male announcer: Don't touch that dial.

Charlie Cox: My son thinks I'm a superhero, legit.

Joe Locke: That's the best.

male announcer: Because Variety Studio is bringing you conversations between Hollywood's top TV stars.

Keri Russel: The gift of doing TV right now is that there's a trust built, and then your work is freer.

male announcer: With Danny DeVito.

Danny DeVito: You were brilliant in that show.

male announcer: And Colin Farrell.

Colin Farrell: Oh, it's so fun.

male announcer: Keri Russell and Scott Speedman.

Scott Speedman: I enjoy this job way more than I used to for sure.

male announcer: And Charlie Cox and Joe Locke.

Joe: Yeah, great, cool.

♪♪♪ Clayton Davis: Welcome to "Variety Studio: Actors on Actors."

I'm Clayton Davis.

Angelique Jackson: And I'm Angelique Jackson.

We're getting the inside scoop on some of the most interesting TV characters from the past year.

Clayton: Courtesy of the A-listers who brought them to life.

Clayton: From the sewers of Gotham to the peak of prestige TV, Danny DeVito and Colin Farrell have both left their marks on one of DC Comic's most enduring villains.

Danny DeVito first brought Oswald Cobblepot to life in Tim Burton's "Batman Returns," turning The Penguin into a grotesque, oddly tragic crime boss.

Today, DeVito continues to delight audiences with this chaos loving antics on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."

Danny: What, what's this?

Is that a toilet?

Charlie Day: Uh, yeah.

Danny: You mean to tell me we've been living here all this time and you never told me we had a bathroom?

Charlie: It's really like, noisy.

It runs all the time.

It's not a good one.

Danny: We--in cans, Charlie.

Charlie: You can always go number two down the hall, and like, it's a good system.

Danny: What else are you hiding from me?

Charlie: Nothing.

Clayton: Oscar nominee Colin Farrell reimagines the villain Oz Cobb for a new era in "The Penguin," a gritty spin-off of "The Batman."

Colin: I'm telling you, I know what I'm doing.

You've seen me through worse, and I always come out the other side better than before.

Trust me.

Ain't nothing about Sofia Falcone I can't handle.

Danny: So, yeah, here we are.

Colin: It's good to see you.

Danny: I miss you, I miss you.

Colin: I'm only a phone call away, Danny.

Danny: No, I text you.

Colin: We text each other.

Danny: Okay, we text each other.

But anyway, I, like I was saying, I miss you because we spent a lot of time hanging out on Tim's movie.

Colin: On "Dumbo."

That's still to this day the most beautiful set I've ever worked on.

Going to work every day in that big warehouse they had, and they built a whole fun park, a whole theme park inside a warehouse that they used to build zeppelins in.

And they had cars and horses and 300 people in a building.

It was the weirdest thing, but-- Danny: He's got a vision, Tim.

Just a magic guy.

Colin: How many films have you done with him?

Danny: Five, I think.

Colin: Batman, which we'll get to.

Danny: "Batman Returns."

Colin: Yeah, did you like doing the Penguin?

Danny: I did, I did.

Colin: Was it a simple yes when he asked you to do it, or?

Danny: Oh, absolutely.

No, simple yes and-- Colin: Makeup tests and all that stuff, 'cause that was, that was as extreme a look as I had on mine.

It was very different, but just as extreme and just as arduous in the mornings I'd imagine.

Danny: Well, the first time I saw yours, I said, oh my.

It was, you know, total transformation.

How long did it take to do the makeup?

Colin: Three in the--the first makeup test was all in.

Like, the fir--in--we tested in the Warner Brothers lot, about six months before we shot the film, and that was seven or eight hours, but that was the first time and everyone was nervous, and they had a team of 15, and then they got it down to about three hours in the morning.

Danny: Yeah, you're Oz, I'm Oswald.

Look at--straighten that out.

My ritual was this.

I get there in the morning, like 5 o'clock, 4, 4:30, 5 o'clock in the morning, and I'd go into the makeup room and I'd sit in the chair, and V. Neil, who was the makeup artist, we'd be standing there with the little thing of glue.

Okay, so in the end.

Colin: By the end that was a bit depressing, that first pipe brush touching your skin.

Danny: Exactly, the first, and this was where she went first with me.

