Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
HulusThe Greatis an unusually slippery show to talk about.
Its a costume drama thats decidedly ahistorical; acomedy that dresses in dramatic drag.
Watch it all go down in the video below, or read on for the full transcript.
The panel was also released as an episode of Vultures comedy podcastGood One.
Download the episode fromApple Podcasts,Spotify,Stitcher,Overcast, orwherever you get your podcasts.
It wasnt much of a contemplation in my mind at all.
It was a pilot I mightve read the script, actually …
I think I was 20 when I did the pilot.
Now Im 23 and thinking about season two coming out, I get very emotional talking about the series.
Catherine means a lot and we allloveeach other on the cast.
Everyone comes up here and says that, but its true!
Nicholas Hoult:Cheap gags!
EF:But Catherine, I just saw her completely.
I just hoped people wanted to buy it for whatever its worth.
So its notreallya period drama in a lot of ways, because its so modern.
The audience just watched the coronation scene you have an incredible costume in that scene.NH:Thank you.
[Laughs]
EF:I knew you were gonna do that!
He puts little sparkles in his hair for that day.
Hes always trying to one-up you subtly.
Theyre not location, theyre built.
She did not think it was real.
She was like a mother taking photos of everything on the set because she was so flabbergasted!
It has to be amazing to impress Gillian Anderson.EF:It felt good.
Francesca Di Mottola, our production designer, designed everything.
If you look at other peoples costumes, are there any youre particularly fond of?
Mine personally is Aunt Elizabeth Im obsessed with the bugs she draws on her face.
Theyre so great and weird!EF:Louise Coles, who does the makeup …
I think its felt?
They cut out the design and then place them on the girls faces.
You had some on at the baby shower.
Food is one of my other favorite things on the show.
I love eating on set, and that definitely comes from Tony.
Hes a real foodie.
Its us trying to figure out how to pronounce these weird culinary things that Tonys come up with.
The eating isverygood on set apart from once.
That was the closest I ever got to being really upset on set.
I was like, This is ridiculous!
And they did go and get real ice cream for me.
Whats your favorite weird food theyve put in front of you?NH:I ate squirrel this year.
EF: No youdidnt, when?
How did they cook it?EF:Isnt that in the pilot the rat?
NH:It wasmeantto be a rat, but they didnt get me a rat.
They got me a squirrel because once theyre roasted and skinned, they kind of look similar.
And apparently squirrel is a delicacy.
But they asked like, months out from shooting the scene, You mind eating squirrel?
I was like, Yeah, fine, whatever.
It got to the day and I saw the squirrel and it was pretty gross, that one.
She eats dirt.EF:She eats dirt and rose petals as well.
So we got a real one.
I was just sucking on a real one!
The dirt was not real, though.
I think it was mushed-up Oreos or something.
The pregnancy prosthesis is pretty convincing.
Its such an effective, looming time bomb.
Did that change how you think about the character?EF:I thought about it a lot.
Shes too busy thinking up other things.
Shes going to have to grapple with that: how to become a mother.
Something that we talked about early on: not touching the stomach too much.
Sometimes I feel like in movies, people are always touching the stomach.
I also dont think Catherine would care.
Sharon really helped with the costumes, too.
Everything became a little more empire-waist, a little more flowy and practical.
I didnt venture to acknowledge the baby until a scene about the baby where Ihadto acknowledge it.
Im pregnant for a very long time the whole season, basically.
It grows and grows, and the way you walk, its kind of weighted.
The prosthetic took two hours to put on when we would actually see the flesh.
They told me, Okay, this is what you would look like pregnant.
I sent so many photos to my sister and my mom!
[Laughs] I couldnt believe it!
It looked so real.
They molded it to my body.
I think it added so much to Catherine.
The physicality definitely changed.
Funnily enough, I was like, Great!
I dont have to wear corsets this season!
And they were like, No, they still wore them over the pregnancy.
So I would wear a corsetunderneaththe bump.
So, no squirrel on that table.NH:No squirrel.
