Clayton Davis: Have you ever wondered what happens when your favorite actor meets their favorite actor?

Robert Downey Jr: Jodie Foster?

Jodie Foster: Yes.

Robert: Robert Downey Jr. Clayton Davis: "Variety Studio" allows you to listen in as A-list talent talk about the highs and lows of making must-see TV.

Anthony Mackie: When I got that job, I felt like I had arrived.

Elizabeth Debicki: Also to find any reason to do, like, immense amounts of research.

Emma Corrin: Yeah.

Jodie: Really, when I got older, I learned how to be freer.

Clayton Davis: With Robert Downey Jr. and Jodie Foster, Anthony Mackie and Tyler James Williams, and Emma Corrin and Elizabeth Debicki.

♪♪♪♪♪ Angelique Jackson: Welcome to "Variety Studio, Actors on Actors."

I'm Angelique Jackson.

Clayton: And I'm Clayton Davis.

In this episode, we're hearing from the actors behind some of this year's buzziest TV hits.

Angelique: Every performance is a standout, whether it's from a hilarious comedy or a heart-wrenching drama.

Angelique: About 30 years ago, Jodie Foster directed Robert Downey Jr. in the holiday classic, "Home for the Holidays."

Now the two Oscar-winning legends reunite to dissect their latest roles.

Fresh from his Oscar triumph in Oppenheimer, Robert Downey Jr. elevates the term "human chameleon," in the satirical spy thriller, "The Sympathizer."

He plays four distinct characters, displaying seamless range.

Robert: And on that day, General Trong, who fought bravely at my side in the Northern Highlands.

Listen well, the land you have lost will once again be yours.

Viet Nam Muon Nam, Viet Nam Muon Nam, Viet Nam Muon Nam.

Communism never wins, capitalism will triumph, Viet Nam Muon Nam, Viet Nam Muon Nam.

Angelique: Two-time Oscar winner, Jodie Foster, masterfully delves into the anthology crime drama, "True Detective, Night Country."

Foster portrays a morally ambiguous police chief investigating a chilling winter phenomena.

Jodie: You want to go out there and die, you wanna follow your ghosts, and curl up in a ball and die out on the ice out there, you go ahead, but you leave my kid out of it or I will rip you apart.

I am not merciful, you understand?

I got no mercy left.

Jodie: Hi Robert, it's Jodie.

Robert: Jodie Foster?

Jodie: Yes.

Robert: Robert Downey Jr. Jodie: Yes.

Robert: We know each other pretty well.

Jodie: We do, we've worked together.

Robert: Yes.

Jodie: We worked together, we worked together many years ago.

Robert: Yes.

Jodie: I was directing a movie, "Home for the Holidays," you played Tommy, the brother, the bad brother.

Robert: I was a bad brother, wasn't I?

Jodie: Well, women loved you.

Robert: I think he was pretty sweet.

Robert: And you brought so much to the table, too, which, as you know, you have a big mouth, which is wonderful for us, and a crazy mind that's able to, that loves the freedom of it, you know, loves the freedom of being in the moment and coming up with things, and letting things transpire and happen.

And weirdly for me, I feel like I started out as such a good girl, and I started out as, like, "You just do what people say and you just follow this path, and these are the goals that I have and these are the things that I wanna do."

And as helpful as that was for my career, it was kind of unfree, and I was carrying around just a lot of lack of freedom.

And it really hasn't been since I've, really, when I got older, I learned how to be freer, instead of just so disciplined.

Robert: Well, it's apparent.

And in "Night Country," there's so much precision, and yet I saw you give yourself the freedom to play a character that I see.

Jodie: She's terrible.

Robert: None of you.

I don't even know if she's terrible, I know that somebody had to be like that in that town or this case would have wound up staying buried forever, so.

And I also can draw a parallel between "Silence of the Lambs," with Clarice, to here and Danvers, where it's almost like this journey through the scared ingénue trying to -- with all this, bad things, and the bad guy, and what they're doing to the poor girls and all this.

