THR Frontrunners Q&A With 'The Traitors' Host Alan Cumming | THR Video
Emmy-nominated actor and host Alan Cumming sat down with THR's Tyler Coates and shared plenty of behind-the-scenes secrets — about Peacock's smash hit reality competition series 'The Traitors' at the THR Frontrunners live event hosted by the San Vicente Bungalows in Los Angeles.
Transcript
00:00I have quite a good poker face, I think, because I'm playing a character.
00:03As Alan, I don't really have a very good poker face.
00:05But there was two times during the course of this when in my ear,
00:10they said, Alan, your face, your face, your face.
00:12And I was like, oh, what?
00:14Because apparently, like, from where I stand at the back, you know,
00:17by the circle of truth, I can see certain people,
00:19what they're writing on their little chalkboards.
00:21And there was one time when I just thought, for sure,
00:24they're going to realize who was the clear.
00:28And I saw this person writing a different name.
00:32And apparently, I went.
00:38And so I got into trouble.
00:47So this is your fifth Emmy nomination, which is incredible, right?
00:50Yeah, it was a bridesmaid.
00:53Yeah, we've talked about this, you know, when I've interviewed you before
00:57about this, you know, three of those nominations,
01:00your previous nominations were for The Good Wife,
01:02playing Eli Gold, which is a great character.
01:05And then you also got a nomination for hosting
01:08the Tonys with Kristen Chenoweth.
01:09Yeah.
01:10So I feel like this, I mean, that's still pretty impressive.
01:13That was everybody.
01:14I was also nominated for a daytime Emmy for being an Arthur, the aardvark.
01:18OK.
01:19Yeah, but anyway, let's let that go.
01:21Yeah, that's fine.
01:22And I won a New York Emmy.
01:24Oh.
01:24Yeah, for doing something else.
01:26OK, well, primetime.
01:27Yes.
01:28It's where it's at.
01:29Yeah, exactly.
01:30But, you know, I feel like this job, this role that you have as host of The Traitors
01:35really encapsulates all of that hosting.
01:38But also, you're really playing a character.
01:40I feel like you're putting on a character as Ellen Cumming, in a way.
01:44Oh, absolutely.
01:45I mean, I feel like it's sort of a huge acting job.
01:48I mean, I know it's hosting a show, but I am acting a character, you know.
01:53And even, it's funny, I went, I'm doing a film in Scotland right now.
01:56And well, not right now.
01:57Clearly, I'm here, but I am in the middle of it.
02:00And I went to meet, went for my costume fitting the other day.
02:03And in the same way that on The Traitors, when I put my costume, whatever I'm wearing each day,
02:08really dictates the sort of mood of what I'm going to do.
02:12I mean, literally, actually.
02:13And I really rely on, I realize how much I rely on costume people to sort of
02:19tell me what my character is.
02:20And that's why Sam Spector is such a genius on this show.
02:22But that's how I think about it.
02:24I think about it as a character.
02:26And obviously, it's me.
02:28His name's Ellen Cumming.
02:29But obviously, it's not really me.
02:31I don't really sound like that.
02:32I don't dress like that.
02:36And I don't have a castle, alas.
02:39Fair enough.
02:39That's too bad.
02:40But I really, it's, I mean, I think it's actually great that, you know,
02:44the notion of hosting something.
02:47And you are hosting something, but you're making it more.
02:50I love that this is so theatrical and camp, the true sense of camp,
02:54that kind of arch and sort of knowing and kind of celebrating
03:00flamboyance, in a way.
03:01I think that's a really exciting thing about the show.
03:05Not just me, but the whole sort of sensibility of it.
03:08I really like that.
03:09Yeah.
03:10Well, I think this episode in particular really shows that off,
03:13not just with you, but with the entire cast of contestants.
03:16I mean, I think it's the looks that they pulled out.
03:18Oh, my God.
03:19I mean, were you ever worried?
03:20Like, oh, someone, I might be upstaged.
03:23Back off, bitch.
03:24Yeah, a little bit.
03:26I mean, I sort of, I mean, I think it was quite interesting that as it went on,
03:31I mean, now I think people, if you were going to be on The Traitors,
03:34you'd think a lot better.