She went on the, like right over the nose around here, 'cause they had to put that big prosthetic on you.

Colin: That was the anchor.

Danny: Yeah, that was the thing, the beak was the anchor, and.

But once that went on and they stuck the prosthetic on, and with all the glue and powdered it, it felt like then it was a, it was an easier slope.

It wasn't like, downhill skiing from there.

It was like, kind of like just gliding along for the next couple of hours, few hours.

How'd that feel for you?

Colin: I'd--pretty much the same.

I, but at the start it was, I--yeah, I come in in my pajamas every morning, 'cause I just wasn't willing to commit to wear a pair of jeans to work anymore.

I was just in my pajamas every morning.

I'd have a shave in the morning just to make sure the skin was totally soft, 'cause any little particles of hair-- Danny: No, you had to shave.

Colin: The pieces wouldn't stick.

Close the eyes, and then Mike could come in with the first brush, and as soon as the glue would hit, it was a bit of a dow--it was a bit of a changer.

It was a bit of a downer.

But then, as you say, once the pieces started to go on, I'd say your transformation began, it wasn't that, but yeah, it was just the initial, it was the initial smack of here we go again.

And then it was fine.

Danny: It was comfortable, right?

Colin: Yeah, I really enjoyed it, like I really, and I use it as an opportunity to, I mean, I could have learned my lines the night before and I tried, but I'd top up on the lines and the day's work, and then by the end I had a hood, 'cause I had the head on and my body was skinny 'cause I hadn't put the thing on.

Danny: You hadn't put the thing on yet, yeah.

Colin: So it was very, very strange, where there was this Oz head and then this little skinny Irish body beneath us.

So I had like a John Merrick elephant man hood that they made with two eye holes, and I put that on, 'cause there was cameras outside.

Danny: I mean, you were brilliant in that show, and there's so much emotion and so many different places to go with that character.

Colin: Yeah, they really dug in, 'cause they had the eight hours.

You know, the five or six scenes in the film, and then they had the eight hours, but you had a, you had a good backstory as well.

I mean, you were totally thrown out of the nest, weren't you?

Your Penguin was flung into the river at a very young age and raised by penguins, so yours was more heightened and more comic book based, which is not to say it wasn't grounded of course.

Yeah, so "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."

Tell me about the character of Frank Reynolds.

Danny: Frank Reynolds is an amazing character.

Colin: Yeah, is he one of your favorites?

Danny: One of my favorites.

The thing about Always Sunny was like, these guys, you know, Charlie Day and Rob McElhenney and Glenn Howerton, they called me, asked me if I'd like to be part of it, and I didn't know how I was gonna fit in.

I said, "What am I gonna do?

Just Danny DeVito going into this show," and so I met with the guys.

I loved them, they were terrific guys and they're so creative.

You know, ideas just zap out of 'em.

Said, "We know how to make it work.

Here's the way.

You're Dennis and Dee's dad."

I go, "What?"

You know, they write the scripts, they come up with all these wacky ideas.

They'll go with anything.

Throw 'em off a building, do this, come out of a couch naked.

Colin: And you have story ideas as well?

Danny: Yeah, you can pitch to these guys.

Colin: Oh, that's so fun.

Danny: Oh God, they're great.

Colin: So it must be one of the most fun jobs you've had, for the looseness and the creativity and the lack of preciousness, and I mean that as a virtue.

I mean that as a virtue, you know.

Danny: You care about it.

You go to work, you have a good time.

It's like, amazing.

Colin: That's great, man.

Danny: It's really cool.

Colin: Would you do the Penguin again if there was, if there was a revisitation.

If Tim called you up, would you?

What did you like about the charac--like, why would you do it again?

Danny: I just loved it because it was, you know, it gave you a freedom to burst out.

Well, you too, you had it.

You know that, you can, you can go off the rails with something.

I mean, you had a little bit more restraints because you were, you're in a totally other realm, but the operatic element of Tim Burton's "Batman Returns," with the music and the sets, and the, and his penguins and his minions and his passion, and all of that I loved about it.

I mean, that's the character that you-- Colin: Did you, did you take it home with you at all?

Like, do you take it home?

Like, if a character you're playing is having very extreme thoughts, emotions, behaviors, it doesn't come home at all?

