Rose Byrne

25:53And, you know, that's a huge part of the story that you sort of forget as well. Right. So part of your story and coming into your own, I feel like there's like the one-two punch like around 2004. It's Wicker Park, which is a big deal probably at the time. Yes, yes. Yeah, for me. Because you're a female lead opposite, I think, Josh Hartnett at the time. Josh, yep. Troy, of course, which for those who don't remember was like a ginormous movie at the time. A huge film at the time, yeah. Swords and Sandals epic. Well, obviously based on the Iliad, yeah. But also made, obviously, in the old school way, like Wolfgang Petersen.

26:24Very old school. Like thousands of extras, I would imagine. People being shipped in from Bulgaria. It was a lot of stuff going on that I was like, what? But yeah. Did you spend any quality time with Peter O'Toole? That's what I'm most interested in. Oh, Peter, God bless. I did, I did. He was as entertaining and as, you know, he did not suffer fools. He was incredibly quick-witted and he had an extraordinary memory and taste. And he was in the seminal film of this genre, you know. He had a legacy, but he could not have been kinder to me and more welcoming and would secretly tell me, you've got the best part in the movie.

27:03This part's fantastic. I'd play this part. Like, you know, things like that. He was, and we had these, you know, great scenes together. I actually went on, I did a BBC telly movie with him a couple of years later. So I got to work with him not once, but twice. Talking about that reminds me of something in relation to the current film, which is that you've been a lead in many films and TV shows, obviously. Mostly in film, though, it's been a co-lead. Absolutely. With a male co-star. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is that like meaningful for you that you are truly the lead? This is your film. Yes, absolutely meaningful.

27:35No, no one's asked me that. And I've done small roles in big movies, big roles in small movies, like really a gamut. And this is truly, absolutely a very singular experience for me creatively. Yeah, it's true. No one's asked me that. But that's, yeah. More on television, I've had that opportunity. So this, again, was really new. Yeah. Okay, so back to small parts in big movies. Yes, yes. Contractually obligated as a big old nerd to ask you about Star Wars. I apologize, Rose. Are you of the Star Wars culture, the cult? So I feel like you're the only Star Wars character that probably doesn't have an action figure at this point.

28:12It's a tragedy. Justice for Dorme. Right? Let's start the hashtag today. I mean, to be even a microscopic piece of that universe is so sweet how you just resonate. And you still are part of this dialogue, this chain of characters in this film, this universe. that resonates with people. It's so wonderful. I've grown to love it. I mean, I worked with the great James Earl Jones, and he, oh my goodness, the people who would... Did something on stage with him. Yes, we did a play together, and the people who would appear out of the woodwork to get his autograph and photo and so on and so forth. But yes, I had a small part as Natalie Portman's handmaiden, Dorme.

28:57I had about one or two lines. You had two lines. I was gonna ask you, which do you remember stressing about more? Or was it, I'm worried about you, the situation is dangerous. Yes. Or, my lady, you're still in danger here. Oh. There's a lot to. I think the first one. The first one I feel is more resonant. There's a lot going on there. I'm worried about you, the situation is dangerous. Yes. It's a fraught situation. It's a fraught situation. I'm establishing there's a situation, and it's fraught. And my feelings about it. And her feelings about it, rather. Right. Yes. I do think, look, Joel Edgerton came back.

29:29Oh, yeah. So you could still come back. I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready. No one's called. Maybe after this they will. I'm just trying to give you some work. Yes, I appreciate it. You also, again, you've done some really interesting work in genre films. I want to mention, like, you know, 20 weeks later and Sunshine in a second. But before we get to that, like, a smaller kind of odder thing is the X-Men role. Yes, yeah, the X-Men roles. So is that a fond memory? I mean, you don't get, like, you know, maybe the juiciest stuff to do there. But, like, is that, I don't know, what's the indelible memory of making First Class in particular?

