Orlando Bloom's Life On The Edge! - What Now? with Trevor Noah Podcast

1. 0:00 – 0:01

   Intro

   1. TNTrevor Noah0:00

      [upbeat music]

2. 0:01 – 1:40

   Zombie-apocalypse banter and Orlando’s “weapon skills” as an actor

   1. TNTrevor Noah0:01

      If there was a zombie apocalypse and we had essentially just the tools on the ground, I would hope to be near you.

   2. OBOrlando Bloom0:09

      I don't know if that would be-

   3. TNTrevor Noah0:09

      No, no, no, you, you, you, you're pretty nice with it.

   4. OBOrlando Bloom0:11

      [laughs]

   5. TNTrevor Noah0:11

      I've seen you with almost every weapon. You're pretty nice with it.

   6. OBOrlando Bloom0:15

      Well, thank you. I appreciate that. I'll take it.

   7. TNTrevor Noah0:17

      You could, you could kill-

   8. OBOrlando Bloom0:17

      I'm not sure it's, uh-

   9. TNTrevor Noah0:18

      You could kill a few zombies

   10. OBOrlando Bloom0:18

       You know, it is called acting as well. You know, there's my Camarus aspect.

   11. TNTrevor Noah0:21

       No, no, no, no, no, no. [upbeat music] This is What Now? With Trevor Noah. You know, one of the weirdest things about doing an introduction when somebody's sitting next to you is that you want to give an introduction that's as honest as possible, but also as effusive as possible without making it seem like you're doing it to them. So just act like you're not here-

   12. OBOrlando Bloom0:53

       Right, right

   13. TNTrevor Noah0:53

       ... while I speak about you.

   14. OBOrlando Bloom0:54

       [laughs] I'm not here.

   15. TNTrevor Noah0:55

       Yeah. I'm chatting to Orlando Bloom today, um, who is arguably one of the most recognizable faces in the world because he has been, I mean, the lead in some of the biggest movies that have shaped our lives, I was thinking about the other day. And, uh, we're gonna be chatting today on the podcast because today he's, uh, he's, he's, uh, embarking on a different journey where it's a, it's a different type of trilogy. As epic, I would say, as, as Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean, only in this story he could actually die.

   16. OBOrlando Bloom1:28

       [laughs]

   17. TNTrevor Noah1:29

       He doesn't. Spoiler alert, he's here. This is the great news.

   18. OBOrlando Bloom1:31

       I'm still here. Yeah, yeah.

   19. TNTrevor Noah1:32

       He's here.

   20. OBOrlando Bloom1:32

       Came close, though. Came close a couple of times.

   21. TNTrevor Noah1:33

       Yeah, yeah. Came close, but, but spoiler alert, he's here.

   22. OBOrlando Bloom1:36

       Yeah.

   23. TNTrevor Noah1:36

       So, uh, Orlando Bloom, welcome to the podcast.

   24. OBOrlando Bloom1:38

       Thanks for having me, man. It's great to see you.

3. 1:40 – 2:36

   Haircuts, physical transformations, and the risk of committing to a bad project

   1. TNTrevor Noah1:40

      By the way, when did you, when did you cut the hair?

   2. OBOrlando Bloom1:42

      I just finished working in London, um, on this, this movie, and, um, we cut it for that. So, um-

   3. TNTrevor Noah1:48

      Wait, you cut your hair for the project?

   4. OBOrlando Bloom1:50

      Yeah. Yeah.

   5. TNTrevor Noah1:51

      This is probably why I'd never get into acting.

   6. OBOrlando Bloom1:53

      Well, you've got beautiful hair.

   7. TNTrevor Noah1:54

      Yeah.

   8. OBOrlando Bloom1:54

      You would want to-

   9. TNTrevor Noah1:55

      You've got, you've got-

   10. OBOrlando Bloom1:55

       'Cause you're Sam- you're like Samson, right?

   11. TNTrevor Noah1:56

       No, you've got beautiful hair.

   12. OBOrlando Bloom1:57

       [laughs]

   13. TNTrevor Noah1:58

       You've got ... I, like, I don't know if I would like the idea of me having to change my appearance for somebody else's ... Also because it might be shit.

   14. OBOrlando Bloom2:06

       Which is sometimes, as you get, like, a little older, you go, "Oh, that could work really well, though. You need to embrace that shit look, right?"

   15. TNTrevor Noah2:12

       [laughs] No, what I mean is, like, imagine, imagine making something that's shit, and I cut my hair for it.

   16. OBOrlando Bloom2:18

       Oh, yeah. Right. Oh, I've done so much of that. [laughs]

   17. TNTrevor Noah2:22

       [laughs]

   18. OBOrlando Bloom2:22

       I've done so much of that. And you go, and well, forget just looking shit, it's, like, the time that you put in.

   19. TNTrevor Noah2:26

       Yeah.

   20. OBOrlando Bloom2:26

       Like, I attack everything, like, yeah, 110%.

   21. TNTrevor Noah2:29

       I can tell.

   22. OBOrlando Bloom2:30

       I'm, like-

   23. TNTrevor Noah2:30

       I can tell

   24. OBOrlando Bloom2:30

       ... I'm, like, fully loaded, committed. So if it doesn't work, it's just a lot of egg on my face and a really bad hairdo.

4. 2:36 – 5:12

   Extreme weight-cutting for ‘The Cut’: keto, tuna-and-cucumber, and Epsom-salt baths

   1. TNTrevor Noah2:36

      What's the thing you regret doing the most to your body for a project?

   2. OBOrlando Bloom2:40

      Oof. Well, I don't know the answer to that quite yet, but the thing that I just did that I did extreme for my body was a movie I just produced and starred in called The Cut-

   3. TNTrevor Noah2:53

      Mm-hmm

   4. OBOrlando Bloom2:55

      ... which, um, it's, it's a boxing movie, but kind of it focuses, the fight is not the fight, the fight is the battle to cut, lose the weight.

