Elizabeth Wagmeister: Have you ever wished you could spend some time with your favorite Hollywood stars?

Brian Cox: And it's the playing I love with other people.

Emily Blunt: With other people.

Elizabeth: The most buzzed about actors in the world are sitting down in the Variety Studio for real conversations.

Rachel Weisz: More time to delve into characters.

I loved it.

Elizabeth: With Emily Blunt and Brian Cox, Taron Egerton and Rachel Weisz, and Elle Fanning and Jenna Ortega.

♪♪♪ Elizabeth: Welcome to Variety Studio, "Actors on Actors."

I'm Elizabeth Wagmeister.

Clayton Davis: And I'm Clayton Davis.

In this episode, we're hearing from the actors who gave some of the season's most memorable performances.

Elizabeth: They may be on the small screen but these are their big achievements.

Clayton: What do you get when a British A-lister spends time with a Scottish veteran of stage and screen?

Emily Blunt and Brian Cox break down the masterful technique they display in their critically acclaimed "Prestige" series.

In "The English," Emily Blunt travels to the wild west of the 1890s, seeking revenge on the man responsible for her son's death.

With a fearless and stunning delivery, she leaves no stone unturned, adding yet another knockout performance to her résumé.

Cornelia Locke: When only this afternoon you were tied up there, I was lying down over there, both about to get killed, and yet here we are.

And it's everyone else that's dead.

Like it was magic.

Like it is magic.

Cornelia: You did not just come back for that bag.

Or if you did, the bag made you do it.

Eli Whipp: This is my medicine, my family's.

Cornelia: And this is mine.

This is my son's.

He is dead now.

Clayton: Logan Roy, the billionaire media mogul in "Succession" will go down as one of television's most iconic patriarchs.

In the fourth and final season of the hit series, Emmy-winning actor, Brian Cox, proves that you don't need a lot of screen time to make the biggest impact in an ensemble cast.

Logan Roy: Look, I just wanna get us all together.

What you kids don't realize, this is a good deal.

The world likes it, it makes sense.

But deals have a habit of disappearing because-- like Matsson get--or snubbed.

Shiv Roy: Okay, well, I think I can speak for everyone, can I?

When I say, "Go ask him for more money."

Logan: But why?

Kendall Roy: Just good business sense.

Gotta make our own pile, right, Dad?

Logan: Oh, come on.

Shiv: Yeah, I mean, it's what my gut is telling me and so I gotta listen to my gut.

It's all I got to go on.

Logan: Jesus.

You are not serious figures.

I love you, but you are not serious people.

Emily Blunt: Do people come up to you?

Do you find people are different with you now after playing this part?

Brian Cox: No, it's a problem.

I mean, for--I've been doing this for, oh Jesus, I've been in this for 60 years.

Emily: Oh my God.

Brian: I know, so, and for 60 years, most of the time, I've been an, "Oh, you, well, you, oh no.

Yeah, oh yeah, you were in, oh yeah."

And so it's been like that.

Emily: Which is always so much fun, right?

Brian: It's much fun, much nicer, and it's much better.

But now, it's not easy.

Emily: Yeah, I bet.

When you guys started that show, did you get the sort of tingly feeling that this could be something special or do you--are you sort of resigned to the fact that you never quite know?

Brian: When it was pitched to me, I knew it was gonna be a winner because it's very much in the line of "Dynasty," "Dallas."

When you think about it, it's one of those shows because it's a family show.

But it's done with this hysterical perspective and it's done looking at a real problem that we have at the moment about people who live in that cloud cuckoo land, you know?

Emily: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Did you feel it was authentic for Logan?

Is he really wanting unity back with his children?

Brian: Yeah, you know, the intentions throughout the whole of the story are very simple.

He loves his children and when you make that decision, everything just falls into place.

So it's about trying to reclaim that love because love has not been present.

It's just simply not present.

He is--he's loving in his own way, and he remembers 'em as kids, you know?

That's the thing.

If you've got children and you'll find out when your children get older, you will always remember them when they're little and they'll always be there when they're little and they'll be these two different people: the people who, when they reach puberty and when they become, you know, older, or when they were this innocent stage, this kind of clumsy innocent stage.

And I think that's what he remembers about these kids and what he loved about these kids, their awkwardness and sweetness.

Could never express it because his own background has not allowed that, you know?

Just horrible things that have happened to him.

So he's always trying to reclaim something.

And then he finally has to admit, he says, you know, "I love you, but you're not serious people."

Emily: And what does he mean by that?

Brian: They're so keen on success, keen on all the elements which are not rooted in anything, you know, and he's rooted because he's created this business.