It does--I mean, come home with you.

Danny: Not go home, go home to Rhea and the kids.

Colin: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, lovely.

Danny: Keep it, keep it separate.

Yeah, otherwise it would be really--I played some really despicable characters.

It would be hard to live with Louie.

It would be hard to live with any of the characters that I played.

You know, like, even Frank.

Frank would be really ridiculous to live with.

[camera shutter] Angelique: "Felicity" fans rejoice as Keri Russell and Scott Speedman, once the ultimate will they, won't they college couple, are both back in the TV spotlight, reminding us why we fell for them in the first place.

Emmy nominee Keri Russell leads the charge in "The Diplomat," playing a savvy foreign service officer juggling global crises and personal entanglements.

Keri: I wouldn't say I want to be Vice President.

female: You wouldn't.

Keri: I think we'd all be happier if you stayed where you are, but I understand there is a problem, and I'm willing to step in.

female: So you would be vice president of the United States as a favor.

Keri: I'm no one's first pick is my point.

I know I have a lot to learn.

If you have any advice, I'd love to hear it.

Angelique: Scott Speedman scrubs in on "Grey's Anatomy," where he plays a gifted surgeon with a complicated heart.

Scott: Okay, first of all, not everything is about you, and if you considered even for a second, that someone may have gotten this wrong, she is 41 years old.

Dr. Meredith Grey: That doesn't mean it isn't Alzheimer's.

Scott: Okay, that's fine.

All I'm saying is let's do our own neural workup before she's denied life saving treatment based on another hospital's diagnosis.

Dr. Grey: You don't trust that I know what this looks like.

This is my life's work.

Scott: Yeah, and transplants are mine.

Keri: Nice to meet you.

Okay, this is what I'm gonna start with, because even from the old days you were always someone who did your homework.

You always are, and I think it's because of your sports training and then your swimming.

Like, I don't know if everyone knows, but you were this--you did--didn't you do like, Olympic trial swimming?

And so I think you have this extreme work ethic, and so, how do you think the athletic training informs this work?

Scott: Yeah, I mean, I think when I was younger, yes, it definitely helped me, but then there's this weird thing where you kind of gotta let go of all that, and that's--I struggled with that for a long time.

To being over prepared, getting in your head, just muscling it through.

Like, remember I used to have to like, run around.

Keri: Of course I remember that.

Scott: But you're kind of like that too in a lot of ways.

Keri: I am, that's the only thing I'm trained in.

Scott: You're type-A, like, you're very prepared.

It's not like you were coming--yeah, exactly, but you weren't coming to set late and not knowing your lines.

I mean, you were always an amazing number one on the call sheet.

No, but I mean, I don't think, I think that's an underappreciated thing.

Like, people don't really get how crazy that is.

People can make or break a show if the person is not good at that job, and that came very naturally to you.

Keri: Sometimes I'm like, why didn't I have more fun?

I mean, we had, we had our version of fun.

Scott: Yeah, we had our version of fun.

We don't need to get into that.

We had a version of fun.

But, in that same bent, like, when I'm watching this show I don't see someone that's nervous at all anymore, at all.

Like you, I see this like, fearless performer now.

Is that true?

Like, when Allison Janney comes on, how were you?

How were you?

Keri: I was so nervous to meet her.

Scott: I don't believe that.

Keri: I was--okay, this is God's honest truth.

So we've been doing this show for a couple of years, and the night before and the morning of, I just thought, oh my God.

Everyone was like, oh my gosh, Janney, Janney, Janney, and I was like, oh my God, she's gonna be smart, and everyone's gonna know I'm not smart, and then--so nervous, worked myself all up, and then came into the trailer to meet her, and you know what?

She was so, just like, normal and like, hunching down in her chair and being her quietest, smallest self.

She was nervous, and I just liked her so much in that moment, and I went, everyone's nervous.

Like, everyone's nervous.

And I adore her and we have so much fun together, but--that's another thing to talk about.

I always feel like I wasn't like, a student of film.

I didn't go to acting school.

I didn't do any of those kind of things.

You always, I feel like, we're chasing directors specifically.

Chasing art and directors.

Scott: I mean, yeah, I've probably fell in love with film before I fell in love with acting, but being so, and maybe that's where we meet a little bit.

