Shadowing Practice: Cillian Murphy & Margot Robbie | Actors on Actors - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Greta really made a meal out of the, hi, Bobby, hi, Bobby, hi, Ken, hi, Ken, you know, that whole bit, and then, hi, Alan.
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And, yeah, now people on the street say, hi, Bobby, a lot.
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I like it.
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I'd rather people be shouting that at me than other things.
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This is true.
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I'll take it.
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For the rest of your life.
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For the rest of my life.
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first of all well congratulations on your uh reasonably successful film congratulations to you thank you
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so you're a producer on the movie as well how did
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you know a barbie movie would connect with audiences in the manner
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that it did or did you know yeah it's like 90 of me was certain
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that this would be a big deal and a massive hit
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and then like 10 % of me thought oh this could go
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so badly wrong but I went after Greta Gerwig from the beginning to direct
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and hopefully write as well
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and then she invited Noah to write with her without really even consulting him
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but it meant we got two brilliant brains on the project and it really came down to her saying yes to this.
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I had no doubt that this was going to work as soon as she said yes.
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And she was always your first choice first choice
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I just wasn't gonna let us say no I had met her before
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because I wanted to work with her for a
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while you know it was a pretty long process is about six years ago
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we've got the property first we had to you know
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it was set up at Sony we got out of Sony set
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it up at Warner Brothers got Mattel's blessing to let us produce then went after Greta okay
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and then it's like the writing process
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and yeah I did obviously I didn't know it was gonna have the kind of yeah be the cultural phenomenon
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that it ended up being when did you realize that
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that was what it was going to be i knew there'd be big reactions to i i could say
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it was all the way along i could i was like okay i think people are picking up
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that we're trying to do something interesting here you know the fact
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that it's greta girl with people like greta girl we're gonna barbie movie what
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and so that was the right reaction that's what i was hoping for
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and then you know the pictures of Brian and I, rollerblading on Venice Beach came out and went even wider than I was expecting that.
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I was like, oh, people are gonna notice, of course, but it went kind of crazy.
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And it was starting to occur that, oh, this might even be bigger than I'm even thinking.
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And I believe in this more than anyone, so I've been thinking big for it, and it still turned out bigger than I expected.
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Hey, Barbie.
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Yeah?
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Can I come to your house tonight?
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Sure.
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I don't have anything big planned, just a giant blowout party with all the Barbies and planned choreography
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and a bespoke song you should stop by in terms of this the version of the film
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and the adaptation or the the idea of it you know were mattel cool with
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that from the beginning did you have any kind of pushback with how uh kind of radical
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you were trying to make or yeah i mean mattel were amazing
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to let us do this and i mean they're a character in the film yes
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which i don't think they were expecting at all
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but they had no idea until the script was done so greta and noah's process is to
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go away
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and not let anyone see the script even
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you until they're totally finished no even me um we would kind of like
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because it was covered so they were writing it during covert we would do
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you know talk over zoom and check in
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and be like hey you guys going and it was
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so fun because you could watch greta
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and noah like you know they're like oh we're working on this idea
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so they tell us you know like working on this idea
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and then they kind of like you know
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when you talk to a comedian
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you can tell sometimes they're like testing bits on you they kind of like test bits with each other
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and we just sit and tom and i would just sit
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and like watch them and be like yeah yeah
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because ken's probably you know ken would probably be like
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and you know say something and then she'd jump in
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and be like yeah it's kind of like
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and then before you know it they're kind of writing a scene
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but verbally and in front of you and it's a fascinating process
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and they write chronologically so they don't map something out and then write it, which a lot of writers obviously do,
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but they write themselves into corners and write themselves out of corners.
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Yeah, like we used to do as kids, just like write a story.
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Yeah, and let it unfold.
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And I think because of that, the story has a quality of you not getting too far ahead of it
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because they didn't know where it was going to end up really.
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So it was fascinating to kind of watch their process
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and I think the movie is so amazing and original because of that process.