This is his life.

This is what he's done.

I mean, whatever you think of the business, whatever, and where he's come to that, he's come to that also from another place as well.

His journey has been an extraordinary one.

But he's created this world and he's put these children in a very entitled state, and they can't-- they don't know how to deal with it.

They have never learned how to deal with their sense of entitlement.

Was playing Cornelia a big step for you in terms of something that was not like anything else you'd done before?

So, in a way, it was a new--you were at a new level and I think you wholly succeeded in that level, I have to say.

But what did it feel like for you in that way?

Emily: I think I always enjoy the great unknown, right, before you take something on.

And I'm usually frozen with fear leading up to it 'cause I don't quite have a tap on them until you start.

And she had bewitched me as a character, so I did feel my work was sort of cut out for me, but that element of sort of putting your feet to the fire with someone who was so complicated and had gone through something unimaginable and I think if acting is the ultimate form of empathy, my God, did I empathize with her.

I just felt she became like this part of me, you know?

The most unforgettable character I've played, for me, that my--the closest I've felt to someone was playing her.

Brian: Did he say why he had written this?

Of what it was-- Emily: His father ran a Greyhound Bus company in America, so he spent a lot of time in America and he saw a grave once that had "Unknown Indian" on it and he never forgot it.

He saw this gravestone that said that, and this Native American was buried alongside US Cavalry.

And just the fact that everyone else was named and then you've got an "unknown Indian," like, he just was completely captivated by this image.

Couldn't forget it.

And I think, grew up watching "Hombre" and all of these extraordinary westerns and had always been--and had spent so much time in the American West, and I think wanted to write sort of to Trojan horse a Native American story and, ultimately, even though it is her journey and she's the one that kidnaps you and brings you into it, it's how do you sort of sneak in what's under the floorboards of this country.

Brian: I thought it was exceptional.

Emily: Thank you.

Brian: I really did.

I thought visually it was exceptional, like, amazing work.

And so wonderfully paced out throughout the six episodes.

So unpredictable.

You didn't know where it was gonna go.

And it must have been a great journey to be on.

Emily: It was an extraordinary one.

They sent it to me as a pilot, Hugo sent it to me.

He directed all of them as well.

Brian: Yeah, I saw that, yeah.

Emily: And I honestly signed on after the first page.

It was such singular writing, you know, and you just realize how much you read out there that's not that way, that's derivative or something, and this was so unpredictable and she was so unpredictable and certainly wasn't kind of conforming to the damsel in distress tied to a tree thing.

Brian: No, not at all.

And that's what I thought was remarkable about it is her journey.

Her journey was so surprising.

Emily: Yeah, there's a mystery about it to me.

Brian: Absolutely, and I think you have to acknowledge the mystery.

Emily: Yeah.

Brian: The scenes I've done with the kids in "Succession" have been wonderful because they've all been extraordinary.

Emily: They're all so extraordinary.

Brian: Extraordinary, wonderful, you know.

And they come and they're there, and it's formed and it's the best.

That's what I love about the job because it is always into the unknown and especially when you can play, and it's the playing I love with other people.

Emily: With other people, yeah.

Brian: It's--that's the great thing when you've got wonderful actors that you--who just make it so much easier for you.

And that's what I love about the job.

That's what I think is the most important thing about the job.

And it's the most gratifying thing about it, really.

Emily: For sure.

Brian: You know.

Elizabeth: Taron Egerton and Rachel Weisz are two of England's best and brightest actors.

Now, they're coming together for a candid conversation about the monsters they faced to take on their monstrous characters.

In "Black Bird" Taron Egerton plays a drug dealer who gets a shot at redemption if he can get a confession from a notorious serial killer.

The result: a career best turn.

James Keene: If you've given them your seeing, then the parents would have the knowing of where their girls are.

They could move on.

Larry Hall: James, you're not thinking clearly.

If I did that, then I would never get out of here.

James: You could.

What if someone could send the locations of the girls, the authorities, like, anonymously?

Larry: Why?

James: If they just did, then the families would know, they would have that.

Larry: But why should they have the-- James: Because they're probably hurting pretty bad, Larry.

Elizabeth: It's double duty for Oscar-winner, Rachel Weisz in "Dead Ringers," as she plays twins in the horror adaptation of the David Cronenberg classic.

Her performance brings chills and laughs, cementing her as one of the industry's most dedicated talents.

female 1: Twenty-two, brittle, stubborn, frankly unpleasant.

I really liked her.

Requesting sterilization.

female 2: Why?