   5. TNTrevor Noah3:02

      Oh, man.

   6. OBOrlando Bloom3:03

      Cutting is, cutting is losing weight.

   7. TNTrevor Noah3:04

      It's terrible.

   8. OBOrlando Bloom3:05

      Yeah, it's brutal.

   9. TNTrevor Noah3:05

      It's terrible.

   10. OBOrlando Bloom3:06

       And I'm, I'm a boxer kinda having, I've, I'm, I'm a boxer coming out of retirement to have-

   11. TNTrevor Noah3:10

       Yeah

   12. OBOrlando Bloom3:10

       ... a last moment of title fight, but what I had to do was transform my body in a major way. And so I'm about, I'm s- as I sit in front of you, I'm about 185. Probably similar to you-ish, right?

   13. TNTrevor Noah3:19

       What, what is that in kilograms?

   14. OBOrlando Bloom3:19

       In pounds. So what is-

   15. TNTrevor Noah3:20

       I don't use fake numbers.

   16. OBOrlando Bloom3:22

       Ooh, I don't know.

   17. TNTrevor Noah3:22

       What's-

   18. OBOrlando Bloom3:22

       I don't know. I don't work in kilograms, but-

   19. TNTrevor Noah3:23

       Oh, do you work in stone?

   20. OBOrlando Bloom3:25

       Yeah. [laughs] I used to work in stone.

   21. TNTrevor Noah3:26

       I still don't understand that.

   22. OBOrlando Bloom3:26

       But now I'm like, yeah, I don't understand stone either.

   23. TNTrevor Noah3:29

       Like, the English seem, everything seems correct, and then it's like, "What do you weigh? Stone?"

   24. OBOrlando Bloom3:33

       Stone? I know.

   25. TNTrevor Noah3:35

       2024 and people are-

   26. OBOrlando Bloom3:36

       Well, don't you feel like it was probably 'cause they just had a bag of stones-

   27. TNTrevor Noah3:38

       Yeah, but it feels like that

   28. OBOrlando Bloom3:39

       ... and they'd be like, back in the day-

   29. TNTrevor Noah3:40

       But it-

   30. OBOrlando Bloom3:40

       ... in medieval times, they had a bag of stones
5. 5:12 – 6:49

   Why make an extreme-sports series at all? A COVID-era fear response and a pivot in concept

   1. TNTrevor Noah5:12

      Okay, but l- so, so here's a, this is, this is maybe the perfect segue to get into your new show, um, on Peacock. You, you, you've made this new show.

   2. OBOrlando Bloom5:22

      Yeah.

   3. TNTrevor Noah5:22

      And what, maybe, maybe why is the f- the most important question for me. I mean-

   4. OBOrlando Bloom5:27

      Not a bad question. [laughs]

   5. TNTrevor Noah5:28

      Yeah, like, like, you, you already make movies.

   6. OBOrlando Bloom5:30

      Right.

   7. TNTrevor Noah5:31

      Okay?

   8. OBOrlando Bloom5:31

      Mm.

   9. TNTrevor Noah5:32

      And you're living your life. You're a dad. You're a husband. You ... How and why does Orlando Bloom decide to make a show that isn't, it isn't, like, a cute, easy show, which is what I thought it was gonna be when I first heard of it, you know?

   10. OBOrlando Bloom5:47

       Right.

   11. TNTrevor Noah5:47

       They were like, "Oh, this is gonna be, you're gonna be skydiving-

   12. OBOrlando Bloom5:49

       Right

   13. TNTrevor Noah5:49

       ... and you're gonna be, you're gonna be, you know-

   14. OBOrlando Bloom5:51

       Yeah

   15. TNTrevor Noah5:51

       ... free diving, and-

   16. OBOrlando Bloom5:52

       Right

   17. TNTrevor Noah5:52

       ... you're gonna be climbing." I was like, "Oh, this is adorable."

   18. OBOrlando Bloom5:54

       Yeah. Yeah.

   19. TNTrevor Noah5:54

       "I wanna see you do this."

   20. OBOrlando Bloom5:55

       Yeah.

   21. TNTrevor Noah5:55

       And then I watched it. I was like, "This is, this is work. This is horrible."

   22. OBOrlando Bloom5:59

       Yeah. Yeah, it was a lot. I sorta came up with this idea during COVID, but it was, I was just feeling all the fear, you know, around me all the time. You know, we were all, I think that was a really challenging time for the planet, for the world. I mean, actually probably a wonderful time for the planet [laughs] because we, nobody was doing anything. But for the, for, for us humans on the planet-

   23. TNTrevor Noah6:17

       Yeah

   24. OBOrlando Bloom6:17

       ... it was a super challenging time, I think we can all agree. And I actually have had this Buddhist practice since I'm 16, and I thought what I'd like to do is meet people, like elders, like wise people, and people who live a long time, because I think we're all so afraid of dying because of this COVID disease, and talk to them. But the, uh, but we didn't really get any bites on that. [laughs] They were like, "How about we just throw you out of a plane down to the bottom of the ocean and, and you know, you can try climbing something?" And I was like, "Yeah, that works with my sort of, uh, that works." That's the other thing that I would sort of probably find-

6. 6:49 – 8:58

   Adrenaline, dyslexia/ADD, and the focus that comes with fear

   1. TNTrevor Noah6:49

      'Cause you're, you're a, you're an adventure junkie.

   2. OBOrlando Bloom6:52

      You know, I'm, I'm definitely, um, I definitely enjoy the thrills and the adrenaline and the high octane moments in life. And I think part of that is probably down to being, you know, I was diagnosed dyslexic as a kid, but I'm also wasn't diagnosed ADD. There's loads of labels you can give people.

   3. TNTrevor Noah7:12

      Yeah.