30:02or is there a day or moment in that that feels? It was fun. I mean, it's such a genre, you know? So you just have to lean into the tropes of it and how fun that is, and the scale of it is very fun. And it was exciting because it was the freshest, it was the reboot. It was like they had done all the Bryan Singer version, and then now it was Matthew Vaughn. And so that's exciting. There was a new voice. There was all these incredible young actors. I mean, I was working with Jen Lawrence and Zoe Kravitz and Nick Holt, like all these people who I've now gone on to see, who I was sort of the, definitely older than those guys, the elder statesmen at that point probably, and to see like these wonderful young, you know, they were 20, 19 kids, and to now see obviously all their extraordinary things that they've done, yeah, it was very meaningful, yeah.

30:51Sunshine, I love. Yeah, isn't it great? Isn't it great? Yeah, people really resonate with that. It's such a great, again, a great genre, a weird sci-fi. Danny Boyle, Alex Garland, this incredible duo, yeah. I've talked to Danny over the years about it. It feels like it almost broke him in a way. It was a tough scene. It was tough, yeah, and that was tough on them, I think, on Alex and him, which I think they've spoken about. So, yeah, I know it was a hard one, but I think it really holds up. I think it's in the kind of canon of that genre in a really cool way. Do you remember, like, was the end stuff in that, was that re-shot on the fly or re-worked on the fly?

31:27Do you have memories of that being kind of a work in progress? Yeah, it was, I remember doing a lot of the stunts, like Killian and I are doing a lot of the stunts together. Michelle Yeoh, I mean, I got to work with Michelle Yeoh, which was all Benny Wong, like Chris Evans, Troy Garrity. Like, again, it was a fantastic cast. And, yeah, I remember this, Mark Strong had a very hard, tough, tough deal because he had a lot of prosthetics, and that's always hard. That's draining, tiring. But he's such a good actor, you know, and it was really about his performance more than, you know, a prosthetic could do, you know.

32:02Yeah. The one franchise that got away seemingly is Bond. Is that true that you were pretty much, you were in the mix, that that almost happened? I believe I was in the mix, but who knows if I was ever really in the mix. But I met, I met. Was it Martin Campbell back then? Yeah. Or Barbara Broccoli? It was those guys. Yeah. I met them, but I don't know if I was ever really a serious contender. Did you do a screen test with Daniel Craig back then? Do you not? I can't, did I do Don't Read With Daniel? I think I did read with Daniel, yeah. I mean, I was so, it was so long ago, so I can't, but yes, I don't know how serious I was, if I was ever a real contender, but again, that was a very cool reboot.

32:40They did, that was the first Daniel Craig, you know, one, and he obviously went on to have such a incredible run with that, you know. Were you a good auditioner back in the day when you had to do a lot of that, or did you stress? I mean, what was your? I mean, obviously not that good, because I didn't get the part. I'm hitting up the failures. No. So let's go back through the, no, I think I was hit and miss, hit and miss. I remember a great acting teacher telling me you've got to start the audition as soon as you - Right, walk in the room. Like walk into the office to check in to go to the audition.

33:12Like that's when you start the performance. Yes. And you cannot, and that's it, that's that. So I don't think I ever fully achieved that, but it's good advice. Luckily you kind of got your Bond thing in thanks to Spy, which... I know, which was supposed to have sort of more films. Every time I see Paul I mention... Yeah, I know. It's such a bummer it didn't... Because people have been... Honestly, recently people seem to be discovering... It must be on a streamer or something or on the page of it, because people are always... Right now it seems to be coming up to me about Spy and it's so funny.

33:47So funny. It's so funny, and I love it when people mention it, because I think it's great. When you're at a party, does anybody ever come up to you with a drink and say, what a stupid fucking toast? Yes, they do. I've had that before. I've had that before. So dumb. Or your mother looked like a clown or something. Hideous insult that I'm saying to Melissa McCarthy. Oh, my god. I could listen to you talk about your sad mom, vulgarian clown for hours on it. A vulgarian clown. Again, so fun. And he just sort of subverted exactly like the Bond genre and made it like a comedic tour de force. It's so fun.