What's the trauma?

female 1: I don't think there is one.

female 2: Is he depressed?

female 1: Doesn't seem to be.

female 2: Then what's the issue?

female 1: Very clear, very persuasive, been requesting sterilization for years.

female 2: Years?

female 1: Yeah, years.

female 2: Ridiculous, she's 22. female 1: Remember she's here to see me, not you.

Who have you got?

female 1: Genevieve Cottar, referral.

female 2: Cottar, as in the actor?

female 1: Referred from Peterson, family history of fibroids, fertility check.

female 2: She's on that show, I love that show.

Is she trying?

female 1: She's not trying, she's just informing herself.

female 2: Oh, "life's meaningless unless she has a baby."

Taron Egerton: In terms of doing episodic work, what did you love about it?

What would you--you must--have you done it before?

Rachel Weisz: No.

Taron: Really?

Rachel: No, I loved the fact that the writer has creative control so it's like the words lead everything and the tone is set by the writing, and I loved having just more time.

It's an obvious thing to say but, like, more time to delve into characters.

I loved it.

So they're both six episodes, yeah.

Taron: Yes, this thing came along, actually during lockdown.

I was sent the scripts.

And the last thing I'd done was playing Elton John and it felt like it had shifted the conversation for me a little bit because it was more of a character piece and I was sort of known for doing the "Kingsman" films which are a sort of riff on, you know, James Bond and it's all a bit more concept, action-driven.

Rachel: It was so brilliant.

You were so--you was incredibly young when you did the "Kingsman".

Taron: Yeah, it was about 10 years ago now.

But anyway, this came along and it was this character who's rooted and grounded and heavy and dark, intense, and it just felt like a really great pivot and the episodic nature of it just meant that it had that glorious slow unfurling of a character, and an arc that spans more time.

Rachel: Yeah, you really get to know him.

Taron: Yeah, that's the joy of the medium, I think, is that you're not required to lay all your cards on the table in terms of who you're playing right away and it's--I loved your show.

Rachel: Thank you.

Taron: I, really, it's amazing.

And I thought I'd start by asking about the genesis of it and whether it came from you or the amazing Alice Birch, and the idea and how you became involved.

Rachel: Yeah, she is incredible, Alice Birch, who's the writer and show runner.

It began with a kind of a little daydream.

I was a fan of the film, and I was thinking about stories to tell that I could be in, and so I just suddenly one day thought, "Oh, it could be sisters instead of brothers, and--" Taron: What was it about it that you loved so much?

Rachel: I loved the kind of weird thriller element of the whole movie, the vibe of it, the tone of it.

I think it's iconic and perfect and a masterpiece and I've seen it a lot of times since it came out.

And then I guess there's the central performance of two co-dependent siblings who are having the time of their life, like-- Taron: Yeah, until they're not.

Rachel: Exactly, yeah, but you were also playing two different characters in your show.

They're not twins but you were playing--you were playing a character who was playing a character, right?

And I thought what you did in the moments where I could see the distance between who Jimmy really was and then who Jimmy was trying to be, dealing with Larry, and when that slipped, it was like such a beautiful, like, calibration of a actor playing someone playing someone.

It was Taron pretending to be Jimmy pretending to be somebody else.

Taron: To be yet another version of Jimmy, yeah.

Rachel: Well, the most fun thing for me in my version of that was Beverly pretending to be Elliot, or Elliot pretending to be Beverly.

So that was like a delightful, delicious challenge.

Taron: Do you find it kind of hard to depict difficult things?

Rachel: I just loved how, like, weird and twisted the relationship is.

In a way, the show's not really about motherhood, it's just about the moment when the babies are born and the doctors you deal with.

I know Beverly is desperate to be a mother, though.

That's true.

But what you were saying before about, like, going to dark places, is that what you were saying?

Like, does it-- Taron: Yeah, just so wondering if--'cause-- Rachel: Does it affect-- Taron: Well, I said to you before we were recording that I found it quite harrowing to watch, and you seemed surprised.

And-- Rachel: Only because of "Black Bird" is so harrowing.

I was just thinking-- Taron: Oh yeah, well, I guess they both should come with a health warning maybe, but-- Rachel: But they're harrowing in really different ways.

Taron: Did you find it-- I guess it is harrowing when you view it.

Did you find it harrowing to shoot?

Rachel: No.

Taron: No, neither did I. Rachel: It was like one of the most joyous experiences of my life.

Taron: Exactly, I feel exactly the same.

Rachel: Yeah, I've never had so much fun and joy.

I mean, it was challenging as-- Taron: Of course, and hard work.

Rachel: Very hard work.

Taron: And I find it so creatively fulfilling to do, that I--it was a joy.

