♪♪♪ Clayton Davis: You're invited to a very special encore.

Bill Hader: It's a surprise.

Clayton: "Actors on Actors" is celebrating its 20th season.

Over the next hour, we're taking a look back at some of our favorite conversations.

Viola Davis: If there is ever a time that you have to use all of your technique as an actor, it's on that stage.

Emma Stone: How am I supposed to do this?

Josh Brolin: Wow, that's a good question.

Dev Patel: When I see people like you winning Oscars, that's breaking through the ceiling.

Lady Gaga: I have wanted to be an actress my whole life.

John Boyega: It's the dream.

Letitia Wright: Yeah.

♪♪♪ Clayton: Welcome to this special edition of "Variety Studio, Actors on Actors."

I'm Clayton Davis.

Angelique Jackson: And I'm Angelique Jackson.

We are heading into our 20th season, and we're looking back at some of the most engaging and insightful discussions from the past 10 years.

Clayton: From Oscar and Emmy winners to stars in the making, "Actors on Actors" has featured over 200 interviews and here are just a few of our favorites.

♪♪♪ Jane Fonda: We've both done theater, and movies and television, what's your favorite?

Viola: Theater, definitely.

Jane: Really?

Viola: What play have you done, what play was that then?

Jane: Well, years ago, I mean, literally in the late '50s, early '60s, I did four Broadway plays, and then, the last one I did was called "33 Variations," written and directed by Moisés Kaufman.

And I had never enjoyed theater before, until that experience.

I wanted to, before I died, understand what my dad found in theater, because he always loved theater the best.

Viola: You just feel more alive, it's immediate, man.

Every performance is a different performance, and if there is ever a time that you have to use all of your technique as an actor, it's on that stage.

You have more control over your work, you have that four-week rehearsal period where you could test different choices, and work with different actors and interact.

And not that the rest of it is not great either, because I've seen the other side of it where I've been in the unemployment line, I got one check left, you know, and I don't know how I'm gonna pay my bills.

Jane: I was amazed because I always assumed that after five months of doing a play, that I'd get stale.

But I remember we did it in New York, then we brought it out here to the Ahmanson Theatre, and when we closed, the last performance at the Ahmanson, it was still like, "Oh, that's what that meant."

I was still discovering things, you know?

You never get a chance to do that in movies.

It's kind of what I like, though, about episodic television.

And again, it's very new to me, but while you're not doing the same scenes over and over, you're working on the same character.

Viola: Exactly.

Jane: And so, just the kinds of things you described, you can keep going deeper and finding new colors.

Viola: Yes.

Molly Shannon: Did you ever have anything strange or odd happen to you during a live show?

Because you can't stop in front of the big audience, was there anything, any moments like that?

Emma: Do you wear glasses or contacts?

Molly: I do when I read.

Emma: Oh, okay, so you have good eyes.

Molly: Pretty good eyes, I do, yes.

Emma: I have, like I've never met anyone my age with eyesight as terrible as mine, I am complete, I cannot see, like I would not be able to make out your face if I didn't have contacts in.

And so I've worn glasses or contacts since I was like seven years old, and it just keeps progressively getting worse, which I'm sure I need to have checked out a little further.

And one night during "Maybe This Time," which is like a big number for Sally Bowles in "Cabaret," I was singing and I got really kind of overwhelmed, and I blinked, and both of my contacts came out at once, which has never happened to me in my entire life, ever, anywhere.

Like, you'll lose one, but both, and I can't see a thing.

So, I'm singing, and then we have a whole scene after and no one knows what's happened, so it's like blackout.

And the guy that was in the play with me, Bill Heck, I was just like, "Mel."

And he was like, "What, what?"

And we're in the blackout and we have to get off stage, and I was like, "Oh God, oh no, I'm just gonna be on stage scrambling and it's gonna make no sense or I'm gonna--" Molly: It's like an actor's nightmare.

Emma: "Give myself a concussion."

It was a nightmare.

But my biggest nightmare, which has never happened, yet, is getting the hiccups on stage, I have such a fear of getting the hiccups on stage.

Molly: Interesting.

Emma: What's happened to you in a live performance?

Molly: I can't even imagine.

Emma: Has anything?

Molly: Sean Hayes and I once started laughing really hard and we couldn't, which usually, for me, is a sign that you're happy and free, and the audience kind of loves it, but we did laugh really hard.

And I did pull my hamstring, we were doing a "Broadway Cares" event in the evening, and I did Sally O'Malley, they asked me to do it, it was like a fundraiser, and I kicked really high.

And then, I felt like there wasn't enough written and I was like, "Oh God, I gotta give them more," because we had just written it really quickly.

And so I did the splits and I pulled my hamstring, and I was like, "Oh."

And so I had to miss a night of the show I think, and then I went and did acupuncture and it was better.

But I joked around with my son, who at the time was really little, he was like six, and my son and my daughter would come up to my dressing room for every show.

And I was like, "I can't go on," I was like, "Would you be able to put the wig on and do it?"

And he really thought about it because he wanted to help me, and he was like, "Oh, no, I can't."

But I asked him if he could.

♪♪♪ Dev: You know, every time I do an interview, everyone's talking about a typecast or something, "How do you avoid?"

And it kind of makes me cringe because I think it's really loosely thrown around, you know?

But I wanted to know your opinion because you've done such an amazing job of navigating and breathing life into so many roles, and achieving so much.

Like, how, how do you do it?

Octavia Spencer: I gotta tell you, it isn't easy because, as you know, there aren't that many great roles that are gonna come your way, you know?

Dev: And it's a feeding frenzy when there are, right?