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but then yeah came the day where the script was in our inbox
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and Tom and I sat down on the couch to read it
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and like even on page one I was just like oh wow okay this is it's gonna be hard to
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convince them to let us to do this
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but I'm loving it I mean it started with a Kubrick reference like completely redoing 2001 A Space Odyssey
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and I was like oh I don't know
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if this is what Mattel had in mind
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and then by the end of the script you know
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i was just like wow they're just they're never gonna let us make this it's such a shame
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that this brilliant piece of writing will never see the light of day
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because they're never gonna let us make this um
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and they did thank god and a massive credit to them
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but it was a lot of conversations about getting them comfortable with being very very very uncomfortable
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so they had a sense of humor they did
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and you know mattel they're a toy company
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and they haven't made a movie before
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so there's also like a educational process of like oh okay
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this is what you're reading on the page it took a second for me to realize
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that some of their concerns could be assuaged just by explaining the process of the film
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you know for some things they're like but barbie's saying this
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and i'd be like okay but this is how i'm gonna do it yeah
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and then i'd say it and they're like oh
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and i'm like see how my my face is telling you
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that i don't think that but the words are saying
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that yeah yeah but that's subtext and there's subtext all through
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that you know and they'll be like oh okay so they
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and then still there's some jokes where they're just like
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so we have to use the word fascist do we need
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that bit where tell where he gets shot they have to be shot you know we're like yeah
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so there were there were certain jokes
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and uh i was so prepared to like fight for certain jokes
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and then like you know to explain like no we have to have
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that joke because of this and this and this and uh and some of them they're just like
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were fine with and then other jokes i didn't think they'd have a problem with you know but
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it was never a case of oh they didn't like that
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so let's cut it it was no no no we we need to explain why we think
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that should be in yeah and get everyone like i said comfortable with being
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uncomfortable did you think
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so many people were gonna watch a movie about the making
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of the atomic bomb no Christopher Nolan was always determined
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that it would be released in the summer as a big tenfold movie
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that was always his plan and he has this kind of superstition around
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that date the 21st movies come out on that day in
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and around the 21st of july or it could be always the 21st
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so they're always they always come out then i mean
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it's a good day it's a good day it is now yeah
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i know i remember one of the producers chuck roven called me
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because we worked together on some other projects okay he was like i think you guys should move your date
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and i was like we're not moving our date
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if you're scared to be up against us
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then you move your date he's like we're not moving out dead
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i just think be better for you to move
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and i was like we're not moving i think
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this is a really great pairing actually i think it's like well it's a perfect double billing oppenheimer
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and barbie that was a good instinct clearly the world agreed yeah they did
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but i think that both of these films show
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the appetite
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that the audience has for cinema
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i'm always like you know everyone talks about the algorithm i'm like how on earth is an algorithm tracking me
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because i have such an eclectic taste
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if you look you'd be like wow she's going from you know
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that black and white film from the 20s to love island
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so like what box do i put her in yeah same thing
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but the fact that people were going
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and being like i'll watch oppenheimer first then barbie
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i was like see you don't people like everything people are people are weird people have specific
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and wide -ranging tastes
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and they don't like being told what to do yeah audiences don't like being told you should see this
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or you should see that they will decide
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and they will generate the interest themselves
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and i think i think what happened with both of our movies was a case of point of
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that that the audience decided
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you know that this was correct
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and this was right i think they were also really excited by the filmmakers
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i think you're right yeah i think people were like itching for the next chris nolan film
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and itching for the next gretta gary yes to get them
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at the same time was you know exciting quantum mechanics says it's both how can it be both it can't
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but it is it's paradoxical
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and yet it works
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because i'm a fan of yours i have watched a lot of your things on the internet on youtube
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and there's kind of like it's out there on the internet
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that you're not that aware of memes and things like
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that first of all is that true and second of all
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if that is true were you even aware of the barbenheimer like phenomenon
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or were you just blissfully unaware because you use a dial -up phone
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or something no i have i have teenage boys i have two teenage boys
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so they keep doing this so
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and i do know what a meme is now i know
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that there are memes about me not knowing what a meme it's a great meme
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but it's like inception of memes a meme within a meme It is.
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I genuinely, at the time, did not know.
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But people forget that was a while ago.
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It was a long time ago.
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Yeah, a long time ago.
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Yeah.
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You know, I might not have known back then what a meme is.
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No. And I mean, I'm not that tech savvy.
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Exactly.
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And I think children started that stuff, right?
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Yeah.
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But now that it's become this sort of meme that's eating itself,
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I am aware, but it's mostly because of people either sending it to me or showing it, saying, look, you've got to look at this.
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But I do think that...
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Did you see any of the Bob and Heimer man -off?
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I mean, it was impossible to...
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Wasn't there some great ones?
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...invoid any of that stuff.
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People are so clever with the things that come up with.
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It was incredible, and it was self -generated, do you know what I mean? i know people kept asking me they're like
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so uh so the studio is talking the studio each department marketing department is talking to each other
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and i was like no this is the world doing
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this the world this is not a part of the marketing campaign this is just happening
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and i think it's it happened
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because like both movies were good yeah yeah that's the thing
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and there was a sort of a diversity offered by both yeah movies in fact
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that's summer there was a huge diversity of stuff in the cinema
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and like I think it just connected in a way
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that you or I or the studios
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or anybody could never have predicted we could never you can't force
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that predict no orchestrate that no
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and it may never happen again I know I mean it was wild seeing
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that many people going into movies yeah wild did you go to the movie did you go to see Oppenheimer
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or did you go to see
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Barbie do you sneak out and
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and see like what the vibe is I mean we were going around in cinemas checking like levels
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and things like that yeah well that's i guess you're a producer you you gotta do
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that i i try i try to avoid looking at myself
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i struggle with it um isn't the mask the best thing the what
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oh yes wear a mask everywhere yes that is everywhere again it's
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so good but i wouldn't volunteer to go and to see myself
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but i do know that chris and emma chris nolan
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and emma thomas his wife producer i think they were going they were sneaking into checking house yeah
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but then like the fact that people were going dressed up as Barbie
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or dressed up as Oppenheimer to go
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and see the movies multiple times it's just so it's kind of
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so flattering and you know kind of overwhelming and
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so great for cinema totally yeah like being the producer
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and being the star of the movie how did you manage to kind of um I guess split those responsibilities
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or uh was
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that difficult uh were you always going to play barbie
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i wasn't always going to not necessarily i i you know even
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when we got the property
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and sat with mattel i said you know
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they were like will you play barbie yeah i said no that's up to the filmmaker
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so it's you know i want to go after greta goig
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and she should cast whoever she wants and yeah
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if that's not me like that's okay and i said
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that to greta as well it's like you write the script
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that you want to write you and noah write it and
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if you think i'm the right actor for it great and
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if you don't like let's go get the best actor for it.
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I really didn't mind.
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I really wanted to produce this.
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I really wanted to make this.
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It wasn't until I read the script that I was like, oh, I have to play.
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And she'd written it like Barbie Margo.