And now, in this iteration, lo, these many years later, I think because things have changed, I think because you chose to co-lead this project with Issa López and all that, and it's just bananas to me.

Jodie: Well, the world is, hopefully we're growing and changing in the right direction, we're getting better instead of worse.

And you know, very often now, when I'm in my fifties and sixties, I ask myself the question of like, "Why are you talking, why isn't that guy talking, why are you talking?"

And for our show, "True Detective," and I think this is also true with "The Sympathizer," which I loved, it's really important to reframe and recenter who does the talking and who tells the story, and especially, you know, in the native population.

So that was important for us, for our show.

Robert: So much of what I was thinking, the elements, this mystical world of Ennis, and the crazy thing is, I just kept hearing, "Jodie loves it, she's having a great time, loves the director, loves her cast, loves being in Iceland."

Jodie: Loved Reykjavik, Iceland, yeah, I had a great apartment, there's live music everywhere, the food is delicious.

They have these really good things, which you would appreciate, as part of their culture, they have hot water that comes up from the earth because of where they are, thermal, geothermal stuff, so they have little baths everywhere, they have little public, everybody goes.

So, instead of going to a pub, you go to the baths, and there's kids and there's old people, and there's all your neighbors.

Robert: Oh, wow.

Jodie: And you have a soak, and whether it's 20 degrees below zero or whether it's warm out.

And then there's the cold plunge and there's all these little things, and people do that a couple times a week or three times a week.

Robert: But did you ever experience a comfortable moment during the entirety of that shoot, practically?

Jodie: Yeah, we did, you know, there were, you know, 58 nights outside in subzero temperatures is tough.

You have the clothes on and all that, you have the little hot pads and all that stuff, even in your hat, I had little hot pads in my hat.

Robert: Amazing.

Jodie: It was really fun.

Well, I'm gonna go back to "The Sympathizer," "Director Park," that's what you call him.

Robert: Yes, that is the typical, kind of a formal title.

So, when he said this and I signed up, I literally was thinking about, having just come off "Oppenheimer," I was like, "I really feel like I just want to play."

So it's almost like I was going back to a "Home for the Holidays" writ large thing, where I wanted them to be a little bit two-dimensional.

Jodie: You say, "Them," you mean the four characters?

Robert: That, yes, correct.

Jodie: And did you guys come up with those four characters together?

Robert: We went and looked at a bunch of clay heads that one of the, you know, effects has, Vincent Van Dyke, and he literally carved all these versions of my head and added pieces on.

And then Director Park and I, and other folks, went in, and then we'd just move things around and all that, and then it started to take shape.

And then, of course, comes the hard, cold reality of now you get those early calls, and I call it a "Glue Gun" Gary Glen Ross, where you're just slathered in, you know, toxic substance all morning, and then you have to go perform.

So I knew that if I didn't keep it light and wasn't having fun, that I'd be miserable.

So, Claude, the CIA character, I was thinking about kind of like a little Gene Hackman, a little Jimmy Spader.

And I came up with a lot of these decisions pretty quick, and then I'd float him in front of park and see if he balked or not, and he was like, the translator says, "He thinks this is good, make sure he looks more different," and I was like, "Great."

And then, the congressman was probably my favorite because it was every mid-century kind of politico.

Jodie: And he has white teeth And that little comb-over, a perfect little comb-over.

Robert: And just these huge lifts, so I was always taller than everyone, walking around like, "Hi, how are you?"

And I was just thinking about times that I'd, like, met Clint, or stuff, and he'd be like, "Hear you do Kung Fu."

And I'd be like, "I do."

He goes, "I think I could take you."

And you know, I was like, "Wow, he's like 82 and he wants to kick my --."

And then, honestly, they're doing this kind of really important series, and then I'm coming in to add kind of archetypal shame texture.

Jodie: How does it work, just for all of us, how does it work when you have four people like that at that one scene that I saw where you were around the table?

How does that work?

Robert: In episode three, and you would appreciate this too, because you, if you were directing this, you would have been like, "We gotta try to shoot."

Jodie: It's very technical.

