Episode 16 The Graham Norton Show

Graham Norton!

Hear, hear!

Thank you, thank you, Mr Speaker.

On tonight's show,

in addition to some luminescent stars of stage and screen...

Hear, hear!

..stage and screen, we will also be welcoming our longest-serving

female Member of Parliament.

-Hear, hear!

-Order! Order!

I put it to the House - let's start the show!

CHEERING

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING Oh! Oh!

Hello!

Hello! Hello!

Welcome, welcome. Welcome, all.

Yes, yes, there's a definite whiff of politics in the air tonight.

And why not? It's been another rollercoaster week.

The big news - Prime Minister Theresa May

went to Washington. Yeah!

The first world leader to meet with President Trump.

Here she is holding Trump's hand.

Still, so long as she's grabbing that, it's not grabbing something else.

It was a very tender moment when they held hands,

and I think we've got a picture of Theresa May just afterwards.

HE GROANS AND RETCHES

President Trump has been signing a flurry of executive orders.

Now, I don't want to get TOO political with Trump's

immigration policy, but if there are any Mexican Muslims watching,

I wouldn't promise the kids Disney World this year.

Meanwhile, nearly two million people have now signed an online petition

to cancel Trump's planned state visit to Britain.

Apparently, you can register your disapproval just by clicking

a button on your iPad.

Let's get some guests on.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Later, we'll have music from the mighty Elbow.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

But first, since the age of eight, this young British star

has worked with the likes of Martin Scorsese and Tim Burton,

and now he's taking on his first adult role in The Space Between Us.

Please welcome Asa Butterfield!

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Hello, Asa Butterfield!

-Lovely to see you! Have a seat.

-Thank you.

She has been at the heart of Labour politics for over 30 years,

and is the UK's longest-serving female MP.

Her new memoir is called A Woman's Work. Please welcome Harriet Harman.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING Yes!

Look at you! Hello!

-I've realised you should be Prime Minister!

-Sit, sit, sit!

She's a four-time Oscar nominee who's starred in classic films

such as American Beauty, The Grifters, The American President

and The Kids Are All Right.

Now she gives another stellar performance in the comedy drama

20th Century Women.

It's the great Annette Bening, everybody.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Oh, showbiz shoulder!

-Hello, hi! Come in!

-Hi!

And this British actor has appeared in films like The Social Network,

The Amazing Spider-Man and Martin Scorsese's Silence.

He's just been Oscar nominated for his performance in Hacksaw Ridge.

Now returning to the stage with Angels In America - welcome back, Andrew Garfield!

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Hello! Oh, a hug! Come in, sit down.

Whoo!

Yep, in for the wine!

-As quick as possible!

-It's welcome back to Andrew, first time for Asa, Miss Bening.

Now, Asa, people turning on the television...

because you do look much younger than your actual years.

-I do.

-How old are you, actually?

-I'm 19.

-You can drink and swear, all sorts, it's good.

I wanted to clarify, cos I would turn on the television, going,

"But there's a very young person on the couch -

"what are they talking about?!"

-Now, Harriet Harman, you've never done a show like this before.

-No.

But when I saw you doing Prime Minister's Questions, I had

a moment of revelation, I realised that you should be Prime Minister.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-I think that a lot!

-This is what we've been waiting for.

You know?

Next time there's a vacancy in Tower Hamlets, I'm in.

Annette, have I seen you on a British talk show before?

-I'm not sure that you have.

-But in America, you must do.

-I do, yeah.

-Yeah?

-Yeah, I do. I'm just shy, that's all.

-OK. Get that down you!

I find it a bit of a cure-all.

And, Andrew Garfield, how lovely to have you at this time.

-So happy to be here.

-A big congratulations on your Oscar nomination.

-Thank you.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Oscars this month, I have heard you -

you have threatened to recreate your beautiful Golden Globes moment,

which you must be so regretting cos you have to talk about it

everywhere you go. I'm sure you guys saw this.

-Ryan Gosling was on the show a couple of weeks ago.

-Yes.

Ryan Gosling is getting his award. Annette, you're here somewhere.

-Oh, there you are. Is that you?

-Oh, yeah.

-I think you're over there.