   4. OBOrlando Bloom7:12

      But like, you know, I think, like that definitely played into who I am, and often, you know, when you're ... Like, when I was a kid, when I was on stage, I was terrified as a, as a child performing on stage. It's where I learned to perform was just at school theaters and stuff.

   5. TNTrevor Noah7:28

      Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

   6. OBOrlando Bloom7:29

      But I was never more focused. I was never more present. I was never more in my element-

   7. TNTrevor Noah7:33

      Oh, interesting

   8. OBOrlando Bloom7:33

      ... than when I was absolutely shitting myself.

   9. TNTrevor Noah7:36

      You, you, like you didn't have time. I c- I can relate to this, um, as somebody who has ADHD. Your, your brain doesn't have the luxury-

   10. OBOrlando Bloom7:44

       Right

   11. TNTrevor Noah7:44

       ... of being distracted because you have to con- it's life or death.

   12. OBOrlando Bloom7:48

       Right. Right.

   13. TNTrevor Noah7:48

       You know what I mean?

   14. OBOrlando Bloom7:49

       Right.

   15. TNTrevor Noah7:49

       There's no, like, checking your texts.

   16. OBOrlando Bloom7:51

       No.

   17. TNTrevor Noah7:51

       There's no-

   18. OBOrlando Bloom7:52

       No

   19. TNTrevor Noah7:52

       ... you know, me- meandering off.

   20. OBOrlando Bloom7:53

       You are on this game time.

   21. TNTrevor Noah7:54

       Yeah, yeah, yeah.

   22. OBOrlando Bloom7:54

       And if you're not in the moment-

   23. TNTrevor Noah7:55

       Did you, did you feel that as a child? Like, were you, were you, were you cognizant of that as a child, or is it something that you now understand in hindsight?

   24. OBOrlando Bloom8:02

       Do you know, I only really in the last two years started to look at, and this is even before the show, I kind of realized that ADD was something that was definitely part of my life. When I actually had a conversation, and I remember sitting down in an office with somebody, and they gave me a list, and I was like, I started going through the list, and it was just like tick the boxes.

   25. TNTrevor Noah8:20

       Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

   26. OBOrlando Bloom8:21

       And I was like, and I just stopped ticking, and I just looked, and then I flipped over, and I just looked, and I went, "Okay, I don't need to ... [laughs] Okay."

   27. TNTrevor Noah8:29

       It was you.

   28. OBOrlando Bloom8:29

       Yeah, I was like, "This is everything." And then I was like, "I don't wanna take a pharmaceutical." I'm English, and I think America has, you know, got a lot of stuff that they do with [laughs] pharmaceuticals.

   29. TNTrevor Noah8:39

       You're, you're not wrong, I'll tell you that much.

   30. OBOrlando Bloom8:40

       So I was like, "I don't wanna take an amphet- a, like something that's gonna get me-
7. 8:58 – 10:44

   Motorcycles, aggressive focus, and the appeal of anonymity

   1. TNTrevor Noah8:58

      Yeah. 'Cause, 'cause what are-

   2. OBOrlando Bloom8:59

      It could have-

   3. TNTrevor Noah8:59

      Like what are some of the things you do? So you, you race motorbikes. I saw you-

   4. OBOrlando Bloom9:03

      Right, yeah

   5. TNTrevor Noah9:03

      ... you race around the track.

   6. OBOrlando Bloom9:04

      Yeah.

   7. TNTrevor Noah9:04

      Right, what, do you have a bike right now?

   8. OBOrlando Bloom9:06

      I have, I, I have more than one. I do.

   9. TNTrevor Noah9:07

      What do you, what's your, what's your goat?

   10. OBOrlando Bloom9:09

       Uh, um-

   11. TNTrevor Noah9:09

       I saw the, I saw, I saw the Ducati and the-

   12. OBOrlando Bloom9:11

       Yeah. I, I, I'm not riding super fast. I've got an Aprilia that's for track.

   13. TNTrevor Noah9:15

       Oh, those are fun though.

   14. OBOrlando Bloom9:16

       Yeah, it's fast and-

   15. TNTrevor Noah9:16

       Those are nice.

   16. OBOrlando Bloom9:17

       Yeah.

   17. TNTrevor Noah9:17

       I've al- I always loved the way the, the engine, like it's such a specific vibration in the engine.

   18. OBOrlando Bloom9:22

       Vibration, yeah. I mean, that whole feeling, I think that, like motorcycles, you know, I started riding motorcycles when I was a kid. I really, um, you know, I had a, I got my, my license when I was 16. I rode a Vespa around town and, you know, I thought I was a cool kid and, you know, then I rode a motorbike in London.

   19. TNTrevor Noah9:36

       Around which, which town is this?

   20. OBOrlando Bloom9:38

       Canterbury. [laughs] Happily on the wall.

   21. TNTrevor Noah9:41

       I feel like London-

   22. OBOrlando Bloom9:41

       That's a joke

   23. TNTrevor Noah9:42

       ... London is the least-

   24. OBOrlando Bloom9:42

       London would've been-

   25. TNTrevor Noah9:43

       Yeah, like London, UK, everywhere in the UK is the least Vespa town-

   26. OBOrlando Bloom9:47

       Yeah

   27. TNTrevor Noah9:47

       ... I can think. Like I ride bicycles everywhere I go in the world-

   28. OBOrlando Bloom9:49

       Right

   29. TNTrevor Noah9:50

       ... just to get around.

   30. OBOrlando Bloom9:51

       Love that.
8. 10:44 – 12:11

   The show’s three extreme disciplines: wingsuiting, freediving, and climbing—plus the family factor

   1. TNTrevor Noah10:44

      I'm, I'm, I'm fascinated by this. Did it, for those who know nothing about the show, you essentially choose three, I don't even know if you'd call them sports, 'cause they, they're all extreme. Yeah, I guess they're sports.

   2. OBOrlando Bloom10:58

      They're extreme sports.