I was like, Okay,youdo it better, then!
It turns out Elles had calligraphy lessons since she was like, 9 years old.
So suddenly she does the most beautiful handwriting of Catherines name in Russian on the document.
EF:And you felt bad!
NH:I felt like an idiot.
Its like, half running the whole country and half this is about our marriage.
but also, Do you like me?
Thats what Nick is so brilliant at.
Everyone says it, everyone knows its true.
Theres a backstory to it and you see the history watching him.
My favorite scenes on set are the ones with Nick.
I love Nick so much.
Theres no one in the world that could play him.
Its a real joy to suddenly be on the receiving end of things.
When we get into the breakfast room and have those scenes, its like little sparring matches.
But also, as actors, we push each other for the best and encourage it.
Thats the best scene partner imaginable.
And shes not perfect.
Thats why I liked her so much.
Shes messy and actually quite arrogant.
This season especially, she talks too much and people start to turn against her and she gets challenged.
We both have the same sense of enjoyment we get out of it, and directness.
[In the 2014 movieYoung Ones.
Can you remember the first scene ofThe Greatthat you shot where you felt, Oh,thisis the back-and-forth.
Everyone was like, That was a great scene!
I feel like our relationship as Catherine and Peter gave it a sliver of knowing.
It wasnt just like, Hes mean to me!
It was a little more complicated.
We should go to the second clip.
Warning: I hope there are no children here.
So why did you pickthisscene to show tonight?
[Laughs]EF:Well …
I think it sums the show up pretty well!
NH:Your reaction to toe fuck kills me.
I remember because I texted you
EF:I hadnt read it yet.
NH:And all I texted was CLITTY BITTY in all caps.
EF:I was like, WHAT?!
Who breaks more in scenes like that?NH:I think me.
EF:Iwantto say you, but we both do.
Its a really fun scene.
I dont know if we have any stories … [whispers in Hoults ear]
Okay, what wasthat?
I was like, Oh,weshould do that!
So there was a special makeup Ziploc with WAP Juice for my face.
There are so many things I love about that scene.
Is that ever hard?
Your brain has to be going,This is the most absurd thing.EF:Its weird.
When were doing it, I dont think its absurd at all.
Of course, you watch it and its so out there.
My mom watches the show and she loves it, but shes like, Its not for everyone!
Its really out there!
And Im like,Is it?I think Im a little desensitized to it.
Ive learned that through the comedy of it all, because I havent done a lot of comedy.
I learned a great deal on the first and second seasons.
I realized that you had to be truthful.
NH:When you first read it, youre like, Oh my God, thats ridiculous.
Youre never trying to sell gags.
I also liked the pairing of these two clips.
Hes like,Wait, I cant be this person I was before.
We get the scripts as we go, so you unpack it as it happens.
A lot of the things Peter predicts or says will happen end up being true.
He sees them as the qualities hes charmed by.
He sees her as a great leader and the love of his life because of that.
Do you work with an intimacy coordinator on the show?EF:We do.
Id never experienced that before.
Thebusiestintimacy coordinator.EF:Running around all the time: Youre good!
But Id never worked with one before.
I found it helpful.
They verify the sets closed just logistical things.
Without doing it, how can we fake it?
That was helpful to me.
Afterwards, shed be like, it’s crucial that you scoot a little lower.
I would be like, Great!
Tell me these things!
Do this more, do that more the technicalities.
I like that because its all about how you want to make it look as right as possible.
The words are very much, You have to say it this way.
That frees you up in a lot of ways.
Hes not telling you how to do it, but there is a parameter.
Theres also a great deal of very gruesome violence on the show.
You throw a dog off the roof.
Can you talk about EF:He lives!
NH:That was science.
[Laughs] He had a parachute.
It was not violent.
It was a fake dog.
Although they did shoot the real what kind of dog was that?
EF:He liked it.
NH:Wed watch it and wed be like, Ugh,thatwasnt a good landing.
Theres a scene where you torture the entire court.
