Angelique Jackson: Variety Studio invites you to listen in as your favorite actor meets one of their favorite actors.

Parker Posey: That character was so real, Lisa, and funny.

Javier Bardem: I thought, "Ah, that's interesting as an actor, to be in different colors."

Angelique: And they dish about their latest roles in the biggest TV shows of the year.

Kristen Bell: I don't know how you guys expect anyone to sleep after an episode with that level of a cliffhanger.

Angelique: With Javier Bardem and Diego Luna, Kristen Bell and Adam Scott, and Lisa Kudrow and Parker Posey.

Parker: Here I am.

♪♪♪ Angelique: Welcome to Variety Studio "Actors On Actors."

I'm Angelique Jackson.

Clayton Davis: And I'm Clayton Davis.

Today, we're hearing from some of the world's biggest stars.

Angelique: As they reveal secrets about their must-watch TV performances.

Angelique: It's been 25 years since Javier Bardem and Diego Luna first shared the screen in "Before Night Falls," a film that launched Luna's international career and earned Bardem his first Oscar nomination.

Now, these two powerhouse actors are back in the spotlight and better than ever.

Angelique: Oscar winner Javier Bardem transforms in "Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story," portraying the complicated father at the heart of one of America's most infamous true crime sagas.

José Menendez: Hit me so hard my head would throb for days and days.

I mean, it was painful, but I knew exactly what was expected of me, okay?

Angelique: Diego Luna brings heart and grit to "La Máquina," playing a washed-up boxer staging a comeback inside and outside the ring.

Irasema: ¿Mis boletos?

Andy: Ahí están.

Irasema: ¿Qué es esto?

Acomódatelo.

Andy: Ay, pura envidia.

Irasema: Pareces un -- árbol navideño.

Andy: -- por eso te divorciaron.

Irasema: A sí, sí, ándale pues.

Esteban: Sabe a madres.

Andy: Pero ahí está el sabor tapatío ya, está.

¿Estamos?

¿A ver?

Concentrado.

Esteban: Sí -- pero -- Andy: Ya -- te la pelas.

Te la pelas.

Angelique: Luna also returns to the "Star Wars" galaxy in "Andor," delivering an emotionally-rich performance as rebel spy Cassian Andor.

Cassian Andor: This makes it worth it, this right now being with you, being here at the moment you step into the circle.

Look at me.

You made this decision long ago.

The empire cannot win.

Javier: First of all, we have to acknowledge the fact that you are Mexican, I'm Spanish-- Diego: And we're speaking English.

Javier: Y estamos hablando en inglés.

Diego: Eso está muy -- Y ya ahorita ya me siento tan cómodo.

Pero, ¿sabes qué?

Y sí lo voy a decir en inglés.

When I was 13, I was doing theater and TV in Mexico.

I started really young, and it was through your work that I realized that cinema was an option, you know, and it was your work that suddenly sparked the idea in my head of like, "You can do films in Spanish that can travel, that can have this very vibrant kind of, like, risk-taking performances, you know, that don't stay in what's expected, that you can be surprised with movies, and they can be in your language."

And then you started doing stuff in English and stuff out of Spain.

Javier: One of my first stuff, we did together, we did together.

How old were you?

Diego: I was like--I guess that was '96?

Javier: That's '99.

Diego: '99.

So I was 18 or 17.

No.

I think I was 17.

Javier: "Before Night Falls."

We're talking about "Before Night Falls."

How lucky are we that we can be here, like, 26 years later than "Before Night Falls," which was my first job in English and one of the--your first jobs as well, I guess.

Diego: I couldn't call that English because I remember I did like nine takes where what was coming out of my mouth was like just incomprehensible.

Like, it was like, "What is he saying?

What just happened?"

And I was like...

I can't.

There's something that's--that happens when I hear rolling that I go like... Javier: Yeah, I know what you're talking about.

We both have the same problem.

When they say action and we have to perform in English, I mean, we--the English is a--and it's a weight that you have to carry.

It's not in your system in some ways.

Diego: Yeah, first of all, I was like how am I going to start talking about your character José Menendez, no?

You did it for--like, in a short period of time.

But how did sleeping become part of your life doing that character?

Javier: I had the greatest time.

I had-- Diego: I mean, please tell me.

Please tell me.

Javier: Please tell me how is that possible?

Yeah, because I talked to Ryan Murphy.