Over here, stealing the thunder is Andrew Garfield and Ryan Reynolds.

Are you going to do it at the Oscars?

No! No!

It was a ridiculous thing. It was ridiculous.

I said to Ryan Reynolds, "If you win, kiss me instead of your wife."

And he said, "Yeah, that's great!"

And the plan was that he would kind of move towards his wife and

then kind of last-minute move towards me.

And then he didn't win, much to our disappointment, and I said,

"We could still just do it!"

And he was game.

And I love the fact it was so deep in the background

so you kind of have to look to see if it was actually...

-Ryan Gosling was unaware of it.

-I know.

-Were you aware of it, Annette?

No!

That night,

the big moment was Meryl making her amazing speech that night.

-And I presume that the Oscars are going to be similar.

-I imagine so.

I'd imagine so.

-Annette, you are famously a long-time Democrat.

-Yes.

Democrat supporter. But I heard, before the inauguration, you were kind of saying,

"Calm down, everyone..."

How are you feeling now?

I don't remember saying, "Calm down, everyone."

Well, I am... I respect very much the public servants, like you,

people who put themselves up to help run our country,

especially the Democrats, I am a Democrat.

And I also very much right now applaud the Republicans

who are standing up to Trump.

We very much need them and so his attack on the press,

I think is very unfortunate, I think we need the press, obviously.

Harriet's going, "Do we, do we really? Are you sure we need the press?"

I am feeling sorry for them in the States,

I mean, they are really important.

-Incredibly important.

-And his spokespeople have said

and he has said they are the opposition party, the press.

-Yeah.

-It takes a while for things to sort themselves out.

I wonder, though, Harriet Harman, Theresa May

went to Washington and is getting a lot of flak for that.

I feel for her because we can't sever all ties with America,

we need America.

I suppose it's an easy question for you because you don't have to do it,

but what WOULD be your approach to it?

Well, I think that she's got to look

as though she's a strong Prime Minister

of a strong, self-confident country and not look as though

she's going there begging for a trade deal on any terms whatsoever.

That is why that handholding thing was so disastrous

because it looked like he was sort of leading her along.

And isn't that a particular problem for a female politician,

cos he couldn't have done that to a man, robbing her of her power?

Definitely.

There's all sorts of rumours about why he did it,

but she should have had in her briefing,

"This man is an identified groper, stand well away!"

-APPLAUSE

-That should have been in her briefing.

Harriet, in your time you have also encountered the problems

of body language.

There's that famous picture of you with Ed Balls.

You don't look like you were inviting a kiss there!

Actually, I absolutely love Ed Balls.

You do appear to have eaten your own lips!

I think... It's like politicians kissing in public.

But Trump said apparently that he has got this thing called bathmophobia

which is like, he is saying, I had to hold her hand

because I've got this phobia, which is a fear of slopes.

Now, I know men seize various parts of women's bodies for all sorts

of reasons, but that is the first time I have heard bathmophobia!

It's like, "I'm sorry, I've got to grab your bum

"because I really feel giddy on this slope!"

No!

Anyway, he might have that phobia, but certainly I have got

Trumpaphobia and I think lots of other people have as well.

APPLAUSE Listen to that.

It's like Question Time, it's good. I'm loving it. Yes!

Man in the pink tie. Yes.

Very good.

Now, we mentioned already the Oscar nomination,

but it is currently in UK cinemas, Hacksaw Ridge,

directed by Mel Gibson, and it is an extraordinary true story.

I love when films do this - they pick up a story that fell through the cracks of history.

Tell us about who you play.

Desmond Doss is the guy's name.

And he was a real person.

And he served in World War II

as an army medic.

But the difference is that he was a pacifist.

And all medics had to be armed, but he refused.

He refused to even go near a weapon.

That unto itself, what a beautiful act,

but legally he was obligated to carry one, so his own army

tried to get him kicked out and railroaded and put in prison

and he managed to finally find a legal loophole

and ultimately serve, but he was ostracised by his own men.

But then he did these miraculous things on the battlefield.

He didn't only treat and save the lives of his own men -

75 in one night, lowered down off a 400ft tall ridge.

One man as skinny as me, carrying men the size of Vince Vaughn,

but he also treated members of the opposition.

