, open… Ivy Patriot. Ivy Patriot. It's a very embedded, as in sort of it speaks to its location, embedded piece of architecture that sort of comes out of this wilderness. and there's the sea and the forest. Exactly that. You're doing a better job than me. And surrounded by trees and bracken and this incredible vista that everything sort of walks towards and looks out over the North Pacific coastline of California. But it's interesting. Why is that the thing they end up... Because... They don't fight over the kids. They don't fight over...

3:29There's a million things they could fight over. It's... Because they're both invested in it, you know, massively. I think it's the thing that's... Well, for you, it's your most precious thing. So it's the perfect weapon for Ivy. Yeah, it's basically him. You know, he's suffered this massive collapse of confidence and ego and everything with his literal collapse of his building, which is where his career nosedives. Just to inject, Theo is an architect. Yes. He designs a building that literally collapses a giant one. So this is his redemption plan. This is his redemption. Exactly that. He's going to build the perfect house.

4:04Exactly that. I get very overexcited, as often architects do, with various details, including expensive Irish moss as opposed to Californian moss. And, you know, the tension starts to escalate, even in the build of it. And at the same time, our children earn these scholarships, and we are empty nasters. As this whole battle royale is playing out over the house, did you ever wish you could just say, oh, God, take it, just take it and just go? Yeah. Yeah? Well, yes. I suppose Ivy, as she says, she thinks Theo has stolen the children. And so she thinks I'll steal his big child, his house. I mean, there are many moments, aren't there, when you could go, everybody stop, pause, count to 10.

4:51This could all be okay. But that's, it wouldn't be quite as fun to watch. They go beyond that point. They sorted it out. They really do. I think they want to hurt each other by then. Yeah. That's the thing. That's the terrain. I wanted to ask about a couple of specific scenes that I wondered if you each enjoyed playing with particular relish. Benedict Cumberbatch, there is a scene that involves your foot. Oh, yeah. A microplane and a dish that your wife is trying to prepare and serve at her restaurant. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that was fun.

5:35Yeah, a lot of that kind of stuff was fun. The dinner party scene was extraordinarily fun. Yeah, it was both of our favorites, I think, wasn't it? I really loved flicking you in the forehead. You liked flicking me in the eye. It was my eyelid. Oh, was it? Yeah, the forehead wouldn't hurt as much. That's okay. Your reaction was always just too funny I did throw an orange in your face although it was a foam one and that whole fight at the end Yeah, that's fun All that physicality and the comedy was great fun The dinner party scene you get very drunk your character gets very drunk Olivia Colman you are absolutely savaging each other and about half of your dinner guests get it and are appalled and the other half are like oh, this is a new way to talk to your partner Yeah, yeah, yeah Join right in The scene at the very end, Olivia Colman, you are brandishing a gun.

6:25Without giving away quite how we get to this point or quite where it goes, just explain the scene for people who haven't seen it yet. So a gun is gifted to us by our American friends much earlier in the film. And he just really pisses her off. So she gets the gun and says, I want you to get out. Oh, because you've tried to kill me with raspberries. I have tried to poison you with raspberries. Yes, she's allergic to raspberries. Yes, desperately allergic. And he uses that to get her to try and sign over the deeds. And, you know, I think that's enough to push her over the edge. A near-death experience.

7:00The gun is warranted at that point. And I'm not sure she means to shoot it, but it's got a hair trigger and it's quite delicate. And then it gets a little out of hand. This serious, real question. Anything else you could whisper to those characters that you have learned over what I hope It's the course of long, successful, very happy relationships where you think, I wish I could just tell them this. Not for public radio, no. But, yeah, don't have hard fruit fruit that you can throw at each other. That's definitely something. Bananas. Also, I heard there was a documentary about couples with extraordinary longevity in their relationships.

7:42And one guy said, sometimes it's about what you don't say. And initially when you hear that, you think, is that right? Is that good advice? And then, yeah, it is actually. So if you piss each other off one day, sometimes just wait till the next day. Just don't say it straight away. Find a calm moment, you know. And I think that was great advice. I remember hearing that and thinking, I'm going to try that. One of our longstanding female Supreme Court justices here was asked about the secret to a happy marriage. And her answer was, you can be a little bit deaf. A selective hearing goes a long way in a marriage.

8:17Yeah, I think that's true. Olivia Colman, Benedict Cumberbatch, this was a pleasure. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thanks for having us. This episode was produced by Kira Joachim and Catherine Fink with audio engineering by Ted Meebane. It was edited by Courtney Dorning. Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigan.

8:41It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Juana Summers.