Jonathan Pryce Invited the Queen to Watch Him in a Play About a Man Having an Affair with a Goat

-Our next guest is a Tony-winning, Oscar-nominated actor you know from movies like "Brazil" and "The Two Popes," as well as "Game of Thrones." He received two Emmy nominations this year for his work in "The Crown" and "Slow Horses." New episodes of "Slow Horses" premiere Wednesdays on Apple TV+. Let's take a look. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Please welcome to the show Sir Jonathan Pryce, everybody. ♪♪ ♪♪ Welcome to the show. It's such an honor to have you. -Thank you, thank you. Actually, it's a real surprise to me earlier that Demi and I both brought our Chihuahuas. -You brought a Chihuahua as well? -You want to -- -You have it with you? -Sorry. -Oh, my God, this is... Oh, no. Have you lost -- Oh, Jonathan. Oh, no. Jonathan. This is heartbreaking. Do you think -- Do you think you can push through? -I'll be okay. I'll be okay. Don't worry. -[ Laughs ] I was very happy. You've been in every season of "Slow Horses." This is a wonderful show about sidelined MI5 agents. And you were a little housebound in the first three seasons, and now they finally let you be part of the action. -It's great. I'm not complaining, because the first three series, I worked mostly with Jack Lowden, who is extraordinary and a lovely, lovely young man. And he gives good grandson. -Yes. -And this season, things are happening, and I get to meet the rest of the cast, the people -- you know, I watch it as if I'm part of the audience. -Yeah. -Because I don't meet these people. -It's wonderful. -And suddenly I'm in Slough House. I'm with Gary Oldman and Saskia Reeves and... Yeah, it's great. I'm having a wonderful time. -It's a fantastic ensemble show. "The Crown" is, of course, another fantastic ensemble show. And again, you're playing a grandfather in that as well. -Yeah. -This is exciting for you. -The grandfather years. -The grandfather years. Is it true that you had originally planned on retiring at age 60? -Well, I said it -- I was much younger, when 60 was old, because I'd be on set or in the theater with older actors that the crew and younger actors were kind of patronizing and being kind to or not being kind to. And I would find myself, if we had someone who'd been very well known when they were younger, when I was younger, I would say, "You do realize who he is, don't you?" Or in that case, who he was. And I didn't want to be the guy they would say "See that? You do realize who he was. He was in 'The Crown.'" So, anyway, I got past 60, and it's been -- it just it gets better because you're less -- you're certainly less competitive. Well, there are fewer people to be competitive with. -Yeah. That helps. -It helps. Yeah. -You don't strike me -- -♪ Another one bites the dust ♪ Yeah. -If I see -- By the way, now, when any one of your contemporaries go, if there's any foul play... -There'll be me. I'll be there. -You do not strike me as someone who is competitive by nature. But you were nominated -- Oh, am I wrong? Nominated for both "The Crown" and "Slow Horses." Congratulations. -Thank you. Thank you. -I imagine you find out about both nominations on the same day. Where were you when you got the news? -I was actually on holiday in France, and we were having lunch and, with two friends, my wife, Kate. And I kept my phone next to me because I knew it was going to be that day. Lunch is going fine. And my phone went ping, and, "Oh, I've been nominated for an Emmy." I carried on with lunch and ping, "Oh, I've been nominated again." So, um... Yeah, it was very, very nice. I didn't expect it. I'd missed out the previous years. Years and years. [ Laughter ] But it's been great. We had one of my Emmys -- This is a spoiler alert. I've already lost one. -Yeah. You were there. The Creative Arts Emmys. And so that was for "Slow Horses." -Guest actor. Yeah. -Yeah. You're already -- Well, there's no easy way to say it. You're already a loser. -I know. Yeah, it's hard, it's hard. But I did -- I had a great night, and I got to meet some great people. I got to meet Kristen Wiig, who I'm a big fan of hers, and she said she was a big fan of mine, so that's always nice to hear. It's nice to come to America and have an ego boost. -Yes. -Great. -Well, I wanted to -- -That's why I'm here, actually. -We aim to please. -No other reason. -We aim to please. I've heard you -- And again, these are your words. I have heard you describe yourself as a praise whore. -Yeah. That's true. -Yeah. -It's true. -Do you like it? -Well, it's the reason I go into acting. Yeah. -And did you have other paths that you thought you might follow? -I went to art school when I was 16, and then I trained to be an art teacher and at the college I went to, you had to do a subsidiary course, and I was told the easiest course to do that required the least amount of work was the drama course. So I signed up for that, and it turned out to be true. And -- But a tutor from another college saw me act, and he'd been a professional actor. And he said, "Have you ever thought of acting?" I said, no, and he said, "Well, I think you should, and I think you should go to RADA," the Royal Academy. And so he sent off for the papers, coached me through a couple of speeches, and I was accepted. And I began to learn about theater then and learn about acting. But I did find that I think that one of the reasons I liked acting so much was that, you know, my painting, it was good, it was okay, but no one was going, "Oh, that's the best thing I've ever