Maria Bakalova, Samson Kayo, And Harry Trevaldwyn Bring The Laughs In The Bubble - Exclusive Interview

Judd Apatow's Netflix movie "The Bubble" follows a bunch of actors as they attempt to film the blockbuster franchise flick "Cliff Beasts 6" at a hotel in London during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. It's the wackiest comedy Apatow has directed in a while, a satire of Hollywood excess and big celebrity egos. Desperately trying to help make this hectic shoot workable are a number of outsiders: the COVID safety supervisors Gunther (Harry Trevaldwyn) and Bolo (Samson Kayo), and the lovestruck hotel worker Anika (Maria Bakalova).

You probably know Bakalova for her scene-stealing Oscar-nominated performance as Tutar Sagdiyev in "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." Kayo has appeared in multiple British TV shows, while Trevaldwyn is a fresh face — "The Bubble" is only his second movie role. All three of these up-and-coming actors more than hold their own amidst a celebrity-stacked cast. Looper got the chance to exclusively speak with Bakalova, Kayo and Trevaldwyn about some of the funniest moments working on this pandemic-era comedy.

We're talking about a very important film today: "Cliff Beasts 6."

Harry Trevaldwyn: Yeah, of course.

What are your other favorite sixth films in movie series?

Samson Kayo: Sixth films?

Trevaldwyn: How many have made six?

Maria Bakalova: Five. This is the sixth one.

Trevaldwyn: Yeah, but have any other franchises done six? "Fast and Furious," have they done six?

Kayo: Yeah. They've done like 12. I haven't seen any of the "Cliff Beasts." I haven't seen the first five.

"Star Trek." "Harry Potter."

Trevaldwyn: Oh yeah. "Harry Potter." Oh my God.

Kayo: "Harry Potter" is eight, right?

Trevaldwyn: Yeah, and then they've got the "Fantastic Beasts" ones.

"Star Wars," though which one is the sixth film is debatable, is it "Episode VI" or sixth one released?

Kayo: I think my favorite would be "Harry Potter." I think that's the –

Trevaldwyn: "Half-Blood Prince?"

"The Bubble" is about the process of making a really bad movie. Can you each describe a scene from the worst movie script you've ever had to read for? You don't have to give the details of the movie, but just tell about a particularly funny, bad scene.

Kayo: I remember behind the scenes of a film I did once, and there was no costume designer, so we had to bring our own costumes and it was a nightmare. Some people would turn up, nothing was ironed, and no shoes. Then the producer was like, "Oh my God, where's the costume for this person?" "Oh, I don't know. That's not my job. I'm an actor." That was one. That was hilarious.

Trevaldwyn: There's definitely been ... sometimes with self-tapes, and stuff like that, if you have to get killed or be in pain, it's –

Bakalova: Oh my gosh.

Kayo: So awkward to do.

Trevaldwyn: It's so awkward to do on a self-tape with your reluctant flatmate opposite you going, "Really? We're doing this? Okay, cool."

Bakalova: Our friend Danielle [Vitalis], who is also in the movie and she's incredible, was posting something the other day about –

Trevaldwyn: Oh yeah. Having to break in through a door.

Bakalova: Yeah, it was one of these things that it's imagination, or when you have to shoot, for self-tape, and you have to react.

Kayo: Or a slap.

Trevaldwyn: Yeah. Oh my God.

Bakalova: Punching someone. What are you punching? I find myself so many times punching my –

Trevaldwyn: Even if it's not in the script, Maria goes "Bam!"

Kayo: That's funny.

"The Bubble" has a huge cast of great comedic talent. Excluding present company, who would you say was your funniest co-star?

Trevaldwyn: Fred –

Kayo: Fred, yeah.

Trevaldwyn: Fred Armisen does this thing where he does this high-pitched laugh in it, and I thought it was so funny.

Kayo: Yeah. Fred really made me ... Iris really made me laugh.

Trevaldwyn: Iris [Apatow] is so funny in it.

Kayo: Iris was hilarious in this. She was so natural, on and off, she's like "Yeah, whatever."

Trevaldwyn: And Galen [Hopper], as well. Everyone in it was so funny.

Bakalova: Peter Serafinowicz, because he has this straight face, and I loved it, as well.

Who was the best dancer in the cast?

Trevaldwyn: Harry Trevaldwyn. Harry Trevaldwyn should have been in "Dancing With the Stars." I'd win it straight away.

Kayo: Who was the best dancer?

Trevaldwyn: Iris was a phenomenal dancer.

Kayo: Iris was incredible.

Bakalova: Incredible.

Trevaldwyn: Also, I feel Karen [Gillan] picked things up so quickly.

Kayo: Keegan [-Michael Key].

Trevaldwyn: Keegan.

Bakalova: Yes.

Trevaldwyn: Keegan will go into any activity with so much enthusiasm. He's going to be the best at it, straight away.

Kayo: "This is what we're doing? Okay. Go."