34:23It felt like in the first few comedic films you did, there was this kind of narrative that it was like so surprising. Like how could she have this in her? And now it's like you have stealthily or not so stealthily a very consistently amazing comic performer. Thank you. I mean to look at just the body of work and what you've done. Thank you. It sounds like this wasn't necessarily a stretch. This was what you wanted. This is an aspect of you that you really wanted to explore actively from the start. You know, it's funny. I had a really small part in Marie Antoinette, Sofia Coppola's movie. And that role was a reverent, indulgent duchess.

35:00Duchess Di Polignac who corrupts Marie Antoinette and takes her out to drink. But it's a role full of comedy and full of frivolous behavior. And it's very much a spontaneous way that Sofia works. And I think that also was a real catalyst for me for wanting to explore things after, particularly after doing damages for four, three seasons. And like any actor, you're trying to constantly, you know that you're going to get offered every serious lawyer part after that. And you have to be a little bit smart about trying to have some agency in, you know, charting a course that you hope will work out.

35:37So I guess the turning point even before Bridesmaids, though, is actually get them to the grid. Yes, get into the Greek, yeah. So did that feel like, again, any actor just needs someone to see something else in them and give you a shot because otherwise you're acting in your home. Yes, yeah, exactly. Friends and family. You're back home, yeah. But does that feel like, I mean, do you have palpable memories or indelible memories of being on that set and just sort of like, oh, this is an opportunity? It was. It felt similar to Re-Internet, that sense of like, oh, this is so far from what I have done, what I've been doing on other jobs.

36:11And this was such a, again, such a wildly unconventional character and totally irreverent and self-absorbed. And this pop star who is kind of like the female version of Russell Brand's character. And how fun that was, the potential of that. It wasn't lost on me, no, for sure. I feel like in my conversations with folks over the last few years, It's like when you ask them about comfort movies or great comedies. It's like it's stepbrothers and bridesmaids. Oh, really? I love stepbrothers, too. So to be part of in the same like that is, again, a film I'll turn on and be like this scene. I love this bit.

36:51I love this bit. Oh, my God, it's so funny. I was going to ask you, what are your go to's like? What is your bridesmaids for you? Oh, my gosh. Look, definitely stepbrothers. That's one that we that we definitely return to. What have I been watching with the we know of two little boys. So there's a couple of comfort movies we definitely return to for that. School of Rock. Yeah. We love School of Rock. And that is... Never underestimate the power of Jack Black to this generation. No, do not. Rue the day that you would do that. And Richard Linklater, for that matter. One of the greats who is also just constantly reinventing and doing a different genre with his body of work.

37:31Yeah. So School of Rock is definitely up there. So Bridesmaids. I mean, it was a phenomenon at the time, but again, the staying power of it is actually almost more remarkable than what it was even in the moment. It always is, right? Who knows what's going to be sticky, right? And stay, yeah. It must be gratifying, because I would imagine if it's not a daily occurrence, it's pretty close to it that young people come up to you and mention it, don't they? I love it. It just speaks to the movie. I mean, talk about, to your point of people being surprised about a certain performance or this, but I was so naive about how people would think that a group of women could be funny.

38:05I didn't realize we would be talking about it the whole press tour. I was like, wow. How could you all possibly be so funny? It was bizarre. I was like, I was unprepared for this. And it's like we're a pot of dolphins all of a sudden doing a performance. But no, I cherish that. I mean, I cherish the film and Paul Feig and the incredible women I got to work with. And I have not had an experience like that since because I've never been with five other actresses since then, where we're all doing big sequences together. And I hope I do, but. You're stuck with Seth Rogen instead. I'm, this is me and Seth.

