Cristin Milioti on Her Failed Wicked Audition and The Penguin with Colin Farrell | The Tonight Show

Welcome back to the show. Everything good. Pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. Things are going pretty well. Yeah. Oh, I wanted to ask you quickly about this. I heard this story. I don't know if it's true or not. And if it's not true, we can cut out the show. But did you audition for Wicked? I did. And I sure did. You did. Yes. I am. Wicked is like one of my favorite musicals. I was there the night it reopened after the pandemic. But I love Wicked. Yeah. And they called me and asked if I would want to audition for Elphaba, which is the green witch. Oh, my God. Yeah. Very exciting. But I was like, really, do I have to sing the like? Like, yeah. Oh, yeah, they are. Yeah. The commercial. Yes, of course. I'd say that's the part. It's like the best. You know, I'm sure everyone here has seen Wicked. It's like the best. It's end of act one of all time. She flies. And so I was like, I was like, yeah. Yeah. Oh, my God. Yes. Of course. Well, they need the the the like. And they were like, yeah, let's check. So they actually will need the. And I was like, OK. OK. Pressures. Got it. So I had two weeks. And this was also my first in-person audition since Covid. So like I hadn't been in a room with people. A little rusty, a little rusty, a little rusty, a little shaky. Not great for singing. Not great for high notes. And I just found myself like walking around my apartment. It was like the telltale heart, like all I could hear was like. And anytime I would talk to someone, I would like be like five hundred miles away, just like quietly thinking of like over and over and over. I got to do it. And then the big day comes and they're like, you know, and they're so nice and they're they're lovely. And they're like, come on in. Oh, my gosh. So nice to meet you, blah, blah. And I'm like, it's so nice to meet you, too. Your actual voice. And you can feel like I can just feel myself being like, uh-huh. And so what do you want to begin with? And they we start singing to the songs and and I'm like doing it like we're singing the songs. We're like getting through. We're we're we're hitting when I meet the wizard. We're hitting not that girl, like all these things. And then they were like, are you ready for the big boy? And I was like, yes, I'm ready. Yeah, let's do it. Let's let's I can do this. And they start the music and this like calmness washes over me. And I'm like, oh, this is going to be like a 90s movie. Like it's going to be slow mo, like League of Their Own. Like, I'm actually going to be able to do it. Like, I think I'm going to do it. I think I'm going to hit this crazy note that I've been obsessing over. And I like opened my mouth wide. I took a deep breath. And the sound that escaped me is something I will hear on my deathbed. Not hear what I did in that room. It was disgusting. It was like, no, it was it was like when you hear coyotes attack as a group, like it was it was horrible. It was like there was an injury. It sounded terrible. And then the worst part is that there was like this silence that followed and especially like, oh, my God. Oh, my God. Like and and I knew what I'd done and they knew what I'd done. And they had these like sort of like plastered smiles and they were so nice. And they were like, Kristen, thank you so much. And I was like, oh, no. That being said, I mean, I cannot but I am so excited for that movie and specifically Cynthia Erivo. Cynthia Erivo got cast. Who should be singing that? Like Cynthia Erivo. It's not like, oh, my God. She I played the guitar to give the audition. Yeah, we got Jimmy Hendrix. Oh, my God. She like I saw her in the color purple. And when she sings like, you know, it's like a spirit. I leapt to my feet every time. I cannot wait to hear it. But you are phenomenal, too. I want to hear you sing. You should do a musical. I want to do. All right. I'm dying to do a musical. I don't think that like my voice necessarily fits the like for that one. Like that. You know, that's I wish it did. I want to talk about The Penguin. Sure. OK, it's on HBO. This is for everyone's buzzing about this, talking about this. You debuted this at Comic-Con in San Diego this summer. Yeah. What was that like? Oh, my gosh. I mean, it was outrageous. It was like getting hit by a Mack truck in the best way. I mean, I'm such a huge Batman fan and I've been like wanting to play a Batman villain my entire life. And I grew up on these movies and it's like wildly profound and moving to me. And so to be in this is like how many people are we talking? Six thousand, six thousand people that love Batman, that love Batman. Oh, yeah. Don't mess with my bat. Yeah. And we show them this trailer that they'd showed me before, which is like it. It was like they love dropping trailers. Yeah. Like, well, this is a new trailer that shows my character in Arkham, which was like, you know, for someone who loves Batman, when they put that uniform on me, I was like, oh, my God, it's canon. Like, you know, so excited. So to get to watch six thousand people, to get to watch that with six thousand people was like my blood was seltzer. I was like, like, you're bloodless. And then I like had to sleep for three days afterward because it just it was like the most fabulous adrenaline rush. Oh, I have to say that when Colin Farrell did the Penguin and the Batman, it was unbelievable. I didn't know it was him. It's crazy. I didn't finish the movie. It's outrageous. Everything. Normally, if I see it, I can kind of see it. I go, yeah, this person is going like they're wearing a rubber mask. Can you? Yeah, I get it. Totally. I did not understand. What do you mean he was in that movie? Yeah. And up close, you know, it's it's so real. It's it moves. It's like this is Colin. This is Colin Farrell, one of my favorite actors. Oh, my God. Right. Yeah. And then this is him as Ascom as the Penguin. There is this one guy. No, it's unbelievable. Look at this. Unbelievable. And such a testament to Mike Marino, who did that makeup. What's it like talking to this guy and then this guy? Well, it's interesting because I only met Colin. This Colin. Yeah. The one the one. Yeah. A few times in person and we shot together for eight months and I only knew Oz. And it's so strange because I associate, you know, I know those eyes and that voice so well from just being like, how is your weekend? You know, whatever. Yeah. And so when I see him outside of that, it's like very jarring because Oz is more of a real person who I've spent more time with than Colin. That's and it feels like someone has like Freaky Friday or body swap. It's like something's wrong. It feels like when you've been like riding a bicycle all day and then like you get off the bicycle and you're like, whoa, like I saw him a couple of times outside of makeup and I it was like a cat with socks on. I didn't love it because it's just so it's so jarring. But when you do these, you're not allowed to tell anyone anything. It's all secretive. Yes. I mean, do you are you good at that or do you do? I mean, no. I mean, I I probably I mean, I like you can you can't even say can you say who I mean, I like tell my friends. You do. I know. Well, you got good for you. I'm glad somebody admitted finally they admitted they tell your friends like tell your tell your friends. I mean, I'm like, don't tell anyone. Yeah. And they did. They did. And they did it. Yeah. Good friends. Yeah. What can we say about this without giving too much away? Well, we're all your friends. Yeah. You're all my friends. Right. I would say that. So I play Sofia Falcone and Oz and I battle it out for who's going to run Gotham. We're like each other's villains and it sort of follows us as we battle for control of the of the city. How fun. I know how fun it is. I know. I want to show a clip. Here's Kristen Milioti and the Penguin. Take a look. You think, you know, it's best for me. You think, you know what I need? How are you any different than those bricks in there? Very, very convenient that all of a sudden you're on my side. Will you look at that? Right. My little helper. All right. Desperate. You are scrambling for whatever dignity you have left and you're hoping I will save you. Not going to happen. I don't owe you a thing. You're right, you don't. I owe you. Whoa, come on. Kristen Milioti, the Penguin premieres September 19th on HBO and Max. We'll be right back with a performance from Talib Kweli and Jay Rawls. Stick around, everybody.