-Our first guest tonight is a Golden Globe-nominated actor
and director you know from films such as "Loving,"
"Zero Dark Thirty," and "Boy Erased."
He stars in "The Underground Railroad,"
which is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.
Please welcome back to the show our friend Joel Edgerton.
How are you, Joel?
-I'm very good, mate. I've missed you.
-I know. -But I'm fine.
-You know, I hope you know I'm not just blowing smoke here.
As happy as I am that you're on the show,
it is very bittersweet that you're not here in person.
-Yeah. Yeah, it is actually.
I'd love to give you a man hug
and run in and have a studio audience.
-Yeah.
-It must be pretty boring without a studio audience.
-I would be giving you a man hug in congratulations.
You're a new dad. Congratulations, Joel.
[ Laughs ]
-Yeah, thank you. I'm very excited.
It's one of the great silver linings of the last year.
Sort of a crazy terrible year. I'm very happy.
-It's a perfect, perfect silver lining.
I also know that you're back in Australia.
Thank you for waking up at the crack of dawn to talk to us.
And you're back doing a project, and I imagine Australia
is very proud of your accomplishments,
but knowing what I know about Australians,
they also probably want to check in with you
and make sure you're not getting too full of yourself.
-Oh, I am.
-[ Laughter ] -I am.
[ Laughs ]
In fact, full to the brim, some might say.
-You -- This is very -- Oh, look at that!
You got the mug we sent you.
-Thank you, by the way. Thank you.
[ Laughter ]
-This is really -- I feel like this is really
helping our at-home audience,
who misses being in the same room.
-Just trying to bring back the old feeling, you know?
-Hey, I want to talk to you about your TV show,
but there's a show that we're sort of obsessed with here
called "Tiny Secret Whispers,"
which stars a different Australian actor
with the same spelling of your name
pronounced Joel "Edgar-ton."
Do you know him?
-[ Sighs ] Yeah.
-Okay.
-I've run into him a couple of times at "events," you know?
You know, it took me a -- I've had a bit of a --
It's been a long ride, but I've gotten used to the idea
that he's masquerading somewhat, at least on paper, as me.
-Has there ever been a situation
where you've really wanted a part, and he's got it,
but for a moment, there's confusion
and you think it's yours?
-Well, yeah, I mean,
I did get asked to audition for "Tiny Secret Whispers."
I tried to download the Pumpkin...
-Butternut.
-Butternut streaming site.
But I had a lot of problems with an Australian credit card.
And, you know -- Look. To be honest,
I've checked out a couple of clips,
and I love the actor that plays...
I'm not a fan of Joel Edgar-ton.
-Yeah, well, that's fine.
I mean, I would imagine that's hard for you.
[ Laughs ] I want to ask about a real TV show
that you were in, the real Joel Edgerton.
Your first TV gig, you did not last long.
Your character, I should say, did not last long.
-No. [ Laughs ]
My first acting job out of drama school,
I played Ben Mendelsohn's younger brother,
and we were holding up a video store.
Half the audience maybe wanted to know what a video store is.
I was dead by 11:00 a.m.
on my first day on my job as an actor.
11:00 a.m. -That's not great.
-I thought, "This is the beginning of my career."
And I was in my car driving home going,
"I just quit my regular job for this, and now I'm dead."
-You mention Ben Mendelsohn.
So, I love both of you as actors, and I mean that.
And I first saw you in a film, "Animal Kingdom,"
where both of you didn't really end up living very long.
Have you ever been in a project with Ben where either of you
have made it through the full run time?
-No. "The King," we both die.
Uh, spoiler alert.
[ Laughter ]
I think you've hit on something.
I think Ben and I are destined --
It's sort of Romeo and Juliet, right?
-Right. Yeah. You are the Australian Romeo and Juliet.
-It'd be like, "Yeah, come on, mate, let's...
Blegh."
[ Laughter ]
-That was a really, really good impression
of Ben Mendelsohn as either Romeo or Juliet.
Hey, I do want to ask about "Underground Railroad."
We'll be right back with more from Joel Edgerton.