03:36The person who is on the ground with me, helping me get my clothes on,
03:41Catherine, she said that what happens now is that more and more and more,
03:46nearly all of them have stylists who've done looks for them before the thing.
03:52Not all of them, clearly.
03:54But, and what was funny, do you want to know some juicy gossip?
04:00It's not that juicy, but the bags of Tom from the restaurant show.
04:08Sandoval.
04:08Yes, were lost, right, when he first came.
04:12So the first few days of filming, he looked fabulous because he's been dressed,
04:19he's been styled by the stylists, people who are, you know, so overseeing it.
04:24And then his clothes arrived.
04:28And what was hilarious is someone said to me, there was a meme that someone tagged me,
04:36and it was a picture of me from Josie and the Pussycats on the phone.
04:40And it said, Alan Cumming, furious at Tom Sandoval,
04:45wearing another Zara women's suit to the castle.
04:49And I said, I don't, I don't understand this.
04:51I don't understand this meme.
04:53And Catherine said, oh my God, tomorrow he is wearing another Zara women's suit.
04:59Because that's the thing he does.
05:01He wears Zara women's suits, which I'm all for, don't get me wrong.
05:04But I thought it was interesting because his style changed remarkably
05:07when his real clothes arrived.
05:10Not in a bad way.
05:11Right, sure, it's just expression.
05:13Yeah.
05:14That's something, how familiar are you with the contestants
05:19when they're kind of like being cast and joining the show?
05:22I mean, when do you find out who they are?
05:24And what is your process of figuring out who they are?
05:29Well, I find out quite late because it is always quite late.
05:32There's always rumored people and they do this thing
05:35where they sort of say someone's maybe going to do it, but they're not really.
05:38And so it's sort of, it's, you know, it's a different world.
05:42So there's a different, it's like when, you know, if you've ever known models,
05:46they have like, they have like two or three things that they might do all at once.
05:50I can't remember what you call it, like a pencil or something like that.
05:52So they've always got, I'm penciled for this and pencil for that and pencil for that.
05:55And I once went out with a model and I find it so confusing.
05:59And it's a bit like that with these reality competition shows.
06:02But anyway, eventually when it's the actual group,
06:05it's only really shortly before we start filming.
06:08And I often, I mean, you know, I don't really know who a lot of them are,
06:12but I really study very hard.
06:14I go and I do this sort of crash course.
06:16I get these research notes and things and their photos.
06:20And my one thing I insist now is that the photos that I have are as near to the time.
06:32So I don't get confused by the fact
06:33they might have had some alterations to their faces.
06:37That happened in the first season.
06:39I was like, what the fuck?
06:40We went to do the film.
06:41The first went to film the first bit.
06:43I went, she doesn't, this is the wrong person.
06:46And they went, no, it's, it is.
06:47And I went, oh, so the, as I asked, please could,
06:50yeah, could you try and get the photo taken of them?
06:52Like when they arrive in Inverness, not a couple of weeks ago.
06:56I expected you to maybe name check Larsa with that one too,
07:00if you watch Miami and, you know, they do flashbacks of seven years ago.
07:04It does truly feel like a different person.
07:06A lot of, yeah, a lot in that case.
07:08And, you know, I just think fair enough, but like, you know, it's hard enough anyway.
07:14Could you make it a little, I just, that's my thing.
07:16I said, please can have the photographs that are the nearest to the, to,
07:19to when they were last seen alive.
07:22When they got off the plane.
07:24Because there's a lot of, initially it's a lot of people to remember.
07:29And a lot of them look alike.
07:31You know what I mean?
07:32I mean, it sounds a bit sort of, I don't know, but it's true.
07:36Quite a lot, you know, it's a lot of blonde.
07:38There's a lot of, you know, it's a lot of work for me.
07:46And so I, but I do study very hard and I, and I have to sort of learn certain,
07:51you know, they're famous things.
07:52And some of, some of them I know, some of them come through, you know,
07:56even if you don't watch those shows, you, they have entered the zeitgeist in some way.
08:01But I, I do really do SWAT.
08:04Do you have that in America?
08:04SWAT?
08:05Like I study very hard on them and kind of, you know, it's important for me to sort of,
08:11especially in this first meetings that I do with them, the first
08:14interviews I do that I'm sort of all fair with their stick.