I think we're both saying we were tremendously shy.

I was tremendously shy.

Keri: I think there are some people who are true performers.

True performers.

Like, I think Matthew.

My guy is like, a true actor.

For real, he'll go--I go, "Oh, what are you, what are you doing this week?"

And he goes, "I said I'd do this read through for this play," and I'm like, "You wanna do it?"

And he's like, "Well yeah, it's just like, it's a German accent and a Russian accent.

I just thought it'd be fun."

I'm like, "What!?"

That's sounds like my nightmare.

I would never want to do it, and he's like, "I just wanna like, I haven't-- "I'm like, "Ugh!"

But can I ask you one question?

Do you have to do a lot of like, jargon on that show, on "Grey's Anatomy," right?

You know what I'm talking about, like the hard word stuff.

Scott: Oh yeah.

I mean, that's like a muscle you just get better at as you do it.

Keri: So how do you do it?

Scott: I mean, just repetition.

The hard part for me doing that show is the coordination of dialogue with like, all the props and the movement.

They care so much about the surgery stuff on that scene, on that show.

Oh my gosh.

You could blow up the hospital, and there're like, people surviving, but then when you get to the surgery, like if I hold the scalpel wrong.

Keri: They're like, Cut!

Scott: You know, you gotta--you get this intense, who I love this, Linda, this nurse that's been there forever, who like, oversees everything, and she's an old school teacher and she will put you in your place and yell at you in the best way.

I love it.

I have a question for you.

You're an executive producer on "The Diplomat."

Yeah, does that change?

Do you use that power, that producer power?

Keri: I'm like, "Bring me a--snack!"

Scott: Not like that, but when you read, when you're reading the first draft of a episode?

Keri: I won't do this.

Scott: No, but do you, do you read it differently?

I've never had that, so I'm curious.

Keri: I feel more of a responsibility, like for the team.

You know, if something goes wrong or if something's not going right, I feel a little bit more alert and like, helping, but, yeah, it's great being a part of something where you get to-- Scott: Have ideas and they matter.

I have ideas and they're like, cool.

That's a great idea.

We're definitely gonna consider that.

Keri: Yeah, I mean, I don't try to abuse it or anything, but, you know-- Scott: This is my feeling of you, is kind of gliding in, being great, gliding out.

Do you still work that way?

Keri: Yeah, I guess, I mean, and then it's really helpful when you get to meet people.

I mean, I've been at dinners with Hillary Clinton or, you know, and I realized, oh, I'm like, you know, definitely the least intelligent person in this room, you know what I mean?

Scott: That's what I don't think is true.

Keri: And it's, but it's thrilling, it's thrilling.

Scott: You love that, right?

Keri: I love it.

I love it so much, and just to hear these experts and their thoughts.

They're so intelligent, they're so curious, they're alive in this way that is really exciting.

Scott: I know the answer to this, but was it intimidating then, going over to do this show at first?

Like, in terms of, 'cause you're also like, the American diplomat going over to that British world.

You're also the actress going over--actor going over to.

Keri: So much for me is about being so nervous, and for me, the gift of doing TV right now is that there's a trust built, and then your work is freer.

This is a dumb question, but maybe you're gonna have a good answer for it.

You know in the scary--so I haven't watc--'cause I don't love watching scary things and the most recent thing was a little scary, "Teacup."

When you have to do the like, scary stuff.

Scott: What do you mean by scary stuff?

Keri: You know, like, hyperventilating, like.

Yeah, what do you--do you picture something scary or do you, you just hyperventilate?

Scott: Just hyperventilate.

Just hold your breath off camera and then come on.

Keri: You're like, oh my god, we're gonna die.

Scott: We're all gonna die!

[camera shutter] Clayton: It's a meeting of Marvel superheroes with Charlie Cox and Joe Locke, dishing all about what it's really like to don a spandex suit and fight baddies for a living, as the cinematic multiverse continues to expand.

It's been a decade since Charlie Cox first played Matt Murdock, the blind attorney who moonlights as a vigilante.

Now, Cox reassumes the role with new purpose on "Daredevil: Born Again."

Charlie: You're a real man of the people now.

male: A rich man, by his very nature is self-serving.

A mayor, a mayor serves his city.