Robert: Yeah, "We gotta shoot this in two days, and we have to make sure Downey doesn't go crazy, and then we don't lose the pixie dust."

Jodie: But you have to react to people who aren't there, right?

Because someone else is.

Robert: Yes, and they have some doubles and stuff.

But strangely, you know how some days you look at the schedule and you go, "Those two days are what I'm afraid of, those four days are what I don't want to do"?

I'm just struck, today, because, you know, I love you, and I revere you, as does everybody, you are truly an iconic individual.

And yet, one of the best things you've ever behaviorally modeled to me is your life is small, everything is normal, you don't get caught up in diddly squat.

Jodie: The pleasure of it all, now, as I get older, I somehow, something clicked in when I turned 60, I think it was like a hormone that got released in my body.

And some of it is like I don't really care anymore, some of it is that I'm not invested in some idea of myself, like I finally feel that I'm gonna be okay, I don't have to worry, I'm not gonna be in a gutter somewhere.

I finally feel like, "Oh, I'm okay, and now I don't have to give it, give a whatever."

Robert: Oh, just say it.

Jodie: Give a whatever.

♪♪♪♪♪ Clayton: Anthony Mackie and Tyler James Williams first met on the historical drama, "Detroit," but now, they're making audiences crack up with small-screen comedies.

When he's not suited up for the "Marvel Cinematic Universe," Anthony Mackie keeps us laughing as he displays his need for Speed in "Twisted Metal," inspired by the demolition derby video game.

Anthony Mackie: Um, they're still alive.

Stephanie Beatriz: I noticed, the gun is jammed.

Anthony: Take the wheel.

♪♪♪♪♪ Anthony: Watch your left, swerve.

Stephanie: Stop backseat driving and fix that -- thing.

Anthony: I am.

Ugh, ugh, fixed.

Clayton: After getting his start as a school kid in the sitcom, "Everybody Hates Chris," Emmy nominee Tyler James Williams is now the adult in the classroom, smartly playing a no-nonsense teacher in the mockumentary series, "Abbott Elementary."

Janelle James: Can I help you with something?

Tyler James Williams: Well, it depends.

All these rules are so hard and rigid.

Janelle: Well, here's a rule, put your arms away, Jeremy Allen Black, this is a school.

Tyler: Please.

Anthony: So, Tyler, my man, good to see you again.

Tyler: Good to see you, brother.

Anthony: Congratulations, last time, since the last time I saw you, you, like, been nominated for Emmy 35 times, and won like 20.

Tyler: Nah, it's just two, it's just two, you know what I'm saying?

Anthony: Yeah, and you kinda, like.

Tyler: Well, same thing, no?

Anthony: No, absolutely not, I didn't even get nominated for a BET award, I didn't even get an independent, I ain't got nothing, they like, "Man."

Tyler: But you, you're saving the world, saving the world all over the place.

Anthony: Not with awards, yes, yes.

Tyler: Would you say we've come a long way?

Last time I saw you, we were doing "Detroit."

Anthony: Yep, yep, we were doing the press tour, I think it was in Toronto or something.

Tyler: Something like that.

Anthony: It was at Toronto Film Festival.

Tyler: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Anthony: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, all of us were there.

Tyler: Yes, we were all there.

Anthony: Nah, but congratulations on everything.

Tyler: Thank you, brother, same, it's been a beautiful journey.

Anthony: So what was that like, like when you, you know, just going from the beginning?

Because you were doing, I mean, you've been in it for a while, since before "Everybody Hates Chris."

How did that work, blowing up so hard at a young age, and everybody knowing you, to transitioning to a professional adult actor?

Tyler: That was weird, man, like, because one day, I was in New York, I want to say it was like 2004, and I was just another face in the crowd.

And then, for that show, they did such a big press run, they put my face on every bus in New York City.

So it went from just like, "I just live here," to, "Everyone in the city knows exactly what I look like," so it was strange.

But then, afterwards, I don't know, there was this nice, like, survival aspect of it, I felt like I had to fight for my career to survive, to just say that, "This wasn't just a cute kid who could, you know, land a joke every now and then," I had to go on this road of proving I was able to stay here and hold my own with people.