Trevaldwyn: Amazing. Our first day meeting, Maria and I, in rehearsals ... We did dance rehearsals, and we essentially had to grind up against the choreographer ... So we were literally grinding and going, "Nice to meet you. I'm Harry." Such a bizarre way to meet.

Kayo: I kept trying to get out of the dance rehearsals.

Trevaldwyn: But you didn't.

From what I know about Judd Apatow movies, they tend to have a lot of improv. Were there any particular moments that you improvised in this movie that you're particularly proud of?

Trevaldwyn: Yeah, there were so many ... he always left room for improvisation. There was also a team of writers and they'd provide suggestions and stuff like that, but I remember one ... because of the number of extras, I had to do a safety talk about all the different rules and stuff like that. There were lots of stand-ins, and it put so much pressure. They were all masked up, so it looked like everyone was like, "What else are you going to say, clown?" Yeah, that was a fun one.

Kayo: Mine was the day ... You know that day we did the meditation?

Trevaldwyn: Yeah, but I wasn't there for that one. I was so sad.

Kayo: Oh my gosh. Leslie killed me that day. It was so funny because Guz [Khan] kept doing this thing where him and David [Duchovny] had an altercation, and Leslie [Mann] was sitting down, and I was looking at Leslie breaking. Every time I saw her break, I would break, and we would be laughing. Even during the scene, when I... Walking out the door, where Guz runs away and does... That was funny, man. That was so much improv because he just kept going and going and going. It was hilarious.

Were there any scenes that were cut from the movie that you wish were included?

Trevaldwyn: Yes. There is a scene where we all have baby animals and they are so cute.

Bakalova: Oh my God.

Kayo: Oh yeah.

Trevaldwyn: Maria and I... Everyone else had these very well-behaving animals, and I had this duckling who despised me. It was like this horrible... I had to pick them out of a huddle. They were terrified. Maria had this cat that was going to kill my duckling. We were clutching them, when everyone else had these little baby bunnies, and Maria and I were like...

Bakalova: That was probably the happiest day on set because there was an ice cream truck –

Kayo: Oh yeah, the vegan ice cream.

Bakalova: Everybody had their animals, and they were all trained, well behaved, except ours because my cat couldn't stop [going], "Meow!" and his duck was always like, "Quack!"

Trevaldwyn: That was really stressful.

Kayo: I think I had a goat. There was goats.

Trevaldwyn: Yeah, there was a goat, and then David had this hawk on his arm...

Kayo: Yes, the hawk. That was funny. And the hawk did a poo. Didn't the hawk poo?

Trevaldwyn: Probably ... I remember you were covered in fur, as well.

Bakalova: I was embarrassed because this thing never stopped.

I hope no one was allergic to anything.

Kayo: No.

Trevaldwyn: But it would've been a fun way to find out.

Kayo: Yeah, exactly.

Maria, important question: who is your preferred onscreen love interest, Pedro Pascal or Rudy Giuliani?

Bakalova: Oh my God. That's a tie. That's a very difficult question. I don't know. When one of them is like pure love, the other one is –

Trevaldwyn: Pedro Pascal.

Bakalova: I'm not sure anymore. Plus, judging by my astrological sign ... I'm a Gemini, so –

Kayo: Geminis!

Bakalova: It is going to be ... It's a very hard choice. Maybe it's going to –

Trevaldwyn: Maybe both. Don't pick.

Bakalova: Okay. Let's stick to the recent one. I'm going to say Pedro.

Trevaldwyn: It's a good choice.

Bakalova: I'm sorry. He will understand.

What films do you have coming up next, either that you've shot or that you're about to shoot, that you're most excited for?

Trevaldwyn: I've got the UK version of "Call My Agent" coming out, I think, end of April-ish. Excited to see that.

Kayo: That's going to be wicked.

Bakalova: That's going to be amazing.

Trevaldwyn: Samson's got a show that just came out.

Kayo: Yeah, I've got a TV show called "Our Flag Means Death," on HBO Max, that came out the other day, which is a pirate comedy.

Trevaldwyn: So good.

Bakalova: It's incredible.

Kayo: Ah, thank you.

Trevaldwyn: It's so good.

Bakalova: It's incredible. But you have another show also, right?

Kayo: Yeah, but I can't talk about that one.

Bakalova: I have a movie that is premiering now, at SXSW, called "Bodies Bodies Bodies," that we shot right after we shot "The Bubble." Two weeks later, probably, we flew to New York. And it's an A24 movie, slasher movie, which is with a very cool, fun young cast. [There's also] another one that I shot straight from "Bodies Bodies Bodies," in Italy, which is my first producing project that I'm very passionate about because it's a romantic comedy. It's shot in Venice and Rome, and it's also very quirky-funny because it's about friendship, mostly, with incredibly talented British comedian called Asim Chaudhry.

Kayo: Oh, Asim. Yeah.

Bakalova: You know who I'm talking about, and an incredible Polish American actor Pico Alexander, and a French actor, who is unbelievably great, Lucas Bravo. These are my two things that are going to be out soon, and I'm excited.

Trevaldwyn: Very exciting.

"The Bubble" premieres on Netflix April 1.