38:39Or me and Conan, for that matter. They're all right. But women in the mix would be all right, too. It's fascinating to me that that's, but it's been, it's so, I love that. I cherish the film, I cherish the experience, yeah. Is there a line that's quoted to you, whether it's from Bridesmaids or anything close to you? What tickles you? You're in a Starbucks, you get a random. So, I mean, I had a friend the other day trying on some dresses or showing me a dress and they were like, it's a Fritz-Bernese. So dumb. So silly. I love it. It's so good.

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40:09I was gonna ask you what you're watching. You mentioned just comfort film. Generally, what do you like? Do you watch a lot of film TV? I mean... We go through stages. We're always late. We're late to the game. That's okay. And that's like shameful, but we are a little bit late. We watch a lot of sports documentaries. I do. I love watching the football. I find it very relaxing. I love watching the basketball. If you say the basketball, it makes it less. Your cred goes down. Oh, that's so daggy. That's so daggy. Oh, my gosh. I'm trying to help you. Thank you, Josh. Oh, good Lord. But we're kind of theater nerds.

40:45Like, you know, I do. We love going out to see a show. But we've started watching adolescence. So good. Yeah. And it's hard. I'm a mother of boys. It is hard. Yeah. And I have beautiful nephews in Australia who are that age. But I love Stephen Graham. And, you know, he's so good. He's one of these guys that I feel like everybody, like actors knew. Yeah, oh, Bobby always loved him. Bobby's the one with the taste. He's like the most discerning of people's performance. He just can smell a great actor. And a bad one, too, at that. He's so good. And he's always been a fan of Stephen, yeah. You guys haven't been shy about working together, which I find fascinating.

41:23I love collaborating with him. I think initially I was always nervous to do that with a partner, but we just dove in and it's been really rewarding and really fun. And like on a boring level, like you're on the same schedule. So I kind of, that is taken care of. So we've had good luck with it. Do you come at acting in the same way? Like we were talking about technique earlier. Yeah. Do you have much different processes? I mean, you've seen him up close, like in the workplace and at home, so you know what he does. Yeah, I ask way more questions. I'm like, why am I doing this? And he's way more just all sort of id.

41:56And he's like, comes at it as you can imagine, and he has just incredible intuition, and he can tell the temperature of a room in a person in like five seconds. He'll have your number. He's very, and I think that's how he approaches the work. He can, he, and, but he's also really creative. He has ideas. He would, yeah, he's, yeah. But I think that's what he would say, or what he said in the past anyway. Some random stuff for you. Okay, you look at a script. What's a deal breaker for you? What's a turn off or turn on? Like, what do you see in a script that gets you? If she's going to take her clothes off by the second, I'm like, oh my god.

42:29I'm like, really? Okay.

42:35That's tough. That's a tough one. Is that for you personally or generally why does the woman need to take it? Yeah, why? Why? And maybe there's a great reason. Like, god, I, you know, who cares? It's just a human body, like, blah, blah, blah. But I am just sensitive to that. and I've had so many bad scripts where it's just like for absolutely no reason. And I'm like, it's not, it can absolutely make sense, I will say that. But yeah, I'm always like, really? Okay, why is this, you know, for what reason? Can you tell me? So that's probably one. Or if they describe, you know, yeah, she's a really complicated woman or some wildly generic sort of description like that.

43:14It's like, really, is she? Oh my God, thanks for letting me know. Well, I mean, you did kind of... But she's not complicated. Wouldn't it be amazing if she's not a complicated woman? She's a really not a complicated woman. She likes to take off her clothes. Yeah. She loves, yeah, she just walks around nude. She loves it. She's very European. But I mean, again, kind of connecting it to this film, like... Yeah. In the complexity of a role like this, I mean, like, you had to kind of probably weather the storm of like an actor and an actress specifically in their 20s, 30s. Oh, yeah. The shit that you probably saw.