   3. TNTrevor Noah10:59

      They're, they're extreme sports. I don't know, it just feels death-defying to me, you know, because you have, um, what, what, do they call it wingsuit flying? What do they call it?

   4. OBOrlando Bloom11:07

      Yeah, wingsuiting.

   5. TNTrevor Noah11:08

      Wingsuiting.

   6. OBOrlando Bloom11:09

      Wingsuiting, yeah.

   7. TNTrevor Noah11:09

      You have wing- wingsuiting, where you're basically like a giant squirrel.

   8. OBOrlando Bloom11:12

      Yeah.

   9. TNTrevor Noah11:13

      You jump out of a plane, and then you hope for the best.

   10. OBOrlando Bloom11:15

       Yeah. [laughs]

   11. TNTrevor Noah11:15

       And then you do, um-

   12. OBOrlando Bloom11:16

       It feels like that

   13. TNTrevor Noah11:16

       ... you do diving, but-

   14. OBOrlando Bloom11:18

       Freediving

   15. TNTrevor Noah11:19

       ... no, freediving. No tanks.

   16. OBOrlando Bloom11:20

       Yeah. No tanks.

   17. TNTrevor Noah11:20

       No nothing.

   18. OBOrlando Bloom11:20

       Yeah. Terrifying.

   19. TNTrevor Noah11:21

       Essentially like, yeah, you might, might just die coming back up to the surface.

   20. OBOrlando Bloom11:24

       Feels like it, yeah.

   21. TNTrevor Noah11:25

       Um, and then you have, uh, rock climbing.

   22. OBOrlando Bloom11:28

       Mm-hmm.

   23. TNTrevor Noah11:29

       But, uh, like all of these-

   24. OBOrlando Bloom11:32

       Kind of the, yeah

   25. TNTrevor Noah11:33

       ... t- w- talk me through this moment. So you're a dad.

   26. OBOrlando Bloom11:36

       Right.

   27. TNTrevor Noah11:37

       Right? You, you are currently with someone.

   28. OBOrlando Bloom11:39

       I am.

   29. TNTrevor Noah11:40

       When you say to them, "Hey, you know what I'm gonna go do?"

   30. OBOrlando Bloom11:43

       [laughs]
9. 12:11 – 14:56

   Skydiving acceleration and the chute malfunction: protocol under pressure

   1. OBOrlando Bloom12:11

      [laughs]

   2. TNTrevor Noah12:11

      'Cause how many jumps did you do in one day, for instance? There's, the, in the first episode, we just see you go jump for jump-

   3. OBOrlando Bloom12:16

      Jump for jump, yeah

   4. TNTrevor Noah12:17

      ... for jump for jump. How many do you think you did in one day?

   5. OBOrlando Bloom12:19

      Like, the first day was at least five, I think. And then, you know- I mean, the, the time, the accelerated timeframe. I mean, the thing is, is that what's crazy about that is that every increment, everything that you change technically with the gear-

   6. TNTrevor Noah12:35

      Yeah

   7. OBOrlando Bloom12:35

      ... whether it's a different chute, like we started with one chute, it's a beginner chute, then you change to another chute, which has a totally different feeling under canopy.

   8. TNTrevor Noah12:42

      Uh-huh.

   9. OBOrlando Bloom12:42

      Right? The canopy is the chute. All of these different things come into play, and you're like, and your, and your, and my brain is moving, trying to keep up with the things that I'm learning, and it's a pretty straightforward thing. When you jump out of a plane, one, to release your chute. If that doesn't work, two, you release the chute that didn't work, and three, you're like, I've forgotten what it is.

   10. TNTrevor Noah13:01

       [laughs]

   11. OBOrlando Bloom13:01

       It's one, one to release the chute.

   12. TNTrevor Noah13:03

       Jesus. [laughs]

   13. OBOrlando Bloom13:04

       Two to release... Yeah, exactly.

   14. TNTrevor Noah13:06

       It's pretty straightforward.

   15. OBOrlando Bloom13:06

       One to release the chute.

   16. TNTrevor Noah13:07

       It's pretty straightforward, Trevor.

   17. OBOrlando Bloom13:08

       It's pretty straightforward. [laughs]

   18. TNTrevor Noah13:08

       You see-

   19. OBOrlando Bloom13:09

       One, two, three.

   20. TNTrevor Noah13:10

       Let me tell you now in the, um, in the, uh, calm space that we, we're recording a podcast in, it's pretty simple, and I, I've forgotten it. And when I-

   21. OBOrlando Bloom13:16

       There are three moves

   22. TNTrevor Noah13:16

       ... is this why you need to do it-

   23. OBOrlando Bloom13:17

       That's it, yeah

   24. TNTrevor Noah13:18

       ... you need to be like-

   25. OBOrlando Bloom13:18

       One, one out the back is the chute.

   26. TNTrevor Noah13:20

       Okay.

   27. OBOrlando Bloom13:20

       Two to release it if it, that didn't work for whatever reason.

   28. TNTrevor Noah13:23

       And then three is on the other side.

   29. OBOrlando Bloom13:24

       Yeah, three to re- to open the second chute. So you have two chutes when you jump.

   30. TNTrevor Noah13:28

       If, if the first chute doesn't open, in, it's a, it's like a one in 1,000 chance-
10. 14:56 – 17:03

    The paradox of extreme sports: risk-taking people as the most disciplined

    1. OBOrlando Bloom14:56

       It's, it's-

    2. TNTrevor Noah14:56

       Is it-

    3. OBOrlando Bloom14:56

       You know what is really interesting actually, Trevor, is I think what I learned most is that these kind of wild people who do these wild things, they are experts in this, this little area.

    4. TNTrevor Noah15:11

       Yeah.