He treated "the enemy".

He didn't see skin colour, he saw...a man in need,

only ever a man in need, he understood the sanctity of life.

He...

The values in him, the virtues in him that

he embodied are incredible for us to look to now, and very awe-inspiring.

Our clip is exactly that, our clip is during the horrific battle -

those sequences are extraordinary -

the battle at Hacksaw Ridge, and this is you rescuing your sergeant,

played by Vince Vaughn.

-You're like gum on a shoe.

-Give me this.

It's a bit late for target practice now, don't you think?

Jump on it.

-You're kidding.

-No, I'm going to drag you.

MAN SPEAKS IN JAPANESE

Let's do it!

HE GROANS

-Ready?

-Yeah.

-Let's go.

GUNFIRE, SHOUTING

-We've got company!

-Come on!

GRUNTING

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING Wow.

It has been really well-received, this film.

I mean, you got the Oscar nod,

but how does it happen, were you watching telly,

did you watch the announcement live?

I couldn't, I was across the street from the studio,

I'm rehearsing a play at the National Theatre right now.

And I was in rehearsals

for Angels In America, and we had just broken for lunch and

they were doing the announcement on LA time.

And I had bought a tuna salad in the National Theatre canteen.

God is in the details.

And I was eating said tuna salad...

while drinking sparkling water,

alone in the National Theatre canteen,

terrified of doing a play again cos I'm a terrible actor...

-AUDIENCE MEMBER:

-Aw!

-No, no, no...

-No, let him.

It was ironic, theatre rehearsals are tricky -

it's a fumbling, failing process where you are trying to figure out

what the hell you're doing, so you feel terrible, mostly.

And then, to find out in that moment that you are nominated for such

a prestigious award, it felt very ironic.

It felt very strange. I didn't quite believe it.

You must have gone back into the afternoon rehearsal thinking, "Hey, I've got this!"

I was a bit like, "Oh, maybe I was wrong about that!"

If anyone knows what it's like, it's Annette Bening.

-You've been nominated, is it four times?

-Yes.

-Four times!

Never won, obviously, but four times!

-LAUGHTER

-You would have to bring that up!

-There's still time!

-There's loads of time!

So, what is it like being nominated?

-What's the evening like?

-Oh, it's very exciting.

The first time I was nominated was 26 years ago.

The five of us who were nominated got together in the audience before

the show went on the air, and we all agreed, secretly, just amongst us,

that we would have dinner the next week, and whoever won would pay.

So Whoopi Goldberg won. The next day I was working on a movie,

the next day in my trailer,

I got a beautiful big bouquet of flowers with a little note saying,

"Meet at such and such a restaurant next week."

We all met, and Whoopi gave us each a gardenia

and a chocolate Oscar.

Aw! So, look at it this way, if you lose, Andrew,

there might be a free dinner in it!

It's swings and roundabouts.

When you were really young, you were in Hugo and

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas.

Were you around all the awards shows and things,

-were you wheeled out?

-I did some.

-"Were you wheeled out"?!

If there's a child in a movie, they LOVE bringing the child up onstage,

going, "Look, it's a child!"

I had my mum. She would get me in and it was all right.

When you're that age,

you don't really know what the hell's going on.

I don't either! And I'm 66!

Do they put you in a tiny tuxedo?

They do!

And usher you onto the carpet, and there's flashing lights,

and you sort of stand and smile and look cute.

It's fun.

You know the way when you put on weight, you keep your suits,

do you have a tiny tuxedo in the back of your wardrobe, thinking,

"That might come in handy for something"?

I do, and my mum wears it!

Now, Andrew, we've mentioned already you're currently rehearsing

Angels In America,

which opens at the National Theatre on the 11th of April.

It's unbelievable to me, the play is 25 years old.

But for this anniversary production they have put together an extraordinary team.

-Tell us who you've got.

-Marianne Elliott is directing the play.

-Who did The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time.

-And War Horse.

Which has 10,000 touring productions happening across the world right now.

She's brilliant and the cast is incredible.

Nathan Lane is playing Roy Cohn, the famous New York lawyer,

one of Donald Trump's mentors, actually.

-It all comes back!

