Lily Collins’ Family Fell for Her Pregnancy Prank
– I want to talk about your April Fool’s prank. Because it made me laugh, but I’m assuming someone else probably
got confused. This is on your Instagram.
-I did a film called “Love, Rosie” years ago. And I’m heavily pregnant in it. So I thought April Fool’s, it is a great photo to use.
-And she says “Big news.”
-“Big news.” So, I didn’t think anyone was going to buy it. But my little brother, Matthew, called me, and was like,
“Are you pregnant?” And I said, “Well, no. Wouldn’t I have told you not on social media?” He’s like, “That’s so dumb.
I hate you.” And he hung up. I was like, “I love you, too.”
-Let’s talk about “Les Misérables.” You’re playing Fantine.
-Yes.
-I mean, big role.
-It was very exciting. I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d get to play her.
-This is exciting.
-Yeah.
-But it’s not a musical?
-It’s not a musical, no. It actually goes back to Victor Hugo’s novel and, obviously, the written word. And that wasn’t musical. So it goes back to the original, and it is a six-parter. And it’s just really interesting for me because as Fantine, sometimes most of her storyline gets told through song lyrics. She explains in a song that she fell in love and had a child and was left by a guy. Whereas we get to show it in an episode.
-Oh, interesting.
-Yeah, you get to see the ghosting of that period happen.
-The transformation is unbelievable.
-Thank you.
-Obviously, I mean — I almost can’t even look at this. ‘Cause I just know you, and then this is you as Fantine. And, wow!
You really went for it.
-The hair and makeup department were absolute geniuses. I sent this picture to my mom because I was so excited about the transformation not even thinking how awful that is.
–I bet she was like, “Don’t ever send me this ever again.”
– I was like, “Rough day at work,” and she was like, “You never send your mother that kind of a picture.”
-Now your brother and your mom unfollow you on Instagram.
-Yeah, now they don’t follow me on Instagram. They never know what I’m gonna show. But it was amazing. I had a bald cap underneath my wig so they could chop into the wig and then look like they were chopping into, like, my skull basically. And then we put — I had two of my front teeth knocked out in the show, so I had green-screened teeth. She sells her teeth and hair to pay for her daughter who’s sick.
-How do they get — This is good. Did they just put, like, black out?
-This is so awful.
-Did they put, like, some glue on your teeth? Is that what it is?
-It’s absolutely awful.
-Yes, that is not in character. That is after work one day. I was really happy to get the wig off, obviously. But, yeah, they put green screen teeth and then they black them out so they can easily blur them in post.
-Wow!
-Yeah, it was really fun.
-Is it hard to act like that?
-No, it’s easier, I think. Well, for me, it’s easier, because I don’t recognize myself and I can get into character. But then some of the other actors are staring at, like, spinach teeth when they’re acting. So, Dominic West and I are filming my death scene. Not a spoil…– I mean, everyone knows Fantine dies. Everyone knows. You can see her resurrect on Broadway or West End tomorrow night if you wanted to.
-It’s a pretty old book, yeah. We’re good, yeah. No spoilers on this one, yeah.
-We were doing my death scene, which was day two of filming. Like, I worked my way backwards. They had me die day two.
-Why?
-Because we were shooting in winter and they wanted it to be cold and dreary and depressing, which it was.
-So, your second day of work, you die?
-I died, yeah. It was like, “Nice to meet you,” and then my death bed. But Dominic is standing behind the camera looking at me and he just can’t stop laughing ’cause I have these green teeth. He’s not making it easy for me.
-You shot this in Brussels?
-Shot it in Brussels last year.
-Wow! Did you get to explore?
-I did a lot of backpacking around Europe. I did some, like, train rides to cool places. But then I also weirdly did
a bunch of escape rooms. I don’t know why I went to Brussels and did escape rooms.
-Well, is it different than American escape rooms?
-Kinda, yeah. Different themes, I guess. And some of them — I mean, they were all in English. I wouldn’t have ever escaped otherwise. But it was fun.
-I love escape rooms.
-They’re great.
-I only did it once. But Questlove apparently has done it like 30 times.
-Aren’t they awesome?
-They’re awesome.
-But he’s never invited me once.
-Oh, you know, I invite — That’s funny, because I invited — Well, David Oyelowo is in this, and he’s amazing. We all, Dominic and I kept inviting him out to hang out with us, and every time, he said no. And I just took it… it was personal, I guess. I don’t know, he didn’t like me or something. Dominic and I just found out two days ago that he’s a method actor and he just didn’t want to hang out with us because he was in character.
-No!
-Because on the press tour, he’s been so much fun. And Dominic and I were like, “You are so much fun to hang out with.” He’s like, “Well, I’m not in character now.” And it took us months to realize it wasn’t personal.
-You were like, “Dude, you are a jackass.” He’s like, “No, I was playing a jackass.”
-I mean, he throws me around in the show, but in real life, he’s lovely and funny.
-Of course. He’s really funny. We love him. Oh, my God. That’s hilarious to find out.
-I know. It was a trip.
-Well, congrats on this.