But I've noticed that with most people though, it feels like everyone has that period in their career to some extent, right?

When you're transitioning from theater or when you're, you know, you have a role here and a role there, to like, "No, I'm gonna consistently work with great people."

I mean, you had the same thing with Kathryn Bigelow, you worked with her how many times now, twice, three times?

Anthony: Twice, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It was funny because, "Hurt Locker"--I was doing this movie that never came out, and with this awful director.

Tyler: Haven't we all?

Anthony: Dude, no, no, no, this dude was, he crushed it with awful.

And so, I was supposed to leave to do "Hurt Locker," but we pushed six months, so Kathryn was like, "Look, you can't get out, I'm sorry, maybe the next one."

I'm like, "Bet."

They go and offer it to another actor, and he said no because it wasn't enough money, so they came back to me and they was like, "Look, we'll wait, if you leave the day you wrap."

I was like, "Man, I'll leave the week before I wrap, you ain't even got to wor--" Tyler: "I'll leave right now."

Anthony: "I will drive to Jordan, you ain't even gotta worry."

So the day after I wrapped, I bounced and went to Jordan and we start shooting, and that movie literally started my career, because one dude said no because it wasn't enough money.

Tyler: Right.

Anthony: So I've been working at "Warner Brothers" all week, and I came off set yesterday and I realized I was standing on y'all's set, because there's like a big trash bag or something.

And I see the two little, like, black kid's face with the alphabets, and I'm like, "Why does this look?

This is the elementary school."

So I was standing outside, I was standing outside y'all set and had my "Oprah" aha moment, and I realized you work with a lot of kids.

So, with you, like, having been through that, and these kids, like, how does that work?

Like, do they ask you for advice, or?

Tyler: I offer advice to those who are paying attention, right?

There are certain kids you can see who are looking at things a bit differently, and they're asking, "Why is that light moving," or, "Why are we doing this again for this reason?"

And then you see their little light bulbs turn on.

There's several kids who I passed along to my old child agent, of just like, "Hey, there's something here and he wants to do this," and I wouldn't be surprised if, 10-15 years from now, I'm hearing, "I got my first job on 'Abbott.'"

And nothing would make me, nothing would make me happier than to hear that.

Anthony: That's amazing.

Tyler: Being a guy who has done a lot of film, one, to see you transition into TV was particularly interesting, but then, also, comedy.

So a lot of people don't want to come to the comedy world, and I'm like, "Come play with us, we have a good time."

Anthony: Yeah, yeah.

Yo, comedy is hard to get into, bruh.

Tyler: It's hard.

Anthony: Comedy you have to know people, because it ain't like, "Oh, you did a good movie, I'm gonna put you in my comedy."

No, this industry can only see as far as their nose, so it's like, with comedy, they have to see you around, they have to hang out with you, they have to vet you through friends and be like, "So you think he's funny?"

Or you know, stuff like that, because it's not a thing of you being talented, "Oh, he can do this," and everybody's comic bone is different.

Tyler: That's what.

Anthony: That's the hard part.

Tyler: The hardest part.

Anthony: So, the idea of comedy is something different to me.

Tyler: In "Twisted Metal," I was watching it, and at some point I was like, "This may be one of the hardest shows to do on TV right now," because, one, you're dealing with source material that doesn't really give you a lot.

Anthony: There's no source.

Tyler: Right, and there is a source and there's a fan base, but there's no backstory built here, that's 100% up to you.

Did you find that limiting or freeing?

Anthony: No, it's freeing as hell.

You know, "Twisted Metal" was a weird game, there are cars, there's a demolition derby, blow each other up, whoever is the last to get blown up wins, that was it.

Tyler: That's it.

Anthony: So we had the ability to just create this world.

I'm a firm believer in you have three different realities in which you live, you have the reality in which you actually are, you have the reality in which you're perceived, and you have the reality in which you're described.

So every character, when you read a script, the writer says, "He walks in melancholy and brooding."

Then you have the other character saying, "Why do you seem so down?"

