Interviewing Celebrities

One of the strangest experiences you can have as a journalist is interviewing a celebrity. Sure, once you’ve been doing this a while, it becomes normal. But that first time? Truly the most surreal experience of your life.

Consider it for a moment. Think of the actor or director you admire most. Then imagine sitting at a table…watching as that very person walks in your direction, takes the seat across from you, and politely waits for you to initiate.

In that instant, you have to make a decision. You’ll never be able to complete an intelligent interview unless you can forget everything you’ve ever seen, heard, or read about this person. Unless you can remember, first and foremost, that s/he is only human.

Sounds easy. Until you realize, in the fraction of a second, that you actually thought you knew this person. Yup. Even we who work in the film industry, we who live and breathe movies every day, fall into the fame trap.

All those movie roles, all those DVD extras, all those intimate interviews. You’ve been watching this person for years. You grew up with him. His face is as familiar as your own family. Only one problem. He’s never met you before. And he’s looking at you with polite and only thinly-veiled suspicion. Damn. Illusion gone.

So. You’re now faced with your idol. What are the tricks?

First: Breathe.

Second: Remember this is just another human being. Stars fight with their families. They have days filled with doubt. Just don’t picture them naked. That trick fails miserably.
Third: Focus on the work. It’s amazing how quickly you’ll forget the fame-factor once you’ve hit your stride and you’re in a full-on discussion of the film.

It’s in that moment that the truly miraculous happens. You find yourself completely relating to someone who, thirty short minutes ago, you thought of as a movie star. You forget the illusion called fame. And you become peers. Just as you deserve to be.