-Last time you were here, you were in a film,
"It Comes at Night," which was post-apocalyptic.
-Yeah.
-And we talked about how you would be, personally,
in a post-apocalyptic situation, and you said very bad.
-Yeah.
-Now you're in a spy film. You're playing a CIA agent.
How would you, Joel Edgerton, be as an actual spy?
-[ Laughs ]
I'd be equally as bad as my post-apocalyptic --
Well, I was thinking about it because, you know,
if you're a spy, you can't really talk about yourself?
-Yeah.
-And the job -- Right?
And you're an actor, it's like, how am I not supposed to brag?
-Yeah.
No, I think -- Now that you say it,
I don't think we've had a single spy on the show.
[ Laughter ]
-Yeah, it would be like, "Are you a spy?"
And I'd be like..."Yeah."
I'm telling you all the things --
I'm telling you all the cool things that I've done.
You know?
-Well, you -- Is it true?
I read that you had -- This was something you did have
some curiosity for when you were younger.
-Oh, I was totally a spy when I was a kid.
-Yeah.
-'Cause I lived in a little town called Dural.
-Mm-hmm.
-And I think that's where all the spies go
when they need to, like, hide out.
-Oh, really?
-Yeah, Dural's, like, a really tiny town.
But, for some reason, I had a spy kit.
I had binoculars. I had --
-Had this been purchased for you
or did you go out and buy a spy kit?
-No. I don't know where --
I got the binoculars from, like, a fair.
-Okay.
-They were, like, just tiny, little binoculars.
I had made a little electronic bug, like, listening device.
-Oh, wow.
-And I'd hollowed out a book, and the listening device
I remember using to listen in to my grandmother,
'cause she was snoring
and she was living in the room next to me.
So it was like -- Maybe it was, like, a mission
to prove to my mother that my grandmother was snoring
and that she should move her to another room.
-So this is some --
-And I successfully completed that mission.
-Wow. Oh, so you did provide audio proof to your mother
that your grandmother was a snorer.
-Yeah. I mean, she's passed away now, my grandmother.
-Uh-huh. -I didn't...
[ Laughter ]
-Well, if -- But, again, as a spy, you couldn't tell us.
-No, I couldn't. No, I wouldn't.
But I'd grab about it if I came on your show, "theoretically."
-"Theoretically."
-Yeah. -Yeah.
-You have -- There's a scene in the film --
And, like, you, obviously -- Joel Edgerton --
no one would ever have to do this to you.
Like, you would give up the information right away.
But in the film, like, they actually have to, like, strip --
There's a torture scene.
They're, like, stripping away the skin, your skin.
-Yeah. -It's very hard to watch.
Was it hard to do? -No.
-Yeah.
The hardest scenes to watch for an audience
sometimes are the most fun things for an actor to do.
I had fun. It was weird.
I spent all day in my underpants.
Actually, I spend most of my other days in my underpants,
but I have other stuff over the top.
Just to be clear.
-This was an only-underpants situation.
-Yeah. -Yeah. Okay. Gotcha.
-This was an only-underpants situation.
In makeup, where I was getting my skin peeled off me --
Not for real, 'cause I'm an actor.
-Right. Of course.
-I have a team of people protecting me, for real.
[ Both laugh ]
-They'd have to get through so many people
to actually peel your skin.
-To actually get my skin off? -Yeah.
-Yeah, but, see, we have very thin skin.
-Actors. -Actors.
-Yeah. Wow. This is -- -Very easily hurt.
But I'll tell you something that happened that day
that was pretty funny, actually.
Jennifer Lawrence... -Yeah.
-I'm just gonna pick that one up.
-Oh, you name-dropped? -Yeah.
She... [ Cheers and applause ]
-Oh, yeah, save it.
Yeah, you don't want to --
Don't let me must that up for you, yeah.
-She has a little dog called Pippi.
-Yeah.
-And Pippi's about that big.
And Pippi came to her rescue that day,
thought she was really in trouble...
-Oh, wow.
-...and ran onto the set and was --
And there's a big German guy, who's torturing us -- or me.
And just decided like,
"This is the guy who's threatening mom's life.
I'm gonna, like --" You know, and went at him.
-Oh, wow.
-Yeah. Like, this and, you know, he was -- It was pretty cool.
-So Pippi did a nice job, ultimately?
-Better job than me.
-It takes a man to say that. It takes a man to admit that.