It must be nice to see a familiar face on set when you start a new gig. Surely, Ben Affleck feels comfortable on his sets when his pal Matt Damon shows up because the two work well together, and we all know how much fun Ryan Reynolds had when bringing his friend Rob McElhenney to the Deadpool set (even if his part was cut). So when Harry Lawtey joined the cast of Joker: Folie A Deux, he was understandably relieved when he learned that his Industry costar Ken Leung is also entering Todd Phillips’ Joker-verse.
Lawtey was cast as Harvey Dent in Phillips’ highly-anticipated sequel to Joker. Leung also appears in the film in an undisclosed role, though Lawtey didn’t know about it until the day before he began filming. The actor told I-d: “Oh my god! I only found out the day before because [Industry co-star] Myha’la told me!” Lawet revealed. While he mentioned hsi first scene was opposite star Jauquin Phoenix, his first speaking role was addressing Leung.
“My first shots were with Joaquin but my first line of dialogue was [spoken to] Ken. It made such a difference because the stakes were so high,” he expressed. Having a familiar face helped make the jump a lot less scary, Lawtey said. “The first time I had to speak on camera, I was speaking to someone I really, really love and have a huge amount of trust and admiration for. They just felt like safe eyes to look into. That’s always the case with Ken.” It’s nice that somebody feels comfort when looking into Ken’s eyes because the man has played some seriously disturbing characters.
You would think that Phillips would know about this beforehand, but he seemed surprised to know that his stars had worked together before. “Halfway through the scene, [Phillips] comes up to me and says: ‘Apparently you guys are in a show together?’”
On the other hand, going from Pierpoint and Co to the gritty streets of Gotham is pretty intimidating, though not as intimidating as working with Lady Gaga. “There were a few occasions when I got to be a metre away from her while she sang. I had a front-row seat to that experience. I kept thinking, how many people would pay loads of money to have that?” How much money would you pay to see Ken Leung explode at you about incorrect budgets?! Something to think about.
Joke: Folie A Deux dances into theaters on October 4th.
(Via I-D)