First of all, I was not familiar with the story.

I think the story was very powerful here in the States but not so much in Europe.

So I didn't really know much about the Menendez case.

Then when I read about it, I was like, "Oh, this is heavy."

There is this kind of secret golden rule for actors to not play pedophiles.

So I have this talk with Ryan Murphy.

I say, "Okay, how are you going to deal with this?

Because I can't play anything with a minor in a room.

I mean, I can't do that.

I mean, it's not--I can't."

And he said, "Don't worry.

We're not going to go there.

We don't need to, we don't have to, and I don't want that either.

And, first of all, we don't know if that happened."

That really triggers my interest, like, "Okay, that's interesting."

Because then I have to play a character that you are supposed to think that he was capable of doing those things, such atrocity, but at the same time we don't know if he really did it.

So it's not that you're playing one profile, you're playing somebody that could be or could be not.

And I thought, "Ah, that's interesting as an actor to play, to be in different colors."

And I said to Cooper and Nicholas, the amazing actors that play the--Lyle and Erik, "Don't expect me to be mean or cruel or bad.

I want this to be a game.

Otherwise, it's too heavy for me, the whole thing.

So let's have a good time."

And for me it was in and out, but for them it was like 5 months daily basis carrying that weight and it's like--and you have to be careful with that.

So I had a good time.

Diego: Probably being in English also helped.

Javier: Absolutely.

But you're like a superhero.

You're like super "Star Wars" hero, man.

How do you feel about that?

I mean, it's no joke.

Diego: No.

Oh my God.

No.

It feels cool.

I grew up watching "Star Wars."

So we do it like in the old days, you know.

Everything is mechanical.

We're interacting with--like, the droids are machines that someone's, like, playing with and working, and there's an actor giving a voice to it and you have a speaker.

So you're reacting and you improvise, and the droid improvises with you.

Javier: I wasn't expecting that to be real stuff.

Diego: No green screens or--the way we do it--the way we do ours is like yeah, it is old sets, built sets.

That we have to wait for them to build them, and then sets come down, and it's over.

There's no, like, reshoots, retakes, or anything, you know.

Like, yeah, like, movie-making in a good way.

Javier: That's good for the reshoots.

So you're--you know that you're not going to be called back for the reshoots.

There are no sets.

Diego: Exactly.

Exactly.

Javier: And kudos to production for doing such a thing.

It's amazing.

As for an actor to be immersed in that world, no, it helps you a big deal.

Diego: And also the idea of this show is that we tell the story of, like, regular people in this galaxy far, far away.

There is no Jedis.

It's about their everyday's life, regular people that suddenly are in a very extraordinary moment.

Javier: "La Máquina."

Diego: Yes, "La Máquina."

Javier: "La Máquina."

Producida por tí y por Gael.

Diego: Y por Gael, sí.

Javier: Protagonizada por tí y por Gael.

Diego: Por suerte lo demás lo hicieron otros.

Si no hubiera sido muy difícil.

Javier: Hablando de presión, ¿cómo podéis manejar la producción con la interpretación?

Diego: Porque teníamos un gran director y trabajamos con la familia fílmica con la que crecimos.

Había gente allí que había hecho "Y tu mamá también".

O sea, había gente con la que tenemos 25 años trabajando, ¿no?

Javier: And how is working with Gael now?

I mean, he's like-- Diego: He's impossible now.

Javier: He's impossible.

As a producer, he's impossible.

As an actor, he's not bad.

Diego: No.

He's the best, man.

There is-- Javier: For you guys is not--is just looking at each other and say, "Okay, action."

Diego: Something happens that is just like--and we were very scared not to have it, you know.

We thought we lost it probably or that it wasn't going to be there and then suddenly... and we--yeah, we improvised a lot, like.

Javier: Oh, great.

I mean, we are blessed.

We do what we love, and we are healthy.

In your case, you're healthy and handsome.

In my case, I'm healthy.

Diego: I'm not healthy.

I have pains every morning.

Yeah.

Javier: Come on, you're Andor.

Andor don't have pain.

Diego: You know, I would add something else.

We have the freedom to choose where we want to be and who we want to work with, and in this case-- Con quien quiere uno hacer una cosa de estas.

Javier: Sí, totalmente, totalmente.

Diego: Que da gusto venir y hacerlo contigo.

Javier: Qué bien, maravilla.