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So she made it pretty clear, like, no, I want you to play this role.
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But you've done five movies with Christopher Nolan now.
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This is six, actually.
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Six, really?
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Yeah.
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So you like good guy big fan it seems to work
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you know i mean
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this is the first time playing a proper lead role for him they'd always been supporting parts over the years
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it's 20 years we're working together has your relationship changed
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or evolved in that time i mean i think
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that uh it's probably gotten you know uh richer i think
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you know i was certainly just kind of starting off back then
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or starting to work and properly in film
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and he had just made the leap in you know from making independent films into making big studio movies
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and and he was taking over this franchise for the first time with batman begins
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and obviously just nailed it but i think he's refining
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and refining his kind of vision
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and how the types of stories he wants to tell
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and how he wants to present them you know like moving into imax
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and he was the first director
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when did he start shooting always in the large format
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i think it was a dark night where the i think
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that opening sequence at the beginning i think that's in imax you remember
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when he breaks into the bank and all
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that i think that's in imax
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and that's the i could be wrong i think that's one of the first times
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that he started using it
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but like an oppenheimer we were using it almost all of the time yeah
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and they come at you it's like it's like a film i mean those cameras must be
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so heavy yeah yeah so loud
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So loud, so heavy.
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Have you worked with him with IMAX?
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No. But I know he shoots on IMAX and always on film.
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So I can imagine, like, to get more than a four -minute take, those mags must be massive.
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They're huge.
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And our amazing DP, Hoise, was like...
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carries him everywhere like i remember in dunkirk we'd be like on a boat in the middle of the ocean
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and a hollywood of the thing on his shoulder
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and it's like these beautifully composed shots
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but to answer your question i don't know
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i suppose as you you get older
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you just get a bit more confident in the sort of stories you want to tell
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and i suppose i you know i've learned a huge amount from working with chris in terms of focus
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and rigor and dedication um i think we have similar tastes
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and i think he may have you know helped form my kind of my taste
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but before i even worked with him the movies
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that he had made prior to batman begins i was a fan of
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and i really just wanted to you know meet him and
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that happens a lot isn't it like you're fans of directors
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and then you get to meet them and next thing you're working with them
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and it it's kind of nuts because you were at home watching their movies
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when you're a kid i don't know if that happens a lot but
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when it does happen it's like magic this is true
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i'm sure that's happened to you it has i've like reached out to people
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i really want to work yeah i've done that written letters
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and yeah the letter thing does work i have to say does i mean sometimes it doesn't
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but sometimes it does people appreciate a handwritten letter
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that you sit down to write i believe in
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that yeah i feel like i don't like playing lead roles
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because i feel like you have more responsibility
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and like yeah as a supporting role you can kind of be a little more like wild
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and yeah i don't know like I avoid playing lead roles.
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Really?
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I haven't done it that much.
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Not where, like, my character's the name of the movie.
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Yeah.
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Only I, Tonya, have I done that, really.
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Did you feel that sense of,
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like, oh, I have to carry the weight of this story because I am playing Oppenheimer and the movie is Oppenheimer?
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Or did you approach it, did it feel just the same as when you've worked with him in other instances?
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No, it did feel different.
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Like, he called me up out of the blue because he's never, like, I didn't even know he's writing it
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so he called me up out of the blue
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or emma thomas his wife the producer she called me
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because chris doesn't have a phone so she put me on to chris
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and he said in his you know very understated british way
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you know i'm just making this movie i'm off the time where i'd like to play the part and
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so it was like wham out of nowhere luckily
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i was unemployed at the time i just finished something i wasn't doing anything
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but i did realize then
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that it was different to the other jobs I'd done with him
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because it was the story of Oppenheimer's life and then
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when he eventually gave me the script it was written in the first person which I'd never read before and
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so I kind of the script was written in the first
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person yes like the big print would be like I'm looking
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I'm going to put the cup down exactly towards the door exactly
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which I'd never read before and so it was very clear
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that he wanted it to be truly subjective storytelling you know
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and that did add to the response the feeling of like oh this is a big big biggie
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but then i knew as well
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that he was going to people it with all these extraordinary actors
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and the thing about all those roles is they are all characters of significant consequence
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you know they're very consequential characters in in history
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and in the movie you know we put all these extraordinary actors in the yeah
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it was bonkers every time he would tell me oh you know gary oldman's gonna pop in
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and you know we got down he'd play straws and
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but i suppose what i'm trying to say is
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that he felt very very supported and secure in that you know
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because you knew share the burden a little bit completely yeah it felt lovely and i
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and i think i've developed a short time with chris over the years like we do understand each other
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i think we share a similar kind of taste
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or approach to storytelling he's a master he's a master filmmaker why do you love working with him
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and why do you think he loves working with you i know you're going to be really humble
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and be like i don't know why does he like me
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i can't understand i don't know i mean take a guess with with with chris
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you see it's just the work like um he's not interested in anything else other than the work
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and the filmmaking and he is incredibly focused
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and it's incredibly rigorous is it true
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he wears a suit every day to set he does wear a very similar attire every day
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but you know the reason i think
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that is i think it makes sense to me is
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that it's one just you know as a director he had
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so many decisions greta wore a boiler suit every day
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she had five one a different one for every day of the week
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she was like it's one piece of clothing it's got pockets
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so i can put my notebook and pen
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and she was like it's just i it's a decision i don't have to make
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and i have to make a thousand today you take
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that off the board yeah and then i was
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while we were shooting i went to the churchill war museum
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and saw that he winston churchill did the same thing he had like this boiler suit
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and i was like it makes a lot of sense i mean it makes total sense
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and i imagine
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if she wore something different on set it would freak
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you out i mean totally chris came in in a i don't know hawaiian shirt
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it would freak me out i wouldn't be able to concentrate
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and i don't think the crew would yeah so i think it's a sensible choice actually and prepping for the role.
