hello there i'm harry melling i play
harry beltic in the queen's gambit
hi i'm moses ingram from the queen's
gambit i'm here with buzzfeed to answer
all your burning questions
[Music]
gambit has broken streaming records for
a limited series did you have any idea
the show would have reached this level
of popularity
absolutely not i think i expected the
show to be
a show but when you've never been on a
show what does that
even mean it's wild probably no
but i don't really like to think about
that kind of thing to be honest
i like to put all my energy into the
work and to worry about the character
and the aftermath is completely out of
my control but
it is amazing that it's reached that
amount of people it's crazy
what has been the most popular question
friends and family have asked you
about the series since its release well
the most popular question i've been
getting
is can i have a chess set for christmas
that's kind of been the
the big thing that's been on people's
minds which again is kind of
extraordinary that that's what people
want for christmas is great
are you a smoker are those real
cigarettes you're smoking
i don't know why that's the biggest
question they have but it is
certainly at the top of the list it's
pretty much just tea leaves inside like
ground up
tea leaves what was your first
impression of ania taylor joy
did you have a favorite memory working
with her on set and i wasn't working but
they brought me to set anyway
just because just to see and scott was
like oh you gotta meet anya
she was in the middle of working she was
on a break
and she was still so open and warm and
generous
and i think that's who she was the
entire time because i think that's very
much who she is just a very open
and generous person she's been doing
this a very long time
to my just beginning and so super
available and just
welcoming annie's a dream an amazing
actress she's so talented
jimmy just enjoyed hanging out i
remember the first scenes we did
i remember her doing this this funky
little dance for fever that was that was
again really fun which is great
what was your initial reaction to the
script the queen's gambit
did you read walter tevis novel of the
same name i read the novel
first because i didn't have a script
when i first got it it
sort of scared me a little bit a little
grittier for jolene i would say
and then when i finally did get the
script and i started reading
it was still scary because it was new
but it was also
so exciting to see how scott and alan
were able to
adapt the book so beautifully and give
so much of it so it still feels full and
alive so it was really great anya has
said in past interviews that she read
the harry potter books to learn english
did she found girl about the series with
you on set now i didn't know about this
she never mentioned this
on set at all she's probably being very
professional
so um i'm only hearing about this now
when you watch the series back was there
seeing you weren't involved with filming
that you were impressed by as
a viewer well so many scenes i loved the
first episode
i i thought that was really compelling
certainly because i knew where it was
going
i mean it felt very different to where
the story eventually goes to
i loved all the bentley and beth scenes
they were fascinating and
in terms of how they sort of felt in
comparison to the harry and beth seems
they felt very different
i haven't watched it yet only because
every time i try to i get so
so so so scared like my body just like
tenses up and i'm nervous and i can't
handle it
but there's a caveat to that because i
was on set a lot
so i watched things that i wasn't in and
i
think one of my favorites was
anya coming back into the car
after you know seeing schaible's
photo and sort of shrine to her it was
just so
vulnerable and so open and so deep and
like watching someone live there in
front of my face was like
crazy crazy beautiful who did you want
best to end up with harry townes billy
or cleo
i was really rooting for harry harry
wanted so much
for beth and him to work and i think he
loved her so much and so fully
i think that that one relationship just
felt like one where you're like oh let's
see
him see him seeing you you know i was
really rooting for harry
i don't know i don't know i mean
i guess i want beth to end up with the
person that she wants to be with i'm not
going to say myself because that
just makes me have to be you know very
self-indulgent
no i'd i'd say that maybe beth needs a
bit of time by herself
then she might be ready to be with
someone how have you been celebrating
the overwhelming success and positive
response to the series
i'm celebrating i'm just really proud of
it i'm really proud that
so many people have taken the story to
heart and so many people
have invested in the narrative and these
characters
i don't know it's so strange right now
the world is in such a strange place
everything feels very normal when i get
on my phone when i get on my laptop
when i do like interviews like these
like it all
feels very real i should celebrate it
more though does anyone in the cast know
how to play chess
at a competitive level well i certainly
don't if so was anybody able to follow
the games
whilst filming jacob was very good
there was a scene we were doing i think
it was the kentucky chess championship
jacob very cool he came over and said
doing a game
yeah let's let's have a game and he was
really
legitimately very good and beat me very
easily
do you think beth relapsed after
defeating borgov
i hope not i really hope she didn't no
i think she was able to see really like
oh maybe i can really do this thing
without the drugs without the alcohol
without the
like extra maybe i can just be
who would win in the game of wizards
chess wrong wheezy or better
beth hartman obviously what do you think
happened to harriet beltic after we last
saw him i think he
settled and was happy in settling
and i would hope that beth remained
an important part of his life because he
loves her
he truly loves her what do you think
happened to jolene after we last saw her
you know what let's go all the way i
think jolene
makes it to be a supreme court justice
and really changes the game along the
way
just like on some like ruth bader
ginsburg
vibes like really making change
for black and brown people and think i
think jolene goes all the way to the top
thank you so much buzzfeed for your
questions you can still catch the
queen's gambit on netflix streaming
right now
you