There's blood in the water.

Octavia: You can't get near, you can't even get to the trough, honey, you just can't get to the trough.

And for me, I mean, I'm a specific type, and the archetypes that they really want to see, a woman of zaftig stature and cute little Cheshire Cat grin, is the nurturer, you know?

Or the sassy whatever.

And right after I did "The Help," it was barely in the can, I was all excited about the possibilities that were to come, and 90% of the roles, like, "We have this great role for you," and it was a maid, "And we have this wonderful role," it was a maid.

And I'm thinking, "You know?

Here's the thing, I just played the best maid role written."

Dev: Amen to that.

Octavia: "I don't have a problem with playing a maid again, but it has to top this one," and none of them did.

And so, for me, it was about just looking in different places, exploring different directors who hadn't made their stripes or earned their stripes in Hollywood but they were great talents and you could see it because they were also writer-directors, and just sitting it out, just waiting for those great roles.

Dev: I can so relate to that.

Octavia: You know what I mean?

Dev: Straight after "Slumdog," and it's different because you'd put in a lot more time and work, this was my first film, I was a kid who didn't really understand the craft and I was pushed into this very beautiful position.

But afterwards I remember doing the red carpet and I kept seeing Dustin Hoffman, and he would go like this to me and Freida.

We're like these wide-eyed puppies and he's like.

And he's like, "You're here, you're gonna go there."

And I'm like, "Why, why is he saying that?

It's making me sad," but peaks and valleys.

And straight after that, I had looked around for some substantial follow-up or something, and there wasn't, you know?

There wasn't, no one really knew how to package this big, floppy-eared, gangly Indian dude into cinema.

And when I see people like you winning Oscars, that's breaking through the ceiling in such a big way for so many people.

♪♪♪ Pamela Adlon: What do you look for in a part or what makes a role great for you?

Are you choosier now, did you always take a role or?

Sterling K. Brown: That's a good question, because I think for the first 13-or-so years you take what's offered.

Pamela: How do you feel about this?

Because we're doing an "Actors on Actors" thing, and I'm casting my season now and it's a huge advantage for us when we see somebody read the part, and I personally will read for anything.

And so I never wanna think that I'll get to a place where I'm like, "I refuse to read," you know?

Sterling: I don't think I'm at that place, I like auditioning, I like going in the room, versus putting myself on tape, there's a certain part of me, like my athletic background, that gets up for gametime.

Pamela: That's right.

Sterling: Do you know what I'm saying?

You step in that room, and the producers are there and all eyes are on you, I have something to offer.

Pamela: You know, for me, I benefit from direction, I don't know if "This Is Us" has revolving directors or anything.

Sterling: Yeah, we do.

Pamela: I just loved it when somebody gave me something, if somebody's just giving you an adjustment because they're there, you know that the whole crew could be directing the show, but it's like, "Give me anything."

I love that.

How about auditions, do you have any best or worst ones?

Sterling: All right, let me see, I can remember, okay, so for "The People v.

O.J."

Pamela: Oh my God, popcorn.

Sterling: So, this is what I did, I shaved my head, like instantly, for the audition, and I put on my rehearsal glasses which are basically frames without any lenses, and I just dived into "YouTube" and found as much footage as I could just sort of to get the cadence down, right?

I get to LA, and I don't know who else is gonna be auditioning for it, but I'm on the Fox lot.

Every other brother who walks by, I'm looking at, being like, "Oh, that's an interesting choice."

It's like a brother who had dreadlocks, saw another light-skinned dude walk through, and I was like, "No, they really open up their box, thinking outside."

And it turned out these are just random brothers walking through the Fox lot, right?

I was the only dude that they brought back.

So, my producers, Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, come out and talk to me for like 20 minutes, and the whole time I'm talking like Darden, like I don't change the voice.

Because what I've learned from this city, versus New York, transformation is appreciated in New York, in Los Angeles they wanna see the character.

So I'm being Darden for this whole thing, and they're like, "Great, you wanna come read some lines."

I did the audition, finished, and I booked it.

Pamela: Oh God.

Sterling: Yeah, so that was a good one.

Pamela: What an amazing feeling, I think it probably took them so long because they knew it was you, and they were piecing it together with you, but they couldn't book you because they didn't have their dates yet.

Like, this is what I know now, being on the other side.

Sterling: I think, this is what I think, there probably was some people who they looked at whom they either passed or didn't quite fit into the thing, and this was just my break, you know?

It was just the break.

Pamela: Oh my God.

Sterling: What about you, a good one or a bad one?

Pamela: I did, "Grease 2" was my first movie, and for that audition, it was crazy, Michelle Pfeiffer and all of that.

I know, and I played Lorna Luft's little sister and she was Judy Garland's daughter, so I was like, "Forget it."

It was so fun, it was such an amazing thing.

I was a lot younger than everybody, I was the only kid, so I would turn into a pumpkin and Pat Birch, the director would be like, "Where's Pammy?

We're ready to shoot this scene."

And it was like the luau in the middle of Norwalk, California, at 2 in the morning, they'd be like, "Pat, she's 14, she had to go home."

♪♪♪ Bill: I grew up wanting to be a director and a writer.

I mean, like very young age, that's my thing, I was like making short films and stuff, and then moved out to LA and started acting, you know?

And it was this weird, taking improv classes and got SNL while I was taking improv class.

And then it's like this weird, circuitous route, where a lot of my friends growing up, when the first episode of "Barry" aired, and it said, "Directed by Bill Hader," the amount of my friends from high school went, "Dude, you did it," you know?

Jason Bateman: Aw, that's great.