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What's your prep process like?
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I mean, I don't know about you, but I'll take as much as I can get.
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With this one, it was six months from when he called me to when we started shooting.
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And I would have taken another six months if I could have got it.
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When he called you and said, movie about Oppenheimer, were you like, gotcha?
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Or were you like, I should go to New York, I know nothing about it i knew kind of very basic uh
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you know wikipedia level now i knew about the trinity tests
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and i knew about you know the manhattan project
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and then obviously what happened in second in 45
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but like i didn't know what happened afterwards or anything anything like
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that yeah yeah um
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so you read a lot to prep what else do you
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do like walk around walk around my basement talking to myself really do you record yourself
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i do sometimes do you um no only
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if i'm doing dialect stuff yeah
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but i prep like a psychopath as well
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it's it's the only way isn't
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it i'll prep as like as long as i possibly can i remember i started prepping one role
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and then covid happened and
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so i ended up prepping the one role for like a year
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and it was i was like losing my mind by the
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end of it my husband walked in i was like making like weird masks
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and stuff and i was like covered in paint he's like what are you doing
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and i was like i think i've gone too far with this character
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we need this to end i need to get on set
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it's the only way though i think this is the only
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because then i can walk on set and just be like totally free
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but if i hadn't prepped like i i'd be so terrified like
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when i hear some other actors i like look at their script
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and there's nothing written on it i'm like i'd be
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so terrified if i didn't have like a bazillion notes
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and thoughts because then I'd be having all those thoughts on set as opposed to just like.
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Exactly.
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And I think, you know, when you get on set, time is your most important commodity,
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as you know, and the last thing you want to be doing is figuring it out, every second counts.
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So you want to do all the figuring out before and then park it, you know?
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And Chris is the king of prep.
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And, you know, I don't know if Greta is the same, but he has like, you know,
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crew that he works with forever and HODs that he's worked with forever
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so they they know how he works
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and he preps with those guys for a long long time
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and so when we come on set it's like it's it's fast go time yeah yeah
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and it's really really fast and he just kind of expects excellence from everyone yeah
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which I think all the all the best ones do
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and I think everyone gets that it's an unspoken thing right i thought
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if i could find a way to combine physics
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and new mexico my life would be perfect
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and tell me about casting your movie then what was your kind of goal
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or plan to when you were
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when you were casting
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it then what was your i mean most people's names were written into the script like i was barbie margot
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and it said ken ryan gosling like everyone
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you know Greta kind of manifested the cast she got also everyone was
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so keen to do it yeah
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and a lot of people signed on to do like a
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long movie where they've got a pretty small role yeah agents
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were like why would we let our client be busy for this long
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and for this much screen time
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but you know their clients would be like no
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I want to do it I want to work with these people
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and I want to work with Greta
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and we just said from the start like let's make a massive dance party invite everyone
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and it was like that on set like it was
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so fun every day was so fun and we'd be playing music
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and we would dance in the morning like we'd crew cast
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everyone would like dance in the morning just to like get everyone it was
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so funny because we're shooting at least in
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other films like the fast movie like fast 10
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or whatever they'd like come over
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and they're like swat gear kind of be like what's going on in here
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and we're like it's barbie land come in
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and wow you know people were just like gravitating towards the set
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because they and and you know our actors everyone would come in on days
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that they weren't even working because just to hang out just to hang
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because it was so fun like you just wanted to be there with everyone