-It's set in the '80s in New York City.

It's set in the AIDS crisis, where AIDS was at its peak

and no-one really knew where it had come from or how to stop it.

It was spreading like an awful wildfire that was just taking lives.

And it's actually a comedy, we're discovering in rehearsals.

It's weird, it's a very, very funny play that Tony has written.

It's incredibly tragic but incredibly funny.

It's basically about how the six or seven main characters

are attempting to make sense of this modern plague.

-There's massive excitement about this production.

-Yeah.

If you don't live in London, can't get to London,

it is going to be beamed to cinemas around the world through one

of those NT Live things.

20th of July, so you've got plenty of time to get ready.

And then a week later, 27th of July is the second part.

Not to put people off, but altogether, it's about seven hours long, you think?

-I don't know how long it is.

-Speak quicker!

They're going to cut a lot!

It's absolutely going to be worth your time.

Wait! I take that back, I'm not sure if it is yet!

Oh, say it is! Sell, sell, sell!

You're Oscar nominated, how bad can you be?!

The play itself is absolutely worth your time, I swear to you,

it's a life-changing experience in the theatre.

Annette, you must have seen this the first time around?

Indeed. In fact, it was done the first time in Los Angeles.

It was the first time I had been in LA

when a theatre piece really became an event.

So it was done at the Mark Taper Forum, downtown. You would go for the day.

You would go to the matinee, just like I'm sure people will do here.

You would go to the matinee, you have a bite to eat

and then you see the evening performance.

Then it went to New York, it was a huge event. Yes, it's incredible.

Yeah. Now, it's a chat show, so I'm very excited to tell you

that on our couch tonight we have a record holder. Yes, we do.

That record holder is Asa Butterfield.

No, you ARE a record holder, aren't you?!

Yeah, I guess.

-That's what I've been told!

-I hold a record, yeah.

He's very fast at doing something. Any guesses, Andrew?

How old are you?

He's 19!

I'll stop you!

What are the things you're very fast at?

Neither of them are at all useful.

I can clap very fast.

Take that, audience!

Somebody on the couch has said, "I'm better at clapping than the audience!"

And then I can type the alphabet very fast as well.

It came about, really weirdly.

But when you say very fast, tell us, what is your best time?

-My best time for typing the alphabet is 1.97 seconds.

-Wow!

-And what's the world record?

-I think it's under one second.

Oh, is it? Oh, so you're NOT a record holder at all?

No.

What a waste of time this has been!

Oh, I know! It's a record ATTEMPT, we're going for a record attempt!

They have set, there's a website, they've set this up where there is

a clock, the alphabet,

and as you type the thing, the alphabet lights up.

-I had one, my brother showed me it.

-Can you show us on this?

-I can.

-Is it the same one?

-I don't know.

I like that you're bringing your drink with you!

-Type the alphabet.

-It's all there.

OK. So, basically, you start typing and the clock starts, OK?

Jeez. When I did this, the game was called Finger Frenzy.

OK!

LAUGHTER

Maybe that's what you were googling when you found it!

-I'm going to give it a go.

-Honestly, this is good. Watch this, watch this.

Come on, come on!

For the record! CHEERING

Here we go, here we go...

-Oh! Try it again! Reset!

-Where's the mouse?

-Reset.

-Reset. The first try.

-OK. It was nerves!

-It's a different keyboard layout.

-It's the best of 20!

Yes, yes...

It's this game! I need Finger Frenzy!

-APPLAUSE

-I need Finger Frenzy!

-Anybody else want a go?

-No!

-Harriet Harman, no?

-No!

All right, well, let's try fast clapping, then!

LAUGHTER DROWNS OUT SPEECH

I have no idea what this is...

I watched a video on YouTube of someone who holds the world record.

I'm getting all of these things off YouTube, it's amazing.

So, there's a technique. Most people clap like this.

It's the usual thing.

But if you sort of flex like this,

then it starts to speed up.

Wow, that's very impressive!

I would just say, enjoy this time, because now you can legally drink,

these games are over for you!

There will be far less time on YouTube learning how to clap fast,

I promise you! Very impressive.

Right, Annette Bening, you bring us a fabulous film -

20th Century Women - it opens next Friday.