08:18Right.
08:18Well, season two is very different from season one, where it was a mixture of,
08:22of kind of reality television stars with some kind of regular people
08:27who just happened to be on the show.
08:28Was this one, you know, having an entire cast of people who are
08:32public figures in some way, a little bit easier for you?
08:36Yes, in a way, because, you know, when they're public figures,
08:39you know something about them.
08:40They've got the stick, you know, they come with a story, a backstory,
08:45whereas with the real people, they didn't.
08:47And so it's kind of, you just, and also some of them are pretending.
08:50I remember that someone was pretending to be something.
08:53And so you think, oh God.
08:55So I actually liked it better.
08:57And also, I think that it's a very heightened show.
09:00You know, it's very sort of has a theatrical sort of feel to it,
09:05both in the setting and the sort of gothicness and me.
09:08And so actually it's, I liked it better when people came into that environment,
09:13understanding that and sort of coming at that sort of level.
09:16And when they're, you know, they, they come to this,
09:18they understand that and they, they know, they know television,
09:22they know how to work, they know how it works.
09:24So they kind of, they're not, I mean, they're not sort of showing off,
09:27but they understand, you know, it's like doing being photographed.
09:31You know how to give it.
09:33Right. And I would say like, it's been, especially this season,
09:36it was really impressive to see who really leaned in hard on the game.
09:42I mean, Phaedra is like a queen.
09:45If they gave Emmys out for reality contestants,
09:48she should, because she truly, I mean,
09:51she was chewing the scenery along with everyone else in such an incredible way.
09:56I mean, I think going above and beyond most of the contestants really.
09:59Oh, she was on fire. I mean, I find her completely fascinating because
10:06she gave such good, she was like a meme machine.
10:09You know, she was kind of everything, you know,
10:11everything she said was practically a quotable thing, but, but,
10:15and also she was so like, there's a bit when I,
10:18when they come in the cloaks and I said,
10:19do you promise to be a murderer and everything?
10:21And most of them go, I do. She went, I will kill every night.
10:25Like she would, she was like so in it and so kind of turned the way up.
10:31And, but then what I thought was fascinating about it was actually as a,
10:35as a traitor, she was incredibly passive.
10:37She never said, let's do this.
10:39She was always like, yes, interesting idea.
10:44Oh, do you think so? Well, yes, maybe.
10:46So she was, I find that she was very on the back foot and that was actually
10:51of quite a good tactic for, for, for a while.
10:53Well, in this episode in particular, there was a really interesting kind of,
10:57you know, kind of factions forming between like the Bravo reality,
11:01like the lifestyle reality shows versus the gamers as they refer to themselves.
11:06I mean, I think of, I mean, I'm a huge Housewives fan and I love Phaedra from
11:10from Atlanta. Yes. And she was always that kind of,
11:13anytime she manipulated, it was always like a very passive,
11:16like she kind of got someone else to do it for her.
11:18What do you mean in Atlanta?
11:19In Atlanta. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there was, she, she did some,
11:23there's some trade airing happening there.
11:25That's her modus operandi, I think. Yeah. And it was fascinating to watch it.
11:28But I was like, come on Phaedra, you know, because she was so passive.
11:32She kind of got like people like, well, what are you doing?
11:35Right. You know, when she came up against
11:37like poverty or something, when she was, who's very, what's the word?
11:41Not aggressive, but like, she's affirmative. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
11:46It's interesting as well, the whole sort of,
11:48in the one we just shot a while ago, it's coming out next year.
11:52There's this, again, there's this sort of,
11:55cause there's more Housewives in that one, four now, I think, or five or four.
11:59And, and they were very, they had a bit of a persecution complex.
12:04They were always going like, why are you always,
12:06why are you always gunning for the Housewives?
12:08And because they'd made this little pack.
12:10And I think it's interesting to sort of go into these little packs.
12:14And so then if one of them's attacked, they kind of rally around,
12:17like it's an attack on them too.
12:18It's very sort of feudal and it's very like the show, a lot of the show,
12:22I feel it's like Lord of the Flies, you know, it's kind of,
12:24everyone gets into the little packs and then it becomes kill the pig.
12:28And nobody actually really has any rationale about it.