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and it was such a good group i think you can kind of feel
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that in the mood yeah i do think that that stuff um
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transfers definitely
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and i think it all trickles down from the top like whatever yeah mood the director sets
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it's like it seeps into everything
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and Greta just sets like the most like joyful space
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I mean I can't speak to her other sets I wasn't on them
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but I mean she's so joyful and supportive and exciting
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and just she's just brilliant and and you can feel that
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and I don't know I always think of it like um it's like
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when little kids can sense that their parents are like angry
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or frustrated even if like a parent's like i'm fine
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but they're slamming the dishes you know it's going to be like a little bit like on edge even
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if they don't understand they're like
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you know yeah that happens on a film set like I've seen that happen where you just feel everyone
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tensing because you know your director
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or someone else in a position of you know importance is is giving
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that vibe and everyone's suddenly like a little apprehensive and that's yeah
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and we just did not need
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that yeah vibe it has to come from the top doesn't it maybe
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that would work for some movies but
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that wasn't gonna work yeah I don't enjoy
458
that this is not funny it's it's it can't go to work like I don't know
459
if you're if you're gonna be vulnerable I feel like you need a place it's trusting
460
and caring yeah going back to the prep question yes do you work with an acting coach
461
or a dialect coach or like movement coach or do any of
462
that kind of stuff uh did you train to be an
463
actor no no didn't didn't train to be an actor um no kind of started doing theater when i was 20
464
and then did an awful lot of theater for for like four years kind of exclusively
465
and then started getting little parts in movies
466
but i did use a dialect coach on this one because the voice was so
467
specific yeah now we weren't trying to do an impression i'm not i can't really it's not in my
468
wheelhouse to do impressions i don't have that skill and you know with accents for me it takes
469
it's like going to the gym for your mouth you know what i mean it takes a long time
470
australian mouths are like the laziest literally like a gym workout
471
but you guys do americans so brilliantly always that's
472
because we have to like build the muscles well
473
you have to like yeah build the muscles in your mouth to do an american accent really
474
i just thought it might be closer in in tona
475
or kind of timbre or tonata or i think we also
476
because we grow up watching so many american things australians like between our soft palate
477
and hard palate we've got one centimeter of space americans have three
478
so just an american mouth just has more space and then
479
because of that like we use our lips more
480
and our tongues are lazy and so when you're doing an accent you're building
481
that muscle and creating
482
that space that's why i think it would be harder to be american doing an australian accent
483
because i don't know how you have all that space
484
and have all that muscularity in your mouth
485
and suddenly like make it weak and i i don't know
486
that would be so hard aussies always do brilliant american i think that's good i love it
487
when i hear
488
that we've got a good rep
489
they will you certainly do with me irish have a great rep yeah we're not bad at it
490
but what i was trying to do with up
491
and i was the very like no one talks like it anymore you know kind of you know
492
that only like um like orson welles or like uh mr rogers
493
or like uh who else talked like
494
that yeah anyway you don't hear it i mean it wasn't even
495
that many decades ago no really did speak like that
496
and every time i'm researching an accent i'm like surely it wasn't
497
that you know exaggerated yeah you're recording you're like no it was wow we really have gotten
498
and so lazy we really have and i think it's become
499
so kind of homogenized
500
because of this connectivity in the world people sound quite similar yeah in different parts of the world don't
501
they did you have access to a lot of you know archival footage in order to replicate the mannerisms
502
or physicality of oppenheimer yes
503
there's a lot of stuff online online like just just on youtube god
504
i love youtube love a bit of youtube like my biggest tool
505
you just disappear down there can't you the problem with footage of him was mostly him giving lectures
506
and so it's quite performative you know it wasn't the real him yeah
507
so i used that a little bit
508
but it had to we had to kind of imagine how he would be you know with his wife
509
or with his colleagues and stuff like that that
510
that way it's kind of make up did you have like a thing
511
that would get you into him you know what i mean like yeah
512
i do physically i there was loads of pictures of him
513
and he always stood with his hand on his hip
514
and you see all these pictures because he was such a slight man
515
but he always stood with this very kind of jaunty angle with his hand on his hip
516
so i nicked that pretty quick early as a sort of a physical thing
517
and then the chris nolan kept sending me um pictures of david bowie
518
you know like in this sort of thin white juke era with the big voluminous trousers yeah wow
519
so we kind of stole that a little bit chances are near zero near zero what do you want from theory alone
520
zero how about you what was your process then
521
because it's such a difficult character to it's this kind of
522
20th century iconic not a real person yeah how did you figure it out
523
so weird prepping barbie as a character um
524
because i it was it was like all my usual tools didn't apply for this character
525
so i usually like i have the things that i do
526
and i i work with an acting coach
527
and i work with a dialect coach and i work with a movement coach
528
and i read everything and watch all the things and
529
when it's a real life person or whatever it's the things
530
that you were talking about if it's a made -up person whatever i rely on animal work a lot and um
531
And I was, you know, maybe like 45 minutes into pretending to be a flamingo or whatever, and I was suddenly like, it's not working.
532
The animal isn't helping me with Barbie.
533
I was like, oh, God, I don't know how to find her.
534
And I, yeah, it was like normally I do a couple, like I have a couple of things I normally do.
535
Okay.
536
So I make up childhood memories.
537
So I think of like, you know, say half a dozen core childhood memories,
538
and that helps me explain why they do the things they do in this group
539
so like you know this is the first time they were extremely humiliated in the public setting
540
or this is the first time they
541
felt betrayed or like whatever and but i couldn't do
542
that for her because she just was invented out of the vacuum
543
and lived in a you know like
544