Bill: "Hey, congrats," you know?

Like they knew that that was an important thing.

But, I don't know if you relate this, I used to love the romanticism of like Stanley Kubrick wouldn't talk to Shelley Duvall when they were doing "The Shining" to get her into a place or whatever.

And then, now that I'm acting, I'm like, "You don't need to do that."

Jason: Right.

Bill: Like, as an actor, all you have to do is, you hire the person and you go, "Yeah, man, do your thing, and if it's not, you could go a little this way, a little that way maybe."

But my attitude is like, as long as that information has been out, whatever you want to do.

I mean, Stephen Root's a guy that every take you get something totally interesting.

In one of the episodes, he tells me I have to kill this Marine, and I go, "I can't kill a Marine," and he did three takes angry with me, standing up over me, angry with me.

Oh, it was great.

Yeah man, and I was like, "I'm good," you know?

And he went, "How about we try something," he goes, "Bill, just stay standing."

All right.

And he did one where he sat down and leaned in, and he goes, "Hey man, why don't we just," and he did it like this.

And when they do that to you, you're not acting in that moment, you go, "Huh."

And it did a different thing for me in a way, and I went, "Oh, okay, yeah, yeah, no, that was great."

And so giving people that freedom, because I don't know if you have the same experience, where, directing actors, you want kind of the experience you would want as an actor, you know?

And I've had those experiences where they come out and go, "You can do anything, just have fun."

And then you do a couple takes and go, "Hey, can you?"

Jason: "On this one word, can you take a beat?"

Bill: "There's a comma there for a reason, okay?"

You know?

And you go, "Okay, now I'm a puppet."

You get a little frustrated, and so you just go, "I don't want to put anybody through that."

Jason: Yeah, I'm just a big advocate of letting people do that which you've hired them to do as long as everybody has a mutually agreed-upon finish line.

Whether they're actors or crew members or whatever, you want them to have the right to exercise their instinct as creative people, like, "How you get to A to Z is totally up to you, just know we're starting at A and ending at Z."

I really like being able to set, establish, and maintain that vibe on the set.

Bill: What's the difference between doing comedy and drama?

What's it like wearing the mask, the happy one, but then there's the other.

I don't know if you know this thing, there's the comedy, tragedy, there's these two masks.

I have a tattoo of it on my back, but if it's really low.

Jason: It's near your tailbone.

Bill: It's a surprise.

Jason: Under it, it just says, "Breathe."

Bill: Yeah, "Breathe."

What's it like wearing the comedy mask?

And what do you like?

Jason: Well, I'm a fella who doesn't really do, and I'm not trying to be falsely modest, but I don't do real funny stuff, what I really like to do is kind of be us, I like to be the audience.

And so I'm really attracted to characters that are sort of the everyman or the straight man or the sane guy or really just a proxy for the audience.

And it's probably why I'm drawn to directing as well, because that lane is sort of where the audience kind of has their in to what's going on.

And as you know, as a director, you're kind of pulling all those levers and deciding what the audience is seeing and feeling and hearing and all that stuff.

So, it's not a huge difference for me, but I do get, I think, what people mean when they say that, "Comedy is harder than drama."

I feel like that when I am asked to do something that's kind of wacky that you have to still be believable.

Bill: That's what was so nice about "Arrested Development" when I was watching that show, how hard it is what you're doing on the show.

Jason: If I'm as crazy as the crazy characters, now we're all on Mars and there's nothing weird about Martians on Mars, like I gotta be Earth and then all these Martians are hanging out around me-slash-us, the audience, then things comedically pop, I think.

Bill: Yeah, they do.

Well, that's all the time we have.

Jason: This is when we go to the pledge drive.

♪♪♪ Tracee Ellis Ross: By the way, do you not love?

I love getting older.

Sarah Paulson: I'm enjoying it, I'm enjoying it.

Tracee: That's such a lie, you're a liar.

Sarah: It's not, I guess.

Tracee: I disagree on you.

Sarah: I disagree on you.

I guess I'm not feeling, I think because, to take it full circle from where we began of having that time in our working lives where I wasn't working the way I wanted to, I didn't really hit that moment of feeling seen until I was really in my late 30s.

So it has never had a negative connotation, the aging part of my working life, I have richer material to work with, I have more people calling, I have more interest in what I might have to offer than I ever did as a young person.

But there's still, I can feel it, I just feel like there's something running after for me, and that any minute, if I'm not careful, that door is going to close.

I do feel like something, Father Time is breathing down my neck.

And notice that I don't say "Mother Time."

Tracee: It is Father Time.

Sarah: It feels like Father Time, in terms of what has been imprinted in my brain about when a career will stop.

Tracee: It's really interesting, I don't feel it from the sense of career because I do feel like so many more doors are open to me now and it started for me in my 40s, and for me, it's the sort of physical confrontation of my face and changing, and knowing that this is my money.

Sarah: Actually, this is your money.

Tracee: No, when I say, "It's my money," I mean it has to move, the expressions in my face is where my money is, not in it looking pretty.

But there is that societal confrontation of like, "Look at the wrinkles," I'm like, "They are the best part, this is my history right here, this is my story."

Sarah: This is the number of times I laughed with my parents, the time that that person broke my heart.

Tracee: Yes, and all the joy that comes from my heart moves through and pulses in my face in ways that-- Sarah: And for me, the actors faces that I love the most are the ones where I can see every little moment, every little molecule of memory and sorrow and joy.

♪♪♪ Adam Sandler: I've had movies where I had to break down before and I get really nervous about those days, if it's a couple of days or so, I mean, I'm not kidding you.

