by James Mottram
This film is pretty ‘out there’ – what were your thoughts when you read the script?
Nicholas Hoult: It was one my favourite things I’ve read for a long time. I’ve seen Yorgos Lanthimos’s other films and loved them and even though it’s different because it’s a period film and a true story and the first script which he didn’t write himself or with his writing partner, I could still very much see it through his mind.
Did you do much to prepare for the role?
Joe Alwyn: From his end there was no conversation about the time or the period or the history. He definitely wasn’t trying to make it a documentary in that sense or capture a period in time. Specifically, he just wanted us to explore these relationships and not think about it too much and not get too caught up in character or social etiquette or whatever it might be, but just to have a full sense that we could jump in and just have a crazy time.
Nicholas Hoult: I said, ‘What do you imagine this character being like?’ And he said, ‘I don’t know, we’ll see.’ For two weeks were in a rehearsal room where we would dance and hum and sing and do the scenes and almost run the film like a play but in very bizarre fashion.
How was it to wear the huge wig?
Nicholas Hoult: There were three different ones that had different names. Babs was the main wig. It just changes how you have to hold yourself and then [costume designer] Sandy Powell was like ‘you’ve got to practice walking in these heels because you can’t walk how you normally walk…’ I would strut around in my heels and try to get used to that and it all just becomes part of how you carry yourself and the character, but there was quite a fire risk at times because it was lit by candles and I’d be mooching around and then suddenly someone would be like ‘whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, get out of there’. I was very flammable.
Was it a challenge to work on a period film?
Joe Alwyn: To a degree, but Yorgos wasn’t too strict about it. He wasn’t focused on whether we were standing correctly or posturing correctly or bowing correctly. He just wanted to focus on the relationships between us and the rest of the world around it, which we could kind of play around with. It wasn’t too bound by the parameters of the time and the world in the sense of the period. It felt quite free.
Have you shot anything since you made this?
Joe Alwyn: I made a very different period film called Mary Queen of Scots, a film called Boy Erased which Joel Edgerton made and a film called Operation Finale.
How was it working with Joel Edgerton?
Joe Alwyn: It was brilliant. I’d never been directed by an actor turned director before so that was really interesting but also, he adapted it from the memoir, he’s in it, he’s juggled everything in it amazingly and he’s so chilled and positive on set… He creates a really nice environment. I went and did a week on that and sometimes when you come into a film that’s already up and running it can be quite hard to break into this world which has already been created. It’s like jumping onto a treadmill which is already going and it’s quite hard to find your footing, but he’s really good at making everyone feel at ease, especially given the nature of the film which is quite heavy material.
You mentioned Mary Queen of Scots being a very different period film to make than The Favourite – can you elaborate?
Joe Alwyn: Well, for example, we had two-week rehearsal for this which is rolling around on the floor and dancing and just being silly. We had two weeks rehearsal for Mary which was – it’s directed by Josie Rourke, and she’s big theatre director and this is her first film, so she took a more theatrical, theatre-based approach and so for the rehearsal… It was kind of ‘let’s get the history book out’ and there is a historian in the room and we got a highlight to that and we’re talking about character and the period so the complete other side of the coin to this which was interesting as well to experience it from that way. And it fit the nature of that film which wasn’t running around jumping in the woods and stuff like that, it’s more conventional I guess in some ways.
What are your thoughts on Netflix and the move away from traditional cinema?
Nicholas Hoult: I think it’s so difficult isn’t it? I read something the other day about how to watch a movie in 2018 – open up Netflix, scroll through for five, 10 minutes, fine, decide there’s nothing you want to see, click on documentary and then get your phone out and scroll, pay no attention and then go to bed [laughs]. It’s bizarre because obviously film is such a beautiful format, and going to the cinema and sitting there and focusing and giving yourself over to something completely has a really different impact on you if you can find the time to do that. Also, the benefit of Netflix and those things is a lot more opportunities in terms of what’s being made. So, things that potentially weren’t before are getting a platform, but then also so much on the platform that it’s difficult to choose what to watch.
Joe Alwyn: I don’t think anything beats sitting in a big room watching a big screen. I think it’s sad that in some ways it seems to be happening less and less and people going to the cinema less because it’s more expensive but the idea of everything becoming reduced to a size screen that you can put in your pocket or fit in your rucksack I think is sad, but obviously it’s opened up a whole world and opportunity for people to make things that otherwise wouldn’t be seen and the access to it is also brilliant. It’s a tricky thing to juggle.
Nicholas Hoult: Plus, cinema is a shared experience with people. Particularly with Yorgos’ movies, it’s very interesting because what might be funny to half the room is really quite shocking and alarming and disgusting or whatever to the other half. So, you get quite a mixed reaction in things you thought were hilarious other people might find quite painful and difficult to watch so that’s what’s interesting as well is finding where it sits within people’s reactions.
What are your favourite films?
Joe Alwyn: I love Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Nicholas Hoult: That’s one of my favourites.
Joe Alwyn: I love Jim Carrey’s work.
Nicholas Hoult: He’s so great. I grew up watching The Mask and The Truman Show and Ace Ventura and all those films, but he was one of the people I would watch and be like ‘that’s what I want to be’, him and Robin Williams, I was like ‘oh, wow!’ The documentary Jim & Andy [available on Netflix] – about the making of Man on the Moon – is really interesting too, he really becomes his characters.
The Favourite is in cinemas December 26, 2018.
Read our Yorgos Lanthimos interview about The Favourite here.