so all the things
545
i normally did didn't work the animal work didn't work childhood
546
memories didn't work um even the accent wasn't something to cling on to normally i'm like what accent we're doing
547
so they grew up there and what time and and even
548
that it was like no i should be from nowhere
549
but kind of general but you know you know
550
so i i was really struggling it was it was like she was
551
so smooth and shiny i had like nothing to grab on to
552
and i was like i don't know where you are even though she was written beautifully in the script anyways
553
i went to greta
554
and i was like i like help me i don't know where to start with this character
555
and i was like it's just okay what are you scared of
556
and i was like i i don't want her to seem dumb
557
and ditzy but she's also not meant to know anything she's meant to be completely naive and ignorant
558
and greta found this uh episode on this american life a podcast where it was a woman who doesn't
559
or can't introspect like doesn't have the voice in her head oh wow
560
that's like constantly narrating like the way we all do and
561
so that was like an instance where i was like wow oh
562
so she doesn't have that voice and this woman's like you know got a phd
563
and is extremely smart but just doesn't have
564
that internal monologue is she happy yeah totally
565
and she happier do you think god i wondered about
566
that you know when the interview was asking her like so
567
if you're like looking out a window she's like i'm just
568
looking out a window she's like it didn't even occur to me
569
that it didn't introspect until one day it suddenly I suddenly realized as a growing woman
570
that my parents were one day going to die
571
and she was like inconsolable think you know thinking that
572
and her boyfriend was like what's wrong she's like my parents are going to die one day
573
and he was like had you not thought about
574
that before she was like no
575
she kind of thinks exactly what's in front of her like
576
a spotlight to what exactly is in front of her at the time yeah it was really interesting
577
so things like that i was like wow
578
and then greta's like you know references for okay
579
i want the cadence of your speech to be like we did this thing called movie church
580
so every sunday morning we would invite all the cast
581
and crew whoever wanted to come to the notting hill electric
582
which is such a good cinema and watch a movie
583
that was somehow related to barbie like what for example
584
so like for example we'd watch his girl friday
585
because greta would be like i want all the Barbies at the dance party to have
586
that rhythm like
587
when they speak like it should be like it's funny Greta
588
sometimes she I think she uses this to find the comedy in scenes too
589
she uh doesn't look at the monitor like she closes her eyes
590
and she just listens to a scene yeah she's really tuned into like the rhythm
591
which is really interesting but then there might be a reference like we'd watch the red shoes
592
because we're coming up with a lot for the camera like the color chart
593
you know the ib tech we called it techno barbie
594
because we wanted to look like
595
that kind of like really poppy saturated 50s soundstage musical
596
or we'd watch 2001 space odyssey because it's a reference gosh we watched
597
so many movies what a nice thing to do
598
so it was the best it was
599
so fun coming up with the character was weirdly difficult
600
and you wouldn't i wouldn't think playing a barbie would be difficult
601
but then i realized i had nothing to grab onto
602
and it did take me a second but i did know
603
and it was evident in the script
604
that i wanted there to be an evolution between how she is at the beginning
605
and who she is yeah at the end
606
and at the beginning she is a doll and she doesn't introspect
607
and she's never experienced something like shame and she's never experienced you know there's
608
so many things she hasn't ever experienced and
609
so she's certain she says everything with absolute certainty
610
and she moves with absolute certainty she's wide and open to the world
611
because why wouldn't you be there's nothing bad there's no pain there's
612
nothing
613
that you know she can say happily to ken like you can go
614
now i don't want you here like i want to see my friends
615
it's my house not yours all right like and it can be like
616
that and then towards the middle it starts getting shaky and wobbly and yeah fragile and vulnerable and By the end, she is human.
617
She's become human before she's even.
618
realized to ask for that and
619
so we did a couple things
620
you know wigs got smaller less hair more realistic um costumes got less structured geometric patterns
621
or dots or whatever turned into like florals
622
or pastels less certain colors less just less certainty really to mirror like what
623
that evolution of life would be very subtly subliminally yeah by the end
624
i wanted people to kind of weirdly be thinking like oh
625
I feel like I'm just watching Margot weirdly as opposed to like a character
626
I thought I saw at the beginning yeah so I don't know
627
if it had that effect but that's what we were trying to accomplish
628
and um and then weirdly I was kind of playing my mom a little bit really yeah
629
because my mom is so pure like she's
630
so I don't know maybe you'll meet her one day it'll makes sense
631
but it was funny one day on i did was i was like a little bit conscious
632
that i was doing that but one day on set my mom was visiting
633
and greta like turned to me she's like oh my god you're playing your mom aren't you
634
and i was like yeah a little bit yeah
635
and what does she think of the movie she loved
636
it yeah she do you know what the afterwards i was like um did you like
637
that did you like that line where ruth says us mothers stand still
638
so that our daughters can see how far they've gone i was like did
639
that make you cry and she was like no
640
and i was like oh really she was like i thought
641
it was a very well written line though i was like oh i'm
642
so so angry
643
that didn't me what did your parents think of openheimer oh do they like praise you
644
or try to keep you down to earth and like do
645
that thing that your family does where they're like keeping your feet on the
646
they they are very proud yeah uh by it all um i really wanted them to see it you know
647
and like with an audience in the in the cinema i think they saw it in paris
648
and uh yeah they're a little it's a little uh the movie's a little overwhelming
649
you know uh i saw it no i was in a cinema
650
and it was really hot day in london
651
and the ac stopped working oh no sorry oh no
652
it was actually it was almost like we're having a 4d experience it was like chris designed
653
because it was like literally like getting hotter and hotter
654
and they're building the bomb
655
and by the time the bomb was going off
656
i was like literally dripping with sweat with everyone else in here it was
657
so hot and excellent i'm so proud so proud of what you have accomplished
658
we should talk about the uh costumes so you're clearly still not sick pink
659
no i'm not i'm not done with pink yet yeah the costumes were incredible
660
i mean pink it's you just can't have a barbie movie without the color pink
661
and everyone really got on board with
662
that like i'd make a um on wednesdays we went pink day do you know that reference from mean girls
663
I had forgotten that reference.
664
On Wednesdays, they were pink.
665
And so if you didn't wear pink on set, you got a fine, and then I'd donate it to charity.
666
And honestly, people leaned in.
667
I was like, you can wear pink socks, that's enough.
668
And people were like, no, I'm happy to like, you know.
669
It's always like the guys I feel like that are like, oh, finally I have permission to wear pink and get dressed up.
670
Every Wednesday?
671
Every Wednesday.
672
How long did you shoot for?
673
Quite a long time.
674
Okay.
675
How many days was it in the end?