    5. OBOrlando Bloom15:12

       Like, people have asked me if I've done any of these things subsequently, and the truth is I haven't. Not because I haven't wanted to, but because I think it's a lifestyle choice. These people are experts. They are, they were the family, they were the people that taught me-

    6. TNTrevor Noah15:24

       Yeah

    7. OBOrlando Bloom15:24

       ... how to, how to navigate, and it's protocol. It's like-

    8. TNTrevor Noah15:28

       Well-

    9. OBOrlando Bloom15:28

       ... everything you depend on is like, it's like, it's like there's a protocol. You follow that, so long as you're good with your, your, your, your maker.

    10. TNTrevor Noah15:37

        Yeah.

    11. OBOrlando Bloom15:37

        You know? Otherwise-

    12. TNTrevor Noah15:38

        But you, but you know what I found? That's a-

    13. OBOrlando Bloom15:39

        Yeah

    14. TNTrevor Noah15:39

        ... that's actually one of the things I found, like, really fascinating about the show is there's this paradox. You know when you think of extreme sports-

    15. OBOrlando Bloom15:47

        Yeah

    16. TNTrevor Noah15:47

        ... you think of all the people who are doing everything to risk their lives.

    17. OBOrlando Bloom15:51

        Yeah.

    18. TNTrevor Noah15:52

        And the one thing I noticed when watching your show was these people have more discipline-

    19. OBOrlando Bloom15:57

        Yeah

    20. TNTrevor Noah15:57

        ... than we have-

    21. OBOrlando Bloom15:58

        That's right

    22. TNTrevor Noah15:58

        ... when, like, driving on the highway.

    23. OBOrlando Bloom15:59

        That's so true.

    24. TNTrevor Noah16:00

        Like, you know the same way you'll go, "Oh, I'm gonna look at my phone."

    25. OBOrlando Bloom16:02

        That's right.

    26. TNTrevor Noah16:02

        "Let me check a few texts."

    27. OBOrlando Bloom16:03

        That's right.

    28. TNTrevor Noah16:04

        Or-

    29. OBOrlando Bloom16:04

        100%

    30. TNTrevor Noah16:05

        ... "Did I put my seatbelt?" Eh. No. The people who do extreme sports are the most disciplined people-
11. 17:03 – 24:01

    Fame’s early peaks, burnout, and chasing feeling through edges

    1. TNTrevor Noah17:03

       Wait, even at this stage in your life?

    2. OBOrlando Bloom17:06

       Yeah.

    3. TNTrevor Noah17:07

       'Cause I, I would assume that you feel accomplished all the time.

    4. OBOrlando Bloom17:10

       No.

    5. TNTrevor Noah17:11

       I mean, that could be-

    6. OBOrlando Bloom17:11

       Not really.

    7. TNTrevor Noah17:12

       Oh.

    8. OBOrlando Bloom17:12

       I mean, I feel like, I think, you know, so young to have had so much great good fortune-

    9. TNTrevor Noah17:19

       Yeah

    10. OBOrlando Bloom17:19

        ... and to have come out the gate, but not really knowing, you know, my ass from my elbow and just, like... I mean, that's not true. I trained, I went to, I c- I always do this to myself. But somehow, yeah-

    11. TNTrevor Noah17:28

        Yeah

    12. OBOrlando Bloom17:29

        ... I think, you know, I think it's, I think it's only really getting interesting for me now in some ways in this, I don't know how, you're, you're, you're, you're a few years younger than me, right? You're, like, we're, you're like, I'm, I'm, like, 47.

    13. TNTrevor Noah17:40

        I just, I, oh, I just turned 40.

    14. OBOrlando Bloom17:41

        So there you go. Right. So it's like, yeah. So it's-

    15. TNTrevor Noah17:43

        Yeah, but my, but my journey was, you know, as, as much as you, you went to school and you, and you studied, th- there's a strange curse I, I, I'll think about for people who experienced the pinnacle, and I mean the absolute pinnacle of success.

    16. OBOrlando Bloom17:59

        Yeah.

    17. TNTrevor Noah18:00

        Like, think about it. You, you come out of drama school. It, it was what? Your, your, your last week?

    18. OBOrlando Bloom18:05

        Two days before I finished, yeah.

    19. TNTrevor Noah18:06

        There you go.

    20. OBOrlando Bloom18:06

        That I heard. But I mean, yeah, yeah.

    21. TNTrevor Noah18:08

        And then you get Lord of the Rings, right?

    22. OBOrlando Bloom18:09

        Yeah. I mean, I'd been auditioning for months, but yeah.

    23. TNTrevor Noah18:11

        Yeah, but this is what, but they give you-

    24. OBOrlando Bloom18:12

        Still crazy

    25. TNTrevor Noah18:12

        ... so they, no, they give you the announcement, so they go-

    26. OBOrlando Bloom18:13

        Crazy

    27. TNTrevor Noah18:14

        ... "All right. Lord of the Rings. It's on."

    28. OBOrlando Bloom18:16

        Mm.

    29. TNTrevor Noah18:16

        Even at that point, people knew that this was gonna be one of the biggest films ever made because it was based on one of the biggest books ever. It was, it was-

    30. OBOrlando Bloom18:22

        Right
12. 24:01 – 26:42

    Rebuilding the “skipped steps”: theater roots, craft, and finding meaning in less-seen work

    1. OBOrlando Bloom24:01

       ... it's like, but you know what I think I was missing? Before I got cast in Lord of the Rings, my agent in London had called me and said, "The RSC's interested in you coming to work, you know, coming to be in rep and work with the RSC."

    2. TNTrevor Noah24:12

       Uh-huh.

    3. OBOrlando Bloom24:12

       And I was like, "Well, hey, baby, I've landed. This is it." Because in England, it was like you go to theater.

    4. TNTrevor Noah24:18

       Yes.

    5. OBOrlando Bloom24:19

       Maybe you get a bit of telly.

    6. TNTrevor Noah24:20

       Yes.

    7. OBOrlando Bloom24:20

       And then you go and do a movie.