So now you have two ideas of what your character is walking into that room with.

And then your first line is, "Oh, I'm fine, don't bother, don't worry about me."

So those two things informs how you say that line.

Tyler: Right.

Anthony: Right?

So if you're like, "I'm fine," that don't make no sense with everything on the screen.

You know, so you live in three different realities.

So, with that, building John Doe, he really lived in this world of boundless possibilities, he was a nomad, you know?

So it was so free and there were so many things in the show that weren't on the page.

Tyler: I can imagine.

Anthony: And then we just, it's like, "if you don't tell me no and just press record, oh, call the police, because it's going down."

Tyler: There's several times I was watching, I was like, "Oh, Anthony's just running, he's running, somebody let him off the leash and he's just running."

Anthony: And we shot it in New Orleans.

Tyler: Oh, you home?

Yeah.

Anthony: So I'm like, "I get good food and a bed?

Oh man, come on," like, it was the perfect storm.

♪♪♪♪♪ Angelique: Welcome to a royal summit, as Emma Corrin and Elizabeth Debicki discuss their unique experiences embodying the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

After scoring an Emmy nod as young Lady Diana in "The Crown," Emma Corrin takes on the murder mystery genre in a thrilling performance as an amateur sleuth, in "A Murder at the End of the World."

Emma: I mean, there's no plug through the cranium, so it's hard to tell the shape of the weapon.

male: What's that give us?

Emma: I mean, no soft tissue, I don't know if she had any other injuries, no ID.

male: Which means?

Emma: Probably no justice.

male: Probably right.

Well, I won't like this, maybe it was fast.

Emma: Is it ever?

male: What?

Emma: Fast enough.

Angelique: In "The Crown," Emmy nominee, Elizabeth Debicki, heartbreakingly portrays Princess Diana as she navigates life after her fairy-tale marriage ends and with the media spotlight following her every move.

Elizabeth: I can't make your father love you more by becoming your wife.

Khalid Abdalla: Well, actually, I think you can.

Elizabeth: Well, I'm not gonna do it.

Marriage is a serious, a painful business, and what we have is all about joy and healing and lightness.

♪♪♪♪♪ Emma: Hi.

Elizabeth: Here we are.

Emma: So I guess, "Diana," is what everyone would be thinking, and I realized that we had a similar thing, where you auditioned for a smaller role before, for which season, like, one or?

Elizabeth: Two.

Emma: Two.

What was the role that you went in for?

Elizabeth: I've never told anyone what the role is because the person who did it was so brilliant and I was almost completely physically wrong for it.

So I then got an email, I think, a few days later from my agent, saying, "Not that part, but we're thinking about."

Emma: And they explicitly said it?

That's wild.

Elizabeth: It was sort of, like, very vague though, it was sort of like, "We have," I guess they must have felt something Diana in it, which is hilarious because I was trying to do, not only was I not playing, well, I wasn't an English person even, like.

Emma: It wasn't?

No way.

I remember I went in for, I think a chamber maid, like a real, like we're talking like tree number two kind of role, and never heard anything.

Elizabeth: What was the line?

What was the scene?

Emma: It was something like, "Yes, mom," curtsy.

Elizabeth: I can't imagine you just went in for tree number two.

Emma: No, genuinely, tree number two.

Elizabeth: So once you had the part, how much time did you have to prepare?

Emma: I wanna say six-ish months, yeah, and I read that you did a similar thing, which is, you asked for all the research and you've got all the binders.

Did you feel overwhelmed by it?

Elizabeth: I felt, I felt, well, I felt sort of it was a double-edged sword thing for me, because I love, I love to just sort of, like, dive straight in, accumulate all.

Emma: Do you do that for all stuff you do or it depends who it is?

Elizabeth: It depends, I think when you play somebody who's based on a real-life person, the temptation to do that is very, very strong.

And I think if you do something that's historic, I'll sort of find any reason to do like immense amounts of research, but this was particularly overwhelming, I think -- Emma: With her it's bottomless, like, there is, at one point I was like, "I've got to stop, because there's too much."

