-My first guest is an Oscar winner
starring alongside Denzel Washington and Jared Leto
in -- in the new film "The Little Things,"
which will be in theaters this Friday and on HBO Max.
Here is Rami Malek. -What up, baby?!
-Rami Malek, hello and welcome back to "The Tonight Show."
You're looking fantastic. Look at this look.
You're pulling it off again. Another look.
-I'm pulling off another look, man.
-You know what's so weird? Like, now -- I have kids now,
and I've never seen the "Night at the Museum" movies.
And here you walk in, and I go, "What?! What?!"
-Dude.
-It's the biggest thing. My kids love you.
-Oh, Frannie and Winnie. Give them my love.
-Yeah, dude. Exactly. Oh, my gosh.
-The best part of that experience
was, you know, Ben was great to me.
-Yeah. Good.
-I'll tell you something that nobody really knows,
is I was playing that role so camp at first.
Maybe not "camp" is the right word,
but I was going for it.
This guy was supposed to be in a sarcophagus
at Cambridge University, and I popped out of that coffin
and I played it like a British dandy,
and the studio was like, "Nuh-unh!"
-Did you really? -And so -- Yeah.
And so I went back to Los Angeles from Canada,
and I'm like, "I don't think that went very well."
But Stiller and I got along exceptionally well.
And he was laughing at a few ad libs that I was throwing out,
so I was like, "Something's telling me
that some part of this went right,
but some part of it went horribly wrong."
-Wow. -'Cause I feel uncomfortable.
They're calling me back for a makeup test.
My agent calls me and goes,
"There's a breakdown coming out for this role again."
So I was like, "I'm getting fired."
-That's not good.
-The only reason that I got back and had to re-audition
was because Stiller said,
"Nah. I think you guys are making a mistake here."
So that was one super-cool thing.
The other great thing was Robin Williams
for, you know, three movies -- -Yeah.
-And, sad, but on the third one,
we're shooting at the British Museum at night,
and we have the place all to ourselves.
And Robin -- you could tell something
was happening with him, right?
He had -- He would go on these riffs every once in a while
and light up the world, and you'd be like,
"Oh, my God. Who are you?" -"Who is this?"
-And then dip back down into this other place.
He'd see us all on our phones and devices,
and he'd be like,
"What happened to this? What happened to this?"
And so I see him kind of veer off, and he walks off alone,
and he's just kind of staring at this massive rock
in the British Museum.
And I'm like, "Oh, man.
What's going on with him? Is he all right?"
So I walk up to kind of say, "Is everything okay?"
And he looks at me,
just kind of slightly over the shoulder, and he goes,
"How often do you get to be alone with the Rosetta Stone?"
-[Stammers]
That's the best story I've ever heard in my life.
-Amazing right? -Wow!
And you were like, "Apparently not enough
because I just interrupted you."
[ Laughter ]
-It was so good. -I always love talking to you.
The last time I talked to you, we were at the Time 100.
And I don't know if you remember. It was --
I mean, it was -- Every cool person was there.
It was actually a really great night.
Nancy Pelosi --
You and I and Nancy Pelosi hung out and took a photo.
-Well, yeah. -Look at this.
Look how tan I was.
-It was so cool to hang out with you there and her there.
And, you know, she was a fan of "Bohemian Rhapsody."
I was like, "Well, I'm a fan of you, Nancy."
-Yeah. -But she dug the movie,
which was cool.
-You went on to win the Oscar. You won the Academy Award.
-It was such a trip, man. It was such a trip.
The coolest part is -- We had to keep it under wraps,
but Queen opened that night, if you remember.
-Yes. -And so you hear that music --
And because, you know,
I've spent almost two years preparing for it --
I'm kind of instantly brought back
to the first moment of acknowledging
that I might play this man and what that meant,
and so the whole thing kind of came full circle,
and I had my mom there and my brother and sister...
-No!
-So, for me, it's -- The statue is everything.
The experience just kind of
was overwhelming for so many reasons.
Speaking of Mom, on Friday,
she's got a very special birthday.
So, I love you, lady. Happy birthday.
-Aww. Mom, we love you.
Look what you made. What a great kid.
Look what you did. Look what you made.
Brought into the world. How cool is this guy?
-And to piggyback off of family, I mean, you guys --
One, I just have to appreciate
what you've done with the show given the circumstances, man.
It's been so intimate, and I know we're talking to each other
as family and friends often through this medium,
but to get to kind of have these really intimate,
you know, thoughtful, still very funny
but extremely personal and fulfilling moments
with you every night means a lot.
And, you know, you and -- At the beginning.
And Nancy and Winnie and Frannie
getting on and putting that together was just --
It was kind of healing in a way, I got to say.
So thank you. -Oh, my gosh.
I will tell everyone. My kids love you, man.
They're obsessed.
They can't wait to see "The Little Things."
-[ Laughing ] -They're so excited.
They love murder whodunit crime with three --
By the way, how about --
Adding to your list of cool things,
you get to do a movie with Denzel Washington.
-It's one of those moments, you know --
I try not to go back to the trailer to escape the set.
I'm like, "I'm with Denzel. Ask him some questions."
-Anything. -Ask him some questions.
And he gets a lot of questions.
He gets, you know, the Oscar question a lot.
Like, "Where do you keep your Oscar?"
And he made me laugh.
He said, "Next to the other one."
-[ Laughs ] -Which I found very amusing.
-Yeah. That's a great answer. Oh, man.
-It was a good one.
-How do we describe the movie?
-I mean, I can give you a long-winded answer,
but you know what it is?
It's this 1990s psychological thriller
that feels like a throwback movie
we've kind of been yearning for, for so many years, right?
We don't see these movies often.
And it is gripping to the very last second.
-It's awesome. I want to show a clip.
Here is Rami Malek and Denzel Washington
in "The Little Things." Take a look.
[ Radio chatter ]
-Really. This is how you spend your time off?
-What do you got? -Deceased fits the M.O.
Stab wound, ligature, killed elsewhere.
-She a floater? -Yeah.
They dumped overflow in here a few days back.
Guessing there's mud in her cavities.
Shallow grave most likely.
♪♪
You ready to tell me about Mary Roberts?
♪♪
Your boy Stan Peters swallowed a 12-gauge late last night.
♪♪
-Rami Malek, everybody. "The Little Things"
is in theaters this Friday and available on HBO Max.
Thanks so much for coming on. Always great to see you, buddy.
-It's a pleasure, man. Thank you for everything.