    8. TNTrevor Noah24:21

       Right.

    9. OBOrlando Bloom24:22

       And I was like, "Well, let's go. What are we waiting for? Let's go. I'm ready. You know, pull me. Let's go." You know? But she, she never, she never let on a thing, by the way, about, you know, the, the, about what was happening with Rings. And I was, like, probably ADD still, just going out on all these auditions, which I get pulled out for. I think I auditioned on tape for Baz Luhrmann, like, five or six times for Moulin Rouge, and I, I kinda just did all of these, and I would go up for all sorts of auditions, and it was like, that's a skill as well. That's a muscle, right, to learn how to be in a room and audition.

    10. TNTrevor Noah24:50

        Yes. Yeah.

    11. OBOrlando Bloom24:51

        So I was, like, not thinking about anything, and then she gave me that call about Rings. So I was like, "Wait, what?" But I often think, I wonder what my life would've been like, because in a way, I missed this part of my career. You know, so I went back and did Romeo and Juliet on Broadway. I went back and did a play in the West End. I went back t- a couple of times. I feel like, in a way, this, the, the things that I've been doing in the last few years, you know, I did this crazy movie called, they renamed it Retaliation. It was originally Romans. I got these cr- it, it dropped during COVID. I got these crazy reviews. I got some of the best reviews of my career, actually. It was wild. [laughs] It was like, it's a-

    12. TNTrevor Noah25:21

        It's beautiful

    13. OBOrlando Bloom25:22

        ... it w-

    14. TNTrevor Noah25:23

        D- Did that-

    15. OBOrlando Bloom25:23

        Nobody, it w-

    16. TNTrevor Noah25:23

        Did that fill something in-

    17. OBOrlando Bloom25:24

        Literally, the thing, I think one of the reporters, just to say, said-

    18. TNTrevor Noah25:26

        Yeah

    19. OBOrlando Bloom25:26

        ... "Orlando Bloom must be really gutted right now because he's just done some of his best work and nobody's gonna see this movie." [laughs]

    20. TNTrevor Noah25:32

        Oh, man. [laughs]

    21. OBOrlando Bloom25:32

        It was like, I was like, I was like, "Great."

    22. TNTrevor Noah25:36

        Do you think, do you think it filled something in you that you didn't know you needed filled? Because-

    23. OBOrlando Bloom25:42

        Filling. I think I'm filling.

    24. TNTrevor Noah25:43

        Yeah?

    25. OBOrlando Bloom25:43

        I think it's a tank where it's like, look, I think, you know, we're all on this journey, right? We're all in our own fields, in our own respective fields.

    26. TNTrevor Noah25:50

        Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

    27. OBOrlando Bloom25:50

        We've all got goals that we maybe look to, and when you've, when you've had so many met at such a young age, then you're like, "I need to..." I kinda was going back to basics. I was like, "Okay, what, how am I gonna... I need to kinda do this." I, I, I skipped a step.

    28. TNTrevor Noah26:03

        Yeah.

    29. OBOrlando Bloom26:03

        You know what I mean?

    30. TNTrevor Noah26:03

        Yeah.
13. 26:42 – 32:52

    Falling three floors and crushing T12: the accident that almost ended his career—and walking again

    1. TNTrevor Noah26:42

       We're gonna continue this conversation right after this short break. One of the more interesting parts of the, of the show is learning that you essentially, did you break your back or did you, what did you do to it?

    2. OBOrlando Bloom27:04

       Yeah. I, I fell three floors and I, I crushed T12.

    3. TNTrevor Noah27:07

       I, I need to understand what happened because you-

    4. OBOrlando Bloom27:09

       Yeah

    5. TNTrevor Noah27:09

       ... obviously you allude to it and then we see the pictures of you in the hospital and we-

    6. OBOrlando Bloom27:13

       Yeah

    7. TNTrevor Noah27:13

       ... and essentially there's a moment where doctors said, "Hey, you're never gonna walk again."

    8. OBOrlando Bloom27:15

       Yeah.

    9. TNTrevor Noah27:16

       So explain to me what happened. Where were you? How do you fall three floors? 'Cause they just say that in passing, "He fell three floors."

    10. OBOrlando Bloom27:21

        [laughs]

    11. TNTrevor Noah27:21

        And I was like, how, where do you fall three floors? I've, I don't know-

    12. OBOrlando Bloom27:24

        Yeah, yeah

    13. TNTrevor Noah27:24

        ... how that's possible.

    14. OBOrlando Bloom27:25

        So I was in my second year at drama school. I'd just finished a, like, s- we'd had this five-a-side soccer match with the other drama schools. We'd gone to a pub. I'd had one-

    15. TNTrevor Noah27:33

        Did you, wait, did you win or lose? I need the details. Any time there's, there's a football-

    16. OBOrlando Bloom27:37

        Yeah

    17. TNTrevor Noah27:37

        ... match, I need to know the-

    18. OBOrlando Bloom27:38

        I can't imagine that we won. [laughs]

    19. TNTrevor Noah27:39

        [laughs]

    20. OBOrlando Bloom27:40

        We weren't, we weren't the winning side-

    21. TNTrevor Noah27:42

        Okay, got it

    22. OBOrlando Bloom27:42

        ... in memory.

    23. TNTrevor Noah27:42

        Got it.

    24. OBOrlando Bloom27:43

        Um, I probably blank that out. Um, I'd gone to a pub with everyone afterwards, had a Sunday roast and maybe one pint. Not like I was a big drinker, never been a big drinker. And then I went over to these, these friends' house in, in Chepstow Villas in, in, in, in Notting Hill, and I, uh, they'd just moved in, these, these two girlfriends of mine, and they'd, they'd, they'd had this fourth floor apartment. And the s- the stairwell that went up to the flat had a landing below their fourth floor apartment, and the door, they said, "Oh, we, we can't get that door open, but there's a roof terrace for us to use and we're gonna put plants and stuff." And I was like, "Oh, it just needs to be kicked in from the outside." So anyway, I was like, "You'll have to get that." Anyway, we walked into the apartment. I was like, "Wow, this is such a great apartment." I looked out the window. This is the ADD impulsiveness, right?

