Jemaine Clement and Nicola Walker Talk “Friends” and Their New Show, ‘Alice and Steve’ [EXCLUSIVE]

Alice and Steve is the story of a very unique friendship and we talked to Jemaine Clement and Nicola Walker about it.

The Disney+ and Hulu series examines what happens when a friendship goes awry. Both Clement and Walker had some thoughts about what constitutes a fracture of trust in a long term friendship. Everybody’s been there, and there are certain things you learn to avoid if you’re going to have this vested relationship.

“Oh, crikey,” Walker exclaimed. “I think, If I realized my friend had told a secret, like something I said in confidence. And then, I hear, ‘So, I hear…’ NO. No!” Clement smirked, “That happens a lot and people still get over it?” But, his co-star wasn’t having that!

“ I don’t know if I could get over that from my friend. It would feel like I misplaced my trust for 30-odd years,” she admitted. Her fellow actor thought that really worked.

Clement began, “I think this story is an excellent example of what would break up a friendship.” Walker sighed, “Expectation. What we expect of them…” 

 Once you lose that trust, it’s pretty much impossible to get back to the period before that transgression happens. Both of these actors joked through a little bit of that interaction. But, the underlying truth is really there in black and white during Alice and Steve.

 If you’re going to have a long term friendship, there is a trust that you put in each other that secrets will be kept, and the other person will be respected at every turn. 

Alice and Steve Has A Circle Around Friendship

Our Rachel Leishman asked about the state of comedy and how refreshing the dialogue felt in this show. In the stars’ eyes, that all comes down to the quality of the words on the page. The right script calls out to you amongst piles of different material.

“It felt like a unicorn script to me. It’s the one that you’re looking for, very rarely sighted,” Walker shared. Meanwhile, Clement had to praise the trappings of Alice and Steve as well. He began, “I always enjoy going to work everyday, one thing about the United Kingdom is that they have reasonable hours, unlike America, we work 10 hours a day.”

“In America, we work 16 hours,” He smiled. “ You can appreciate the work you’re doing every day. Whereas, If you’re overworked it’s hard to appreciate how lucky you are.”

Still, it’s easier to feel connected to the material and deliver a great performance when the script writing is so good. Each of these performers had a lot to thank the writing team for in their answers to our questions.

“The words help a lot. The script you’re given really helps you because it felt authentic to us when we read it,” Walker revealed. “That feels like a friendship I recognize. Then, we did have a week’s rehearsal. Which is something else unheard of. No one ever gets to rehearse for a week anymore, we did.” 

Alice and Steve is streaming now on Disney+ and Hulu.

(Photo Credit: The Mary Sue, Disney+)

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