Star of the new Prime Video film 'Heads of State' Priyanka Chopra spoke about her much taller co-stars Idris Elba and John Cena. The actress and wife of Nick Jonas was at the BFI Southbank in London for a UK Special Screening of the film and talked about a range of topics including TikTok, action scenes and more. Meanwhile her 'Heads of State' director Ilya Naishuller discussed how he shot the film and how it was to work with Priyanka and the "scene stealing" Jack Quaid.
'Heads of State' will release exclusively on Prime Video on 2 July Report by Burtonj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
00:00What are you doing? You better listen to me up there. It's really funny because my husband teaching me how to do TikTok and Instagram. I don't know how to do that. Everyone on this movie was like, when did that happen? It happened instead of, but it did happen.
00:15Hi, thank you so much for your time. I love seeing the stars of a film continuing the friendship on the press tour and everything. It shows you genuinely like each other. Working with Idris and John, what did you learn about them? What do you like about them now individually?
00:27Well, I didn't know much about either of them at all, except for their prolific careers, of course. But now I know them as people. I was so surprised by John. He's such a thorough gentleman, super professional. But more than anything, he is self-taught. He plays the piano really well, and he's self-taught.
00:47Like he said, while making movies, we usually wait around a lot as actors. And he taught himself how to play the piano. So I just love that about him. I love Idris is just such a giving actor. So much fun on set. Really like a child. And it's just, he has this amazing magnetic energy. So it was really great.
01:05Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.
01:07Thank you so much.
01:11We just saw the reel. Whose idea was that?
01:16Which one?
01:17The one where you were dancing and Nick shot the reel.
01:19Oh, Nick shot the reel.
01:19Yeah, of course.
01:20It was my husband teaching me how to do TikTok and Instagram. I don't know how to do that.
01:23Right. Between the two of you, if there was a spy, who is more likely to blow the cover first?
01:30I would blow the cover.
01:31You would blow the cover?
01:32I mean, I think like, I wouldn't because I've played so many spies before, but my husband has the best poker face.
01:37Oh my God.
01:38Like, you couldn't tell what he's thinking.
01:40Right. Right. India continues to call him Jiju with all their love. Is that the right name? Or would you like to change that?
01:45No, I think Jiju is really cute.
01:47And he loves it.
01:47We love that.
01:48I love it.
01:49I feel so warm.
01:50Thank you so much.
01:51So proud of you.
01:53We're going to come down to AP.
01:55Oh, sorry. You all right?
01:56Do you need a help?
01:58You got it?
01:59She can hold it if you want to hold the camera.
02:01You all right?
02:01You got it?
02:02Thank you so much for your time.
02:03Of course.
02:04And I want to ask you, because this movie is not action-packed, so I'm wondering if that was fun for you to film.
02:08And what was it like to film with the Jiju and C9-9 film?
02:12Because you get to boss them around.
02:14I mean, that was what was fun, is I get to boss them around.
02:17And I think a really good friendship came out of that because we just broke the ice and had a great time working with each other.
02:24But, yeah, and I enjoy doing my own stunts and I enjoy, like, big action set pieces.
02:30I mean, you don't really get to see, you know, fire trucks exploding in your real life.
02:34And so it's really cool.
02:36And I love the movies.
02:37I love being a part of movies.
02:39And, like, a big blockbuster popcorn movie like this is my favorite.
02:43Especially because they're so tall as well.
02:45So you're right there.
02:45Yeah, I'm like, what are you doing?
02:47You better listen to me up there.
02:48It's really funny.
02:49Well, thank you for talking to me.
02:50I've lived in London before.
02:51What's your favorite thing about British culture?
02:54I really like the fact that people usually sleep early.
02:59I think that there's hospitality.
03:02I love London, even though it's really hot right now.
03:05We usually stay in, you know, outside of the city a little bit whenever I stay in London.
03:11So that's really nice to be in the parks and walk around.
03:13And I love that.
03:15It wasn't actually in this movie.
03:16It was in Citadel.
03:17Everyone on this movie was like, when did that happen?
03:20It was like, it happened in Citadel, but it did happen.
03:23You know, you don't want to go in getting hurt.
03:26You don't obviously want to be injured, but sometimes it happens.
03:29We spend most of our time rehearsing choreography just so that nobody else gets hurt.
03:36So in this movie, it didn't really happen much.
03:38John got clipped once, actually.
03:39Don't tell him I told you.
03:42Just very quickly as well, if Idris and John Cena were to be played by Bondwood actors,
03:47which two are you looking for?
03:52Who's that big?
03:57Who's that big?
03:59John replaced by John.
04:00Oh, that's a good one.
04:02Yeah, that's good.
04:03Yeah, and Idris?
04:04Idris.
04:06It's tough, ma'am.
04:08Idris.
04:09That swagger.
04:10Who can we see with that swag?
04:11Yeah, I saw that swag.
04:12I think Idris is a DJ.
04:16Maybe Runbeer?
04:17Runbeer.
04:18Runbeer has that fun energy.
04:20I like it.
04:21Okay, cool.
04:21Congratulations.
04:22Go home, enjoy your night.
04:23Thank you, you too.
04:26Hey, I was open to hearing your conversation there.
04:28Welcome back to the UK.
04:30It's so wonderful to have you filming this on our shores as well.
04:33I'm trying to stay here.
04:33You guys will let me.
04:34This is my new home.
04:35Come on around anytime.