12:31It's, it's fascinating.
12:32I mean, from a sociological point of view, I find it endlessly fascinating.
12:36It's kind of like a psychological experiment.
12:38I mean, I feel like a lot of them, I mean, are kind of opening up to the camera
12:42about how confused and, and, and chaotic everything feels.
12:47And they're absolutely maddened by it because they're not allowed
12:50to have their phones and they're kept in isolation.
12:52And so all they think about is, is the traitors.
12:56And, and so as do I, you know,
13:00but at least I kind of get to go home and talk to other people
13:03and use my phone and things like that.
13:06Was there anyone that you got really close to,
13:09like just that you were rooting for as a traitor or a faithful?
13:13I mean, is it, is it hard not to get attached to a contestant?
13:18Well, no, it's not that hard actually.
13:23Cause I'm sort of playing this character who's not, I mean, there's some,
13:27obviously there's some people that I think I have a,
13:30more of a natural empathy towards than others just, you know,
13:34because they're nicer people or these, you know, someone get that.
13:40That's probably Phaedra furious.
13:42I've just heard what you said.
13:44Um, but, uh, no, I kind of feel, and also I am very removed from them.
13:50I don't chat to them between takes.
13:53I stay sort of in character.
13:55I mean, I sometimes like in the mornings in that season,
13:59I would sometimes, you know, arrive at the castle
14:01and they'd be waiting to do something.
14:02And I would, my dog Lala would run
14:04and I would sort of speak to them or they would want to talk to Lala.
14:07And I sort of decided not to do that in this third one.
14:10I kind of, I come in the back way and I just avoid that impossible interaction
14:14because I think it's really important that I have that level of sort of,
14:19and then to be slightly scary to them, you know what I mean?
14:21To be sort of like castle daddy, as Phaedra called me.
14:25To be sort of stern and to be sort of, you know, not.
14:30So anyway, the bits, that's nice when I saw like Max, you know, I went afterwards.
14:34It's so nice to sort of break character and go,
14:36Oh, you did really well.
14:37And, you know, which I would never say to anyone in the thing.
14:40So I try and stay completely in character.
14:42Of course, I mean, in this season that's about to come out,
14:45there was some brutal, oh my God, brutal things happened.
14:49I was just horrified by certain people.
14:52But you've got, I mean, that's not my job to show that.
14:55I think it's just sort of important that I allow all that to happen
14:59and kind of just take a little puppeteer.
15:02Right.
15:02You know?
15:03Well, I think, you know, I will say for myself,
15:06I watch reality shows because I like the conflict.
15:09It's fun to watch people.
15:10All drama is conflict.
15:11Exactly.
15:12Exactly.
15:13But like, what is it like being in the room,
15:16especially when things get very heated?
15:18I mean, are you like, do you step back?
15:21Are you like, this is, this is uncomfortable?
15:23Well, it's sort of interesting.
15:24I have a thing in my ear, you know,
15:25and they're talking to me from the control room.
15:28And sometimes I feel like sometimes I'm,
15:31I mean, I have a little perch that I sit on in the,
15:33in the, during the round tables.
15:36And I sort of say, you know, should I say something?
15:38Should I?
15:39Because I'm trying not to be loud.
15:40So they're here, but I know that they're there.
15:42And sometimes they're freaking out.
15:43I can, if they don't reply, I know they're freaking out.
15:46And sometimes I have to say, you know,
15:47stop talking at once and do, do, and, you know,
15:49some decorum here.
15:50And so there's certain rules I can have
15:52and there's certain things that I say
15:53just to sort of keep the focus
15:56and keep it clear for us watching.
15:58But sometimes I feel like, oh my God,
16:00is there going to be a fight?
16:02Like I really do.
16:03You know, that energy you feel in a room
16:05when certain things are happening.
16:07And I felt that a couple of times
16:08in this last season, especially, actually.
16:10I thought it was going to get really ugly
16:13and it gets very, you know, people get very emotional
16:16and it's, I have to sort of, it's really difficult
16:20because I would be, I'm, my natural thing is to be,
16:23would be like, oh, you know, yeah, you're all right.
16:25Or, but I've, I'm not allowed to do that.
16:28And, and, and also this, this last time, actually,
16:33there was two times when, I have quite good poker face.
