Watch Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth Swap Harrowing Audition Stories in Off the Cuff

Is that maybe why our friendship works so well?

'Cause yin and yang? Yeah!

Bit of this, bit of that. Little bit.

Bish, bash, bosh.

Hi, Vogue. I'm Rachel Zegler.

And I'm Tom Blyth, and we are about to play Off the Cuff.

What is the last song you listened to?

I think it was... [laughing]

my hairstylist, Clay, was playing like random jazz music.

He said it made us feel more sophisticated.

Oh, that's nice. Did you feel more sophisticated?

I did, actually.

I was listening to my own inner thoughts.

They were not sophisticated. [laughing]

They were not sophisticated. [laughing]

Ooh! What is an item you never leave the house without?

I guess, like, in New York, my motorcycle key

I have on me all the time. Yeah.

I was so scared when I found out you got a motorcycle.

I know you were like, [Rachel laughing]

What is that?

You had like a more adverse reaction than anyone else.

I'm so sorry. [laughing] No, no. It's good.

It means you care. I care about you.

[Tom] You do care. Yeah.

[Tom] I appreciate it. Of course. Wait.

It's my turn. It's your turn.

Hey, wait your turn. Slow down.

What is a costume from one of your movies

that you wish you could take home?

I wear this really pretty aqua blue dress when I sing

I Feel Pretty in West Side Story,

designed by Paul Tazewell.

I didn't realize that people were stealing stuff from set

or asking to keep things

and I have nothing from that set.

[Rachel] What? I know!

From West Side Story, you didn't take anything?

[Rachel] I have nothing.

Did you steal anything from this movie?

On this movie? Actually, I'm not wearing it today,

but the ring that Lucy Gray wears throughout the film.

That's nice.

I like to think that it was her mom's wedding ring.

I think I stole like a lock of the wig.

Like a lock of my own hair. Stop! [laughing]

Which is really psycho now that I think about it.

[giggling]

We called it Jeff, right? The wig?

Man, mine was like a really sophisticated name.

I think it might've been Alphonse.

[Both] It was Alphonse!

You said it and it was a visceral memory for me.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alphonse, Alphonse the Wig!

We kind of answered this, but I wanna know

if you have any others;

any wardrobe souvenirs from this movie?

From this movie? Yeah, I do.

Actually I have a pair of, like, gray pants

designed by Trish Somerville. Lucy Gray pants?

Lucy Gray Pant.

No, I genuinely wear them like all the time.

Do you have a favorite look from the film?

I love all of my looks and--

It was can be any character, by the way.

Oh! Any character?

It doesn't have to be your own.

There's this very like toned-down Tigress look

when you come home from having been like

thrown into the arena

and she's got like her hair tied up in a knot.

[Tom] Yeah.

And it's in like a hair wrap and she's in her robe

and Hunter is just one of the most gorgeous people in the

[Tom] world in general. Exquisite. Yeah.

But that look is so beautiful.

Also, everything Fionnula wears.

Well, the two of them together feel very old Hollywood.

It's incredible.

Feels like a callback to like

the Golden Age of Hollywood, right?

Where like the head wraps and the kind of like--

[Rachel] Absolutely.

Adorned dresses and stuff.

Who wore this? Oh!

What is that?

Do you know who wore this? I know the answer.

It kind of looks like something Tigress wears.

Maybe. You're so close. What is it?

This is Hunter's dress from the Berlin premiere.

Well that's what I wondered.

Is it? Yeah. That's her.

Oh my goodness.

I thought it was gonna be from the film.

I didn't know that we could just like pick from life.

Anyone.

That opens up the doors to a whole world

of like opportunity now.

Oh, she looks so beautiful.

Okay. What's your favorite red carpet look

from our promo tour so far?

Oh my goodness. Well, if we're talking about my own looks,

which I always feel weird, it's gotta be a tie between

my two premiere looks.

The Alexander McQueen is so amazing

'cause so much of Alexander McQueen kind of like

inspired the original films.

And so that fashion moment that the fans picked up on

so well with the nod to the Girl on Fire dress,

and the skirt was a rose,

which is so important to our characters.

But then also my Dior Couture look by Maria Grazia

for the London premiere, the world premiere,

was a nod to Katniss's Catching Fire parade look.

So I would have to say tie between those,

but I gotta give it to Josh's gold suit.

He was glimmering.

And him and Hunter looked like they had coordinated.

[Rachel] Matching, I know. It was gorgeous.

What was the first movie you ever auditioned for?

First movie I ever auditioned for?

[Rachel] Do you remember?

My first role was-- Yeah, please.

Feral Child number three in Ridley Scott's Robin Hood,

where I learned to shoot bows and arrows.

Did you do commercials or anything?