I LOVE films like this.

-Thank you.

-It's just got a great ensemble cast, and it's

a particular sort of American film that you guys are so good at making.

Tell us about it.

Mike Mills wrote and directed it, it's 1979, Santa Barbara,

so this is pre-digital, which is kind of an interesting thing now,

to look back at a time before we had the digital age.

And I'm playing the mom who's trying to figure out

my own life and raise my son,

and I've got the son and he's trying to grow up and figure out me.

And we've got a group of people living in the house,

we've got Greta Gerwig, who's a punk artist, kind of wild woman,

but who also has problems and has an illness. And we have

Elle Fanning, who plays his friend,

who is a bad-ass teenage girl, amazing.

And Billy Crudup.

And it's based on the director's mother.

-Own life, yes.

-I found her a really sympathetic character.

Cos she's trying SO hard to be the best mother she can be.

Right, but I like her because she's not an idealised mom,

she just is a real human being.

-Oh, no, she's failing constantly!

-Exactly!

-We've got a clip.

This is your character presiding,

you know, you're trying to be liberal, lovely mom.

-Yes.

-At a dinner party.

Jamie, would you please wake up Abbie?

-Er, Abbie?

-Stop it, I'm menstruating.

Abbie, you know what, you're menstruating, OK,

but do you have to say it?

And do we really need to know everything that's going on with you?

What? I'm menstruating!

-Why is that a big deal?

-We don't need to hear about that,

thank you.

If you ever want to have an adult relationship with a woman,

like if you want to have sex with a woman's vagina, you need to

be comfortable with the fact that the vagina menstruates.

Just say menstruation, it's not a big deal.

So start saying it now. Menstruation.

-No.

-Yes. Menstruation.

-Menstr...uation.

-Jamie, no, you don't have to.

-You're saying it like you're scared.

-Abbie.

Say it like it's normal.

-Menstruation.

-Menstruation. Not bad.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Asa nearly did his quick clapping there, he liked it so much!

Next time!

-You've got... Is it four children you've got?

-I do.

I mean, those scenes must have resonated with you?

And she ad-libbed a lot of that scene. It was very, very funny.

And then Billy at the end says, you know,

"You can't have sex with just part of the woman and just the vagina,

"you have to have sex with the whole woman."

And Greta says, "Yes, but that's slightly off topic!"

-And that was all improvised.

-It's a terrific film, it really is.

And also we should say, in terms of your own life, congratulations.

-Next month, is it 25 years you've been married?

-Yes.

-Well done!

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

I suppose 25 years is a huge achievement anywhere.

But in Hollywood it seems like it's sort of extraordinary.

I don't know, we're given more credit.

I don't know if it is more unusual in Hollywood or not.

I think there is a lot of divorce everywhere.

I guess we read about yours - that would be the difference!

I suppose - I don't think I'm...

But Warren Beatty had a certain reputation before you.

LAUGHTER

Was there a lot of, "it will never last, are you out of your mind"?

I suppose there were people, I guess people didn't say it to me,

but I suppose people thought that.

-They said it to your parents!

-Perhaps, yes.

25 years, can you beat that, Harriet Harman?

Er, yes!

Can I just say, though, in 20th Century Women, that face,

that face - any mum looking at that knows that they've had that face!

It's all deteriorating all around, and... It's just so brilliant,

-I can't wait to see it, I can't wait.

-It's a great film.

30 years, 30 years is contained within Harriet Harman's new book,

A Woman's Work, here it is.

And it's sort of...it's your life,

but it's also a story of the women's movement and your career.

A solicitor, the longest-serving female MP, Deputy Leader

of the Labour Party, twice Acting Leader of the Labour Party,

all of that, it's all in here.

What is the big thing,

what's the thing that you're proudest of at this point?

Well, I guess it's being part of that movement of women.

I mean, I was born and brought up at a time when the most

important thing for a woman was to kind of get a man,

and the summit of your ambition was to get a decent man to marry.

And then after that, your great honour and privilege was to,

like, be a housewife and to look after him.

And we were like, "Well, no, we don't think we are second-class

"citizens, we don't think we should be subordinate to men.

"We're just going to get out there and absolutely change everything."

