-Welcome to the show. -Thank you so much for having me.
I've been such a big fan of yours for such a long time,
-um, just, like, as an actor on the screen, you know? -Uh-huh.
-Um, you've been acting from a very young age. -Yeah.
And I feel like it's just-- it's-it's in your bones,
it's in your craft, it's what you do.
-Rocketman is-is a huge film to be in. -Yeah.
-Congratulations on that. -Thank you, man. Thank you.
-Um, what was-- what was that like? -(applause)
-Yeah, I mean, congratulations. -Oh, wow! Wow. -(cheering)
-A lot of Rocketman fans here today. -Yeah, but wh--
but what was that like? I mean, like, you're-you're in a film
where you're-- you know, you're telling the story
-of one of the greatest music icons of all time, -Yeah.
who is also one of the biggest heroes of the LGBTQIA community.
-Yes. -Like-like, that must have been a pretty big role for you.
Yeah, I mean, I-I met Elton John for the first time
at the Cannes Film Festival back in, uh, 2000,
when Billy Elliot, which is the first film I ever did,
-went to that festival. -Right.
And he'd seen that film and he was there.
And I met him, and he-- and he was weeping.
He was, like, a-a shaking, crying mess.
And I only-- Doing the movie,
I only really learnt why he was so affected by it,
-because his father, um, -Right.
famously, kind of couldn't come to grips
with the fact that he was homosexual.
And-and he never showed up to one of his shows
-that he played, ever. -Right.
And in Billy Elliot, the movie, I don't know if you remember,
'cause it was 150 years ago that the film came out,
-Billy's father kind of turns up for him at the end. -Yes.
And that just kind of destroyed him.
He really is, uh, an enigmatic person, you know?
-Yeah. -Elton John is, like--
Everyone that meets him, they go, like,
-"He is completely himself." -Yeah.
He was famous before famous people were famous.
-Yes. -I mean, like, before the Internet,
before social media. He's always been Elton John.
What do you think makes him so special,
when you're just-- when you're just--
the man, the myth, and the legend?
I think Elton is so willing to be vulnerable.
I think his music is very vulnerable.
I think his-his music really evokes a lot of emotion.
There is a-a fragility to everything he does.
He's so willing to kind of expose himself
-and show everyone who he really is. -Yeah.
Um, and for that he...
And the movie really is a celebration of his whole life.
And he's had his ups and downs,
and the movie really kind of explores that, as well, so...
It is a beautiful story that takes you through a man's life.
It takes you through the life of a country at the same time.
-Yes. -And then... and then, the musical journey.
One thing that's great about it is, it is a celebration.
-Sure. -Now, there's glitter.
-There's shiny everything. -Yes.
-There's fun music. -Yes.
-And then, I'm watching Skin. -Yeah.
And as we saw from the clip, it's like
-the opposite of glitter. -Big difference.
(laughter)
You-you... you've got Nazis, and, you know,
like, racist tattoos and swastikas and everything.
This... this is a big jump
for you to make as a... as a human being.
-Yeah. -I mean, you-you...
The movies come out in different orders, but...
-Sure. I had some... -You went... You went
from Skin to Rocketman.
Yeah, I was so grateful for Rocketman,
really because I, uh...
As you just saw there, I was covered, like, head to toe
in, um, white supremacist tattoos
for six weeks making this film.
Um, a true story about a real guy, uh,
who ended up kind of reforming himself,
getting himself out of this group, uh,
mostly through the-the kindness and com... and compassion
-of other people, to be honest. -Right. Right.
Um, but then, doing that
and then going to kind of sing, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,"
and-and dance with platform shoes and big wigs and stuff
-felt like a big relief, honestly. -Yeah. When you...
-When you look at the character in Skin... When you... -Yeah.
When you look at this character you're playing,
you're playing a man who did some
of the most hateful, heinous things.
He was part of an organization that is still around today.
-Mm-hmm. -You know, you have these people who truly believe
in white supremacy and will do anything to achieve it.
-As an actor, as a great actor... -That's nice of you.
...you're always trying to empathize
-with the character you're playing. -Yes.
Is that not difficult in this type of circumstance?
How do you look at a character like this and go like,
"Yeah, I will empathize with their white supremacist views?"
It was a big deal for me, because, uh, I have...
I have a genuinely, uh,
complicated relationship with forgiveness.
-Right. -You know?
And in... and in, like... in acting, they always say, like,
-"Well, you can't judge your character." -Yes.
Because you won't be able to play them
if you're judging them.
But when you're playing someone who has, like, such bigoted,
hateful, intolerant views, there's only kind of one way,
-I think, that you can really view that person. -Right.
They're an intolerable person.
They should be stripped from society.
Um, I would have never done this movie if I didn't think
that it was trying to look at, uh, the root of evil,
but also, in equal measure, the root of kindness
and compassion in people, and how those two things
can kind of intersect and affect change,
hopefully for the positive.
Ra-Racism and intolerance and bigotry is-is learned.
The end of this movie, the character is meeting his son
-for the first time. -Right.
I hope that the end of this film is really
a call to conversation.
Uh, a bigger conversation.
How do we, um, approach this?
This isn't going away.
This is certainly in the headlines.
It's certainly filling the cable news streams...
-Right, right, right. -...seemingly by the day.
One-one thing I-I really find interesting
about the film, though, is, you know,
when-when you're telling a story like this,
especially about somebody who-who... who is a proud Nazi
and a white supremacist, sometimes the stories can feel
like they're trying to make us feel bad for that person.
-Mm-hmm. -Like, "Aw." And then, the person realized
that they were doing bad things, and now they're a good guy.
-Sure. -But this is...
The story's told in an interesting way
in that it feels like it's not a typical redemption story.
It's just a story
-based on something that really happened... -Yes.
...where you-you... you feel like
now the burden sits with him.
It's like, it's-it's his journey
to... to bear.
You know, like-like wh...?
You know, why do you think that was important,
and how do you think that changes the way a story's told?
Well, I met the real guy.
I met... The-the character that it's based on is Bryon Widner,
uh, as I said, a career Nazi. I went to meet him.
He's in the... the FBI Witness Protection Program.
I went and spent a week with him.
Uh, and he does. He reckons with it every day.
He looks in the mirror, and I think he has a lot of...
-He-he will never escape the things he's done. -Right.
That's his prison in a way. The real hero...
And I said... I said to him when I met him,
"I'm not gonna portray you as a hero.
It's impossible for me to do that."
But I will, hopefully, start a conversation
that will maybe lead to a better understanding
-of how this can happen to people. -Right, right.
-As I said, racism is inherited. -Where-where was...
The real hero of the story-- let me just say this--
is Daryle Lamont Jenkins over there.
He is the founder of the One People's Project,
and he is the man responsible
for getting Bryon Widner out of this movement.
-He's done it with many other people. -Wow.
-(cheers and applause) -He works for Antifa.
He is a man on the front lines opposing these people.
He's doing the work that we should all be doing,
but we're afraid to do it. I'm certainly afraid to do it.
He is... he is really the-the true hero of the story.
Wow. That's fascinating.
We don't often have the real heroes
of stories with us in the studio.
And honestly, I-I commend you
because it's not an easy role to play, but I'm even more,
um, I would love to say "proud"
of the way you're having the conversation
around a really complicated topic. Thank you so much
-for coming on the show. -Sure. I appreciate your time.
-Thank you so much. Thank you. -Amazing, amazing job.
Skin will be in theaters and on demand July 26, everybody.
Jamie Bell.