Diego: Contigo y eso está -- Javier: Qué bueno -- ven aquí.

Clayton: Longtime friends Kristen Bell and Adam Scott have shared the screen a handful of times, including on their signature shows "Veronica Mars" and "Parks and Recreation."

Now they're starring in two of the biggest streaming sensations.

Emmy winner Kristen Bell plays an agnostic sex podcaster who winds up falling for a hot rabbi on the romantic comedy series "Nobody Wants This."

Joanne: This is not about me and Noah.

He doesn't want me to change.

This is about you feeling left behind because I am finally in a healthy relationship, okay, and you are still on desperate dating apps so excited that you're matching with a cater waiter named Broyden.

Clayton: Emmy nominee Adam Scott does dual work on "Severance," playing the innie and outie versions of a white collar worker.

Mark: Something about me is that I am lucky enough to have made four new friends today, ha-ha.

Adam Scott: So, Kristen, how did we meet?

Kristen: How did we meet?

Adam: I actually--I think I know, which is I got a guest spot on "Veronica Mars" in December of 2004.

Kristen: How did you pull that date up?

Adam: I'm good with dates.

Kristen: Are you really?

Adam: Yeah.

So-- Kristen: We met on "Veronica Mars," and then I feel like we worked together then.

Was the next time on "Party Down?"

Adam: Yeah, I think so because when "Veronica Mars" got canceled--sorry.

Kristen: It's been canceled?

Adam: I'm so--did she not know?

I'm so sorry.

Never mind.

I didn't say that, and I don't know that for sure.

Can we take 5?

Kristen: What?

Adam: We may need to take 10.

Let's take 15.

Kristen: It's fine.

It's like... Adam: Sorry.

Kristen: Moving on.

Adam: But I remember when you came to do it, we hadn't seen each other since "Veronica Mars" or worked together since "Veronica Mars," and I remember being palpably nervous that you were going to come and do the episode.

I'm totally serious.

Because I hadn't seen you since then and I--I don't know.

I just remember being nervous, and then you came in and you were playing that character.

Kristen: I get what you're saying about being nervous around people, I mean, like when I see other actors.

There's still someone who's on my television.

People should know.

Like, I get bit nervous and excited to meet people 'cause they're on my TVs, too.

Adam: Same.

And I think that's the one thing I always feel like people who grow up in Los Angeles or grow up in show business, the big advantage they have on the rest of us is that that's not a big deal for them whereas for me and being on that television or on a movie screen or something felt about as likely as going to the moon.

As a kid, it was like another world.

So I'm still pretty freaked out about it and get excited on a set and stuff.

Kristen: The endings to every episode of "Severance" are so biologically frustrating that I don't know how you guys expect anyone to sleep after an episode with that level of a cliffhanger.

And I wonder if because the way you shoot it is so slow, the scenes seem to have this tempo that is just--it's a very, very slow-moving train.

How do you--I don't even know my question here.

I guess I'm just saying why-- Adam: Do you do that?

Kristen: Why do you do that?

Why when it's cut together does the pace feel so anticipatory and so frustrating when it's such a slow show?

Adam: Yeah, I remember the first time I walked on the set I was like, "Oh, this is what we're doing."

And just the set and the color of the carpet and all of that.

You know when you walk into something that's sort of fully realized like that and you're like, "Oh, this all just did like 80% of the work for me?"

So there was that, but then also all of us sort of figuring out the tone and the pace together as we went 'cause we didn't know exactly what we were doing.

But Ben had something in mind, but he was also kind of pushing us in one direction and then that didn't quite work.

"Let's do this."

And so that pace and sort of deliberate tone developed over the first couple of months of shooting it when we started, and that's where the material kind of settled and where it felt right.

Kristen: It seemed very consistent even if you guys felt like you were finding it.

There are two--I--people say that it's a drama, which more power to them.

I find it to be one of the funniest shows I've ever seen.

Did you have any idea "Severance" would be as big as it is?

Adam: No, not at all.

And in fact I remember being particularly freaked out that because it was so weird.

I mean, I knew I loved it, and we kind of made it in a bubble.

So, you know, you never know how something's going to be received until it's out in the world.

You have zero idea.

I think the most we were hoping for was that people would like it and there would be, like, a following that thought it was weird and cool; but then season 2, having no idea that it would expand from that.

So it was a really lovely surprise.