So it was such a kind of time of transition and

a feeling of revolution, really.

So the only problem was that we couldn't do anything unless

we could change politics.

So it was like the irresistible force of women's movement and the immovable object of Parliament.

And we had to kind of batter our way in.

Thankfully, lots of things have changed over the last 30 years.

But I do find it extraordinary that STILL women are having to have

a march - even if they're given rights, they're feeling that they have to protect those rights.

Are you saddened that things haven't moved further in those 30 years?

Well, I think we have come a long way,

but we're not equal yet, there's still a long way to go.

And I think you should never be complacent about rights

that have been really hard-won,

because there's always people who want to turn the clock back,

whether it's on tackling racism or homophobia, there will be people

who want to seize the opportunity to turn the clock back to the 1950s.

So you can't really take those rights for granted, they were hard fought-for.

And I think we're at that moment now, it's not your fault, Annette,

but Trump is sending this virus across which is legitimising

all those kinds of reactions.

I apologise on behalf of my nation.

I think we need her as President as well as you Prime Minister.

Have you ever thought of running for office?

-I have not.

-OK!

Maybe once.

Do it again.

But in terms of moving things on, in terms of women,

how disappointed are you that it's the Conservatives who've

rustled up two female prime ministers?

This has been a bit of a paradox/torture for us.

The first woman Prime Minister was Margaret Thatcher

and we did not feel that that was a good thing to be celebrating,

that Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister,

so we had to do lots of marching, holding banners,

saying, "The First Lady puts women last,"

and that was her, and now we've got another woman Prime Minister

and once again, it's a Tory.

We've got more Labour women MPs than all the other parties put together,

but at the very top level, it seems to be... I have that song in my head,

It's Raining Men - you know that song, and it does feel like that.

Oh, I know that song!

APPLAUSE

When you write a book like this, is this you saying, "I'm retiring,

"I'm out of here"?

-You know, "Harman out."

-Not at all.

Not at all, actually, and it's funny

because there is a thing about women and your age.

It's like, when you're much younger, in politics,

it is like, oh, you know, young, pretty, a bit distracting,

a bit flaky, not to be taken seriously, whereas a young man

will be regarded as very thrusting with loads of promise for the future

and he is in his prime, whereas the woman is a bit ditzy.

And then, when she's having her family and she has loads of children,

she is like, she's just a write-off,

whereas he's regarded as he has got his family, reassuringly virile.

And then, when they are older, the man is like experienced,

wise, like George Clooney, attractive,

silver-fox type of thing and the woman, when she gets older,

well, she's just past it! And it's like, when is OUR prime?!

-APPLAUSE

-Bravo!

That got the quick clap!

-I'm going to be, like, having my prime NOW.

-Good for you!

Harriet Harman, well done!

No mistaking, Asa Butterfield is in his prime. Your life is changing.

This is the first time you did not have to study during a film,

there were no chaperones around.

-It was great!

-I bet it was!

I was living by myself, I was in Albuquerque...

Less great.

Take it or leave it.

It was funny, we were making a film, part of it's set on Mars,

and Albuquerque's got a kind of Mars-like look to it.

It's a bit of a desert. So we made the most of that.

I didn't have to have a tutor, I wasn't in school,

I was a real actor.

-You live in your own flat now.

-Yeah, I've moved out of home, last year.

Which is cool.

LAUGHTER

You've been in films since you were eight! Can you cook?

How do you know how to do anything?

I can cook all right.

Yeah. I do get an unfortunate amount of takeaway.

I've got this great local food shop opposite, I can walk down the stairs, takes me about 30 seconds,

and get loads of frozen pizza and tuna and beans, Heinz baked beans.

Oh, Andrew would love that!

I've actually become amazing at cooking beans on toast.

LAUGHTER

Your first film as an independent young man is

the science-fiction romance The Space Between Us.

It opens next Friday and here's a taste of what to expect.

'My name is Gardner Elliot, I was born on Mars, but I finally

'found a reason to go to Earth.'

-I could just see her, you know.

-His heart can't handle our gravity.

-It's too risky.

-It's worth it.

You don't realise how far away you are until there's someone you want

to be near.

-He's running out of time.