Brad Pitt: Leading up to it?

Adam: Leading up to it, I'll say, "When is that, when are they shooting that scene?"

Brad: Counting down on the call sheet?

Adam: Yeah, exactly, it screws me up a little bit.

Brad: Oh, the third week, I know I'm approaching that and I gotta be up for it.

Adam: Yes, and then once you do it, and if you get there, you're like, "Phew, woo, the rest is," then you're like, "No, you still gotta get it."

Brad: "Next week."

Adam: I don't know, I don't know how I get there.

Brad: I do the same negotiation, I check.

Adam: I didn't do as much as I usually do, where I put this pressure on myself, I just said, "I'm feeling like this guy, I really did my backstory, I worked hard at this character, and knowing the way he thinks and where he goes."

In my head, I felt confident that I knew the guy, so I was a little more confident than usual on the days he had a really awful day where I had to break down or whatever.

I was just like, "Let me just go, let me just do it," instead of doing that whole thing of worrying and worrying.

I just did my own way of getting there and I actually talked, I called my wife and I said, "All right, today I'm there, I gotta do this," and she gave me some thoughts and blah, blah, blah.

Brad: This is my favorite Adam Sandler story, that I heard from Bennett Miller.

Adam: Oh really?

Brad: Yeah.

Adam: Yeah, yeah.

Brad: And it was that you were at NYU and it was an acting coach, I believe, or acting professor.

Adam: Acting professor, yeah.

Brad: Okay, and he took you out for a beer and he kindly said to you, "Think about something else, buddy.

Listen, you got heart, but you don't have it, you don't have it, and choose another path."

Truth?

Adam: It was, it was like that.

Brad: This is why it's my favorite Adam Sandler story, and I think it says a lot about you, that you ran into him at the heights, you know, when you're getting the ultimate payday.

And you're with a bunch of friends and you run into him out at a bar, and anyone would think that's the opportunity where you go, you know, you rub it in his face.

And reportedly, what you did was you said, "Hi," and you introduced him to your friends, and you said, "This is the only teacher to ever buy me a beer."

Adam: Something like that, that's right, that's right.

Brad: True?

Adam: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brad: I think that's the guy I know and I think that's why you're here after all these years.

Adam: I love it, you too, Brad.

Lady Gaga: I don't like to draw from things during filming time, I'd like to draw from my deck of cards of all my experiences and my sense memory and my as-ifs and everything, I like to draw from that before, I like to do my sorcery before I get to set.

So I'm walking onto stage and I'm walking on the stage with Bradley Cooper, this huge, incredible film actor.

So, this is brand new, so I was able to kind of put myself in that circumstance a little bit more simply, and just kind of be there and be actually afraid.

And it was thrilling for me because I got to do something I have wanted to do my whole life, which is be an actress, and I got to do it for real, and I got to do it without all the armor that I've put on for many years.

Everything had to flip very quickly, and all I had to trust in was my ability to sing and hope that when I did sing that it would move people.

Lin-Manuel Miranda: Okay, music?

Check.

Big movie, you're incredible in it?

Check.

So, do you ever want to do eight shows a week on Broadway, have you ever considered that?

Lady Gaga: Check.

Lin-Manuel: Check?

Lady Gaga: I'd love that.

Oh, yeah, I mean, that was my dream, I mean, I think I've seen "Rent" probably 30 times.

Lin-Manuel: "Rent's" the one that got me writing.

Lady Gaga: Yeah.

It was?

Lin-Manuel: Yeah, I saw it for my 17th birthday, and I always loved musicals but they never took place in the present.

Lady Gaga: I almost got cast in the domestic tour of "Rent" as Maureen but I was too young, and then I quit school and decided to pursue a career in music because I wasn't getting jobs as an actress, but I love Broadway.

Lin-Manuel: Would you ever want to write for Broadway, you ever want to write a show?

Lady Gaga: Yeah, I think I absolutely would, and you know why I know I could do it?

Is because, for many years, record executives told me I was too theater.

Lin-Manuel: Too theater.

Lady Gaga: Yeah, like that's all they told me, because they were like, "You have a beautiful voice."

Lin-Manuel: I think a record executive using theater as a pejorative, you know you're dead to me, right?

Lady Gaga: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I wish I had you in the room with me, yeah, during those times.

I was just sort of sitting there going like, "What's wrong with loving theater, didn't Freddie Mercury love theater?"

I call myself Gaga because of the song "Radio Ga Ga." So I would absolutely, and actually I do have an idea for a musical.

Lin-Manuel: Fantastic, I wanna hear more about that.

♪♪♪ Andrew Garfield: As an actor, how do you, like, so, with that one, I was like, "Are you okay?"

And how did you make sure you were okay while you were doing that, how did you sustain access to that agony, access to that rage, access to that yearning?

Like, how did you do that?

Zendaya: I don't know, you know?

It's hard to say that there's any specific process for that, right?

I feel like when it comes to Rue, at least for me, my experience with her is I've been able to, I've had the privilege of playing her for a while, right?

So, I've had the luxury of living in her skin and seeing through the eyes of an addict, and trying to always kind of, I think the approach was to try to approach as human as possible without ever shying away from the devastation and the ugliness of what that can create.

Andrew: My impression is that you had to do some real searching and figuring out how to portray this-- Zendaya: Experience.

Andrew: Experience of being an addict that Rue has in a way that is authentic, that may not be within your own experience.

And I guess I'm curious about how you kind of gained access to that because it's so chillingly precise and authentic.

Zendaya: With certain characters, right?

You have to search for them, and it takes you a little bit longer for them to click in your body and you feel like, "Oh, I'm in their skin now," right?