    25. TNTrevor Noah28:24

        Yes.

    26. OBOrlando Bloom28:24

        This is a-

    27. TNTrevor Noah28:25

        Okay

    28. OBOrlando Bloom28:25

        ... this is 100% what that is.

    29. TNTrevor Noah28:26

        I'm seeing it now.

    30. OBOrlando Bloom28:26

        I looked out the window. I was like, "Oh, wow." I looked to the south. I said, "Oh, wow, there's the roof terrace." And I kid you the l- the roof terrace is probably from this chair to where, you know, a meter and a half to the left.
14. 32:52 – 41:52

    Climbing as the real fear: knots, trust, adaptive athletes, and Buddhist chanting under stress

    1. TNTrevor Noah32:52

       When you are now climbing, it wa- it was interesting, of, of all the, of all the sports you were participating in, the first time you looked uncomfortable to me was when you had to climb. So jumping out of an airplane, you were like, "Ah, tell me the rules. How does this go?"

    2. OBOrlando Bloom33:08

       Right.

    3. TNTrevor Noah33:08

       There's even a point where you come in really hot o- o- on one of your parachute landings. I thought you were gonna break your legs.

    4. OBOrlando Bloom33:13

       [laughs]

    5. TNTrevor Noah33:13

       And you were just like, "Ha ha. Did you guys see that? Did I scare you? Ha ha ha." And you just carry on.

    6. OBOrlando Bloom33:18

       Yeah.

    7. TNTrevor Noah33:18

       You really just carry on. The first time where it just felt like a little bit of your swag disappeared-

    8. OBOrlando Bloom33:22

       Yeah

    9. TNTrevor Noah33:22

       ... was when you had to climb.

    10. OBOrlando Bloom33:23

        Yeah.

    11. TNTrevor Noah33:24

        Yeah. There, there's two things I wanted to know about that, is, like, one, what did you learn about getting over your fears or your traumas in that experience and in that moment, and did you? And then the second one is, how did you, how did you put that much trust in people who you'd never really met-

    12. OBOrlando Bloom33:42

        Yeah

    13. TNTrevor Noah33:42

        ... never spent any time with-

    14. OBOrlando Bloom33:44

        Right

    15. TNTrevor Noah33:45

        ... but fundamentally had to believe-

    16. OBOrlando Bloom33:47

        Yeah

    17. TNTrevor Noah33:48

        ... had your best interest at heart?

    18. OBOrlando Bloom33:49

        Yeah. Overcoming the fear was, um, was a sort of... I've had this sort of unique trust in life since I'm very young, and there's not really any rhyme or reason for it. But I just mentally went to that place, which I think you do when you're in, when it's game time. When you're like, "This is it. I'm on." The most challenging thing, the fearful thing about that, by the way, was, was for me, was with parts of my dyslexia and other things, was, like, these knots.

    19. TNTrevor Noah34:21

        Learning, learning to tie the knots.

    20. OBOrlando Bloom34:23

        And all these, these knots.

    21. TNTrevor Noah34:23

        Yeah.

    22. OBOrlando Bloom34:23

        And these, and when you're gonna move these things.

    23. TNTrevor Noah34:25

        Yeah.

    24. OBOrlando Bloom34:26

        It, it's just like-

    25. TNTrevor Noah34:26

        The loop goes that way, and if you go the other way-

    26. OBOrlando Bloom34:28

        Yeah

    27. TNTrevor Noah34:28

        ... then it's wrong and, and it's, yeah, yeah.

    28. OBOrlando Bloom34:29

        And then it's like, and if you go the wrong way... So that was, like, I just had to commit to the process and be as present to it as possible, and trust that this was something that was meant for me, and that I'm on this journey and I'm committing to it, so I'm gonna go like I do, 110%, you know, and I'm gonna go into it. And the really hard part was the second part to your question, which was trusting. And meeting Mo for the first time, and who is an adaptive climber, who has climbed since she's a child with one hand, born with one hand. So her spirit and her confidence and the twinkle in her eyes was really kind of leading me forward, and I was like, "Look, if she can do this and she's telling me I can do this, I can do this." But I was, I, I had terrible potty mouth on that shot. [laughs]

    29. TNTrevor Noah35:20

        [laughs]

    30. OBOrlando Bloom35:20

        They beeped me about a million times, because I was so, I was, there were points where p- p- p- muscles in my back and in my body that I didn't even, hadn't, you know, existed-
15. 41:52 – 48:34

    Katy Perry, purpose, and the push to evolve—plus Trevor’s take on risk and “no questions at my funeral”

    1. TNTrevor Noah41:52

       So the other thing I learned was you, one of the parts of the show that's, I mean, it, in, in time it probably takes no time in the show, but it has I think some of the most gravitas in the show. It's, it's the moments where you're talking to Katy.

    2. OBOrlando Bloom42:10

       Yeah, yeah.

    3. TNTrevor Noah42:10

       And it, it's, it's beautiful because it showed me something about the two of you that is very difficult for people to understand until you see it.

    4. OBOrlando Bloom42:21

       Yeah.

    5. TNTrevor Noah42:22

       And it's that you seem to be pursuing a life of purpose, a, a life of, of peace, and also strangely enough, like a li- a life of normalcy.

    6. OBOrlando Bloom42:34

       Yeah.

    7. TNTrevor Noah42:34

       Which is strange because, like, Katy Perry, one of the biggest pop stars that's ever lived, Orlando Bloom, one of the biggest actors that's ever been, you know, like the movies. No, really.

    8. OBOrlando Bloom42:41

       No.