It was a joy from start to finish.

Rachel: Yeah, me too.

I found it exhilarating.

Taron: Yeah.

Clayton: Aging, nothing but a number.

At least when it comes to the abilities of Angenou's Elle Fanning and Jenna Ortega.

Two of young Hollywood's biggest stars, both actors lead hit series that have permeated the pop culture zeitgeist.

Emmy-nominee, Elle Fanning, has demonstrated her effortless range as an actress since the age of five.

With three seasons playing Catherine the Great in the historical black comedy, "The Great," she shows that no character is too big of a challenge.

Catherine: I thought I would write a speech about forgiveness, a new day for us all and release them.

Catherine: [sighing] I see your looks.

[sighing] I'm naïve.

I think people can be changed by reason and a few pithy words will unlock their hearts and minds and the good of all will be seen and sacrifices will be made for that.

Oh, girl, agh!

Aunt Elizabeth: It's sweet.

male: It's a cute idea.

Catherine: But doomed, yes.

Clayton: Breakout star, Jenna Ortega, inherits the lovably spooky role of Wednesday Addams in the prequel series, "Wednesday."

Her dance moves, deadpan looks, and one-line zingers became viral sensations and made her a bona fide superstar.

Morticia Addams: I merely meant that finally you will be among peers who understand you.

Maybe you'll even make some friends.

Gomez Addams: Nevermore is like no other boarding school.

It's a much cool place.

It's where I met your mother and we fell in love.

Wednesday Addams: You guys are making me nauseous.

Not in a good way.

Morticia: Darling, we aren't the ones who got you expelled.

That boy's family was going to file attempted murder charges.

How would that have looked on your record?

Wednesday: Terrible.

Elle Fanning: How did you--I'm, like, I'm so curious about your physicality, like, as Wednesday.

How did you come up with that?

You don't blink much, and you also are like, there's a real...which you're not like, I mean, you know, it's a character.

Jenna Ortega: I think I'm kind of slinky.

My--naturally, I'm very-- Elle: Yeah, it's--I get this little spidery or something to her that very rigid, like, was that a--was that talked about or how did that come about?

Jenna: It wasn't talked about but I'm sure that you run into it a lot.

Oftentimes, teenage girls are just brats or, for some reason, super against the world and just nasty and it's great for Wednesday because that's what she is and it's fun and she's just excited by, you know, evil things.

Elle: Yeah.

Jenna: But I needed something that was gonna differentiate her from past iterations, but then also just from other characters that I do, I want everything that I do to kind of stand out or to feel like maybe certain characters that I play wouldn't get along or are different people.

Elle: Like, there's not a single word, physicality, that's, like, out of place.

It's like, and it's also so exciting to have a new Wednesday 'cause I always think--I think of Christina Ricci.

Jenna: So do I. Elle: You know, and then, did she give you any advice or anything, like, on set?

Like, how cool is that?

Jenna: No, it was so--it was almost a bit awkward.

I didn't--it's a bit strange meeting someone where you're kind of doing cosplay or a version of them 30 years ago.

So, to be dressed in front of her and, obviously, I think that she is the perfect Wednesday.

It was like the perfect age.

I'm very, very impressed by her 11-year-old self and everything that she's continued to do onwards, so also just naturally having so much respect and admiration for her as an actress, I was very, very nervous and I don't think she really wanted to give me too much input and I didn't wanna ask for input because it was really, really important to me that I didn't try to knock off her performance because it was already so perfectly done.

If anything, that's kind of embarrassing on my part and I feel like it's kind of my job, especially it's such a different time, that was 30 years ago, to kind of integrate more modern ideas or a more modern take on a character so that, you know, she continues to be timeless and appeal to a new audience.

Yeah, definitely, you try here and there, but it's nothing like--I don't have to do--I could never-- I'm awful at accents.

I could never be a British queen.

Elle: If you had a good dialect coach, you can-- which I do, and she helps me.

Jenna: Yeah, no, you're--you were so, so, so funny in your show.

I was not anticipating-- I went into it, like, completely blind.

For me, personally, comedic acting is a lot more difficult than something dramatic because-- Elle: I know, I agree.

Which I didn't--I don't think I ever realized that, 'cause I didn't really do a lot of comedic things before "The Great."

I feel like, yeah, my roles were probably more dramatic.

And then, through "The Great" I actually learned, really, how difficult it was and how, kind of, unembarrassed you have to feel with yourself to just go there.