Charlie: Huh.

male: You don't seem entirely convinced.

Charlie: Can you blame me.

Considering you've tried to kill me a few times over the years.

male: As you have.

Charlie: No, no.

Incarcerate maybe.

Kill, never.

male: I wonder if your darker half would agree.

Clayton: Joe Locke plays a mysterious goth teen, looking to discover his source of power by teaming up with a ragtag coven of witches on "Agatha All Along."

female: Who are you?

Joe: My name is [swooshing] female: Say again.

Joe: I'm [swooshing] female: Interesting.

Clayton: And in the coming of age romance "Heartstopper," Locke plays a gay teen navigating falling in love with his classmate.

Charlie: Are you ever gonna get tired of doing that?

male: Absolutely not, no.

But I did get you a present.

Joe: Okay.

male: It's that Instagram famous historian you like, Jack Maddox?

He's doing a book signing on Sunday, so I thought maybe we could go after the sleepover.

Joe: Wait, we get to meet him?

male: Yeah.

Charlie: So, do you remember the last time, not because we met twice, but do you remember where the last time was?

Joe: It was in the queue for Soarin' at Disneyland.

Charlie: Wait, wait, what was the ride?

Joe: Soarin' Around the World.

Charlie: Oh, okay, I couldn't remember the name of the ride.

Joe: I just remember your son was wearing a a Daredevil t-shirt, and it was the cutest thing I've ever seen.

So sweet.

Charlie: That's right, and his little legs on the, where you can.

We set him up there.

Yes, I'd--so I'd like to, I'd love to hear about how you got the "Agatha," but also if--what's also interesting, watching "Heartstopper" and "Agatha," to me what was really interesting, what I'd love to hear about your experience, is how you go from one of your first things being on a set with a, presumably a lot of people for whom it's their first job, onto a set with veterans left, right and center, what that experience was like.

Joe: Terrifying, most of what it was like, but amazing.

Yeah, I--it was, it was very definitely different on "Agatha" than "Heartstopper."

"Heartstopper" like, all of us were new to the industry, we're all so green and, especially in season one.

We're all not now, we're all sour, old, dejected, cynical, yeah.

Like, I feel like "Agatha" was my drama school.

The--all of these incredible artists that I'm just leeching off.

Charlie: So, people say to you, "Did you learn a lot?"

And you always, "Oh yeah, I learned so much," but my question is, do you--are there any specific moments on set where you see something happen, whether it--not just in terms of like drumming up an emotion or something like that, but like, film technique or something, where you saw something, comi--having come from "Heartstopper," where there's, you know, a lot of actors who haven't done much before, and then you're on set, as I say, with these, with these like, icons.

Is--was there any moment where you're like, that's really helpful, I can definitely use that, or I didn't know you could do that, or that's something I can, I can--I really want to try myself or whatever Joe: Catherine is a master of using her eyes and mouth, and it's only a slight, little movement, but it's like the whole character shifts, and this like, the real Agatha comes out.

Charlie: She has a quality that I--that I'm so in awe of when I watch other actors, which is she can be so expressive and so big, and always truthful.

It's never, I never don't believe in a second, but it is so enjoyable to watch.

Joe: But yeah, I struggle with that.

I can't.

If I do too much, it doesn't seem truthful.

Maybe that's 'cause I don't do too much as a person.

Charlie: Yeah, that might be a Br--like a, like a British thing, you know.

I've had to work against that my whole life, and it's, and it's shocking, because I'm often told, I'm often encouraged to go bigger, go deeper.

You know, Euros Lyn directed some of "Daredevil," right?

Joe: Which season of "Daredevil" did he do?

Charlie: He did season one and season two of the, you know, the back in the day.

Joe: Yeah, which I used to love.

I used to love, because it was like-- Charlie: How old were you, four or five still?

Joe: I was ten.

Charlie: Yeah, okay, a bit older.

Joe: Twelve, but I used to love how gory it was, and how like, grown up, and like, your performance is so grounded and the realness is what makes it so like, great.

Charlie: Yeah, I think, you know, it's funny how something--that you happen upon things that end up striking a chord with audiences, but some of that was we didn't have the same budget as Marvel Studios, so we--everything had to be practical.

You know, we had to save money.

