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Jonah Hill flirts outrageously with Julie Andrews on the Graham Norton Show

London - In a flirtatious episode of the show, Graham welcomes the legendary Dame Julie Andrews, Hollywood stars Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill, and singer songwriter Pharrell Williams.

Jonah, flirting outrageously with Dame Julie, refers to her throughout the show as his future wife and is somewhat taken aback when he discovers she is married to the legendary film director Blake Edwards.

Julie, talking about a chance encounter with some tourists, says, ”I had to get fit for a role so I used to go to Switzerland and I was walking around in the mountains.  One day I thought, ‘This is ridiculous, there’s not a sole around’ and I sang The Hills are Alive just as a whole bunch of Japanese tourists came over the hill. You should have seen their faces!"

Reminiscing about Mary Poppins, she recalls, "It was dangerous making the flying stunts, which they saved for me until the end of the filming.  Presumably most of the film was in the can by then and if an accident happened it was safe!  I was hanging around on a very high wire in an excruciating harness and I felt it drop by about a foot and I thought, ‘Oh my god, my luck is running out.  This is it.’  I called down to say let me down easy and the word went down the length of the studio.  At which point I dropped like a ton of bricks to the stage.  There was a silence and I let fly with a few good Anglo-Saxon four-letter words that Disney had never heard before!”

Talking about the irascible PL Travers, the author of Mary Poppins, she says, "I met her for tea once and she said, ‘Well, you’re far too pretty for the role but you have the nose for it!"

On being topless in S.O.B., directed by her husband Blake Edwards, and asked if she was advised against it, she says, “I didn't have a problem with it.  I’d done an awful lot by then and it took 10 years to get the movie made so I had a lot of time to think about it.  It was legitimately in the script but it was cold in the studio!”

Hill and Channing dish about their new roles

Jonah talking about 22 Jump Street, his new movie, and the stunts involved, says, “It’s not that I don't like doing them, but whenever it’s possible for my stunt person to do it, I allow him to do it.  He gets such joy out of it and why would I want to take away that joy?”   Interjecting, Channing says, "He absolutely can do it but he thinks it's funnier to watch me do it.”

Revealing he got a lot of flack for the scene in The Wolf of Wall Street in which he appeared to eat a goldfish, Jonah says, “The animal protection people wouldn’t let me eat one.  I showed up on the day and there were four minders or assistants for the fish – more than I had.  I ended up hating the fish and I’ll never work with one again.”

Channing, talking about new fatherhood, says, "I am really enjoying it.  It's a new task, a new challenge and it’s fun. But, for the first year, you’re sort of an assistant.  It's all about the mother and baby."

Revealing he had a rather nasty accident on set, he says, “We were filming in Scotland in a cold river and they were pouring warm water down our wetsuits.  It was the end of the day and the guy came to top us up, and he had forgotten to top up the boiling water with river water and he poured it down my wetsuit.  It burnt me, but it healed fine!”

Pharrell talks about working with Madonna

Pharrell joins Graham for a chat.  Talking about his new album, he says, "It is an open love letter to women because they have been so amazing and supporting.  I wanted to speak to that very special demographic that has been holding me up for so long.”

Asked about working with Madonna, he says, "She doesn't like super softies.  I was stern in my position in terms of producing and giving her advice she likes it. It's a pleasure to work with an icon, someone I looked up to and thought was hot when I was young."

On how he finds the time to collaborate with so many people, he says, “No social life.  It's work and family.  At this point in my life at 41 that’s the most important thing to me."

Talking about working with Justin Timberlake, and asked if the songs were originally meant for Michael Jackson, he says. “Ultimately they were meant for Justin.  If you look at life as I do, there are no accidents of coincidences, so the music went where it was suppose to go.”

Watch Julie Andrews talk about nude scenes with Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum:



Watch this episode of The Graham Norton Show on BBC Entertainment (120), 3 June at 21:35pm


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