for

the Americans, sweeties.

And they would be like in a brown paper bag.

And he would, me and my sister... would be there and he'd be like, and for Trevor the great or Trevor the stupid or Trevor the funny or Trevor the...

Each of us was an adjective, Trevor the something, depending on, I don't know, what was going on.

And then...

We went with a load of people once to Universal Studios when they had the E.T. ride.

me.

What's an early memory of appreciating beauty?

Oh, man.

[sighs] Maybe I've talked about this before.

I don't know if this is too, uh, too woo woo.

I, I was like always atheist, like always thought, uh, that there's nothing to it and it's all just sort of random chaos.

And, uh, and I was in Barbados, and I was sat on a rock in the sea, and in front of me was the whole horizon, nothing but sea.

Ocean, sorry, for the Americans.

Yeah.

Last time I saw eyes that cold, they were going head-to-head with Roy Scheider.

While we were writing it, about somewhere around episode five, I started to think, "I think Roy Kent is living inside me."

Yeah.

He is a cauldron of emotion that he doesn't want anyone to know about, who has been raised in a culture of almost toxic masculinity, to be a [beep] wall.

And he has all these feelings and these emotions, but he cannot express them at all, and he has to keep them pent up, which is why he talks like he talks, because he's holding it all in.

It's like a cork.

Yeah.

And there's a version that's much more serious.

And I think it's finding the balance, and I think the way that it was designed by Kristy Z, the way he directed, the way it was shot by Bob Yamanaka.

So what I love about it is it, everything we wanted it to be, which is like, it looks like a classic rom- it looks like Working G- it has the, the vibe of, like, Working Girl or Broadcast News.

I love the fact we were very serious about, and I gotta give Joe Kelly much more credit than I do myself for the fact that we wanted to make a film about work, 'cause we love-

Uh, h- what was her reaction like to some of the more out there moments?

Well, here's the, here's the truth, uh, and why I was like, "Oh, we're gonna be great," is that she'd s- she'd said yes, and then we wanted to do a rewrite, you know, improve it.

And when we did the rewrite, we took out, we actually took out the cunt stuff, 'cause we were like, "That's probably too much for her." And when she read the second draft, the only note we got back w- she said, "I love it.

I love the back story because you said you wrote this movie with her in mind.

Well, I've always been a fan famous state.

And but I think I think she's a tremendously underrated actor, I think she's I think everyone kind of takes for granted all the things she does which is a fantastic actor and in this genre in particular.

You

know her you were thinking things about you did not know her

knows all the gamble, but you were just admiring her from afar.

Yeah, and we wanted to do something different than she'd done before because I'd seen all of her rom-coms, and in all of them, she's always, like, low status, and she's aspiring to something, and she's, like, on the outskirts of things.

And with this, it was like, no, I want to do something where she's the boss, she's the CEO.

the whole time

... true story, this isn't hyperbole or whatever, this isn't a, like, promo story, this is real.

We were making Ted Lasso season three, and there was an episode set in Manchester and on the...

We filmed up there, and on the train ride back to London, which is about three hours, me and Joe Kelly, uh, who is one of the creators of Ted Lasso, and we're very good friends, and we write together.

And we were like, "What do you wanna do? What, what do you wanna do next?" And I was like, "I re-" We both were like, "We love rom-coms," really good old school rom-coms.

Feel like we haven't seen one for a while that was really banging and good, and we were like, "We should write one, but, like, make it hard jokes." Like, the only difference is hopefully it's f- really funny.

I was gonna say.

Maybe even seven.

Check it out

out[phone vibrating] Good morning.

You're on the phone, pal.

Mission accomplished.

Yeah.

[laughs] We were like, "Who's the best rom-com person to do it with?" And we both, without hesitation, went J.Lo, obviously.

And we wrote it for her, and we sent it to her with a note that said, "We wrote this for you.

You're at the top of our list.

[laughs]

She's always, like, low status and aspiring to something and, and sort of on the outskirts of things.

And we wanted to do, like, a more grown-up one that I hadn't seen her do before.

So she's the CEO in this one.

Like, she has it all, and she's very good at her job and she...

It was like a love letter to workaholics.

That was what it was.

Really?

You crushed it.

Yeah, but you can't...

I- I always think the- the kind of lesson from Ted Lasso and its success, which I don't think anyone can take, the execs can't take it and- and studios can't understand it, is that Ted Lasso was genuinely a word-of-mouth hit.

It wasn't- it was- Apple TV had just started.

It wasn't- my parents didn't even know how to get it.

You know what I mean? So I was like, "I don't think anyone's gonna watch this show.

I'm not sure how- if people are." And when it came out, I think it had a small following, and the reviews were good, but it was, like, small, and then it genuinely grew word of mouth and became this thing that people championed and people loved.

That's- that's bananas.

Oh.

... and I said, "Thanks for everything." I said, "Look, I've been thinking I can play Roy Kent, but I appreciate that no one's thinking this.

This is really embarrassing.

If this is shit, I will never ask you about it.

We can pretend this never happened.

But if this is good, here's the tape." And then when I landed, it was like an overnight flight, when I landed, I got an email saying, "This is fucking awesome.

I'm gonna send it to you."

Who cleared this?"