We didn't have any CGI, so, and it's bizarre, therefore, that, you know, one of the things we've become beloved for, the show has been beloved for, is the--how authentic a lot of it feels, particularly the action, because it's all, it's all practical.

Joe: Yeah, it's some of the best fight scenes on TV.

It's great.

How--what was that like doing that, like?

And then therefore coming back to doing it this time?

Charlie: Yeah, so, you know, my body is not what it was.

So it's--the recovery time is a little, takes a little bit longer, but it--the way that I think about it is that I'm so aware of it, there being a shelf life on how long you get to play a part, so I'm so gratef--for as long as it lasts, I'm so grateful for it because I know that it's very rare.

You know, before I did "Daredevil," I'd been in the industry and, you know, a couple of decades almost.

So, it's--I know how rare it is to get that opportunity to play a part that has so many wonderful things you get to explore and do, and when you first start working in this industry, you get cast very close to who you are, because you go into an audition and you just say the lines as best you can, and if you get the part it's because it's very close to what they want.

As you work more and more, you're--the industry allows you to try a bit more things, and also you want to do different characters and play parts that you wouldn't necessarily have been cast in early on.

You know, so "Daredevil" is a really good example of that for me.

I mean, it's so different to who I am.

Joe: Yeah, I--at the moment I'm like, I'm so worried about being boxed into like... and I'm really grateful that I've been able to play loads of queer--like, great queer characters, but I don't want that to define my career.

Charlie: Well, I, you know, for what it's worth, I think you're too talented to be boxed in at any point, so, yeah.

Joe: Yeah, I'm excited to finish the chapter of "Heartstopper."

I'm so grateful to that show, and grateful to--like, I wouldn't have a career without it, but it feels like it's time to like, push it off into the world and move on, in a really nice like, way.

Charlie: There's something quite strange that happens, and I'm a little embarrassed to say it, because it could potentially sound a little actory and a little kind of whatever.

Joe: This is "Actors on Actors."

Charlie: Right, right, sure, but there is a thing where if you played a character on television, where you've done it over multiple years, rather than a movie where it's probably, you know, six months at most, when you do finally finish the job, you--there is a slight kind of weird mourning process for this character that you've become very attached to, and that will probably be emotional.

Joe: Do you also find that like, after playing a character for so long, like I sometimes feel I'm really lazy with "Heartstopper," 'cause I feel like I'm not doing all like, the work that I am-- Charlie: No, I think that's a good thing.

Joe: It's because I know the character so well.

Charlie: No, I think that's a really good thing.

Can I--okay, so I have a theory.

Sometimes when you watch like, the third season or the fourth season of a popular television show, I think, I'm not gonna give examples, but I've seen it a lot, everyone starts doing too much, and I think it's because of that what you just said, exactly that thing, where you get so used to embodying it, embodying that character, that it starts to feel like you're not doing anything, and so then you start adding to it, and then suddenly it becomes this kind of, this character that's almost starts to become like a caricature.

So I think that's, like, I think that's a really good thing.

I try to with, you know, I've been doing "Daredevil" ten years.

I really try to lean into that.

Like, should obviously do the work, you know, make sure I'm, you know, I really have considered the scene work and, you know, what's going on in the story and all of those things, but in general, the more relaxed you can be, the better the work will be.

So you've got to put the work in at home, and then show up and just not not and try not to care at all, I think.

I think that's the answer.

Joe: Seems to be going well for you.

Charlie: Yeah, thanks.

Yeah, likewise.

[camera shutter] Angelique: We hope you've enjoyed this episode of "Variety Studio: Actors on Actors."

Clayton: Please join us again next time.

Danny: Move that hand, it's in my shot.

Get your head out of there.

Colin: What movie was it?

Danny: Get your head out of there.

Will you be moving your big foot, for crying out loud?

What are you doing?

Keri: You and I will probably never each other again.

Scott: When are we, this is it?

Keri: This is it.

We should go dance a little bit more, because you and I, that's what we do the best.

Joe: It's a pretty cool thing, so.

Charlie: I just hope it doesn't get to a point where I actually have to prove in a real life circumstance, 'cause I'm not, 'cause I'm--in real life I'm, you know, I would die.

I would be terrible in a crisis.

♪♪♪