-You have to go back.

-What is your favourite thing about Earth?

-You are, Gardner.

APPLAUSE

They make a lot of these science-fiction movies,

people living on Mars, but this is a really unusual take on it.

Explain the germ of the idea and the romance.

Well, it's a science-fiction film.

But it's got this backdrop, but I think what really drives it is these

relationships, and it is about this boy who has grown up on Mars for 16 years

so he has been totally isolated from just about anything.

So he's an odd guy, he's kind of weird and he's smart, but I really

had fun just making the most of what made him different because he comes

to Earth and he hasn't seen anything before, like dogs, cats...

Literally anything is interesting to him and he is like

a kid in this teenager's body.

One of the big things is gravity, because the gravity of Mars...

I know, I sound like a scientist!

LAUGHTER

But Earth's different, right?

Yeah, so... One of the things we were playing with, I guess,

to make him stand out and look like an alien, is this change in gravity,

so Mars is 38% of the Earth's gravity,

so when he comes here he feels much heavier and we wanted

to give him this walk which was a bit Ministry Of Funny Walks-ish,

but not too far.

I strapped weights to my ankles and sandbags so I could feel

what it is like to be heavier and walk around.

And, yeah, I had someone film me whilst I was doing it

and I could look at it and just really make it funny.

And make it good.

You're so consistent with it because you do heavy running as well, not just heavy walking.

-That's right, and heavy jumping.

-Yes!

Everything takes much more effort.

-Heavy clapping.

-That's right.

Talking about preparing for roles, you are in another film at

the moment, Silence, Martin Scorsese's film,

and you went to Wales to prepare for that?

-Yes, Wales.

-Wales.

-You're a monk in the film.

-A Jesuit priest.

So part of that preparation was myself and Adam Driver,

we both played Jesuit priests and... It's set in the 1600s in Japan,

where Christianity has been outlawed. It is an amazing film,

it's a Martin Scorsese film - Asa has worked with him,

and he's made something quite profound.

But one of the things that we did, we went on a silent retreat

in Wales, at a place called St Beuno's,

-which was a beautiful Christian retreat.

-It is very beautiful.

I haven't done the retreat thing, though. Too early for that.

We had about eight days together in silence, me and Adam.

We had met each other once in New York and we had a drink and

we met each other again in Wales in total silence for seven days.

Did you say hi as you went in?

No! It was like a mime! It was all mime and mouthing.

Did you do lots of...

-..was there a lot of that?

-Yes. It was...

Really? I always think a vow of silence, like, do you write notes?

I mean, you must speak at some point!

No, you really don't. Has anyone ever done a silent retreat?

One person!

They can't tell you about it!

I found it to be a beautiful experience. Gorgeous.

I very quickly got used to my own company and not having...

I don't know, it creates a real intimacy with yourself.

-What's it like when you get out, then?

-We lost our minds!

This is the weird thing.

We got into a car together and we had

a three-hour car ride to the airport together, and it was just this

torrent, just this outpouring of the most vile language and imagery...

It was as if the devil suddenly went,

"Where have you been for the last seven days, you bastards?!"

And suddenly it was the most vile... It was really scary.

It was genuinely frightening.

And giggling and crying with laughter.

Anyway, we ended up having the most disgusting, wonderful conversation

on the way to the airport.

Very quickly, we are about to have music from Elbow, and we have

already had some speed clapping from Asa.

Don't worry, I'm not going to make you do anything else.

I can't believe I am asking four-time Oscar nominee Annette Bening this,

but apparently your elbows are pretty...loose?

It's true. I have a little elbow trick.

-Would you like to see my elbow trick?

-You know they do!

APPLAUSE

May I hand you my bracelet?

-This is serious.

-Everyone gets to try this.

CLATTER

-What?

-Was that your elbow?!

-He doesn't want to try.

-OK, so your hands go backwards to begin with.

-Hang on.

So, backwards to begin with.

And then you bring them underneath

and then you open them up

and you put your head through.

Oh, my... Wow!

APPLAUSE

-I couldn't do that. Could you do it?

-I can't.

-And I've got a flexible body.

-You're 19, you're made of elastic!

Wow, well done. Very good.