And I think with the cast, they're all--their background, a lot of it is they're from theater so they're so gifted dramatically and comedically, and that they were all really there to help me along with the rhythm of it and-- 'cause I don't know--also, like, on "Wednesday" too, like, there are such specific jokes and especially, like, very deadpan jokes that you have to hit and there's, like, a punch line there.

I don't know, 'cause that--sometimes I would read scripts in "The Great," you're like, "Oh, that's a punch line."

Think, "That's a joke," like, I want people to laugh at that moment, you know?

I'm like, "I hope they do."

But I think I've gotten a little more comfortable in the comedy world now that we're on season three, so.

Jenna: Is there anything in terms of getting yourself ready for that era or that time that you have to do to make sure things are accurate or-- Elle: Yeah, I tried to--I remember starting out and I was, like, "Okay, I'm playing Catherine the Great so I need to do all this research on her and kind of pull out the books and read a bit," and then Tony was, like, "You don't need to do that," like, you know, "Of course it's fun to read about her," and there are-- there are things in our show that we do bring in.

You know, she brought female education and science and she invented the roller coaster and that is real.

And, yeah, there are so many different layers to that, so I'm happy.

I think both of us, we get to do that in our shows.

Jenna: Yeah, I'm so happy for you and incredible, especially when, yeah, when you've been doing this show for 5 years to be able to play someone who does have different flavors and is constantly surprising you in some form, that is really, really, I think, good for you to kind of, you know, play with and challenge yourself.

Elle: Yeah, I know you're a producer next season.

Jenna: I am a producer.

Elle: Which is-- Yeah, what made you wanna kind of step into that role?

Jenna: It kind of--well-- Elle: This is your first thing, producing?

Jenna: This is my first time producing a television series, so I'm--I was pretty excited about that.

I think for us on our shows, it's pretty much a natural progression just because we had already been throwing out so many ideas and I'm somebody who's very hands on and I wanna know what's going on and I think with a character like Wednesday, who was so beloved and is such a legend, I just really didn't wanna get her wrong, so I think I tried to have as many conversations as possible and it was naturally already very collaborative so I think that, you know, in preparation for a second season, we kind of wanted to get ahead of the curve.

I'm just so curious, I wanna see the outfits, new characters that are coming in scripts, and yeah, they were gracious enough and cool enough to let me put the producer hat on which I'm really excited-- Elle: As they should, you know?

Jenna: But you on your show, it's your first time producing a television series as well.

Elle: It was, yes.

When I--gosh, 'cause the first season, we did the pilot, we filmed it when I was 20 and now I'm 25 so I'm like, "This part has been--she's like, she's formed my whole 20s," like she, I don't know, she's like this character is like in such formative years of my life, I feel like I've grown up through her and I think a lot of actors that I've talked to as well, the advice is always to produce your own work, go out there, find a book you love, find an article you love, and you can make that.

So I think, for myself, I'm like, I'm really starting to, "I'm gonna produce my own material and have more say," and I think even through each season, I've grown so much with my voice and opinions of really saying how I feel, 'cause I guess for a long time too I felt like, "Oh gosh, I'm young, like, I should listen to the adults," you know?

But then when you think about it, you're like, "Well, we've been acting for a very long time and we've been on a lot of sets from a very young age, and we're allowed to have those opinions, and we do know what we're talking about," you know?

We really, we really do.

And so I've learned to kind of assert myself.

So I always say don't be afraid to assert yourself.

Jenna: Yeah, I feel like that's definitely something that I'm learning now and I think that that's why someone like Wednesday is someone who kind of forced me out of my shell in that sense and especially the most beautiful experiences that I've had on a job or the jobs that I'm most proud of, have always been the ones where everyone's voice is heard, everyone pitches in, everyone and, yeah, with your experience-- Elle: And you can be wrong, too.

Like that's the thing.

Jenna: One hundred percent.

Some ideas land and sometimes they don't.

And it's great if, you know, we have the time and we're in a space now to explore as much as we possibly can.

Elle: Yeah.

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

Elizabeth: Please join us again next time.

Emily: Let's walk around Brooklyn together or we could-- Brian: Yeah, we'll do that.

Emily: All right.

Brian: We'll meet in, you know, in Montague Street, somewhere.

Emily: Yeah, exactly.

Emily: I'm gonna show you the best croissants in Brooklyn.

Brian: All right, well, I hold you to that.

Emily: All right, done.

Rachel: It's really lovely to meet you again.

We're both so British.

Taron: We're both so British and awkward.

Elle: Are you a good auditioner?

I'm a terrible auditioner?

Jenna: Oh, God, I'm awful.

Elle: Awful?

Jenna: Awful.

Elle: Yeah, I'm not a good auditioner at all.

I fainted in audition once.