43:52Absolutely. The wife roles, the girlfriend roles, the sex bot roles. Of course, particularly in comedy. You know, there's so many tropes with the woman being the nag and the woman being like, you know, I don't want to have fun, you know. And I was so lucky because I had these sort of North Stars of Paul Feig and, you know, even Sophia back when I did Marie Antoinette, of like really giving opportunities to women in ways that was not the usual sort of source material. Yeah. Speaking of filmmakers that you admire, have worked with, or wanted to work with, I mean there's some great Australian filmmakers that have, I guess, alluded to you.

44:28I don't know if you've ever come close, but I think of like the Baz Luhrmanns, the George Millers. Of course, oh my gosh, the George Millers, I know. Have you ever talked to other people? I haven't, no, but I am such a huge admirer. And, yeah, they're, gosh, they're such both, you know, I mean, Peter Weir is extraordinary. Obviously, he's in the, you know, that different part of his career now. But, no, there's incredible Australian luminaries. And for that matter, great Australian cinematographers that have, like, gone on and had wildly successful careers. But I've been, yeah, a fan from afar, for sure.

45:02Is it true you grew up not an Australian, but the late, great David Lynch was somebody that you had a lot of really? So when I first got to LA, my agent made me write a list of directors and he was the top. And I got to meet him. And I went to his house and he was a lovely gentleman, just as you would imagine. Button up, high hair, smoking a cigarette, kind of pitching me this incredible story. And we saw a short film with Naomi Watts with rabbit ears on and Laura Lynn. It was fantastic. And he was just such a beautiful man. Even this brief meeting I had, but didn't get the part. I'm not sure.

45:38I think it might have been the early sort of the early season that film, I guess, perhaps. But he was, I mean, I was a nobody, you know, I came into town as a young Aussie chick. And he was very, yeah, he was lovely. What was it for you growing up then? It was like Twin Peaks or Blue Velvet or just all of? It was Twin Peaks. Twin Peaks was my introduction. And then I just went down the whole, obviously, canon of his movies. And yeah, they're all in my, they're all my favorite films. I love them. Yeah. I had a conversation with him over Zoom a few years ago. Oh, you did? And it was like one of the highlights of my life of just hearing him say, hey, buddy.

46:16I mean, and who, what directors have then become a, like to become a, how do you put it? Oh, like a descriptor. Lynchian. Yes, Lynchian. Who can have coined a phrase where your name immediately generates an atmosphere and a style? I don't know. Not many. You know, Hitchcock. Hitchcockian. But yeah, he's that. And he'll stay forever. How is your Seth Rogen impression at this point? Terrible. I'm not good at guys. I'm not that good at guys. But I should be able to do him better because we've spent so much time together. Yeah. Yeah. Do you have a go-to? I won't put you on the spot unless you want to, but female impressions, it sounds like you have a few.

47:03At a party, I get a couple drinks from you. No. No. Oh, my gosh. I wish. No. I don't. I actually don't. I don't. No. I'm more like Stranger in the Street. I could do, but not so much do your best, you know, Jennifer Coolidge or something. I'm not that good at that. It does feel like that platonic in its second season currently going is like hitting its stride in terms of the audiences really found it. It's been lovely. It's so nice. It's the thing with TV, right? You have to give it time and you got to let it breathe and it just becomes, it finds its place, finds its audience. And this season I think is stronger than the first.

47:39They were so good at really writing for the strengths of the first season and the opportunity you get, you know, to have another, have another go at it. So it's been lovely. It's been really lovely and people have genuinely, yeah, a lot more people have discovered it, which has been great. And it's a great hang show, you know. It's nice. Is there anything that we need to secret into the universe for you? Are you wanting for any kind of work that I can help you with? Why? Do you have some kind of hotline? Stranger things have happened on the podcast. What have you got? I never know who's listening or watching.