16:35I think that's because I'm playing a character.
16:38As Alan, I don't really have a good poker face.
16:40But I, there was two times during the course of this
16:43when in my ear, they said, Alan, your face, your face,
16:47your face.
16:47And I was like, oh, what?
16:48Because apparently, like from where I stand at the back,
16:51you know, by the circle of truth,
16:53I can see certain people, what they're writing
16:55on their little chalkboards.
16:56And it was one time when I just thought for sure,
16:59they're going to realize who was the, it was clear.
17:03And, and they, and I saw this person writing a different name.
17:07And apparently I went.
17:13And so they, I got into trouble.
17:16And then another time when someone was put out,
17:19and this has happened a couple of times,
17:21when people who I know are traitors react, act
17:25to, you know, someone going out.
17:29It's, I am like in awe and horrified by the balls
17:36of their reaction.
17:36And sometimes by the overacting that's involved.
17:40I think, sure, that's my department.
17:42But this, you know, I was just like gobsmacked
17:46by, by, by some of the things that happen.
17:48People, you know, getting really emotional.
17:50And it's, it's when, and that's what I think makes the show
17:53great when you know, we all know who it is.
17:55So when you see that level of commitment and overacting,
18:00it's, it's fun, but also galling, you know,
18:04that people are able to do that.
18:06Yeah.
18:06I mean, it's, I mean, yeah.
18:08I mean, have you been truly impressed
18:10with like the acting skills?
18:12Yes.
18:12And like how, I mean, it's that thing when people say,
18:15oh, if, you know, if that was in a film,
18:17it would, it's too much.
18:19If it was in, you know, no, sorry.
18:20If that was in real life, it would be too much.
18:22No one would believe it.
18:24And actually in a certain situation, you know,
18:27in a certain situation, if the stakes are high
18:29and the circumstances are such, you can do anything.
18:32There's a saying in Scotland,
18:34I always sort of adhere to about acting,
18:37which is you can be as big as you like,
18:38as long as you mean it.
18:40And that's what these people certainly buy into as well.
18:43I mean, it's, but when, you know, it's a lie
18:47and you see it, you're in the room beside it as well.
18:50And it's unedited.
18:51It's not been, you know, whatever.
18:53It's sometimes you have to do that, you know?
18:57Well, yeah, because they're also constantly accusing
19:01each other of overacting and acting.
19:02Yeah.
19:03So it's a really, I imagine it's a really kind
19:05of wild mind trip to kind of be omniscient in a way
19:09and a Godlike way to know all the secrets
19:11that's happening.
19:12It is.
19:12It's so exciting.
19:13I love it so much.
19:14I love knowing everything.
19:15And I love kind of, you know, having that sort of knowledge.
19:21It's not the power necessarily, it's the knowledge.
19:24And also it's incredibly scary
19:27that you could easily give it away.
19:28You know, that's the thing you could have to ad lib
19:31with them and things like that.
19:32And that's another thing that's new to me
19:33about the whole, this is the sort of ad libbing
19:35and people are saying, suggesting things in my ear.
19:38And sometimes I'm like, that's a terrible idea.
19:40And then saying, don't say this, don't say that, you know?
19:44So that is really scary.
19:46But I actually really enjoy it.
19:49I really enjoy that sort of the nervousness of it,
19:51the sort of tension of it.
19:52It's like the theater.
19:54And the most scary part of all is when we have to,
19:57on the day when I pick them, you know, I tap them.
20:00That is terrifying because first of all,
20:02there's so many of them and they're all squashed
20:05around the table and like Phaedra had like
20:08shoulder pads for days.
20:09I thought, is she even going to feel it when I touch her?
20:13And, and, and I was worried that my, you know,
20:16I wouldn't get my hand in because there was sort of,
20:18you know, between each of us that,
20:19and I could sort of fuck up the whole thing right then.
20:22And that's the scary, and you feel the tension,
20:24you can hear the tension in the control room
20:26and you can feel the tension in the room.
20:28Oh, it's just, it's, it's, I get slightly agitated
20:31even thinking about it.
20:32I mean, are they, are they telling you who to pick?
20:36Are you, are you playing a role in that?
20:37I've already, I know who I do.