What does the set look like when everyone gets there and youre like, Oh boy!
What was your favorite?EF:Well, it was very gruesome with the nail situation.
I had to get my nail ripped off.
That was pretty stressful, actually.
They werent fun and games, but its a TV show.
I think the roof fell in that day.
Not on purpose?EF:No, not on purpose.
We had to shut down filming because the roof of the studio fell in.
We shoot in East London.
We love the studio.
Its like our home.
But you know, the roof falls in!
Its next to a McDonalds, which is great at times.
NH:Ive never been to Tesco in costume.
EF:Neither have I.
Maybe the other cast members have.
But thereisa Tesco right there.
The chocolate mousse they have is good.EF:Yeah, I have to run and get the ice cream.
Okay, so you throw a dog off a roof.
Theres a dead moose on a lawn at some point.
Theres a bear.NH:I shoot the bear.
I get her a new one.
Theres a crocodile in season two.
Its such a thin veneer between the wild world and these crazy wigs.
Florence, who plays Tatyana, had the little beaver makeup.
Theres a lot of animal things.
Will Catherine succeed in this coup?
Will Peter regain power?
Theyre trying to hedge their bets on the best outcome and where they stand depending on who wins overall.
So its really fun for all the other characters as well.
Who is the hardest to make break on set?EF:Adam Godley, who plays Archie.
Hes totally in on the joke, but he willalwaysstay in it.
We dont venture to mess anyone up because I think were all kind of teetering already.
But hes very, very in it.
Hes the sweetest man in the world.
But he doesnt laugh as much.
Doug Hodge, who plays Velementov, tries to make everyone laugh.
Hes always doing drunken noises.
NH:Like heavy breathing, belching, and swallowed burps.
EF:Were all just howling.
NH:Theres a scene in the first episode of the first series.
We tried to reshoot the scene, and Doug was added as one of the characters in it.
EF:Everyone was just laughing!
They become more themselves, and then the show becomes its own separate entity.
By this point, youre so far from where they would have been.EF:Ish.
I think Catherines rule, everything Im trying to do this season, she tried to do as well.
Thats all based in truth.
It wasnt like we were trying to create the ghosts of these people and be authentic to them.
I wouldnt have had the confidence to do that; onThe Favourite, they didnt do it.
There was no,Oh, were going to read all about these characters and learn their history.
NH:It was never a thing.
I dont feel the need to go back and do that.
In spite of the fact that theyre not at all historical people, you nevertheless think about theactualhistorical peopleaspeople.
Do you ever look at other period dramas when youre thinking about history?
Or do you feel like you have a different relationship with these major figures from the past?
There have been a lot of period shows that have this modern twist.
I remember seeing Sofia CoppolasMarie Antoinettefor the first time.
I was 10 or 11 when I saw it in theaters with my grandmother.
I remember it was the first nude scene I saw, Kirstens bum.
I was like, Oh my God!
That was so ahead of its time.
That movies such a classic.
Its an incredible film.EF:Peoplenowlove it, but back then people would have hated it!
They were like, Theres Converse in there!
But it was like, Hey, she has a point of view and shes humanizing her.
Tony and I talk about it a lot.
Were doing our version of Catherine, and its still in the spirit of Catherine.
I really have never read much on her, but I love her!
I know she invented the roller coaster, I do know that.
I read that and I was like,That sounds very, very fun.Shesounds very fun.
We should talk about the fact that Gillian Anderson is in this season.
She plays your mother.
I 100 million percent bet that.
NH:I didnt expect it.
EF:None of us did.
She has an incredible arc.
Its written really beautifully and very nuanced.
The mother-daughter relationship gets very specific.
And were all very comfortable with each other.
Were all silly and kind of goofy.
But thenshessilly and goofy, so we were all like, Okay!
Youre a part of us.
I couldnt believe it!Mommy?
NH:I got Jason Isaacs to play my dad.
That was wonderful because he was brilliant.
Thats the fun thing about this season Catherines dealing with parenting issues and then were also parenting together.
