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4 months ago
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We sat down with Jodie Comer and Austin Butler, who play Kathy and Benny, to discuss making the film, their acting process, and what they’ve been getting up to for fun lately.
The Bike Riders is such a beautiful film, so relatable in a way that I, too, will always chase a red flag around. I thought the film was really about wanting the sense of community and people wanting something where they can have an outlet just for fun. So I wanted to ask the both of you, what is it that you do just for fun?
Jodie: What do I do for fun? Now I feel miserable!
Austin: What is fun? You know, something that I started doing a few years ago, which I picked back up and I realised it was just for fun, was painting. Just the feeling of it not being about any result. And pottery.
Jodie: I feel like a good dance in the kitchen whilst cooking, for fun.
Austin: Ooh, that's a good one. What song? What song can you not do but dance to?
Jodie: I don't know, I don't know. I'll have to think about it! Beah, I would say that. Dancing in the kitchen, solid.
Austin, I've touched on how you're a red flag in this film. Obviously, you're not in real life, but in this film, you are a red flag. And Kathy is chasing after you because you're her guilty pleasure, I would say. So, we all have guilty pleasures, what would you say yours are?
Austin: I've got a lot of pleasure, but I don't know if I'm guilty about it. But, yeah, what's a guilty pleasure of yours?
Jodie: I put used matchsticks back in the matchsticks box, and I didn't realise how psychotic that was.
Austin: So, then you just mix it in with the other ones?
Jodie: Yeah.
Austin: So do you ever pull one out that's already mixed?
Jodie: Yeah, and I'm like, oh, f***. But it's just part of the thing.
Austin: And then you stick it back in?
Jodie: No, then I put it in the bin.
I feel like it can be quite dangerous. Are you waiting for it to fully burn out before you put it in? Because what if you just then ignited the whole rest of the box?
Jodie: That's true. Well, maybe now I'm not going to do that. Someone pointed it out to me recently, and then I felt a bit guilty about it. I mean, an obvious one is reality television. Some sort of housewives of an area. Have you seen that show Couples Therapy? That's a good one.
Austin: I did Love is Blind recently. That was crazy.
Jodie: Are you in? Is that what you’re now watching?
Austin: Oh, yeah, I watched the full thing. Yeah, I felt guilty every time, but I kept coming back for more.
You should host the next reunion! So, Jodie, you're known as the queen of accents. It's amazing to me how you can flip from film to film, and especially with this one, you have a very specific accent. What was your process of learning this one in particular?
Jodie: Yeah, she had quite a specific voice, but I was very lucky that I had 30 minutes of audio of her. So it was just about spending time with the audio and working with a brilliant dialect coach who helps you and makes you look way better than what you are, you know? So, yeah, it was just about prepping that really to then get to set and hopefully be able to think about it a little less.
Austin: She's identical to the recording. That's what so amazing. I couldn't tell the difference. It was stunning.
And you just replay that and then say it back?
Jodie: Oh, yeah, you just live with it. It's like when you play your favourite song so much that you're like, “Oh, God, I think I might have killed this song.”
Austin: Did you have certain times of the day that you would listen to it the most? Did you listen to it before bed or first thing in the morning?
Jodie: I think morning was a big one. I find learning lines before bed is great, though.
Austin: Yeah, that's the best time.
Jodie: Spoken like true lazy actors, everybody! I like to read my lines the night before! No, but there's definitely something where it soaks into your memory, I feel.
It's like playing in your dreams and then it goes into the subconscious.
Jodie: Then you have the anxiety dreams about forgetting your lines! It's never-ending.
You've both had the benefit of playing characters in the ‘60s or even older periodic times. What is your favourite time or decade to play in terms of the style of clothing, even the way that people speak? What is your preferred time?
Jodie: I mean, I have to say ‘60s was pretty cool. Especially these types of people, you know, who were kind of living in Chicago within the subculture, who just felt very kind of rebellious and free. Again, to speak to Danny Lyon and his photographs is like... They were so authentic and there was so much to pull from. You think of the ‘60s, and you think of the music, you think of the clothing. Everything was so brilliant and transformative, I feel. I feel like when you're doing that kind of period, you're like, okay, it helps you kind of step into the world. Swinging ‘60s.
Austin: In the swinging ‘60s, that's what they call them. No, I think the same way. All these motorcycles of the ‘60s... It was such an amazing period – there was World War II and then you come out of that and then you've got the ‘50s, which are this sort of the idea of this idyllic time where you have white picket fences. But I think below that idea of this perfect world was a lot of awful trauma and wild things. So you have the ‘60s that suddenly are trying to break that. The pendulum starts swinging in this opposite direction. And then it has its own chaos at that time. But as far as the clothing and the music and the bikes and the cars and stuff, I think that's a very complex time. And it's cool.
English (US) ·