We need to talk about your show.

My first question about it is you and Adam Brody obviously have this palpable thing.

I think that the word chemistry is, like, overused with actors.

Sometimes it's manufactured and the audience can't tell and they think people have incredible chemistry, but with you and Adam I feel like there is something crackly and special there.

Kristen: He's always been just such a delight to watch.

He makes so many weird choices, and you kind of can't tether him.

He's so alive and he very much like you actually doesn't feel like they're reading lines.

Absolutely feels like they're a person talking and-- Adam: I'm reading line right now, by the way.

These were written for me.

What I'm saying right now was written.

That's right.

Kristen: So I think you would be shocked beca--or people are shocked because in real life we have a very playful relationship, but it is also not that at all, at all.

You know what I mean?

Like, I don't think when we're sitting next to each other in video village people would be like, "They have chemistry."

Usually we're arguing more often than not.

But to me it's, "Is this person plus this person plus the lens making that person feel something?"

That's the only equation you can use.

Adam: Can I tell you one of the reasons why I loved watching you guys together?

Okay, I'm going to keep it to myself.

Can I tell you guys?

There was something about it where watching you two just to--from an audience's perspective, I was also, like, relaxed because it's you two.

It was also a new character for you, which was so fun to see.

Kristen: Erin Foster has such a specific voice.

She moves through the world in a very specific way.

And, like, I am playing her, right, so-- Adam: So were you watching her and-- Kristen: Yeah, there's little Erinisms in the way she speaks, in the--not--it's not so much the tempo of her voice but the melody with which she delivers her zingers, and there are--she speaks in zingers.

Like quippy, sassy almost kind of scri--it's a very specific lens on life.

And then when I met her, I was like, "Oh my gosh, this woman is that world.

This is how she sees the world."

And then I--when I read it, I was completely convinced it had to be Adam.

Adam: You guys just fit and you're both so extraordinary in the show.

It's really, really something.

So I can't wait to see more of it.

Angelique: It's a reunion of indie royalty.

Lisa Kudrow and Parker Posey, who first teamed up in the cult workplace dramedy "Clockwatchers," are back and proving that their offbeat brilliance still lights up the screen.

Angelique: Emmy winner Lisa Kudrow leans into her darkly funny side in "No Good Deed," portraying a picture-perfect mom unraveling after a mysterious break-in.

Lydia Morgan: I know everyone says I need to move on, but I just feel like if I let myself stop missing him for even a second it's like I'm saying it's okay that he's not here.

Oh my God, I'm doing it again.

Bartender, cut me off after this.

Angelique: Parker Posey delivers another scene-stealing performance in "The White Lotus" playing a blissfully tone-deaf southern socialite whose spiritual retreat turns into social chaos.

Victoria Ratliff: What was that?

That was a convention for conmen and tax cheats.

Piper Ratliff: I'm sure y'all cheat on your taxes, mom.

Victoria: Well, not so badly that we have to leave the country.

God.

Y'all, I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them were actual killers.

You think men like that only exist in bad movies.

Turns out they're real.

Parker: We were both Nora Ephron ladies back in the '90s, and you did--what did you do with Nora?

Lisa Kudrow: I did, well, "Hanging Up" that she wrote with Delia.

Parker: With the--about the three sisters, yeah Lisa: Diane Keaton directed it.

Parker: She directed that.

Lisa: Yeah.

Yeah, I remember Nora called me once.

I was working on "Friends."

"And when are you finished with this show?

Why do you keep doing it?"

I was like, "Well."

Parker: She is so funny.

"Why?"

I remember she came up to me once and said, "Just be funny."

That was the note.

Lisa: It's a good note.

Parker: It is a good note.

Lisa: Well--but for me, that was all the Christopher Guest movies you did.

Parker: Well, that's what I was going to say when you were talking about them, is that Chris Guest would go like, "You know, this is not too far from the truth.

And just, like, walk away and then you play the scene."

So the scenes are all written in an outline and then you bring it to life on action.

You go in and you just, like, lock in to the other person and you just trust them, and Chris is--you know, he's so smart and he's so funny and he's super intelligent.

It's like a tone that he just--every director has that kind of energy that's around them and then it creates this whole vibe that everyone is, like, under their umbrella.

And then with these ensembles and you're acting with all these actors who were groundlings like you were, so you ha-- Lisa: Yeah, like, best of groundlings.

