When I book celebrity interviews, there are rarely restrictions placed on what I can discuss. Occasionally, their reps will make a polite request to stay away from a particular topic or anything too personal. Since I consider myself a pretty imaginative journalist capable of interviewing anyone on a wide array of subjects, I'm always happy to oblige. After all, if I can't come up with some interesting chat to fill up the allotted minutes with a movie star, then I'm in the wrong business! That's why I admonish reporters who complain when they're asked to sign pre-interview Agreements about off-limits questions. Come on, guys...sign the danged paper and get creative!
I'd been asked not to broach anything too intimate with Angelina Jolie. No problemo. However, she and I immediately fell into an easy conversational groove and in no time at all she was offering up personal details of her pregnancy and parenting. By contrast, no one had "warned" me of anything taboo for Reese Witherspoon but she was so defensive and unresponsive about anything other than her small part in a recent movie that I actually ended the interview early. Maybe I caught her on a bad day, but -unlike warm and sultry Ms. Jolie -- she was cold as ice!
Hey, movie stars are only human. They have bad days and good days like the rest of us. The interview process can be a grind. But just like performing in front of the camera, or accepting gongs for those performances, promoting a picture and keeping their public images alive in the media is ALSO part of their job descriptions (for which they are well compensated, I might add). Robert DeNiro is famous for being a sullen mumbler who refuses to make eye contact. (I found him highly intelligent, articulate and good humoured!)
Kevin Spacey is known to hate P.R. and it shows in his contrary disposition to most journos, me included. He recently opted out of participating in a press tour for a new film, which probably is as great a relief to the interviewers as it is to him! I'd been cautioned that Jake Gyllenhall was in a bad mood the day I spoke to him about "Rendition," and I couldn't have found him more charming, good natured and affable. Will Ferrell, Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz always surprise me with their calm demeanors and intelligent conversation...far from their more slapstick, comedic on-screen counterparts. Because varying circumstances elicit different kinds of interview content, most reporters have completely different experiences with stars...which make for some fascinating gossip when we all get together! There are a few big names, though, most of us can agree on. We all love Catherine Zeta Jones, Brad Pitt, Meryl Streep, Hugh Jackman, Jodie Foster and John Travolta. I have some big name interviews on the horizon in the coming weeks including Sir Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Vince Vaughn, Nicole Kidman, Patrick Dempsey, Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones. Anything you're dying to know from these folks? Leave your suggestions for me, below!
Vince Vaughn-What's on his iPod?
Patrick D--Which does he like more TV or Movies?
Tommy Lee Jones--Has there ever been a part that he's really wanted, but didn't get?
Sir Anthony Hopkins: His favorite *current* actor and actress.
Vince Vaughn - Enjoying his current career path, or would he like to leave his fast-talking self behind and do some real stretching?
Tommy Lee Jones - What does he look for in a project?
Nicole Kimdan: Can you explain us how is The Golden Compass and if you will do the secuels? And if possible something about the ending change of this film.
1. Ms Kidman, when will we see the first project from Blossom, your production company? And how excited are you about this new venture?
2. How do you feel when the failure of a movie seems to be laid firmly at your door despite the fact that it is studios who make the decision of what they want a movie they commissioned to be like as in the case of Invasion and all you do is act in it?
3. More importantly, when will you go back to d
1. Ms Kidman, when will we see the first project from Blossom, your production company? And how excited are you about this new venture?
2. How do you feel when the failure of a movie seems to be laid firmly at your door despite the fact that it is studios who make the decision of what they want a movie they commissioned to be like as in the case of Invasion and all you do is act in it?
3. More importantly, when will you go back to dyein
1. Ms Kidman, when will we see the first project from Blossom, your production company? And how excited are you about this new venture? 2. How do you feel when the failure of a movie seems to be laid firmly at your door despite the fact that it is studios who make the decision of what they want a movie they commissioned to be like as in the case of Invasion and all you do is act in it? 3. More importantly, when will you go back to dyein