With her, it's something that just, it's like I don't have to think about it as much, right?

She's a little thing that just kind of takes over, and I know when Rue is here.

And I don't know, it's weird to say like, "Oh, I have this love for this character," but I do, because I feel she represents so many people that I met along the way that have shared their stories with me, and I feel like I carry that with her.

Do you know what I mean?

She's collection of a whole lot of people.

But when did you find time to do a television show, where?

Andrew: I got to Calgary as well.

Zendaya: How did you do it?

So, and then, but with that like there's a million different characters that you're jumping in and out of, and how do you keep track of those people, and how are you able to separate or compartmentalize to a degree, to make it healthy enough to say, "Okay, I'm leaving them here and then I'm moving on to this one, and then Andrew's gonna be here and I'm gonna leave him here," you know?

How do you find that?

Andrew: It's a good question, and I want to deflect it and I want to bring it back to you, but I'll try and keep it on me for a second.

But like I surf as well, so it's about wave selection.

And I think, I don't know about if you would agree with this, but I think if we're lucky in that-- When I started out acting, it was like, "I'll just take them out."

Like the first thing I did was a "Doritos" commercial in Spain, and I thought I was done, I'd made it, I made like $2,000 for two days of work, and I was like, "My life is set up," like showing my father the pay stub, going.

Zendaya: "I did it."

Andrew: But then we get, I think both you and I have gotten to a very privileged position where we get to decide, and we get to have agency and choose.

And I think I find it important for myself to go, "Well, what am I called to?

What am I actually--do I need-- do I have a choice in this?"

I'm looking for the forgotten aspects of myself that I can activate.

Zendaya: I relate to that massively.

Andrew: I think that's the idea.

♪♪♪ Claire Foy: You have played Sherlock Holmes for example, and that when you play a character like that, people feel like they have a certain amount of ownership and love of you, which obviously is amazing, but therefore it comes with a kind of a price where you're sort of always on display.

Benedict Cumberbatch: The selfie thing is a bit weird, it has just become the modern handshake, and I really realized it in Wales once.

I stepped out of the makeup truck or something on "Sherlock" and all these kids had sort of formed and heard that we were there.

And instead of going, "Whoo," or waving or anything, it was like a salute of phones, it was like some sort of totalitarian state, like showing an ID card or something.

And then just looking enchanted by whatever I was doing on their phone, but not at me.

Claire: I know.

Benedict: Really weird.

There are great things about it, but there are also things we don't really know the outcome or the cost of it.

Claire: There is a real, there's definitely a cost to it, Benedict: I mean, how do you deal with it?

Because I know you said you're not on social, but you must have had a huge amount of exposure beyond what you've had before with the success of "The Crown."

Claire: Yeah, but I think I'm really fortunate in the sense that I have always--you are a very distinctive looking person.

Benedict: I'm odd looking is what she's-- Claire: It's not about being odd, but it's about if you're out of the ordinary of normal life anyway.

Benedict: Me and Matt Smith, you can kind of spot us.

Claire: Yeah, if you walked into a room anywhere, everyone would go, "Oh, hello, you are interesting."

Whereas, and I'm not being humble, that's the reality, like I walk in a room and everyone goes, "Oh, did I work?

No, is she my cousin?

I don't know."

I'm familiar to people, but I don't attract attention and I'm realizing that now, and I feel very lucky because I can go about my life pretty much unscathed.

Benedict: And I do think that is to do with a certain amount of volume of attention, and I think that will just, because of how brilliant you are.

Claire: Please don't tell me it will change because I'm really enjoying it at the moment.

Benedict: Keep enjoying it, keep enjoying it.

Sandra Oh: We were just shooting with Alexi and immediately we're so close, immediately you sat on my lap, immediately we had this closeness.

And as a Korean-American, to have this link with a native Korean superstar, you know what I mean, is really important, kind of monumental for me and I think for a lot of Korean-Americans.

And I've always been always interested in the native Korean perspective, like, how do you see us as Korean-Americans?

Jung Ho-Yeon: Oh.

Sandra: Sorry, I'm going to start with the easy one.

Ho-Yeon: It was like, for me, I've been thinking about a lot about that, because when I came to US for campaigning for "Squid Game," I met a lot of Asian-American people, and says to me, "Oh, thank you for representing us, oh, we are so proud of you."

So, at the beginning, it was just happy, "Oh," it's like I can give a good effect to people.

But like, I came from Korea, I lived in Korea my whole life, and then it's just kind of, "Am I allowed to represent them?"

And like I have kind of extra responsibility, you know?

Sandra: I thought a lot about that, too, for you, and I just want to, phew, I want to take that off of you.

Like this, so, the other day, I was driving on Sunset Boulevard and you were on there, you were on the side of a building.

So I'm driving and we're like, "Oh, there's my girl."

But then, also, I will say there was probably two more billboards where there is another Asian model, and I remember feeling, "I don't think I would have seen that four years ago."

So I understand that question that you have, and I'll also say, not to put any kind of pressure on you, but you are, in the image making, a very important part for, I think, Asian-Americans.

So I want to somehow relieve you of the pressure for that, but I feel like you know how to be yourself.

Ho-Yeon: Ah, it's like, I'm trying, I'm trying, but it's just all I can do is just keep trying to not overthink about this responsibility, but also care about this responsibility.

Because of the things goes so quick for me, because it was just my first project, I was like, "Okay, I'm going to be an actor," and then I did audition and then I got it, I was so happy.

And then, while I'm filming, I was so happy, like blah, blah, blah.

