Elle and Nicholas Hoult Talk The Great on Portrait Mode

Quarantine is bringing out the artistic side of a lot of us with nothing better to do. That’s exactly the case for Hulu costars Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult, who talk about their new historical comedy miniseries, The Great, while sketching each other in our latest episode of Portrait Mode.

Fanning (who plays Russian empress Catherine the Great) and Hoult (who plays her lackluster husband, Peter III of Russia) put their artistic skills to the test while recalling hilarious incidents on set and reminiscing over previous projects they’ve done together.

ON ELLE NOT BEING ABLE TO CONTROL HER STOMACH GROWLS ON SET…

“The scene towards the end, I don’t know what was going on with me, but my stomach was growling so much,” Fanning divulges. “And Nick had to put his ear up to my stomach and it was just talking back. It was so loud. … I think it was the corset, I’m blaming it on the corset.”

Hoult adds, “You’re very good, though, when I forget my lines, you’re very supportive. ‘Cause sometimes I find it quite frustrating and embarrassing, and I feel like I’m not good at my job. But certainly that scene at the end—because I had to pretend to be talking to our unborn son in your stomach—and your stomach was communicating back, so it was quite nice actually. It was probably the best method acting ever.”

ON WORKING TOGETHER…
“We work in very similar ways, don’t we? So it’s quite easy for us to work together,” Hoult says of his costar.

Fanning recalls that they previously worked together on the 2014 film Young Ones, in which they again play a married couple. “Another weird, very messed-up marriage,” Fanning says. “You killed my dad in that movie.”

“I did,” Hoult concedes. “I killed [actor] Michael Shannon. He was your father, and then I kind of took over the family.”

Fanning continues, “You’re a bad husband.”

Watch the full episode here to hear more behind-the-scenes details.

Elle Talks ‘The Great,’ ‘Grease’ and Working With Sister Dakota Fanning

On IMDb’s new podcast, ‘Movies That Changed My Life,’ the star of Hulu’s ‘The Great’ opens up on just that — the films she watched growing up that influenced her career.

Elle Fanning is allergic the phrase “strong female characters.”

That’s what the star of Hulu’s new MRC-produced series The Great explained on the latest episode of IMDb’s newly launched podcast Movies That Changed My Life.

“What does that mean?” Fanning asked, in reference to her character Catherine, as in Cathering the Great, to host Ian de Borja, best known for his work on The IMDb Show. She wanted to show all sides to the historical figure, who gets a reimagining in the Tony McNamara-created series in which she stars opposite Nicholas Hoult. “I was really aware that I wanted to humanize her. She makes mistakes; sometimes she waivers, sometimes she’s weak and sometimes she’s incredibly brave. There’s room for that on TV — to have complicated female characters.”

There’s nothing complicated about Movies That Changed My Life. The weekly series features actors and filmmakers discussing the movies that inspired them and helped launch their careers. The podcast joins other popular IMDb original video series including The IMDb Show, IMDbrief and What to Watch. The inaugural episode features Westworld’s Jeffrey Wright, who was followed by Joel McHale, Judy Greer, Felicia Day and Kevin Smith.

New episodes come out every Thursday wherever podcasts are found, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, IMDb.com/podcasts and through IMDb’s iOS and Android apps.

Says Nikki Santoro, head of IMDb Consumer: “These personal and in-depth conversations with our customers’ favorite actors and filmmakers will reveal the defining moments in their lives, ultimately providing listeners with a greater understanding of their favorite performers, as well as recommendations for new films to add to their IMDb Watchlists.”

On the episode with Fanning, she also dishes on her upcoming film The Nightingale, a role that put her opposite sister Dakota for the first time in their careers; how the first time she watched The Neverending Story was with Bijou Phillips at Sean Lennon’s apartment next to John Lennon’s piano; and how she would dress up as the iconic Sandy while watching Grease. To listen to Fanning, click here.

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Elle: “I’m kind of allergic to the term strong female character”

“I’m kind of allergic to the term ‘strong female character’,” Elle Fanning says with a knowing smile about playing a famous historical figure who also happens to be a woman. “I don’t really know what that means,” she laughs. “I want to play a human who has many layers, who doesn’t always have the right answer.” Watch our exclusive video interview with Fanning above.

“The Great” is an uproarious genre-bending exploration of the early life of Catherine the Great, following her rise from young outsider to the longest-reigning ruler in Russia’s history. It features razor-sharp dialogue, hilarious over the top performances from Fanning as Catherine and co-star Nicholas Hoult as Emperor Peter and lavish production and costume design.

It is an edgier, more contemporary take on an especially depraved and backward 18th century Russia, that according to Hulu’s cheeky advertising campaign for the show “occasionally” incorporates historical facts. Catherine arrives in Russia after it is arranged for her to marry Peter, but she soon realizes that if she is going to survive, she will need to usurp her new husband Peter and take the crown herself. To do so, all she has to do is kill her husband, beat the church, baffle the military and get the court onside.

Fanning was fascinated with playing Catherine, because she was given the opportunity to portray the famous monarch as a real person with flaws, emotions, desires, fears and ambitions. “I wanted to humanize her,” Fanning admits. “She is this historical figure and we know what she did, she did incredible things but I wanted to figure out what makes her tick. I didn’t want to make her the strongest person in the room.”

At the same time, Fanning recognizes that Catherine was a powerful and transformational figure who was “truly a feminist icon,” she says. “She is the woman who truly went head on with the man and ultimately took him down. She went head to head with him. The power of that and what that says is so beautiful,” she explains. “What she represents today and now is taking down the man. She’s the original!”

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Cast Superlatives: Nicholas Hoult and Elle Fanning

Watch as Nicholas Hoult and Elle Fanning reveal who’s “most likely to…”