I did a couple of little commercials in England.

Yeah, it was hard out there. It was hard out there.

I almost called you Lucy Gray.

It was hard out there, Lucy Gray.

That's absolutely the character.

It does sound like something like Coriolanus would say.

It was hard out there, Lucy Gray.

Do you have a terrible audition experience?

I do. I do have a terrible audition experience.

What is it? I was actually,

oddly enough, auditioning for a Broadway show

of a very famous

Broadway musical

that was having a revival

and the producers and directors were ordering lunch

while I was singing.

What? It was so horrible.

Like actually while you were singing a song?

Yeah, yeah. I booked West Side Story a week later though.

I'm so glad this question's in here.

What monologues did you audition with at Juilliard?

It's like classical training, right?

So you have to do Shakespeare monologues.

So I did like Edgar from King Lear.

Ooh!

I did a Romeo one from Romeo and Juliet.

You might have heard of it.

And I sang a song.

Oh, I had to sing a song.

Oh, things just got interesting.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

They don't really want to hear you sing.

They wanna hear you like lose your inhibition.

[Rachel] Release, yeah.

So, because I knew that, and I'm not much of a singer,

so I sang Wanna Be Like You from The Jungle Book.

And they were like, well if you're gonna do it,

then you gotta play a monkey while you're doing it.

Did you jump around like a monkey?

So then they made me jump around like a monkey and like,

jump up on chairs and stuff.

So I had to like be a monkey while singing the song.

I would pay money for that footage.

Never gonna see it.

And you got in.

I did. And here we are, still monkeying around.

Pop quiz time, are you ready?

Yep. Okay.

Can you guess where this is from?

Well that's my Prada suit from the London premiere.

Is that you? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You're correct.

Yeah, I knew it. Good job.

Where do you think this is from?

Oh my gosh. That's my Met Gala dress.

Yeah.

That was my first ever red carpet at the Met Gala in 2021.

It was a Dior dress of a tarot card.

Wow, it's beautiful.

Yeah! You are correct,

and it is beautiful. Thank you.

Is this from the Capitol or Met Gala?

Oh no. Oh, that's Effie at President Snow's party.

That's the Capitol.

That party scene is so good.

It's such a great scene.

And you are correct.

I love Katniss's like shoulder feathers in that scene.

So good. Yeah, it's cool.

Is this from the Capitol or the Met Gala?

I'm gonna say Met Gala

just 'cause I don't recognize it from the films.

This is Amber Valletta at the Met Gala.

Beautiful. You got it right. Good job.

Theater or film?

Oooh....theater.

Musical or play?

Musical for me.

Favorite TV or movie villain?

Honestly, I'm not just saying this.

Coriolanus Snow in the original Hunger Games.

Like if you'd have asked me...no, no, really.

I'm gonna caveat that by saying like

if I don't have to pick my own character

because I really think Donald Sutherland is like one

of the best movie villains of all time.

I mean Silence of the Lambs is like--

A hundred percent.

It's like the ultimate one, right?

Hundred percent. It's gotta be that.

You are correct.

Yeah. Yeah.

Favorite species of snake? The milk snake.

The milk snake, 'cause you handled one.

I handled one, and they were so sweet.

But also the garter snake, Kevin, that I had

during the reaping. Is that his name?

I named him Kevin. Yeah.

I would hold him up in front of all the extras

and we'd all clap for him after a take.

And say, good job Kevin.

Have you stayed in touch?

Yeah. He's working with my agent now.

He did well out of that movie?

Yeah, he's really great.

Jumper or sweater?

Jumper.

I do call it a sweater now just because

I've lived here for a while.

Chips or fries? Fries, actually.

I do call them fries now.

Yeah, interesting.

Also, no, they're different things though.

Chips are big and chunky.

Oh, fair, yeah.

They're like fluffy in the middle.

Steak fries.

Fries, like frites, are like, you know, crispy and thin.

We would call them steak fries.

But if I had to choose one, I'd choose fries.

Favorite musical?

Like ever?

Yeah, what's your favorite musical?

Oh, that's hard.

Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Crone's Fun Home

is one of my favorites.

Okay, I have a follow up question for you.

Yes.

Sing a line from your favorite song in that musical.

Oh!

♪ Say something, talk to me ♪

♪ Say something, anything at the light ♪

♪ at the light, at the light, at the light ♪

It's just like she goes--

It's so annoying that even when you are, like,

messing around, you're still really good.

Stop.

Like one of these days, I just want you to open your mouth

and for some crap to come out

just so I can feel better about myself.

[laughing] Thank you Tom. You're welcome.

Vogue, thank you so much for having us. I'm Rachel.

I'm Tom Blyth and this was

[Both] Off the Cuff!

[jazz music]