Rami Malek and Eddie Redmayne are no strangers to transformation. In 2014, Redmayne took home the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, and most recently, reprised his role as lovable wizard Newt Scamander in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Malek, meanwhile, took on a very different real life figure this year, as Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. When interviewed together, however, the two are far more normal—though no less charismatic—than their larger-than-life on-screen personas, as they chat about everything from karaoke adventures to first kisses. Here, the pair chat about what they learned from their roles, favorite Halloween costumes, and Redmayne’s excitement about the upcoming The Hills reboot.

Have you two met before?

Eddie Redmayne: We met fleetingly.
Rami Malek: We met just the other night. I was having dinner with some of my cast mates from Bohemian Rhapsody, and it was an incredible table you were sitting at. I think it would be a dream come true for a lot of people. So, I’m gonna make you name drop everyone. Go ahead.
Redmayne: I can’t remember who was there.
Malek: Yes, you can.
Redmayne: Jamie Dornan, Armie Hammer, Justin Theroux. It was only in Los Angeles. I promise you that’s not my normal.
Malek: I was intimidated to walk up to this table, and I could just see everybody flipping out that you guys were all together.
Redmayne: But the first time we met, [it was] just after my daughter Iris was born, when sleep is really important. One night I heard these cranes going up outside, and I stormed outside, kind of furious. I saw these little letters on the thing saying there’s gonna filming here tonight. They were literally outside our front door, and they were filming Bohemian Rhapsody. We had this amazing makeup artist called Jan Sue who I worked with in The Theory of Everything, and Rami worked with on Bohemian Rhapsody. I texted her going, “You’re filming here?” So I took Iris, my daughter, and her first ever film set was your film set. I saw Rami from a distance, and I’ve gotta say you arrived on set so freaking in the zone that I was completely blown away by it. And then Iris started crying, and I was like, “Okie dokie.”
Malek: I’ll say this; I took so many lessons from you and The Theory of Everything. I absolutely fell in love with that performance. So enchanting, so deep, so wonderful, and so inspiring. I said, “Give me everything that he had in that film.” I asked for Jan Sewell, and I asked for a movement teacher.
Redmayne: What was that process like? Working with a dancer on The Theory of Everything, that changed my life for me.
Malek: Almost the exact same thing. I met with choreographers to play Freddie Mercury, and the guy’s just not choreographed; he’s so spontaneous. I found Pauline Bennett, who was incredible with movement. I mean, there were moments she said, “giraffe” to me, and I kid you not, I could make a Freddie pose as a giraffe. Some moments she’d be like, “Okay, you know the, the lyrics to ‘Killer Queen?’ Do them as a Shakespearian soliloquy, if it were being played by Marie Antoinette.” Continue reading  »