I don't know if that's very exciting, but there you have it.

We enjoyed it.

Right, it is time for music.

This award-winning British rock band

are back with their seventh studio album, Little Fictions.

Here performing Magnificent (She Says), please welcome Elbow!

# This is where

# This is where the bottle lands

# Where all the biggest questions meet

# With little feet stood in the sand

# This is where the echoes slow to nothing on the tide

# And where a tiny pair of hands

# Finds a sea-worn piece of glass

# And sets it as a sapphire in her mind

# And there she stands

# Throwing both her arms around the world

# A world that doesn't even know

# How much it needs this little girl

# It's all gonna be magnificent, oh

# She says, it's all gonna be magnificent

# And my heart, there defrosting in a gaze

# Wasn't built to be that way

# Suddenly I understand

# There on the sand

# Throwing both her arms around the world

# A world that doesn't even know

# How much it needs this little girl

# It's all gonna be magnificent, oh

# She says, it's all gonna be magnificent

# She says, it's all gonna be magnificent

# She says, it's all gonna be magnificent

# The echoes slow

# The bottle lands

# The echoes slow

# And there she stands. #

APPLAUSE

Elbow, everybody!

Beautiful. Are you coming over?

Thank you so much.

Ladies and gentlemen, what of the violinists?

Thank you. Guy, Asa, Harriet, Annette, Andrew.

There we go.

Sit down, you look like you've earned that.

The rest of the band are thinking they should have come over now.

I can't believe it. There was a Guinness in it and they said no.

That is from the album,

Little Fictions which is out today.

Look what I've got. I have got it on the vinyl. On the vinyl! I get so

many of these now. I'm thinking that I might buy a record player...

..cos I get so many of them. Thank you very much.

You are touring quite soon, the end of this month?

We are touring the UK throughout... March.

LAUGHTER

-It starts in Dublin in February, doesn't it?

-Yes.

I'm on this. Then it ends in the UK at the end of March.

That's right. Thank you for that.

You'll need about 28 pairs of pants.

Thank you very much.

Listen, thank you very much, Guy Garvey and Elbow. Beautiful.

APPLAUSE

Right, that's nearly it.

But before we go, we just have time for a visit to the big red chair.

-Who is there? Hello.

-Hi, Graham.

-Hi. How tall are you?

-Six foot two.

Is that all? You look taller.

-What is your name, sir?

-Keiron.

-Where are you from?

-Leixlip.

-Leixlip - it's a lovely part of the world.

-Beautiful.

-Do you still live there?

-No, I live in London.

-What do you do?

-Erm, design.

"Who did that?" "Keiron."

What do you design, I'm intrigued?

Shoelaces.

LAUGHTER

He's gone, absolutely.

One more. Let's try one more. Here we go.

Oh, my God! Hello.

-Hi.

-We...

-That's my planet.

-It's your planet, it's all about the Butterfield.

-What's your name, sir?

-Brad.

-Where are you from, Brad?

-Seattle.

-He's from Seattle.

-Woo!

-Are you here on holiday?

-I am.

-Lovely. What do you do in Seattle?

-I work in software, sales and marketing.

-Lovely.

Off you go with your story.

Sure. We were doing a global product roll-out and I was doing

some training in Reading and about 60 people, men and women in the

office there and I did some training for those folks and I led the

whole training exercise.

One group did a great job, a bunch of guys, who were British

and I wanted to compliment their presentation, so I said, "Boys,

"I really like your spunk."

AUDIENCE GROANS

I got a big laugh and I didn't quite know what it was all about.

-Luckily, during a break, one of the guys...

-Yeah.

We all know what that's about.

Well done, Brad. Well done, everyone.

If you'd like to join us on the show and have a go in the red chair,

you can contact us via our website at this address.

That's it for tonight.

Please say thank you to my guests - Elbow!

Asa Butterfield!

Harriet Harman!

Annette Bening!

And Andrew Garfield!

Join me next week with musical guest Rag'n'Bone Man,

Fifty Shades' Jamie Dornan,

Hollywood star Keanu Reeves,

Oscar winner Denzel Washington,

and the one and only Whoopi Goldberg.

I'll see you then! Goodnight, everybody. Goodbye.