-Our next guest is
a Tony-winning, Oscar-nominated actor you know from movies like "Brazil"
and "The Two Popes," as well as "Game of Thrones." He received two Emmy
nominations this year for his work in "The Crown"
and "Slow Horses." New episodes of "Slow Horses" premiere Wednesdays
on Apple TV+. Let's take a look. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Please welcome to the show
Sir Jonathan Pryce, everybody. ♪♪ ♪♪ Welcome to the show. It's such an honor to have you. -Thank you, thank you. Actually, it's a real surprise
to me earlier that Demi and I both
brought our Chihuahuas. -You brought a Chihuahua
as well? -You want to --
-You have it with you? -Sorry.
-Oh, my God, this is... Oh, no. Have you lost --
Oh, Jonathan. Oh, no. Jonathan.
This is heartbreaking. Do you think -- Do you think
you can push through? -I'll be okay. I'll be okay.
Don't worry. -[ Laughs ] I was very happy. You've been in every season
of "Slow Horses." This is a wonderful show
about sidelined MI5 agents. And you were a little housebound
in the first three seasons, and now they finally let
you be part of the action. -It's great. I'm not complaining,
because the first three series, I worked mostly
with Jack Lowden, who is extraordinary
and a lovely, lovely young man. And he gives good grandson.
-Yes. -And this season,
things are happening, and I get to meet the rest
of the cast, the people -- you know, I watch it
as if I'm part of the audience. -Yeah.
-Because I don't meet these people.
-It's wonderful. -And suddenly I'm
in Slough House. I'm with Gary Oldman
and Saskia Reeves and... Yeah, it's great.
I'm having a wonderful time. -It's a fantastic
ensemble show. "The Crown" is, of course,
another fantastic ensemble show. And again, you're playing
a grandfather in that as well. -Yeah.
-This is exciting for you. -The grandfather years.
-The grandfather years. Is it true that you
had originally planned on retiring at age 60? -Well, I said it -- I was much
younger, when 60 was old, because I'd be on set or
in the theater with older actors that the crew and younger actors
were kind of patronizing and being kind to
or not being kind to. And I would find myself, if we had someone
who'd been very well known when they were younger, when I was younger,
I would say, "You do realize who he is,
don't you?" Or in that case, who he was. And I didn't want to be the guy
they would say "See that?
You do realize who he was. He was in 'The Crown.'" So, anyway, I got past 60, and it's been -- it just it gets better
because you're less -- you're certainly
less competitive. Well, there are fewer people
to be competitive with. -Yeah. That helps.
-It helps. Yeah. -You don't strike me --
-♪ Another one bites the dust ♪ Yeah.
-If I see -- By the way, now, when any one
of your contemporaries go, if there's any foul play... -There'll be me.
I'll be there. -You do not strike me as someone
who is competitive by nature. But you were nominated --
Oh, am I wrong? Nominated for both "The Crown"
and "Slow Horses." Congratulations.
-Thank you. Thank you. -I imagine you find out about both nominations
on the same day. Where were you
when you got the news? -I was actually on holiday
in France, and we were having lunch and, with two friends, my wife, Kate. And I kept my phone next to me because I knew
it was going to be that day. Lunch is going fine. And my phone went ping, and, "Oh, I've been nominated
for an Emmy." I carried on with lunch
and ping, "Oh, I've been nominated again." So, um... Yeah, it was very, very nice. I didn't expect it. I'd missed out
the previous years. Years and years.
[ Laughter ] But it's been great. We had one of my Emmys -- This is a spoiler alert.
I've already lost one. -Yeah. You were there.
The Creative Arts Emmys. And so that was for
"Slow Horses." -Guest actor. Yeah.
-Yeah. You're already -- Well, there's no easy way
to say it. You're already a loser.
-I know. Yeah, it's hard, it's hard.
But I did -- I had a great night, and
I got to meet some great people. I got to meet Kristen Wiig,
who I'm a big fan of hers, and she said she was
a big fan of mine, so that's always nice to hear. It's nice to come to America
and have an ego boost. -Yes.
-Great. -Well, I wanted to -- -That's why I'm here, actually. -We aim to please.
-No other reason. -We aim to please.
I've heard you -- And again, these are your words. I have heard you describe
yourself as a praise whore. -Yeah. That's true.
-Yeah. -It's true.
-Do you like it? -Well, it's the reason
I go into acting. Yeah. -And did you have other paths that you thought
you might follow? -I went to art school
when I was 16, and then I trained to be an art teacher and at the college
I went to, you had to do
a subsidiary course, and I was told
the easiest course to do that required the least amount
of work was the drama course. So I signed up for that,
and it turned out to be true. And -- But a tutor from another
college saw me act, and he'd been
a professional actor. And he said, "Have you ever
thought of acting?" I said, no, and he said,
"Well, I think you should, and I think you should
go to RADA," the Royal Academy. And so he sent off
for the papers, coached me through a couple
of speeches, and I was accepted. And I began to learn
about theater then and learn about acting. But I did find that I think
that one of the reasons I liked acting so much was that,
you know, my painting, it was good,
it was okay, but no one was going, "Oh, that's the best thing
I've ever seen." Whereas acting, they go,
you know, "Yeah. Well done." So I thought
"I like this side of it." -Yeah. You and me both. Yeah. I'm not saying
I'm any different than that. It's nice to be
in front of an audience. -Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-What was the -- What was your first play
that you did at RADA? -I don't remember. -Yeah, well.