Elizabeth: It was so demanding, or perhaps I was being so demanding of myself, that any other job I've ever done, even if it was based on a real-life person, I felt I could be the authority of the character from the beginning.

Emma: Yeah, whereas with her there are so many authorities.

Elizabeth: So many.

Emma: Yeah.

Elizabeth: And for me, let's feel sorry for me for a second, because for me, I watched you do it, and it was like crystal, it was so beautiful, and it was so measured and moving.

And because "The Crown" does that, not only is it like, "Here's the biggest stack of research you've ever seen, the most opinions you've ever had on a character that you will ever play in your whole life.

Oh, but also, before you get to do it, someone, absolutely brilliant human, is going to do it before you.

Emma: It must be really strange, I feel very grateful that I didn't have-- Elizabeth: Well, it was strange, but it was also kind of, like, lovely, because, well, I learned a lot from watching it.

But then, I think, I'm sure I had to sort of, like, silence that as well at some point.

That was also feeding my panic.

So, unlike Diana, that comes with this sort of enormous amount of information, preconceived ideas, I loved you in "Murder at the End of the World," I really, really, really did.

So different.

Emma: So different, anything would've been.

Elizabeth: So fresh, such a beautiful performance, it must have felt both sort of like a free fall, but also kind of, like, wonderful at the same time.

Emma: It was, it was strange because I think I thought I had a process, because research sort of gives you a process, I don't honestly think I do have one, but I think.

Elizabeth: That you don't, you feel like you don't have one?

Emma: No, not a-- Elizabeth: Not something you apply.

Emma: No, something I apply, and I kind of wish I did.

I think that I kind of adapt, I pivot with, like, each role that comes along.

And maybe that's quite nice, because it sort of means that you can let each project brings something to you instead of you bringing, like, a rigid thing to each one.

But I certainly did feel a bit of free fall, because, luckily, the world that Britt and Zal created was so rich and so full.

I remember reading the scripts, I think I got about three out of the seven initially, and I remember reading them and thinking, "Wow, I get such a sense of this world, I get such a, I mean, Darby has such a presence on the page."

Elizabeth: Well, you're also in every scene, that, I mean, that was one of my.

Emma: It was wild.

Elizabeth: Yeah, watching it, thinking of your well-being, I was like, "Oh my God."

Emma: Honestly, I don't regret it for an instant, I loved it, it was an incredible experience, I wouldn't change it, but it was a lesson learned in hubris, I suppose.

Because I read the script, I remember thinking, "This is great, this character is in every single frame."

And then, six months into the shoot where I literally had to be there physically and well enough constantly to do my best and serve the story in the project, and it was a lot.

But no, it was mostly a fantastic experience and you learn a lot from being on set every day, you learn a lot about boundaries, and, you know, what it takes to be the one.

Elizabeth: Have some.

Emma: Yeah.

Elizabeth: Yeah.

Emma: Yeah.

Elizabeth: I wrecked them.

Emma: How are you, how are your boundaries?

Elizabeth: How are my boundaries?

They are porous, at times they are far too porous.

Emma: It's hard to say no in this world, in this industry.

Elizabeth: It sure is, but you know, "No," is what makes you.

Emma: Yeah.

Elizabeth: And makes your career.

Emma: It is so true.

Elizabeth: Yeah.

♪♪♪♪♪ Angelique: We hope you've enjoyed this episode of "Variety Studio: Actors on Actors."

Clayton: Please join us again next time.

Robert: And this is "Actors on Actors" for "PBS," no expletives, stay tuned.

Anthony: And I'm like, "You're giving me a car?"

Tyler: That's the Hollywood experience, that's the full-- Anthony: They learn early.

Emma: Because you--Did you do ballet?

I know, I realize I'm just continuing the interview.

Elizabeth: They're like.

Emma: "Stop, stop."

Jodie: Let's do this again, except in our pajamas.

Robert: Finally, everybody knows it.

"PBS," all you want to see is me and Jodie talking, so we'll be back in two weeks.

♪♪♪♪♪