48:07Oh, really? Oh, my gosh. Gosh. But as soon as you say it, then it's not going to come true. I'm too superstitious. I'm way too superstitious. Too Australian. Do you do the kind of thing still, like just like the general meeting with a filmmaker you admire? Is that ever born fruit? Oh, no. Absolutely. No, gosh. If there's someone. No, you have to seek out. You've got to seek out. You have to reach out. You cannot rest on your life. Like you say, there's so many moments. How do you use them? You know, you have to seek for sure. Constantly be curious. Constantly seek out. You have to try to have your own agency for sure.

48:38Totally. We're going to end with this. It's a tradition for Happy, Say, Confused. Are profoundly random questions, Rose? You ready? Oh, no, I'm not. You're ready. I'm not. You got this. Oh, no. The eyes go cross-eyed. Yikes. Oh lord, okay. Dogs or cats? Dogs. You guys have some? No, god no. But I grew up with a border collie called Emma, and she was my North Star. I loved her, yep. Do you collect anything? I kind of collect, like, this is so girly, like baskets, like sort of those beautiful, like raffia baskets. Sure. Yeah, I have a lot of those. To the point where I'm like, I think I'm unofficially collecting these.

49:18I'm now a hoarder, apparently. I love a basket, yeah. Favorite video game of all time from your youth? Did you ever play a game? I only ever really played Mario Brothers, but it's never been my thing, really. This is the Dakota Johnson Memorial Collection. She asked me this. Would you rather have a mouthful of bees or one bee in your butt? A mouthful of bees or one bee in my butt? Oh, good Lord. Well, I guess, I don't know. Looking at this gentleman here, that's a pass. I don't want either of those things. Name Dakota. What's the wallpaper on your phone? Oh, it's my mom and dad. It's Jane and Rob.

50:02Jane and Rob. What's the biggest moment for them seeing you in your career? Was there a premiere? Was there an actor that you introduced them to? Was there? They're so low-key that they're funny. They're so Australian and low-key. But they're the best people because they're so curious. So they just ask a lot of questions. They're so interested in things outside of their own world. They're very open-minded. Yeah. Nice. Last actor you were mistaken for? Oh, someone came up to me and said, I loved you in Jackie. And I said, thank you very much. Just take the compliment. Thank you. Always. Oh yeah, I'm gonna take that compliment.

50:42What's the worst note a director has ever given you?

50:47Oh good lord. Well, a director once gave me a note from their trailer in bed. It wasn't so much the note but how it was delivered. Exactly how it was delivered. I was like, mm-hmm, okay. With their, yeah, with several like, there was a lot of assistance around the bed but I was summoned in and that was pretty weird. What? Yeah. They remain nameless, but yes. I think I can make a guess off camera. Yes. Okay. In the spirit of happy second few, is an actor who always makes you happy? You see them on screen, you're instantly in a better mood. Oh, who makes me happy? Julia Louis-Dreyfus makes me happy.

51:24Albert Finney makes me happy. Yeah. Yeah. Movie that makes you sad? Oh, a movie that makes me sad? The Black Stallion. Yeah. I mean, happy sad. A little bit happy sad because of the ending. Yeah, the black stallion. Yeah. And finally, most importantly, a food that makes you confused. You don't get it. Why do people eat that? Slimy mushrooms. Oh, I hate mushrooms generally. The slimy kind. Slimy mushrooms. And also, this is going to be controversial, but raw fish. Not a sushi lady. No, I can't do the texture. Okay. It's very unsophisticated. No, no. Deeply unsophisticated. So don't give me slimy mushrooms and raw fish.

52:00No. You're a classy lady. Don't worry. Congratulations. Thank you. On the movie. Thank you so much. If I had legs, I'd kick you. Everybody check it out. It's an amazing collaboration. You and Herb Johnstein. She does an amazing job. Thank you. I'm glad you gave us an occasion to catch up today. Thank you. For indulging me. No, you're such a mensch. Thank you. I'll see you next time. I'll see you soon. And so ends another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley and I definitely wasn't pressured to do this by Josh

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