Interviewing a celebrity sometimes sucks
I have a lot of sympathy for the author of this post on the perils of interviewing the famous:
They will be polite, but the more famous they are, the more reticent they will be. They will repeat the same sound bites over and over. If you ask a question you think is funny, they will sometimes look confused. Also, the written question is much different than the spoken question. You will find yourself tripping over the words that sounded so eloquent and thoughtful on paper, sounding inadvertently like a robotic stutterer who cannot use contractions. For some inexplicable reason you will feel the need to read them their own biography by way of introduction: “So, you grew up in Stamford milking cows before moving to Guadalajara to become a performance artist …” They nod, blankly, waiting for the question, but you did your Wikipedia research too well and have a good paragraph before there is any punctuation.
There’s more in that vein. I find that sometimes you’re pleasantly surprised — Danny Boyle (pre-“Slumdog” Oscar sweep) was absolutely fantastic to talk to because he clearly loves movies and was super enthusiastic about every little thing; Darren Aronofsky (“The Wrestler,” “Requiem for a Dream”) was similarly great* — but more often than not you’re trying to run out the clock with increasingly awful questions. Especially with actors/actresses. I still haven’t mastered the art of getting an actor to open up about a role. I think part of it has to do with my chauvinism as a writer — they’re just reading what some brilliant person wrote down for them and how fair is it for the actor to get all the attention and God why do you hate writer’s so much that you would let this dullard get the credit for another’s brilliant work — but it’s also a result of their caution around a tape recorder, I think. I mean, let’s be honest: They have no real reason to open up to me. Why should I expect the goods to come flooding out?
*I interviewed those two in back-to-back weeks, if I remember correctly, and it’s pretty much been the highlight of my tenure at the Washington Times. I was thrilled to see Boyle finally get his due (hopefully this will lead to a renewed appreciation of the underrated DiCaprio vehicle, “The Beach”), and was incredibly annoyed to see Aronofsky (not to mention Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei) get stiffed during awards season.