Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch are pub mates with a 15-year friendship

Olivia was just sat there calmly on a cushion, meditating, going, hello, how are you? Very zen. I don't move much. You're listening to Heartbreakfast with Jamie and Zoe, in for Amanda this week. Now, listeners of a certain vintage will be familiar with the Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner movie, War of the Roses. I think it, 30 years ago, put an entire generation of us off marriage. To my mind, a far more enjoyable remake that comes out today. It's called The Roses, and it stars our special guests, Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch. Thank you very much. Very excited to have you here, guys. Great to be here. We're very excited to be here. Thank you. I hope I'm not doing the film a disservice by calling it a remake. A reimagining, really, because it strays quite a lot on many levels, I think, from the original dynamic. Of course, based on a book. Based on a book. Anyway, in the first place. So for those, Benedict, for those who may not be familiar with the story, kind of explain to us briefly what The Roses is all about. It's about a very impulsive couple who leave a life in England that's not satisfying them, find their dream in America, and it's about that dream going wrong when one's fortune goes down and the other goes up, in brief. That's kind of it. Oh, my God. You are nailing the screenplay. It's certainly taken six weeks, like you said. It's a lot of fun, and it's very well-observed and nuanced and dark in places, but also very, very funny and comedic. And it's written by Tony McNamara, favourite. Yes, of course. And poor things. And the great. And directed by Joe Roach. I think he's going to do very well. He's doing, yeah. You two are finishing each other's sentences just like America. Are they actually married in real life? No. But is this the first time that you guys have worked together? Sadly, yes. What? We've been wanting to make this kind of happen because of that. We've been friends for a long time, and we always said, wouldn't it be nice to take this friendship to work? The two of you are married. Has this kind of taught you anything about your own marriages? Don't have hard fruit on the counter. Yeah, that's never a good plan, is it? Simple things like that. I don't know what the opposite of a rom-com is, but this would be... A com-rom. Not a com-rom, but this would be kind of... It's the antithesis to a rom-com, right, the film, isn't it? Yes, I see what you mean. It sort of is. They're a subversive violent pair. But they do love each other, so there is rom. Yeah. And there's a load of com. Yeah. Can I just ask, have you got music playing in your heads? Yeah, not just you. Right, okay, good, it's not just me. I'm off a plane. I thought, yeah, I've got a pop soundtrack going on here. Maybe I've been doing this job for a bit too long without sleep. Regular term, it's called a bed that's playing. As soon as my head starts bobbing away, everyone's like, what's going on with them? Do you think, Olivia, we enjoy... It seems to me that we enjoy watching other people's relationships. Yeah. Because of collapse, in a way. Is it because... Are we measuring our own against what we perceive to be perfect relations? Is that why we find it enjoyable, or... I don't know, but it's a bit like watching a cat fall over. You don't... I find it very enjoyable. Mike, the funniest thing in the world for me is when my husband hits his head. Right. Oh, isn't it brilliant? Or there was a point when... Our kids are all enormous now, but when they were tiny, they would run at him, or they could run through his legs, and then they just grew a little bit taller. Wow, and then that's painful. I think it's that similar feeling, watching. My husband was really cross the other day, and then he accidentally came off his bike, and I was like, oh, that's horrible. Oh, okay. Are you all right? Stopped me so grumpy. I think we have a vicarious pleasure as well in watching, not just couples, but sort of, you know, the British comedy is a strong vein of the comedy of failure. And you're still rooting for Alan Partridge, and David Brent, and Basil Fawlty, but they're failing left, right, and centre. Yeah. And it's also that sliding door thing of, oh, if only you'd done that, or that way. And that's very much the case with this couple, Dan. Yeah, you can see the missteps, can't you? Yeah, massively. Because you pointed out that they do love each other, and of course you don't get that without them loving each other, it's just an uncomfortable situation. If they were totally indifferent, there'd be no point watching. No, no. But there is so great a fall to come. Yeah, the hubris of it. Yeah, yeah. And that has emotional impact as well as high comedy. That's the idea, and that's what Tony balances so brilliantly. It's called The Roses. It's out in cinemas today. We'll have more from our special guests, Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch, right after this. How brilliant was that? Olivia Colman, Benedict Cumberbatch. Still with us. I thought I'd play your favourite song, Olivia, just for you. Thank you. Did you enjoy that? You requested it, didn't you? Banger. Yeah, absolutely. Banger. She was dancing away to it. Wasn't she? I saw a different version of you. The spinny thing on my back. Oh, yeah. I didn't know you could do the caterpillar as well. I know. It was so good. I'd never seen you. Wow. Now, you two, you mentioned that you were friends. We were. Until this point in time. Until Olivia started dancing. You know, you're old friends. You know, it's fair to say you know each other very well. Olivia said 30 years ago, which is shocking how old I must be. Do you notice how he said, I? It was, yeah, I. Yeah, not her. She doesn't age. She never ages. No, no, no, just me. She's exactly the same. His eyesight's getting worse, which is why I still do it. It really is. It was awful. You know when you put your... I put my makeup on, then you put your glasses on. Oh, no. How did you... When did you first meet? It was... You remember this, you tell the story. It was in a... It was either a radio advert we were doing or a little radio play. Play, maybe. That sounds classy, doesn't it? Let's say it was that. It was that. And Ben had scruffy long hair, a bit unshaven, and this long jumper that had big holes in it, and his thumbs came through the sleeves, and it was bouncy and tiggery. You went, hello, hi. And then now you get your chance to... And Olivia in pressure. Olivia was just sat there calmly on a cushion, meditating, going, hello, how are you? Very zen. I don't move much. No, I remember... I just remember I have lots of memories of Olivia. Some of them are a bit blurry, because we used to have a lot of... Well, we still do have a lot of fun, and at those moments say, we should work together, we should take this friendship to work, and then we kind of wake up in the morning and kind of forget about it, but hence it's taken so long, I think. And we've been a bit busy, but this has been a wonderful treat, and I can't wait to do it again. You can see your friendship in the movie. It's called The Roses. It's out today. Unfortunately, we're out of time. Oh, no. But it's been a pleasure. Thank you so much. Oh, I've got so many more questions. I've been told that's it. So we're on a strict time. I don't know who's in trouble. You can say you don't want to leave. Olivia Colman and Finlay! Thank you for having us. Thank you very much. Thank you, that was lovely. Thank you, guys.