My job is weird, I’ll be the first to admit that. Brilliant but weird. You interview actors and assume you know them because of their films. In reality, you know nothing about them - it’s always a gamble when you walk in the room. Will they be friendly? Will they remember you? Will they refuse to answer a question? Will they shake your hand? (Billy Zane declined). So it’s even worse when there are two of them. Paired interviews are the most nerve-wracking, it’s rare (in my case anyway) to get a really decent interview out of a couple.
Interviews can be paired for different reasons. Sometimes the film has so many big stars that they can’t all be interviewed separately, so they lump a couple together (or three of them, as they did for The Three Musketeers – that was intense). Often it’s because no-one wants to interview the lesser known actor, so they’re put with a massive name - they think they’re in demand. Harsh but true. It’s strange but often in these interviews, the bigger name says the least, to give the other a go. It’s incredibly annoying because who would you rather hear from? Plus you get them talking over each other, talking to each other, waiting for the other to speak first…it’s an editing nightmare!
When I interviewed the two stars of hugely-successful-against-all-odds-because-it-was-a-silent-and-black-and-white-film The Artist, I was in a major tailspin because one of them (Jean Dujardin) couldn’t speak English and had a translator, which I wasn’t told about until halfway through the interview.The other (Bérénice Bejo) had been moaning about how much she hated doing these interviews, when I was in earshot, as I was about to go in. Pleasant experience all round. Occasionally it can be a blessing.Jude Law saved me a couple of times when I was faced with the sarcastic and cutting wit of Robert Downey Jrfor Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.
Yesterday I interviewed Bruce Willisand Mary-Louise Parker for the OAP comedy/action combo, Red 2. I couldn’t wait to speak to Bruce - he can be hard work but when he’s on good form, he’s worth it, plus I was fired up after watching The Fifth Element with Grimmy last week. I was warned before I went in that he’d just popped on a dressing gown. Over his clothes. Eccentric but I went with it. Told him it looked sexy. Garnered no response. The resulting interview essentially consisted of long pauses, stares at the ground, looks exchanged between the two of them and the answering of questions which I hadn’t actually asked. I think (I hope) I’ll be able to get some decent stuff out of it - when Bruce actually answered, he was pretty funny but Mary-Louise just did not want to be there. Mind you, I think I got off lightly. You’ll have to wait until next week to hear my interview but in the meantime, here’s my mate Jamie who works for Magic FM, who had a much, much tougher time of it than me. They were mean to him.