04:37Welcome back to London, but also I know that you filmed a lot of this in Liverpool as well.
04:40How was it seeing the whole set and taking a big-budget film to Liverpool?
04:44What was your experience?
04:45It's fantastic.
04:46Look, that location for those finale scenes, it was so hard to find.
04:52We had so many ideas.
04:52We played around with a script.
04:53This, could it be that?
04:54Because we knew there was a lot of action in a very specific place, and we wanted to make
04:58it look great production design-wise.
05:00We wanted to have this space.
05:01We wanted it to feel big and empirical.
05:03And then I get a photo from my location manager, David.
05:07He's like, Ilya, take a look at this.
05:08And I'm like, where is this?
05:10Like, Liverpool.
05:11I'm like, how long by train?
05:12And I'm like, we can manage.
05:13I'm like, let's go.
05:14So that weekend, everybody went.
05:15We looked around.
05:16I walked in those halls.
05:17I'm like, if we can shoot here and let us shoot this place up, we're shooting this place
05:23up.
05:23So fantastic.
05:25Incredible.
05:26So you're a fantastic action director.
05:28And I would like to know a bit about your process.
05:29That being within these action set pieces, sometimes it's like a comedic beat.
05:34You know, when someone throws the wrong punch or something, how much room do you allow for
05:37improvisation within the action?
05:39Or is it all meticulously planned, but ahead of time?
05:42It's all meticulously planned, but we allow for space for improvisation.
05:45Because I think my idea is fantastic.
05:47But if you take my ideas and get people who only do that for a living, so you take the
05:50stunt team, you take the stars.
05:53John Cena's been fighting in a violent theater for 25 years.
05:58So if John Cena's had a suggestion, I'd be an idiot to at least not hear him out.
06:01So if you have a good plan, a good foundation, the rest is just making sure you execute, execute,
06:07execute.
06:08And it's obviously not just a comedic beats within the action, but it's Idris and John
06:11having banter back and forth.
06:13It's a huge dynamic of the film.
06:16Again, is it all scripted or do you say and have one for fun and throw out your own suggestions
06:21as well?
06:22It's all scripted.
06:23But I'm sorry, I keep answering the same way.
06:25But it's true, it's like, I know what I need to get, I will get what I need.
06:28But in the process, you'll always notice things, the actors are doing things you didn't quite
06:31expect.
06:32You're like, let's focus on that.
06:33Let's get a little more on this, try to react to that a little bit.
06:35And then, you know, a team like this, there are most professions, they've made a lot more
06:39movies than I have.
06:40Let's get real.
06:40So it's one of these things where if the plan is good, you can only build upon it.
06:46And the foundation was fantastic.
06:48Speaking of like fantastic scripting, Jack Quaid comes into this film.
06:52And I do think he's a bit of a scene stealer, isn't he?
06:54He is.
06:55Yes.
06:55And not in, obviously, that's well scripted, but what do you tell him as a director?
06:58Like, I imagine it's just more player, bigger.
07:01No, it's just, I think the pitch for Jack's carrier was very simple.
07:05He's the station chief and he's the only guy there, bored out of his skull.
07:09And I said, the way you need to look at it is, imagine you're 15 and a girl you have
07:14a brush on just decides to come over.
07:15Your house is like disgusting and all of a sudden she's there and what do you do?
07:20You can't really clean up, but you got to do something.
07:22I was like, except it's the president of the United States and you're a huge patriot and
07:25this is a big deal and there's pizza boxes everywhere and you're bumping into things because
07:29you're just like, so Jack ran with that.
07:33And Jack is also a fantastic actor, like everybody in this movie.
07:36And the reason he can steal the show is because there aren't too many proper movie stars like
07:44John and Idris, who we're looking at the script and they're like, oh, we're looking at Jack
07:47doing all the cool shit and we're just reacting.
07:49A lot of people will be like, no, no, no, I'm doing the cool shit.
07:52Jack's reacting.
07:52And they were like, no, no, no, we get it.
07:54Go.
07:54Boom.
07:55So what I've heard so many times from John and Idris and Pree is they're here to serve
08:02the story.
08:03They're here to serve the movie.
08:04And that makes my job a hell of a lot easier because instead of thinking about, oh, how
08:07I'm going to accommodate, how we're going to do this, I'm telling a story that I know
08:10we should be telling.
08:11And that's my job to know.
08:13And it worked out.
08:14Finally for me, is this the second time you've worked with Bianca?
08:16You worked with her in Citadel, right?
08:18No.
08:18Oh, no.
08:19First time working with her then?
08:20It was my first time working with her.
08:21I've been a fan of her.
08:23There's a couple of movies I saw from Bollywood days, which were just like, she was really,
08:26really good.
08:27I've seen her Western stuff, American stuff.
08:29And I was thinking, I think she was our first choice in this one.
08:34And yes, she was.
08:35And I did a Zoom call with her.
08:36She charmed me in 45 seconds flat.
08:38She had a big sweater on.
08:39She's sitting in the couch.
08:40And we started talking.
08:41I understand this is a person who, while being at the very tippy-top of India entertainment,
08:46was like, you know what?
08:47I want to see if I can crack America.
08:48So she went there, took a few steps down, and worked her way up to this.
08:52So I share that drive.
08:54I share that ambition.
08:55And as, you know, two people who are foreigners to sort of the European, the British, the American
08:59market, who want to try to see if we can do something to that level and, like, try to
09:04have the whole world love our stuff, like, I think I connected with her very, very quickly.
