Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch have spoken about what it's like working together for the first time, explaining that it was a "gamble".
The two prolific actors are finally sharing the screen in the newly-released film The Roses (which comes highly recommended), where they play a married couple who turn against each other in quite remarkable ways.
Based on Warren Adler's 1981 novel The War of the Roses and a remake of the 1989 film, the comedy is the first time that Colman and Cumberbatch have shared the screen, though they did previously work together on The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (where Colman was a narrator).
Chatting exclusively to Digital Spy, Colman said of their on-screen partnership: "I suppose there's a bit of a gamble going on; 'What if this is the end of our friendship or what if we don't like the way each other works?', but luckily…"
"And it wasn't that, it was very much the opposite," Cumberbatch interjected.
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"I loved having a play partner who was always there," Colman added. "I mean there was never a moment. It was always immediate and beautiful. I love looking into Ben's eyes and going, 'Oh fun, we're going to have a great scene'."
"I love the fact that I've got someone I can trust so much," said Cumberbatch. "If I was floundering around, worried about something or if I wanted to push something, there was just a very open dialogue about it all the time and you can get further faster with a friend."
Such is their bond off the screen, Cumberbatch admitted that he occasionally found it difficult act out some of the couple's flamboyant attempts to annoy each other, recalling: "I had such a fun time playing Theo up to a point and then it gets quite toxic as it needs to.
"And I was like, 'Oh shit, I need to check in with Olivia between takes'. It's horrible being him suddenly. You're so good at it. You start associating with your character, but yeah, I like this guy and I'm trying to do justice and then, 'Woah'."
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Colman, who said that her co-star felt "very deeply" about his character, added: "It was very sweet. I had to go, 'We're OK'. We had to have a hug if it was a really bad scene."
The pair's co-star Kate McKinnon, who portrays Amy, also praised the bond between her two colleagues, with the actor explaining that she could pick up on the pair's chemistry during a readthrough of the screenplay.
"Everyone was in different places in the world, and it was just so immediately electric, and made so much sense," she recalled, "And I said, 'Now we're cooking with gas'."
The Roses is out in cinemas now.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