And when the "Squid Game" came out, it's just like, "Whoa."

Sandra: Yeah.

Ho-Yeon: Suddenly, "Ho-yeon, you are here."

Sandra: An international superstar.

Ho-Yeon: People recognize me, even like you, and then you're kind of icon of us, and then when I met you at SAG awards, you know me, and that was like, "Wow."

And then there is like a bunch of people that already know me, that feeling was weird.

But also, how about you?

I just wanted to ask because you've been in this industry for a long time.

Sandra: For a long time, you know, I feel like yours is like this, and mine's like, and that's just different, I think that it's your personal health, I think, I realized, came first, because you can't ultimately depend on anyone else, you have to somehow find it within yourself.

♪♪♪ John B: So I guess I'll start off by letting you just talk about how we know each other, I mean, I know, but I wanna hear your voice.

Letitia: Oh man, how we met, I remember just going to acting classes, wanting to improve, and just always seeing you in the corridors just headed into class.

And I just remember us as a group always going to McDonald's at the end of training sessions, and just talking and inspiring each other.

And I just remember there was a moment where someone said something like, "Yo Johnny, what's your next TV show?"

And the first thing you said was just like, "I wanna do a feature film, like I wanna do a big feature film," and you were thinking ahead, and we would have never guessed that you were thinking into the realms of "Star Wars."

So, when that happened, that was such a big inspiration.

John B: I like that environment, I liked being there, and we had a good couple of people that had passed through drama school and a good couple of people that have been successful from that experience.

But obviously, with "Wakanda Forever," which is obviously the latest project to come out, first of all, how do you feel?

Letitia: Still processing, really, really thankful for the build up to this moment.

For us to see ourselves in that way, from going to drama school, from working with Greta, from auditioning to doing these amazing franchises, and to then being able to step into this arena of characters that are at the forefront, Black characters, some of the most amazing stories in Hollywood, and to hit box office, like.

John B: It's the dream.

Letitia: Yeah.

Take me back to "Star Wars," because we couldn't have seen ourselves in the roles that we see ourselves now, especially in franchise, until we saw you.

How has that been to play such a significant role, but one that has inspired a generation?

I don't know if you feel that way, but it definitely has.

What's that like?

John B: I mean, definitely, but I think "Star Wars" was a process, you know, even getting the role, you know?

A good nine-months audition process, and you know how that goes.

They're like third callback, fourth callback, fifth callback, and I'm going home, I'm going back to mum, because at the time I was still staying with my mum and dad, I'm going back home to the flat.

And I'm stressing during this nine months because I'm like, "Is my life gonna change or not?"

Because that's the weird thing about it, is that the role doesn't only represent a great opportunity as an artist, but it represents a potential change in your life that could or couldn't happen based on what you do in those audition rooms.

So I guess it changes you in just being adaptable to this different circumstance that we find ourselves in.

It's our fault, we worked towards this.

Letitia: But so inspiring.

♪♪♪ Viggo Mortensen: "Jackie Robinson," played Thurgood Marshall, you played James Brown, you played icons, and people have very strong opinions about how they should look, how they should sound.

It's no different with these fantasy things, you know, there are comic book fans, including my son, who have a very definite idea of how you can get it right, more or less, or how you can get it really wrong, with "Black Panther," or the "Lord of the Rings."

But people have very definite opinions as if they were real, historical people.

Did you encounter that with "Black Panther," people saying, "You got that right," or?

Chadwick Boseman: Oh yeah.

Yeah, I wanted to make sure that there was the most truthful representation of African culture that we could do in a movie like this with a country that's not real.

Viggo: I wanted to ask, "Black Panther" obviously made, I don't know, what, a billion dollars?

I mean, it was a huge, huge hit.

Does it change the way that you look at the movie business or possibilities?

Chadwick: I think it was already happening, because I can point to, the last few years, things have slowly started to happen.

You know, "Selma."

Viggo: "12 years a Slave."

Chadwick: "12 Years a Slave," "42," I can name a gradual change of like, you know what?

These films are, these are quality films, these are great filmmakers, these are good stories, but I will say that "Black Panther" is the confirmation of a lot of that.

It was a culmination, and it definitely is a change, I feel, now, that, "Oh," people are like, "Oh, wait, wait," I thought some people thought, "That might have just been a fluke or a trend," whereas I think what people are realizing now is that, "Oh wow, there is a wealth of stories here."

And when you leave out a great part of what has made this nation, all of the contributions, you're also leaving out a lot of great stories.

♪♪♪ Martin Short: Who's the biggest--you ever worked with?

Jean Smart: Oh, Steve Martin, absolutely, without question, I played his wife years ago.

Martin: I mouthed that along with you.

The original premise of this was Steve's idea, that because we're old, we'll only solve murders, but they have to happen in the building.

Jean: That's hysterical.

Martin: Because you don't want to travel.

Jean: That is hysterical, but see, I think it's really fun, that generational difference in your show with Selena because that's what is at the core of I think what a lot of people like about our show, you know?

Is that thing.

Martin: But I like, also, the dynamic you have in your show, is it's not just saying, "Oh, if you're old, you're not hip, if you're old, you're out of step with the modern show business."

Because the reality is, when you say, I don't get this, there are no jokes here, we, the audience, go, we agree with you, we agree with you.

It's fine to be in your head, it's fine to be too hip for the room, but are you actually making the audience?

Because our audience aren't just comedic intellectuals, when we play, our audience is from the city we're in.

No, it's an ideal job for us, because we like going to work, we like the hang.

In fact, Steve and I have a tradition, we're excited, if we finish together, we share a car ride home and there's a bottle of wine that we sip.

