Richard Madden and Taron Egerton hear you, and they know you’re fascinated by their friendship. So they decided to give the people what they want: The dish.

Despite their many similarities — both actors grew up in the United Kingdom (Egerton in Wales and Madden in Scotland), both have become known for action roles (Egerton in the Kingsman movies and Madden in Game of Thrones) and quintessentially British projects (Kingsman again and Madden’s Golden Globe-winning turn on Bodyguard), and both are almost laughably handsome — Madden and Egerton never actually met before they started work on Elton John biopic Rocketman.

“I’ve been aware of who Richard is for years,” Egerton explained to EW. “And funnily enough, one thing that’s quite interesting is people have been saying to us for years: You two would get on. And we’ve just never met.”

The co-stars (Madden plays John Reid, the longtime manager to Egerton’s Elton John) kicked off their friendship at London’s famed Abbey Road studios, where Egerton was recording some of the songs that would become Rocketman‘s soundtrack and the rest was Internet Boyfriend history.

Ever the team players, they graciously agreed to answer all of EW’s burning questions about both their friendship and each other — watch the video above to learn about their first proper hang session, what makes the other cry, and the nicknames they have for each other.

Interviews From 2019