676
it's a lot of it's at least five months it's a lot of pink additions to i have
677
so much pink in my wardrobe now i wasn't really a pink girl before
678
but you know leaning into it but the costumes are amazing
679
and there were so many like jacqueline duran who gret had worked with before is extraordinary
680
and her references it was meant to be a bit of
681
an evolution through the decades as well like starting in the 50s
682
when barbie was created and then it kind of morphed into 60s
683
and 70s 80s by the time we're on the boardwalk we're wearing like neon kind of like 80s 90s
684
and then gets a bit early noughties and and then modern day
685
so yeah it was really it was clever and it was fun
686
and everyone would just squeal every day we'd get to set
687
and see what each other are wearing and be like you look amazing
688
and like i said the guys i think the guys like our kens loved
689
it more than anything they really seemed to uh to get it it would get crazier
690
and crazier until like until ryan would be like i think i need a mink
691
and i need it you know it just got insane
692
but you actually built the sets yeah for real yeah yeah it was incredible we built
693
that whole cul -de -sac the dream houses are like several
694
stories high everything's like hand painted all the backdrops hand painted
695
made all of barbie land in miniature filmed the miniatures um yeah everything was very tactile
696
and the transportation sequence it's all that it's like
697
practical and like a diorama
698
and there's like you know literally people like holding a rod with a butterfly dangling off it
699
and you know everything was just the handmade quality of it was
700
so intrinsic to the movie anyway
701
because it's meant to be a toyetic world yeah toys
702
and you should feel like you could reach in
703
and grab it all but it does make a difference i think i mean i don't know
704
if the audience knows on a kind of a um conscious level yeah
705
but i i really believe that they experience on a subliminal level
706
that this is happening in camera i agree
707
and i know chris nolan is definitely lives by the same rules of like everything in camera everything's practical
708
and i think what cgi can do what vfx can do is like incredible
709
and as a tool yeah to complement yes work it's amazing
710
but when it's relied on too heavily there's something about that like
711
infinite yeah quality like looking at something
712
that's just like could go on forever where you i don't know
713
i find i i get detached i'm kind of like something in me can sense
714
that it's not real and so i don't really care i don't really care
715
if that thing explodes or that building falls down
716
because it's not real like you just know when it's not real yeah i think we do now i think
717
definitely were kind of inured to it at this stage on Oppenheimer
718
there was no set fills
719
it was all real locations every single location was the actual place a lot of it was like Oppenheimer's house
720
we were shot in New Mexico was actually where he really lived yeah with Kitty
721
so myself and Emily were filming in there you know how good's Emily she is astonishing i love her
722
so much i think there's just like she can do anything emily
723
i would watch her in anything
724
i don't need to hear i don't need a log line i don't need a title
725
if i see she's in it i'm like i'm in i'm gonna love it she's
726
so charming mind -blowing but yeah so you shot in new mexico yeah
727
and i think you can feel the kind of this sounds kind of like cliche
728
or hokey or something
729
but i i feel like you can feel the vibrations in the room
730
i feel like they transfer to the character feel like they're we then have an extra level of connection
731
or respect for the environment or for the characters particularly
732
if they're real -life characters that actually live there yeah
733
so yeah and we shot in Oppenheimer's office in Princeton
734
which was right next to Einstein's office in the real location
735
and there was many of those instances where you feel
736
you kind of you know it's goose it's goosebumps you know like I'm not a superstitious person
737
or anything but I know you feel you feel it yeah Chris wanted that
738
and for example the last sequence in the movie you know the well well the flashback isn't forwards to it
739
but you know the whole big hearing at the end
740
that was in this horrible shitty little bureaucratic tiny room somewhere outside of LA
741
and we were all
742
and it was really hot we were all of us stuffed at this room
743
this huge IMAX you know we could have easily built
744
that in a big stage and pulled away the walls Chris wanted it to feel a claustrophobic,
745
you know, sort of awful feeling that you would have had in one of those rooms.
746
And they deliberately wanted to put him in a room like
747
that to make him feel like he was worthless and that it was kind of meaningless to demean him.
748
And it worked.
749
Can I ask something off topic?
750
Sure.
751
In my opinion, there are two kinds of people in this world.
752
there are the people who are obsessed with Peaky Blinders
753
and then there's the people who haven't seen Peaky Blinders I obviously sit in the first category
754
so can we please talk about Tommy fucking Shelby just for like one minute sure
755
if you like yeah what was it like
756
oh I mean that was years and years of your life yeah it's like 10
757
that was also a 10 year adventure
758
that we should start shooting at the end of 2012 it's
759
so crazy yeah i love the song
760
that plays at the very end of the last season oh yeah all the tired horses yeah lisa o 'neill
761
i love that song
762
so much it's on my cry playlist like cry on set there's a dylan song
763
and she took it and just like it's
764
so good yeah she's special is there gonna be a spin -off movie
765
i mean i i i'm open to the idea really I've always thought that
766
if this there's more story to tell well we'll see I mean who knows
767
I guess do it please well that's very kind of you to say
768
I mean I'm totally open to the idea
769
but you know I also do think it was a kind of perfect six seasons no
770
and we managed I don't want to wreck it well
771
it's kind of sometimes hard to kind of move into the film format
772
and I can I do like the ambiguity of the ending
773
but I'm always open to like a great script
774
you know who wouldn't be good people just come up to you all the time a lot yeah a lot
775
and say told me for good job they do yeah yeah
776
and have you lost a lung smoking all those cigarettes it wasn't great
777
but then of course I did Oppenheimer it's like a pipe
778
and I literally thought
779