Jean: While you're driving?

Martin: Yeah.

Oh, don't be a suck.

No, no, no, we're in the back, and of course it's illegal, but we used to say with our driver, "Do you want Diet Coke or just Coke?"

One was red wine, one was white.

But anyway, we'll sit and then go park in each other's homes and we'll talk about the day.

And, I'm saying, so we're great friends who do this show, and then you add this brilliant Selena Gomez, it's been ideal, and the greatest New York actors imaginable.

Jean: Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.

Oh, really quick, do you read reviews?

Martin: What?

Jean: Do you read reviews?

Because, you know.

Martin: Well, you're a 100% Rotten Tomatoes.

Jean: Your New York Times review was, you couldn't have bought that review.

Martin: I did, it's on me, would you like to read it?

♪♪♪ Evan Rachel Wood: Best audition moment and worst audition moment?

Millie Bobby Brown: The best audition for me was "Wolverine," I went for "Logan," it was one of the best auditions, and the worst audition was I went for a "Barbie" commercial.

It was hard, it was like, I had to jump up and down, they gave me this, I don't even know what it was, it was just this thing I had to hold, and stand up and pretend to play with this other girl.

I mean, it was very awkward.

And they're like, "What's your name?"

And like, "Here's my resume."

And I went into an audition fluent in American, I would never go in English, because sometimes I thought, "Would it throw people off of hiring me?"

So I just go, "Hi, I'm Millie, I'm nine years old, I've been acting for about one year," you know?

"I'm so perfect, you should totally hire me," you know?

Evan: But that's smart, you know your audience.

Millie: Well, what about you, what was your worst and best audition?

Evan: Oh, man.

You know what's funny?

Sometimes my best auditions, I don't get the part.

You know?

Actually, I auditioned for Janis Joplin, and I have been listening to her my entire life, and so obsessed, and prepared, and I studied her voice and I memorized a three-page monologue, and like, I had to sing a song when I went in.

I crush this audition, I crushed it and I felt really good about it and I didn't get it, but I left going, "Well, you know what?

At least I got to play Janis Joplin for one day and someone saw it and I feel like I did a good job, I can leave feeling good about this."

Millie: You realize that that director will call you in.

Like I went in for James Mangold, but I want him, he's always gonna remember me and maybe one day bring me back in, you know, for a different movie.

You always, that is a cycle of acting.

Evan: Absolutely, it's never over.

Millie: No, it's never over.

♪♪♪ Colin: Did you do a table read beforehand?

Hugh Grant: Yes, the most frightening day of my life.

Colin: Yeah, they're awkward, aren't they?

They just are.

Hugh: All of them, but especially if you're sitting next to-- Colin Farrell: You wonder how much to give or how not to or, you know, if you give too much it's ridiculous, if you don't give enough, are they going to fire you?

Hugh: That's right.

Colin: God forbid you should have to do an accent.

Do you pull it out at the table read, do you save it for the day?

Hugh: I know, I know.

And it's the same, I find, on the set, when you have a line up at the beginning of the day.

A lot of good actors, especially American actors I've noticed, mumble, you know, they just mark it.

Colin: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Hugh: But I'm too vain to do that, so I give it everything in the lineup, and to be honest, I'm bloody good in the lineup, and then I get progressively worse and worse.

Colin: I've done some of my finest work way, way off-camera.

Hugh: Way off-camera.

Colin: I mean, in my hotel room.

Hugh: I do--when I did "Cloud Atlas," I got Tom Hanks to agree that you always feel you're never as good in your close-up, usually towards the end of the day, as you were in the wide shot or, especially in your close-up, when I'm off camera.

Then I'm bloody marvelous.

But then they say, "Turning around on you, Hugh," and there's an hour to wait while they set everything up.

Colin: Yeah, absolutely.

Hugh: You get tight.

Colin: You get tense, there's a certain looseness, fluidity, sense of ease that I've experienced off-camera that instantly leaves my side.

Hugh: I troll through the reviews of my films and ignore the good ones and go straight to the bad one.

Colin: I troll through the reviews of your films and do the exact same, I'm guilty of schadenfreude also.

I do the same, because the good ones, the good ones, you don't get any quick bump.

Hugh: It's not enough.

Colin: It's not enough, the bad ones, they stay, they linger like an old friend.

People have asked me as a dad and stuff, "Does being a father make you a better actor?"

I don't know, but it makes my life outside of acting more rich, and I have to believe that that can only enrich the work that I do, or I choose to believe that that can only enrich the work that I do.

Hugh: I mean, it is a bit of a cliche, I suppose, to say one's children have improved one, but they definitely improved me, I went from being a nasty, old, 50-year-old to I'm delightful now.

Colin: A nasty, old 52-year-old.

Hugh: I break my heart with how nice I am now, because I have so much love.

♪♪♪ Tiffany Hadish: I mean, my whole career is riddled with challenges, you know?

I had the homeless challenge, I think that should be a challenge that everybody take on at least one time in life.

John Legend: That's a real challenge.

Tiffany: That's a real challenge.

John L: How long were you homeless?

Tiffany: Oh man, at three different times, three months each time I think, three different times, God was trying to teach me something and I didn't learn until the third time.

John L: Till the third time was the charm.

Tiffany: The third time, I learned the lesson the third time, and that was to not be-- I think that lesson was to not be afraid to ask for help, like I had a lot of pride and so I wouldn't ask for help, I would just be like, just try to make it seem like I got it going on, but really I didn't have nothing going on.

And I think that taught me a lot of humility, and it taught me how to just be myself and stop trying to be fake.