20:39I know who it is already.
20:40We've discussed it.
20:40Like, but are you, are you like, like,
20:42Oh, I kind of like that one.
20:44Like, are you throwing in your names?
20:45Yes.
20:45Well, we, you know, when the people come in
20:47and I talk to them about who they are and find it
20:48and research them, we have a little chat
20:50and then it's actually, there's a,
20:51it's called the gold chats.
20:53We call it like when there's all the gold in front of them
20:55and I sit by the fire with Lara and we,
20:57and I interviewed them.
20:59And so that's very, I mean, it's quite a condensed
21:02short part in the show, but it's very revelatory for us
21:05because it's the first time we've,
21:06I've had any interaction with most of them.
21:09And so we, we find out, you know,
21:11we get a good sense of who they are and what they're like.
21:13And after that, the final decision is made,
21:16which is only like an hour and a half before I tapped them.
21:19So it's very, you know, condensed and exciting.
21:22Stakes are high.
21:23Big time.
21:24Yeah.
21:24Do you have anyone that you were actually sad to see go?
21:28Either killed or banished at the round table.
21:31I was very, very, I was very sad that Peppermint went so soon.
21:34I mean, I thought she was, she's such a darling
21:37and such a lovely person.
21:38And also the reason she came into that show was,
21:40I mean, she got a chance to talk about it in,
21:42in the reunion, but it was a lot to do that.
21:46She, as a trans woman wanted to be a trans woman
21:50in a mainstream way and for, to be seen and for visibility.
21:53And it was sort of, it was sad that she didn't get
21:57the chance to do that.
21:59And I also thought it wasn't a great look for the show
22:01that the first person that goes is a trans woman of color.
22:04And so I was sad about that.
22:07Yeah. Yeah.
22:08Last question before we wrap up.
22:11Do you have like a dream contestant,
22:14like someone that you'd love to see on the show,
22:15either as a faithful or a traitor?
22:18I mean, I do, but I don't think they'd ever do it.
22:20That's fine.
22:21But I would love, I would love Martha Stewart to do it.
22:25I just think she'd be so good.
22:27Cause she's so capable and so bossy.
22:29But would she be a good traitor?
22:31Or would she be faithful?
22:32She could do anything.
22:33She can do anything.
22:34And she would like do all this.
22:35I mean, she would like jump out of a helicopter.
22:37She would, you know, eat, eat weird bugs.
22:41I just think she's, to me, she's, she's the kind of parent.
22:44She's a sort of known from a certain, in a certain way.
22:47But she's constantly like, I love all the stuff she does
22:49with Snoop.
22:50I just saw Snoop at the Olympics and everything.
22:52I just think it's so hilarious.
22:54The pair of them having this other life.
22:56And I think, yes, she is, it would be good to me.
23:01But, but, um, I don't know.
23:02I'm always really fast.
23:04It's exciting to me because a lot of the people,
23:07I don't know who they are when we first start.
23:09And then I, you know, then it's actually great
23:11because it's not really about your baggage.
23:13What's really interesting about this game is it doesn't
23:16matter if you're a gamer or a strategist or good.
23:20What I've realized over the three that we've done already
23:22is that all those things.
23:23And I think the contestants are slowly realizing that,
23:26that it's, it's a, it's a thing of itself.
23:29And certainly some skills are useful and, but actually
23:32you could go like that and it has no logic about
23:35your strategy or anything like that.
23:36It's, that's the great thing about this game.
23:39It's so sort of on a knife edge all the time.
23:42And, uh, and I, so yeah, I, I really enjoy people
23:47being confounded by who does well in it.
23:50Like in, um, in this one, it was pilot Pete
23:53who kind of sorted it, kind of worked it all out.
23:55And he's, you know, he's not, he's a sort of
23:58like a cutie pie bachelor.
24:00And so I think it's great.
24:01He confounded the notion that you have to be on survivor
24:04or blah, blah, or the challenge or something.
24:06So that's what I really enjoy, uh,
24:10continuing to confound people.
24:12I'm confounded and I'm confounding as well.
24:16So here's to that.
24:18Well, congratulations again on not just this nomination
24:20for the show, but as a host, very excited for season three.
24:25Thank you again for joining me.
24:26Thanks everybody.