seen." Whereas acting, they go, you know, "Yeah. Well done." So I thought "I like this side of it." -Yeah. You and me both. Yeah. I'm not saying I'm any different than that. It's nice to be in front of an audience. -Yeah, yeah, yeah. -What was the -- What was your first play that you did at RADA? -I don't remember. -Yeah, well. -No. I remember my last play. -Which was? -Yes. It's a play called "Ride a Cockhorse." -Okay. -And you, um -- Please. And you -- [ Laughter ] -Sorry. I can't do anything about them. It's awful. Can't bring them anywhere. -Your people. And you get to have some kind of say in what your final show is going to be, because agents and casting people will come to see it. And I chose this play because it was one man and four women. So they could not avoid seeing me, you know. And it happened that the director of the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool came to see that show, and left a note at the stage door. He actually, I discovered, left at the intermission, but he left the note saying, "There's a job for you at the Everyman if you want it." -Wow. -So I left college and started a couple of months later at the Everyman. -That's fantastic. -Where I stayed for two years. -What a start to things. You're in "The Crown." You also did -- You did meet the Queen. -I did meet the Queen. -You had an audience with the Queen. There you are. And I'm wondering what -- you know, obviously, you don't have a lot of time, but what was your conversation with the Queen like? -Well, you're not really supposed to say anything. You have to wait until they speak to you. But I thought, "Sod that." So I'd just been doing a play which you might know. Edward Albee's "The Goat." -Yes. -Where it's a 50-year-old man who admits to having an affair with a goat. -Yeah. -And, um -- Yeah. And it's not just about that. It's about so many other things. -Sure, sure, sure. But, like, a lot of the people who buy tickets are there for that part. Yeah. -Oh, yeah. So I said to her, actually, I said, "We have met before when you came to see," I think it was a musical. I might have been "Miss Saigon" or something. "Oh, yeah." And I said, "Actually, you should come and see the play I'm doing now." "Oh. Oh, what's that?" "It's called 'The Goat.'" "Oh." And I said, "Yeah, it's about a 50-year-old man who has a love affair with a goat." [ Laughter ] And she moved on. [ Laughter ] It was great. [ Applause ] And I'm sure afterwards somebody came up to you and was like, "That's why you're not supposed to talk to the Queen." -Yeah. -You know, you play a former spy to some degree in "Slow Horses." You've played in a Bond film. You were a villain in "Tomorrow Never Dies." And we found a clip. And again, I am a huge fan of your acting, and especially the amount of work you put into the physical side of acting. It's not just verbal. -No. -And I'm going to show this clip, and when it's over, I'm going to have some questions about whether or not you know how to type. -Okay. British Secret Service Agent James Bond and his collaborator Wei Lin of the Chinese People's External Security Force were found dead this morning in Vietnam. [ Laughter ] -That's how I play the piano as well. -I will say, I mean, the joy of playing a Bond villain is the flourishes you put into it, but nobody has ever typed more evilly. -Yeah, yeah. No, you got me there. Yeah. No research. -You also did me a great favor a few years ago. I work on a show called "Documentary Now." I wrote an episode called "How They Throw Rocks." And you played basically just a journalist talking about this Welsh sport of rock throwing. And I can't imagine you knew much about it when they -- when we asked you if you would do it. -No, it was it was something that I'd never heard of it. -That's still the case with most people. -Yeah, yeah. In fact, I've only just rediscovered it because I hadn't seen it, and I've just watched it in the dressing room. And it's good. -Thank you. Yeah. -Well, you're very good in it. -It's good. -It was very special to me. Rhys Thomas, who's one of our directors, you know, we were filming in Wales, but we were shooting Wales for other places. And I said, "Since we're doing it in Wales and you're Welsh, I'm going to write an episode that takes place in Wales." And he said, "I insist that it's an all-Welsh cast," and when you watch it, you'll know that every single person in it as well. So it was very important, it helped us get the other Welsh actors once we had someone of your stature. -Oh, great. -Thank you. -Did Tony Hopkins turn you down? -He did, yes. -Okay. -He did. Yeah. Real -- like a very -- a very fast no. -Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know I did "Two Popes" with Tony. -Yes, of course. Oscar nominated. -Yeah, that -- Yeah. He was as well. Yes. -Yeah. -But the great thing between us, rivalry between us, not that I'm competitive, but I was number one on the call sheet. -Really? You were the first Pope? -And he was number two. -Wow. -And I'd have breakfast with him most mornings in Rome. I'd approach him towards the table. He'd go, "[ Scoffs ] Morning. Morning, number one." -And I'd go, "Morning, number two." And that would go on. And then he made big signs for his trailer that he was actually number one. -Well, to each their own, right? -Yeah. -Yes. You have to support an actor's ego. Hey, this has really been special to talk to you. Thank you so much for being here. -Thank you. -Jonathan Pryce, everybody. New episodes of "Slow Horses" stream Wednesdays on Apple TV+. We'll be right back.