that I was watching it I was like we need to get into a doctor yeah he's smoked
780
so many cigarettes the thing about those herbals
781
now they have a warning on the herbals as well do they yes
782
so you can't win you know so
783
if people shout at me uh tommy shelby do is it inevitable
784
that people i would imagine they shout at you
785
but they might go hey barbie or whatever is
786
that what happens a lot of high barbies yeah a lot of yeah it's it's funny
787
because the waving thing wasn't that big of a thing
788
and then on set it just got bigger
789
and more okay to the point where it was like the waving was like
790
so something about barbie like she needs to be so earnest
791
that she's almost a dork but she's like
792
that you're kind of like no but i still like you
793
and somehow waving really like really just really just summed
794
that up and so we just kept doing it and doing it
795
and then greta really made a meal out of the hi bobby hi bobby hi ken hi ken you know
796
that whole bit and then hi alan
797
and yeah now people on the street say hi bobby a lot probably
798
i like it i'd rather people be shouting
799
that at me than other things this is true i'll take
800
it for the rest of life the rest of my life
801
and tell me speaking of
802
that do you do you feel like there's a sequel in the works
803
if you're asking me about a peaky movie you're allowed to ask
804
that because i did ask you the thing i i same thing like you i'm like we put everything into
805
that movie and it's so good yeah that i'm like oh no
806
and i was so also so proud of the fact
807
that it wasn't like an original sorry
808
that it wasn't original it wasn't a sequel or a prequel remake
809
which is getting rarer and rarer these days
810
and your movie too is original and that's amazing
811
that we both got these big theatrical opportunities for original ideas yeah
812
that part of me almost i'm like oh no
813
if we do a barbie too then we just i don't know
814
but at the same time i would do anything to be back on the set
815
and i'd do anything to be on set with gretta again
816
and ryan again and playing barbie again like playing barbie is the best it's just
817
so joyful so again so it's not not no yeah not no yeah
818
but also it would take a lot for it to be a
819
yeah to live up to what you guys do yeah yeah
820
hi barbie hi barbie hi barbie hi barbie hi barbie hi barbie obviously i've now revealed
821
that i am a big fan of yours um not just peaky blinders
822
i also love your sleep story on the calm app oh and um just everything you've done really well likewise
823
i mean it is crazy
824
that after all this this is literally the first time
825
i'm ever meeting you yeah likewise it's been nice very formal setting
826
i know i know well nice to chat to you margot
827
Hopefully not for the last time.
828
Exactly.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “Cillian Murphy & Margot Robbie”. This video has 828 sentences and 9588 words to shadow. The speech runs for 48:01. The speaker talks fast, about 200 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

WordPronunciationMeaning
barbie noun/bɑː(ɹ)bi/A barbecue (apparatus for grilling).
script noun/skɹɪpt/A writing; a written document.
meme noun/miːm/Any unit of (originally cultural) information, such as a practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another in a…
producer noun/pɹəˈdjuːsə/An individual or organization that creates goods and services.
bobby noun/ˈbɑbi/Cocaine.
cinema noun/ˈsɪn.ə.mə/A movie theatre, a movie house.
accent noun/ækˈsɛnt/A higher-pitched or stronger (louder or longer) articulation of a particular syllable of a word or phrase in order to distinguish it from the others or to…
costume noun/ˈkɑsˌt(j)um/A style of dress, including garments, accessories and hairstyle, especially as characteristic of a particular country, period or people.
shout verb/ʃaʊt/To utter a sudden and loud cry, as in joy, triumph, exultation or anger, or to attract attention, to animate others, etc.
prep noun/pɹɛp/Preparation.
muscle noun/ˈmʌs.əl/A contractile form of tissue which animals use to effect movement.
evolution noun/ˌiːvəˈluːʃ(ə)n/A manoeuvre of troops or ships.
extraordinary adjective/ɪksˈtɹɔːrdɪn(ə)ɹi/Out of the ordinary; exceptional; unusual.
sequence noun/ˈsiː.kwəns/A set of things next to each other in a set order; a series.
vibe noun/vaɪb/An atmosphere or aura felt to belong to a person, place or thing.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

WordPronunciationMeaning
come up with verbTo manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it.
dress up verbTo put on special or fancy clothes.
end up verbTo bring to a conclusion.
make up verb/ˌmeɪk ˈʌp/To constitute, to compose.
come out verb/ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/To be discovered; to be revealed.
grow up verbTo mature and become an adult.
look out verbTo be vigilant and aware often as an imperative to alert a person to danger.
walk around verbTo walk with no planned destination; to meander.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

  • Can I come to your house tonight?
  • Wasn't there some great ones?
  • What's your prep process like?
  • How long did you shoot for?
  • Can I ask something off topic?

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

StructureIn the video
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its resultif you look you'd be
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters nowhaven't made · have watched · you've done
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does itwas set · was covered · could be assuaged
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thingwoman who doesn · people who are · people who haven

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 294 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, they're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

  • The “th” sounds: theater /ˈθi(ə)tɚ/, rhythm /ˈɹɪð.əm/, algorithm /ˈælɡəɹɪðm̩/, clothing /ˈkloʊðɪŋ/, thin /ˈθɪn/
  • The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shout /ʃaʊt/, evolution /ˌiːvəˈluːʃ(ə)n/, congratulations /kənˌɡɹæt͡ʃəˈleɪʃ(ə)nz/, conscious /ˈkɑn.ʃəs/, impression /ɪmˈpɹɛʃn̩/
  • Long words — get the stress right: evolution /ˌiːvəˈluːʃ(ə)n/, extraordinary /ɪksˈtɹɔːrdɪn(ə)ɹi/, congratulations /kənˌɡɹæt͡ʃəˈleɪʃ(ə)nz/, incredibly /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/, diversity /daɪˈvɜː(ɹ)sɪti/

How to practise with this video

  1. Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
  2. Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
  3. Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like barbie, script, meme.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →