Julia Roberts Remembers Matthew Perry and Her Time on Friends (Exclusive)
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00:00 - Julia, "Friends" is a big theme in this movie,
00:02 and you made a cameo on "Friends."
00:04 - Super Bowl episode.
00:06 - I was Suzy Underpants till I was 18.
00:09 (audience laughing)
00:11 - That was in the fourth grade.
00:13 How could you still be upset about that?
00:14 - Well, why don't you call me in 20 years
00:17 and tell me if you're still upset about this?
00:19 (audience laughing)
00:22 - We just lost Matthew Perry.
00:23 Any thought about Matthew
00:25 and what it was like to work with him?
00:26 - Yeah, all good thoughts and feelings.
00:28 They were all so welcoming to me
00:31 as just a kind of one-off character,
00:34 and it was a really fun time.
00:36 And a sudden passing of anybody so young is heartbreaking,
00:41 and I think that it just helps all of us
00:44 just appreciate what we have
00:46 and to keep going in a positive way as best we can.
00:50 - And it's beautiful he could sort of be honored
00:52 in that way, or like the show sort of be honored
00:54 coincidentally in this time.
00:56 So it's kind of nice that it has a little space in there.
00:59 See, this is why I much prefer life before the internet,
01:02 'cause we would have spoken on the phone,
01:04 you'd recognize my voice in knowing that this is our house.
01:07 - I'm sorry?
01:11 - You have a producer who is giving notes to your director
01:14 about the characters and the script.
01:16 Do you ever push back on that certain producer
01:19 who might've been a president of the United States?
01:22 - I think that's a dangerous endeavor.
01:24 - Did you hear from the Obamas?
01:26 Did you have a chance to talk to them?
01:27 What was that like dealing with them?
01:28 - They had an incredible producer from higher ground
01:31 on the set with us all the time.
01:33 I mean, we had a great team of producers on this movie.
01:36 It was quite a big collective.
01:38 So I think in that regard, they were well-represented.
01:41 And I think that, you know, they did give script notes
01:45 to Sam, and then I think in post-production,
01:47 Sam and President Obama had some conversations.
01:50 And these are really incredibly bright, prolific people
01:55 who have a production company that's doing incredible work.
02:00 And so for them to collaborate with us on this
02:02 was a pretty thrilling thing.
02:05 - You had the dance scene, but Mahershala,
02:06 you did not break out the Obama two-step
02:08 because you've done it before.
02:10 [laughing]
02:12 [crowd cheering]
02:15 - The Obama two-step!
02:17 - Yes!
02:18 - I didn't want to upset him.
02:20 - You didn't want to upset him, but you did it well.
02:22 You did it so well.
02:23 - Thank you, thank you.
02:24 - That would have been so meta.
02:25 - Yes, yes.
02:26 - That would have been cool.
02:27 - Yes.
02:28 - It would have been perfect if you'd just given
02:30 just a little, just a second of it.
02:31 - Next time.
02:32 - Was there music while you all were dancing
02:34 or was it one of those silent dance scenes?
02:36 - No, there was music.
02:37 - Oh, it was the song.
02:38 We had the record.
02:40 - Over and over again. - And we played it
02:40 over and over.
02:42 - Over and over and over again.
02:45 - You know, that's something from my generation.
02:47 So it felt like we didn't go back to the '60s
02:48 or the Motown or anything like that.
02:50 We stayed in recreation.
02:52 - Phone's still not working.
02:54 - Looks like the TV's out.
02:55 Where's Clay?
02:56 - He went to the store to get a newspaper
02:58 or try to find someone to talk to
03:00 to see if they know what's going on.
03:02 - Smart.
03:03 I thought I'd go over to our neighbor's house,
03:05 the Huxleys.
03:06 - Before you go, you might wanna hear about the alerts.
03:09 - Alerts.
03:12 - I wanna ask y'all about technology.
03:14 I did not realize the effect of technology
03:16 until I saw it on my children.
03:18 Have you noticed that, that it's way more than we think?
03:22 And this movie really exposes that.
03:24 - Well, I think it is way more than we think.
03:26 And I think that I find it interesting
03:28 when we're all so surprised by what our children do
03:31 when our children are really just following
03:34 usually the lead of the adult, right?
03:36 So I think that's the mirror for us to look at and say,
03:40 "Hmm, maybe I need to put my phone down more
03:43 because I feel like I'm not on my phone a lot,
03:45 but I have had my kids say, like, 'Mom.'"
03:48 So that's always a good indication
03:50 of we don't see our own behavior
03:52 as clearly as we see other people's behaviors.
03:55 - We were driving back to the city, then something happened.
03:59 - You wanna stay here, but we're staying here.
04:01 - We need to get them out of here.
04:03 - Mahershala, I wanna ask you,
04:04 you have played in a few movies
04:06 that have conspiracy theory connected to them.
04:08 When you think of "Remy," especially, from "House of Cards,"
04:11 how close to reality is this?
04:13 I mean, things go blank.
04:14 Like, where are we? - I don't know.
04:15 You don't know what you don't know.
04:17 I feel like our characters do a wonderful job
04:21 of articulating a living public fear
04:23 and really trying to navigate it
04:26 as best they can in that moment,
04:28 because the sad reality is is that this is all possible,
04:31 everything that essentially happens in our film.
04:34 And I think the film does a great job
04:36 of making us very aware
04:38 and encouraging us to begin to reflect
04:41 on how invested we are and how dependent we are
04:46 on the technologies that exist.
04:48 - I had news alerts on my phone this morning.
04:50 Two of them were about the blackout,
04:53 but then there was one that said something
04:55 about maybe hackers were behind it.
04:57 - Hmm.
05:00 - What?
05:02 Do you think there's gonna be a meltdown, too?
05:04 - Is that what Ruth told you?
05:06 - Among other horrifying things, yes.
05:08 - Mahershala, you have a way,
05:09 whether it's Moses from "Free State of Jones"
05:11 or, you know, any character,
05:13 of bringing a dignity to these characters.
05:15 As a black man, I look at this and I say,
05:17 he always brings dignity to these characters,
05:20 even in this situation,
05:22 where there's an interesting moment
05:23 where you're dealing with something that is,
05:25 you know, just a normal reaction
05:27 as people look at you from the outside instead of the inside.
05:30 - I know it's late.
05:32 Knock at the doorway out here.
05:34 - Couldn't decide if you should knock at the front door
05:36 or the side door, and this went on for some time.
05:39 - I thought we should try the side door
05:40 because it has glass, and you've seen us,
05:42 you know, we're just,
05:44 you must be Amanda,
05:46 Amanda Sanford, right?
05:49 - You two know each other?
05:53 - No, we have not had the pleasure
05:55 of meeting face-to-face.
05:56 I'm GH, GH Scott.
05:58 - You break down these characters
05:59 and really try to bring a dignity to them
06:01 each and every time.
06:02 - I think I take very seriously my responsibility
06:05 to advocate for any character that I'm playing,
06:07 and I think in the process of advocating for people,
06:10 I think an offshoot of that is maybe dignity, maybe,
06:13 you know, if that makes sense.
06:15 And so whether you're playing someone
06:17 who is doing something questionable,
06:19 or, 'cause we all have those moments,
06:21 but whatever the case may be,
06:23 you want to always commit your best energies
06:26 towards advocating and telling the story
06:29 of the individual that you're playing,
06:31 and if that resonates with people as dignified,
06:35 then I'm humbled that that's the response, you know,
06:37 but I just try to tell the truth as best I can,
06:40 and it helps when you have extraordinary partners
06:42 like Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke and Mahala Herald
06:45 to work off of.
06:46 - See how he worked us into that?
06:47 See how he did that?
06:48 That's a good friend.
06:50 - Everything is gonna be okay, isn't it?
06:53 - They're (beep)
06:56 - We are seeing ongoing cyber attacks across the country.
07:00 - Something is happening, and I don't trust them.
07:07 - Everything I know, I have told you.
07:09 - I don't believe you.
07:11 - I would do anything to protect my family.
07:14 - What's the one piece of technology
07:16 you can't live without?
07:17 - Waze.
07:18 I mean, it's not a piece of technology, but--
07:20 - It's an app, right?
07:21 - It's an app that I rely heavily upon.
07:23 - I mean, my music, my iTunes, my, you know,
07:27 that anything music-oriented, you know,
07:32 so gotta have that.
07:34 - Haven't you been picking up on what's going on out there?
07:38 - Whatever it is, it's happening to all of us.
07:41 (screaming)
07:43 - I just wanna know, what is the truth?
07:46 (screaming)
07:50 (upbeat music)
07:53 (upbeat music)
07:55 (upbeat music)
07:58 (upbeat music)
08:01 [BLANK_AUDIO]