    9. TNTrevor Noah42:41

       The blockbusters. You name it, trilogy after trilogy.

    10. OBOrlando Bloom42:43

        Right, right.

    11. TNTrevor Noah42:44

        But it's, there's this strange thing where it seems like the two of you have found a connection that exists in peace and normalcy. And, like, and I could be wrong. You could just be like, "Nope-

    12. OBOrlando Bloom42:53

        No, no, you're right

    13. TNTrevor Noah42:53

        ... wrong read."

    14. OBOrlando Bloom42:54

        I, I think one of the things that I fell in love with with Katy was, like, I didn't really ... Um, she hates when I say this, so I have to word it carefully, but, um, her music was everywhere, right? When I came up, it was just on every radio station. But I wasn't conscious of, like, I wasn't what I was listening to, but, like, I fell in love with this, with Catherine, this girl from Santa Barbara, you know? And by the way, parents pastors living on food stamps.

    15. TNTrevor Noah43:21

        Yeah.

    16. OBOrlando Bloom43:21

        We're not talking glamorous-

    17. TNTrevor Noah43:23

        Right

    18. OBOrlando Bloom43:23

        ... Montecito, like, or Santa Barbara.

    19. TNTrevor Noah43:26

        Yeah, it's, it's the side of Santa Barbara no one knows.

    20. OBOrlando Bloom43:28

        It's the side-

    21. TNTrevor Noah43:28

        Yeah, yeah

    22. OBOrlando Bloom43:28

        ... that no one knows. And we both understand, I think, we both meet each other with understanding where we came from, what, what we worked to do, what we had to do to get to where we got to.

    23. TNTrevor Noah43:38

        Mm-hmm.

    24. OBOrlando Bloom43:39

        And she definitely demands that I evolve, [laughs] right? And I feel I do the same for her, and that makes for fireworks, pardon the pun, but it also makes for a lot of fun and a lot of growth. And, you know, I wouldn't change it for anything, even when sometimes it feels like, how do we do this?

    25. TNTrevor Noah44:04

        Mm-hmm.

    26. OBOrlando Bloom44:05

        Because we've got these two giant careers and lives, and, and hers is even, you know, there's even, it's like a universe sometimes.

    27. TNTrevor Noah44:13

        Yeah, yeah.

    28. OBOrlando Bloom44:13

        But I think I just keep coming back to her and trying to, like, hold her hand and walk her back to the sandpit and be like, "Yeah, but this is, we're just gonna build a sandcastle," you know? And she loves to do that, too. She's like, she's like, "Oh, yeah, the sandcastle," or the ride of the bike. You know, the, the little, the little moments that, that, that ... And she's a master at helping to, you know, do, create the, help, help to keep building those moments, you know? So I try to, I try to hold a space big enough. I try to be big enough. I think even, you could even say in the show it was like me proving to myself-

    29. TNTrevor Noah44:47

        Mm-hmm

    30. OBOrlando Bloom44:47

        ... that I was man enough, big enough, whatever, capable enough. 'Cause part of it was I learned to be capable in that show.
16. 48:34 – 52:50

    ‘What now?’: Orlando’s trifecta—career, UNICEF, family—and simplifying for the next life

    1. TNTrevor Noah48:34

       Before I let you go, I'll ask you the question I ask everyone who comes on, on the podcast. And thank you again for joining me. You know, I, I-

    2. OBOrlando Bloom48:40

       Thanks for having me, man

    3. TNTrevor Noah48:40

       ... appreciate the time, the, the conversation.

    4. OBOrlando Bloom48:41

       I love it.

    5. TNTrevor Noah48:42

       You, you being candid.

    6. OBOrlando Bloom48:43

       Love what you're doing here.

    7. TNTrevor Noah48:44

       What now? Like, what, what does, what does Orlando seek to do now? Because again, you, you have sort of- Done the same thing that you did with Lord of the Rings and Pir- this is another trilogy, but this is a personal trilogy

    8. OBOrlando Bloom48:57

       Right, right, right

    9. TNTrevor Noah48:57

       Where do you wanna see yourself going from here?

    10. OBOrlando Bloom48:59

        I have these, like, three visions. If I can make good on this promise that I made to myself that, that, for my career, right?

    11. TNTrevor Noah49:05

        Yeah

    12. OBOrlando Bloom49:05

        Like, if I can make good on this promise, then I'll be able to use what I've been doing there f- to, to support my work, like which, UNICEF, which I've done for like 20 years-

    13. TNTrevor Noah49:14

        Mm-hmm

    14. OBOrlando Bloom49:14

        ... which I find, like, to be the most rewarding thing in my life, outside of my family.

    15. TNTrevor Noah49:20

        Right

    16. OBOrlando Bloom49:20

        So if I keep moving those three around, so it's just, it's a qui-

    17. TNTrevor Noah49:23

        Family

    18. OBOrlando Bloom49:24

        Family-

    19. TNTrevor Noah49:24

        The, the-

    20. OBOrlando Bloom49:25

        Not in any specific order, but family

    21. TNTrevor Noah49:26

        Normally, yeah, yeah, family

    22. OBOrlando Bloom49:26

        It's just like if I, if I, my career's going-

    23. TNTrevor Noah49:28

        Right

    24. OBOrlando Bloom49:28

        ... if I'm con- if I keep just showing up for my career-

    25. TNTrevor Noah49:31

        Okay

    26. OBOrlando Bloom49:31

        ... and it keeps working, then it gives me a, a greater platform to keep working on UNICEF, which is really something that I think they do amazing work.

    27. TNTrevor Noah49:37

        Yeah

    28. OBOrlando Bloom49:37

        And then, you know, and then my c- family will be taken care of, and that's the most important thing to me

    29. TNTrevor Noah49:41

        Interesting, and so it's a trifecta that keeps going, that keeps w-

    30. OBOrlando Bloom49:42

        It's a trifecta that just keeps working

Episode duration: 52:51