The Graham Norton Show. Graham Norton. Credit: So Television, Christopher Baines
The Graham Norton Show

The Graham Norton Show

  • TV chat show
  • BBC One / BBC Two
  • 2007 - 2024
  • 494 episodes (31 series)

Comic chat show presented by Graham Norton. The biggest names in showbiz join the host on his sofa.

Episode menu

Series 13, Episode 7 - Daniel Radcliffe, Isla Fisher, Baz Luhrmann, Ed Byrne, Wretch 32

Daniel Radcliffe says he's moving on from Harry Potter; Isla Fisher talks about losing weight for Hollywood; Baz Luhrmann reveals why he turned down Harry Potter; Ed Byrne shows off his wounds; and Wretch 32 performs live in the studio.

Preview clips

Further details

Baz Luhrmann and Isla Fisher join Graham hotfoot from an all-nighter in Cannes. Looking none the worse for wear, but inexplicably sockless, Baz describes The Great Gatsby as, "Very decadent and very 'now'", adding, "If Leonardo DiCaprio had not been available, the movie probably wouldn't have been made. For that role you need to be a movie star and a great, great actor and he is both. People can say what they like about the movie, but no one is questioning his performance. He is at the height of his powers."

Asked about his unusual first name, he reveals, "Actually, as a kid I had this really crazy Afro hair and the guys used to beat up on me and call me Basil Brush. So, to spite them I went and changed my name by deed poll to Baz. I know it sounds a bit psychotic."

Revealing he was offered the Harry Potter films, he say, "The first one came along and they rang me, and while I love the pictures and the books now, then I thought, 'What's that?' And said, 'Well that sounds interesting, but I'm thinking of doing a reinvention of the modern musical,' and that was Moulin Rouge!. So I'm an obvious idiot, because I should have taken Harry Potter."

Isla, talking about auditioning for the role of Myrtle Wilson, says, "I'm always on my best behaviour when Baz is around. Quite often when I go for auditions, I sort of talk myself out of the job or, when I'm really nervous, I get verbal diarrhoea. So I said to myself, 'just say nothing and Baz may project Myrtle on to you.' So I was a complete mute for as much of the audition."

On graduating from Aussie soap regular in Home and Away to Hollywood star, like many others before her, she says, "When I was growing up in Australia there wasn't that much work and you had to get experience so you had to take a gig and they were the only gigs."

Talking about the pressures of working in LA when she made Confessions of a Shopaholic, Isla says, "I gained 60lbs when I was pregnant with my first child and everyone started to panic because I had to start shooting two and half months after she was born. So they sent a German taskmaster and he went through my fridge and monitored everything. I was going out of my mind - I was fat and sweaty and he was yelling at me in German. And then one day it all came to a head. I was stuffing a cake into my mouth and I didn't know he was there. He shouted, 'Nein! Nein!' and started to cry. I don't know if his whole livelihood depended on me getting skinny, but that was a mistake!"

Isla, reminded of her novel Seduced by Fame that she wrote when she was 18, is persuaded to act out a rather cheesy love scene with Daniel Radcliffe.

Daniel, talking about playing Allen Ginsberg in an upcoming movie, says, "I was doing a gay sex scene and the director was giving step by step instructions. And the favourite note I have ever had was when we were kissing and the director shouted, 'Not like that. Crazy sex kissing!' I spent 10 years in a kids' franchise and that was definitely a moment of, 'Yes, I think I'm moving on.'"

On perfecting an Irish accent for his new play, The Cripple of Inishmaan, he says, "It was tricky and horribly intimidating thinking everyone is going to think it's terrible. The first fifteen minutes of the first day I was just mumbling but at some point I just thought, 'To hell with it, just go for it', and it's been good ever since."

Ed Byrne, looking a little uncomfortable on the sofa, says, "I am recovering from abdominal surgery. I was relocating the compost bin in my garden and gave myself a hernia." Much to everyone's horror, he reveals his wounds, adding, "Now I've had mesh inserted, I'm almost bionic."

Wretch 32 performs Black Out live in the studio, before joining Graham for a chat about his new album.

Broadcast details

Date
Friday 17th May 2013
Time
10:35pm
Channel
BBC One
Length
50 minutes

Repeats

Show past repeats

Date Time Channel
Monday 20th May 2013 11:50pm BBC1
Tuesday 21st May 2013 12:20am BBC1 Wales
Tuesday 21st May 2013 12:50am BBC1 Scot

Cast & crew

Cast
Graham Norton Host / Presenter
Guest cast
Ed Byrne Guest
Daniel Radcliffe Guest
Isla Fisher Guest
Baz Luhrmann Guest
Jermaine Sinclair (as Wretch 32) Guest
Writing team
Rob Colley Writer
Dan Gaster Writer
Production team
Steve Smith Director
Jon Magnusson Series Producer
Mike Altman Producer
Pete Snell Producer
Alan Thorpe Producer
Graham Stuart Executive Producer
Perry Widdowson Editor
Chris Webster Production Designer
Jonathan Whitehead (as Trellis) Composer

Videos

Daniel Radcliffe's Weird Equus Experiences

Daniel Radcliffe talks about awkward audience members and a woman that propositioned him.

Featuring: Graham Norton, Ed Byrne, Isla Fisher, Baz Luhrmann & Daniel Radcliffe.

Was it at Lecoq that you learned to squeal like a pig?

Isla Fisher jokes about being Lecoq trained and demonstrates juggling and her "pig squeal".

Featuring: Graham Norton, Ed Byrne, Isla Fisher, Baz Luhrmann & Daniel Radcliffe.

Red Chair Story: James and the Limo

James in the red chair tells a story about getting a lift in a limo.

Featuring: Graham Norton.

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