-This is the first time I´ve seen you since the Oscars.
Congratulations. You have an Oscar.
-Thank you. Thanks. -That´s so great.
[ Cheers and applause ] It´s so well-deserved.
Where -- Do you mind --
I´m assuming you get asked this a lot.
But where do you keep it?
-My mom has it.
-That´s very sweet. -Yes.
-Did she ask before she took it? -No.
-Okay, gotcha. -No, she did.
-Okay, nice. So, do you have any --
So you didn´t want it in your own home?
-No. It felt a little strange.
But I have two things in my apartment
that are related to that kind of idea,
which is a Nickelodeon Kids´ Choice Award,
which is an orange blimp that is also a kaleidoscope.
-That´s fantastic.
-And my spelling-bee trophy from the fourth grade.
I got first place in the spelling bee.
-Wow! That´s really great. -Yeah.
[ Cheers and applause ] Thank you. Thank you.
-Do you remember your winning word?
-I was trying to think about this for a little while.
And what I remember it to be -- I could be incorrect --
was a compound word, which is "microfinance."
-Microfinance. -Go ahead.
-M-I-C-R-O-F-I-N-A-N-C-E.
-And now I have to give you my trophy.
-Yeah.
The way -- When you asked me to spell it --
And I don´t want to sound like a jerk,
but that seems like a super-easy word.
-It´s a super-easy word.
I think I was also like 10 years old.
But, yeah, it was pretty easy. It was a pretty easy word.
-I mean, what were people going out on?
Like "mittens"?
[ Laughter ]
"Mittens" was before. The guy who blew it.
-That Josh.
And "mittens." He couldn´t handle it.
-Still can´t wear mittens. He´s so upset.
-You know Josh.
-This is very exciting that you got to work
with Billie Jean King because --
You actually spent time with her.
And she was here last night,
and you guys went to the U.S. Open together.
-We did. -And here is a photo
of you guys enjoying each other´s company,
it seems like, right here.
-Really enjoying each other´s company.
-You seem very happy right here.
You´re enjoying her so much, you want to obviously save it,
so you can enjoy her on the road when she´s not with you.
But she said she´s a very hard person to watch tennis with
because she can´t stop talking about what she´s seeing.
-But I think that´s why she´s a great person
to watch tennis with. -I would think the same.
-And I think I´ve mentioned this before,
but there is no one on Billie Jean´s other side,
so it´s just me, and she does live commentary the entire time.
-Oh, wow. -Right in your ear.
-Really? And you did not mind?
-I did not mind. I was learning so much.
-Is she mostly happy
with what she´s seeing or mostly not happy?
-It depends. She just -- Every emotion she´s having
goes in a live stream
with a bunch of facts interspersed
of what´s actually happening.
-Does it ever go outside of tennis, like, "I´m hungry"?
Does that ever happen?
-I think -- Yeah, I mean, she´s enthusiastic.
-She´s just running everything. -Yeah. It´s all coming through.
-And she´s very enthusiastic. I found her very inspiring.
We were talking backstage.
In our green room, Billie Jean King was just --
Anybody who walked by her, she would just grab and inspire.
Like, she would walk by -- -He told me this backstage.
-The person who was putting her mic on.
She was like, "Do you like putting mics on?"
And she was like, "I do." And she´s like, "Follow your dreams!
But if you ever stop liking it --
If you ever stop liking it, you go do something else!"
And I was like, "Wow. She just really wants to get..."
-That´s her in a nutshell. -Yeah.
-She inspires everyone she meets.
-Yeah, she´s wonderful. -She´s something else.
-And you have never -- This is the first time
that you have played a real person.
-Yes. Correct.
-So "La La Land," that means, was not based on a true story.
-It´s not based on a true story. -None of that happened?
-It didn´t happen. -Okay, gotcha.
-I have driven a Prius before.
-That´s close enough for me. -You know?
-So it´s based on a true story?
-It´s based -- It´s loosely based on a true story.
-What was it -- Did you find it --
Was it extra burdensome to play somebody who is real?
-I mean, yes, definitely.
It was -- There is a fear factor that goes into that.
Because she´s going to sit down and see it at the end.
And, you know, knowing that is pretty daunting.
Also the fact that I didn´t play tennis
before playing Billie Jean.
And then when I went to meet her,
you know, there was that precedent,
the, like, "Hi, I´m an actress that´s playing you
that doesn´t play tennis and I´m super shy."
And she was like, "I´m super shy. You´re playing me.
You don´t play tennis. What´s going on?"
-What was the scene when you first met Billie Jean King?
-I met her at her apartment. She lives in New York.
And she was so sweet and warm and inspiring instantly.
You know, she really keys in on how to inspire you.
So she brought me up to her apartment,
and her partner, Ilana, was there
drinking out of a mug that said "It´s Good To Be King."
-Fantastic.
-And I was like, "It does seem pretty good to be King."
-Yeah.