Parker: Yeah.

And you had that.

Like, so you could dress yourself.

I know you can dress yourself, but you-- Lisa: I really can't.

I can't even get my arm into a suit, but--now, you were on some sitcoms.

You were on some multi-camera shows.

Now, how was that for you?

'Cause that is so--there's something so much more regimented about that, even though it's comedy.

Yeah.

Parker: It's like tap dancing and really having to make that step.

Like, they throw the jokes at you as you're doing it because everyone else has been doing it for a few years, and then you're called in and you're like, "Hey, Megan Mullally."

Lisa: Yeah, hilarious.

Parker: Hilarious.

So wonderful.

And you're just watching.

And Sean Hayes.

And you're just watching this whole other vaudeville, you know, and--when it's dancing like this.

And so--I mean, I enjoyed it, but being in it was like--it was very athletic, it felt-- Lisa: But they were always throwing new things at you.

Me being Phoebe was so far from who I was as a human being that--I mean, it was work.

I sometimes felt like, "Okay."

'Cause I needed to justify everything she was saying in my head so that it felt like she meant it and it was real to her.

So it was a lot of work, and I remember in like season 2 or 3 and I was just doing it and went, "Oh my God, I'm not doing the work."

I was really fretting over it and LeBlanc went, "What's the matter with you?"

I said, "I'm not doing the work that I did.

I used to, like, really work."

And he's--and he said, "You're her.

You don't have to."

Parker: And you're like, "But I want to work."

Lisa: But it's--no.

It was just--to me the worst thing was ever wanting to be a good student.

I think that hurt me the most 'cause that's the opposite of letting go and just doing it and see what happens, which you kind of have to have, right?

Parker: I like doing my homework too when I read "White Lotus."

I mean, we've both been doing this for 30 years, right?

And it's like--it was such a gift to have this middle-aged woman at this time in my life and my career to be this southern woman.

I just ate it up and-- Lisa: You also grew up in the south.

So did you have a point of reference for-- Parker: Yeah, you know, my mom's mother, Nonnie, she dressed like a movie star and she would walk around the house like she, like, came out of the television.

And so I grew up with this glamour in the television and it was like a relationship through her and through the TV and dancing.

And I read in an interview about southerners being like check-off characters, an easy theatricality within the family about themselves and a kind of narcissism but also, like, being able to take the stage in what you're going through.

Lisa: The one--I mean, I think my favorite thing in the whole season of "White Lotus" was asking Victoria, "Can you live without--what if we didn't have anything?"

Parker: And that was--and that-- Lisa: And the answer was the most honest thing I'd ever seen.

Parker: That was--that hit me the most out of the whole eight episodes, and I knew exactly how to say it and it was such a southern belle.

Like, "I don't know what I'd do without money."

There's such a cadence.

You know, a lot of people like--you go on set and actors like to improvise and, you know, add things.

And I like that, but when things are, like, really tight and things are well written, I really love how that sounds 'cause I think that elevates it.

Lisa: Yeah, which is why it was so great that she could be what she could look at.

That's something that was just an immutable truth, which is, "No, I'm--not at this age.

I can't live like that, not at this age.

It's too late."

Parker: I love--I really love what you're doing in "No Good Deed."

Lisa: Oh, yeah.

Lydia.

Parker: It's a really fun cast.

Did you have a blast with this cast?

Lisa: Yes.

That was really fun.

I was excited to work with Ray Romano.

I'd always wanted to 'cause he's effortlessly good.

Parker: He's amazing.

Lisa: He's amazing.

He's effortless.

And then there's me just, like, acting up a storm.

Parker: Shut up.

Angelique: Thank you for joining us for this episode of Variety Studio "Actors On Actors."

Clayton: See you next time.

Diego: It is a "Star Wars" -- May the 4th be with you.

Sí, exactly.

Don't worry.

Kristen: You guys know none of this is going to be serious, right?

And I'm really going to apologize in advance for whatever you can cut together.

Adam: Yeah, we did it.

Kristen: Baby, that was fun.

Adam: That was fun.

Kristen: That was freaking fun.

Adam: See, I think this is the pilot for our talkshow.

Kristen: I mean.

Lisa: But you know what my first question when I met Liz?

[car alarm beeping] Parker: Coming.

Lisa: It's called a camera.

I learned today, but-- ♪♪♪