-No. I remember my last play.
-Which was? -Yes. It's a play called
"Ride a Cockhorse." -Okay.
-And you, um -- Please. And you --
[ Laughter ] -Sorry.
I can't do anything about them. It's awful.
Can't bring them anywhere. -Your people. And you get to have
some kind of say in what your final show
is going to be, because agents and casting
people will come to see it. And I chose this play because
it was one man and four women. So they could not avoid
seeing me, you know. And it happened
that the director of the Everyman Theatre in
Liverpool came to see that show, and left a note
at the stage door. He actually, I discovered,
left at the intermission, but he left the note saying, "There's a job for you
at the Everyman if you want it." -Wow.
-So I left college and started a couple
of months later at the Everyman. -That's fantastic. -Where I stayed for two years. -What a start to things. You're in "The Crown." You also did --
You did meet the Queen. -I did meet the Queen. -You had an audience
with the Queen. There you are.
And I'm wondering what -- you know, obviously, you don't
have a lot of time, but what was your conversation
with the Queen like? -Well, you're not really
supposed to say anything. You have to wait
until they speak to you. But I thought, "Sod that." So I'd just been doing
a play which you might know. Edward Albee's "The Goat."
-Yes. -Where it's a 50-year-old man who admits to having
an affair with a goat. -Yeah.
-And, um -- Yeah. And it's not just about that. It's about so many other things.
-Sure, sure, sure. But, like, a lot of the people
who buy tickets are there for that part. Yeah.
-Oh, yeah. So I said to her,
actually, I said, "We have met before
when you came to see," I think it was a musical. I might have been "Miss Saigon"
or something. "Oh, yeah." And I said, "Actually, you should come
and see the play I'm doing now." "Oh. Oh, what's that?" "It's called 'The Goat.'" "Oh." And I said, "Yeah,
it's about a 50-year-old man who has a love affair
with a goat." [ Laughter ] And she moved on. [ Laughter ]
It was great. [ Applause ] And I'm sure afterwards
somebody came up to you and was like, "That's why you're not supposed
to talk to the Queen." -Yeah. -You know, you play
a former spy to some degree in "Slow Horses." You've played in a Bond film. You were a villain
in "Tomorrow Never Dies." And we found a clip. And again,
I am a huge fan of your acting, and especially the amount
of work you put into the physical side
of acting. It's not just verbal.
-No. -And I'm going to show
this clip, and when it's over, I'm going to have
some questions about whether or not you know
how to type. -Okay. British Secret Service Agent
James Bond and his collaborator Wei Lin of the Chinese People's
External Security Force were found dead this morning
in Vietnam. [ Laughter ] -That's how I play the piano
as well. -I will say, I mean, the joy of playing
a Bond villain is the flourishes you put into it, but nobody
has ever typed more evilly. -Yeah, yeah.
No, you got me there. Yeah. No research. -You also did me
a great favor a few years ago. I work on a show called
"Documentary Now." I wrote an episode called
"How They Throw Rocks." And you played basically
just a journalist talking about this Welsh sport
of rock throwing. And I can't imagine you knew
much about it when they -- when we asked you
if you would do it. -No, it was it was something
that I'd never heard of it. -That's still the case
with most people. -Yeah, yeah. In fact, I've only
just rediscovered it because I hadn't seen it, and I've just
watched it in the dressing room. And it's good.
-Thank you. Yeah.
-Well, you're very good in it. -It's good.
-It was very special to me. Rhys Thomas, who's one
of our directors, you know, we were filming in Wales, but we were shooting
Wales for other places. And I said, "Since we're doing
it in Wales and you're Welsh, I'm going to write an episode
that takes place in Wales." And he said, "I insist
that it's an all-Welsh cast," and when you watch it, you'll know that every
single person in it as well. So it was very important, it helped us get
the other Welsh actors once we had someone
of your stature. -Oh, great.
-Thank you. -Did Tony Hopkins
turn you down? -He did, yes. -Okay.
-He did. Yeah. Real -- like a very --
a very fast no. -Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know I did "Two Popes"
with Tony. -Yes, of course.
Oscar nominated. -Yeah, that --
Yeah. He was as well. Yes. -Yeah.
-But the great thing between us, rivalry between us,
not that I'm competitive, but I was number one
on the call sheet. -Really?
You were the first Pope? -And he was number two.
-Wow. -And I'd have breakfast
with him most mornings in Rome. I'd approach him
towards the table. He'd go, "[ Scoffs ] Morning.
Morning, number one." -And I'd go, "Morning,
number two." And that would go on. And then he made big signs
for his trailer that he was actually
number one. -Well, to each their own, right?
-Yeah. -Yes. You have to support
an actor's ego. Hey, this has really been
special to talk to you. Thank you so much
for being here. -Thank you.
-Jonathan Pryce, everybody. New episodes of "Slow Horses" stream Wednesdays
on Apple TV+. We'll be right back.