Like, literally, once I stopped trying to be something I thought the world wanted me to be, that's when like I stopped being homeless, I started like eating meals every day, and people started coming to my comedy shows and I start booking TV gigs and stuff.

John L: So you were homeless while you were working as a comedian.

Tiffany: Yeah man, at 18, at 21, at 24.

John L: You've been through a lot of challenges since then, but now you're doing your thing and the world knows that you're doing what you're supposed to be doing.

Tiffany: Exactly.

And the world knows that you're doing what you're supposed to be doing.

Now, did, did your mama get you piano class?

John L: Yes, when I was four, I started taking piano lessons.

I grew up in a church, my mother was the choir director, my grandmother was the organist.

My grandmother helped teach me, but I also took lessons at this local music store.

And I started taking them, we had a piano at the house, my brother was playing drums, he was taking drum lessons, and we just would play all the time.

We had a little family band, we called it "The Stevens Five."

It was me, my brother, my younger brother, and then my two cousins.

And my older cousin, he was kind of like the Michael, I was like the Jermaine or the Tito.

And but we would sing gospel, you know?

We would sing gospel at these church events and things like that, and I started singing at that time and I loved it, I just loved performing, I loved writing songs, I love playing piano and singing, and I knew I wanted to do it eventually.

Tiffany: Oh, that's awesome.

♪♪♪ Chris Evans: Why don't you age, are you drinking baby blood?

Paul Rudd: I most certainly age, especially these days.

Chris: Oh, you know what, that actually bleeds nicely into this next question.

In terms of Hollywood, you are a part of "Marvel," you're a part of "Friends," and you're in the Apatow crew, like, basically, what does it feel like to be awesome?

Paul: Well, that I definitely don't know.

Chris: No, here's a good question, which one are you most proud of?

And just remember who's in the room?

Paul: Well, it's interesting, because they do seem like kind of pockets and chapters in life, and I just, I guess it's just been around forever, but there is a little bit of a kind of a "Forrest Gump" feel to it where, "Oh, for a while, I was in this world that people know, and then this," but there's a very interesting feeling to be a part of something that has that kind of profound impact on pop culture.

Chris: And I was gonna say, because even in the "Avengers" world, it was kind of like welcoming into the fold, but very quickly, like, I can't imagine you not gelling with the group.

You're like sorbet, just like a palate cleanser, you know what I mean?

It's an always-welcome addition.

Paul: That's the nicest thing anybody's ever said to me, Chris, thank you.

I feel like we're just talking all about me and my career, I haven't even, I mean, my God, I wanna talk to you and ask you all sorts of interesting things, but in the meantime, we'll continue with me.

While we're on the topic of "Avengers," I mean, what is it like for you to play such an iconic character?

Chris: Well, I mean, from an acting standpoint, it was.

Paul: No, you go ahead, no, you were saying?

No, keep--keep going, keep going.

Angelique: We hope you've enjoyed this special edition of "Variety Studio, Actors on Actors."

We look forward to bringing you more one-on-one conversations in our upcoming seasons.

Clayton: Speaking of one-on-one, we leave you now with one of our most unusual pairings, Josh Brolin interviewing Josh Brolin.

Josh: Wow, I'm nervous.

It's great to be here with you, man.

Josh: Thanks, man.

Josh: Yeah, I'm just, I've always been a big fan.

Josh: No, I really appreciate that.

Josh: I'm sorry, I don't mean to make you uncomfortable, it's just that, when you respect somebody as much as I respect you, do you mind if I look at you in the eye, or do you want me to look down?

Josh: I mean, you can, you can look at me, you can look at me.

Josh: Look at you?

Josh: My eyes.

Josh: I'm sorry, I'm so nervous.

Josh: I appreciate that, I've been a big fan of yours, too, for a long time, but I haven't seen a lot of your work, but some of it I saw that, "The Goonies."

Josh: Yes.

Josh: So good, so good.

I don't know, I don't know if it's your nerves that are starting to get me, but I'm starting to feel nervous now, and it's not because of your work, but it's just more because of your presence, I guess.

If you could just kind of like take a breath, that would be great, that'd be great.

It's kind of like an acting exercise, you know, when you just, you know, in through the nose, out through the mouth, and then just kind of just be, just be who you are, you know?

Which would make me a lot more comfortable in talking about this work, because I'm an actor, I don't like talking about my work so much, I like just being the work.

Josh: Wow, man.

Like, being with actors who you respect like you is, I don't know, man, it makes you just want to aspire to just better work.

And I'm curious, you know, what is it about working, really, as an actor that you, I don't know, does it bring something up behaviorally, do you feel like it's a therapy of sorts?

Or do you feel like, I don't know, is it the stardom that gets you, is it the accolades?

Do you do it for when you show up on the red carpet, the fans, like, "Ah," you know, "Josh," and all that kind of stuff?

Like, how do you feel about all that stuff?

Josh: Wow, that's a good question, that's a good question.

We say we do it for ourselves, but we really do it for the fans, the fans are really what count here, you know?

What's fun is being able to be scared by a role, to really push and challenge yourself behaviorally, to try to do different things, but at the same time, there's just nothing like somebody just sitting there, just giving you the goods, you know what I mean?

And I don't know if it was something that I was born with or something that I cultivated, but being able to take in people's love is a big thing for me, you know?

And giving is wonderful, I'm not saying that giving is not a good thing, but taking is one of the better things in life I think, you know?

And when you give a performance like I gave in this, oh my God, like I wanna give to me, do you know what I mean?

Like I just wanna, not that I wanna clap, or--but I just wanna give me a big, fat hug.

Not you.

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