Dwayne Johnson: And the last one.
Emily Blunt: I just wanted to be difficult. That’s it.
DJ: What happened is that our director, Jaume Collet-Serra, was going to fly to New York to personally give Emily the script for Jungle Cruise. And I told him that I was going to send him a video so that he could also give it to him. So I made a one or two minute video
EB: Ten minutes…
DJ: Twenty five minutes. It said, “Emily, you’re the only one who can make this movie.” And she was very touched. He just answered “OK”.
EB: Jack Whitehall can confirm this. When someone goes with everything, it is better to just say “OK”. It’s a British thing.
DJ: Anyway, he eventually said yes.
The chemistry they have in the movie is incredible. How instant was it?
EB: Snapshot. It was like a very agile ping pong, and I thought: “We are going to have a good time.” I knew it.
DJ: It is very true. And then you just hope you’re lucky. These days Emily and I have talked a lot about chemistry, about promoting the movie, and, you know? Many times you fake it because you are acting but …
EB: Always pretend.
DJ: Did you know? I’ve been pretending and will continue to do so. Especially with us. It does not matter.
I heard that when you read the script for Jungle cruise, you immediately accepted the role. Why?
DJ: The script was in a very good place and I immediately saw the potential of the opportunity. And that opportunity was to take an iconic Disney game that has been around since the park opened in 1955. There were a lot of things that I felt comfortable working with, so I decided to get on board and develop this, and I think we took it to a wonderful place. . Now, to get things back to Emily, after finding Jaume, our director, the task was to find my co-star: this Indiana Jones woman. He hates me saying that.
EB: Yes, because you face me failure. It’s too much pressure.
DJ: But you did very well.
Jack in Frozen you had a line that maybe they cut from the movie, but now you’re the wonder of the one-liner. Here are many great ones.
Jack Whitehall: After the experience with Frozen Having my only line removed, I felt like it was a matter of throwing enough things at the wall and having some stick, because I was desperate they wouldn’t cut me. The fact that there is only one line of mine here is an improvement on the debacle of Frozen and I’m very excited to have a role with dialogue in a Disney movie.
There was a lot of improvisation, right?
EB: A lot.
JW: A considerable amount. The script was fantastic but they also gave us room to improvise and add things to it. And these two [Emily y Dwayne] they created an environment where we could do it and feel like we were in a safe space. Some of the best moments seen in the movie are genuine moments that we came up with out of nowhere. In that sense, Jaume supported us a lot.
Edgar, this is your first Disney movie. How was it for you to see yourself on screen? You bring a fantastic look on the tape.
Edgar Ramirez: I was very happy. Very happy that the vipers were not near me during filming. I fear greatly. In fact, we ran into a few when we filmed in Atlanta. We worked in real locations and they dressed them to look like the Amazon. And I, coming from an Amazonian country, I was very happy to see her. And you guys did amazing.
EB: I love that you were a very operatic villain. And I remember when we were filming you said: “my mom is going to be very upset when she sees this” …
ER: And yes, because they are very afraid of snakes. He saw me at the premiere and said: “why didn’t you tell me? I missed half of your performance because I couldn’t see you with all those snakes. ” Also working with these people was amazing. What they did is not easy: an eloquent, romantic, cute and funny tone at the same time. As actors we know that this tone is very difficult to achieve and you raffled off. Even watching the movie I felt a bit jealous because I would have liked to spend more time on the boat.
What was the stunt hardest in the movie?
EB: Pods. For me it was very challenging because Dwayne wouldn’t let me take them and that’s it. He would throw them too far to try to make me laugh.
DJ: It was one of those pods where you think the hero is going to catch the damsel and save the day. But of course everything goes to hell because I do not save the day. He who thinks he is a hero tries to save the real hero.
EB: And I always told her to tell me what she was going to say, to be prepared …
DJ: And he never told her.
EB: So he would always end up doing a horrible improv that made me laugh, so I have no idea how many times we had to repeat that scene.
DJ: For me it was all the action with Edgar and the conquerors. That was very challenging. I will not say more so as not to give spoilers.
Edgar, how does it feel to be a Disney villain and represent Latin America in this cinematic universe?
ER: Aguirre, a villain? What do you guys think? I think that more than a villain he is misunderstood. Your actions come from pain.
JW: I would be very angry if I had snakes on my face all the time.
ER: Exactly. But hey, it was amazing. Aguirre is a great character to play. Being in a movie like this is very special, but what I like is that it has many beautiful characters that allow you to go on a journey. What I love about Aguirre and the conquerors is that they take you back in time, and that’s beautiful. And the fact that I am Latin American and that there is a diverse cast (Jack, for example, is Irish), is a very beautiful representation of the world.
Jack, Dwayne, there is a scene between you where McGregor comes out of the closet. What was it like to record that?
DJ: I felt that the scene was exactly what it was: two men talking about what they love and who they love. As simple as that.
JW: It was a scene that we really wanted to get right. What’s so cool about this movie is that all the characters feel highly developed. Many times in these films there are some two-dimensional characters, but it is incredible that here we can understand a lot about each of them. Everyone has reasons to be who they are and to be where they are, and that makes you care about them and that you want to travel with them.