So far in my career, I have most likely completed about 10,000 interviews. I started and I was awful. My first interviews came nearly from nothing. I stuttered; looked at my list of questions; froze; knew nothing what to do. Nevertheless, I improved. Questions Asked In Celebrity Interviews You will find out how to accomplish it if you keep doing it and keep communicating with others. Over the years, I have acquired knowledge that has come in handy when I had to sit down and interview celebs, professionals, individuals on the street, and everyone in-between.
Tips for Conducting Successful Celebrity Interviews
Research, more research, and more still to do
Research everything you can about the individual you are scheduled to interview. Not only their Wikipedia page or IMDB bio: everything. Look at their You tube video interviews and find print interviews with them. See what they answer and what questions they detest. In school, what did they study?
Early in their careers, what types of professions did they work at? What do their sisters and brothers do? What do their fathers and moms do? Any or all of these might surface during the interview; you should be ready to follow up. Perhaps the performer is a doctor; their mother was a nurse. From Mom, what pointers did they acquire?
Alternatively, how does their employment fit their initial desire to be a veterinarian? More broadly, did their parents believe they were insane when they informed them their preferred career path? Have they persuaded them that all has worked out perfectly?
Perhaps they are afraid of heights; in the movie or TV show they are watching, they are dangling over a skyscraper. Perhaps they fractured their collarbone falling from a tree while a little child. When you show up for the interview, you have to know all this. Questions Asked In Celebrity Interviews You might not have the time and this is a lot of effort.
Back then, when three of the band The Mamas and The Papas still lived, I was invited to interview their surviving members about their careers. One evening I started to get ready. Two of them had produced autobiographies. I just wanted to grab these and study them. I asked specifics instead of generalities since then, knowing what to ask. That’s quite crucial.
Knowing the news
I write mostly for entertainment news. I so read all the sites: deadline.com, thehollywoodreporter.com, and variety.com. I also monitor the gossip sites, perezhilton.com and tmz.com. You have to be always aware of what is happening. Because you could find yourself in a scenario when the most recent breaking news is required.
I was assigned a few weeks ago to track Donald Trump around Iowa. Not a moment to read anything. But as a political addict and I monitor the news, I know all the most recent facts, all the most recent speeches, all the newest trivia. I could therefore offer smart questions when I had to shout them out at a news conference with Mr. Trump.
On the other hand, I was covering a premiere years ago with a reporter (about one-fourth of the time I work with an on- camera reporter; the rest of the time, it’s me asking questions off-camera). Suddenly Matthew Perry showed up. I also knew, from reading all the websites, that he had lately been in a vehicle accident.
But my correspondent was ignorant of it. And the interview started before I could let him know. Luckily Matthew Perry is a wonderful man who could sense I was about to blow since the reporter was not inquiring about the vehicle accident. Matthew thus personally brought it up.
That is the only occasion, though, that has ever occurred. Usually I would just step in and disrupt the interview; maybe I might attempt whispering the material in the reporter’s ear, but at a raucous premiere that is difficult. In any event, if you wish to be any sort of a reporter, you have to be current with news. Never depend on the home office to know everything. That is up to you.
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Memorialize your questions.
You want never to be reading from a set of questions. That is unethical. As best you may, memorize your questions. Glancing at your notes at the conclusion of the interview to see whether you have forgotten anything is not an issue; but, you cannot be looking at them the whole interview.
Try to arrange the questions so that they will best highlight your subject; then, be ready should it not work out. Not an issue if you have memorized your questions.
It ought to be a conversation.
As you are chatting to your best buddy, you should be speaking to your interview subject. Make eye contact, start a conversation rather than an inquiry. Memorizing your queries helps also for this reason. The greatest approach to putting your topic at ease and make them comfortable is to look at them and chat with them, not at them.
Get the answers you need here.
Never ask “yes” or “no” questions then either. Never “Were you terrified when you performed that stunt?” Alternatively, “Was it uncomfortable doing that sex scene?” Questions Asked In Celebrity Interviews Since then, they say yes or no and you’re done. Hence, “What went through your thoughts as you were performing that stunt?
or How did you feel throughout your flight off that bridge?” or “Talk us about how you capture a love scene?” You should not inform them; you need them to narrate the story. Though it seems somewhat of cliche, that made you feel?
You may say, “You’ve been attacked in social media because of the comment you made; how does it make you feel? Tell us what you truly intended to say. Always go to their own stories and emotions.
SKIP THE BORING Inquiries
On a press junket or a set, most interviews last ten to twelve minutes. Fifteen, should you be quite lucky. Twenty minutes is luxury. You must thus avoid the dull material. Should you be performing interviews for a studio or network or an EPK (electronic press kit), you will have to create character and storyline questions. Otherwise, forget about them.
Unless you’re pressed to, never ask, “Tell me about your character” or “Tell me about the narrative of the film or TV program. Any news program will already have placed the material up either in a lead or in a voice-over, hence it is not fresh. The feats they performed, the incredible sights they captured, how they unintentionally belted their co-star in the fight scene, how they had to keep plunging into very cold water all night—the wonderful stuff.
You have not much time and there are fantastic stories to be shared. That covers the very boring “What drew you to this project? Questions Asked In Celebrity Interviews They might have liked the director or they might have needed the money; they might have never been a detective. But the two minutes of your valuable interview were squandered answering that question. Skip it.
Try not to confuse them.
Ask straightforward questions as you can. They ought never to be longer than the response you get. Before you chop them down, list all of your questions ahead of time and note how lengthy they are.
One further indication, for me, of a newbie is the demand, “I’m not on camera so please integrate my question in your answer.” Should you have to mention that, you will not know how to correctly formulate queries.
And you have just mixed the poor interview subject—who is going to be frantically attempting to recall your question and yet seem natural? You should not do it.
First of all, every actor will be aware of how to provide a decent response. Should you be interviewing a non-star—someone unfamiliar with conducting interviews—you must formulate the query to get the required information.
You will have to advise them to speak in whole phrases, though, if they are verbally impaired—that is, if they truly cannot talk very well on camera. And you might have to provide them samples of what you mean.
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Ask the tough stuff last, not first.
You will often have to probe some difficult issues, generally unrelated to the project under discussion. Perhaps the star is divorcing; perhaps they are engaged in litigation; perhaps they have some social media conflict with someone else.
(Sometimes your bosses will only want you to ask that stuff—I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told “we don’t care about the movie,” which is quite sad to me because I do very much care about the movie or TV show and I would much rather discuss that than any personal problems the star is having.)
But you have to start out discussing the current project if you want any interview at all. Save the challenging material for last; at least, you will have something should they close you down on personal matters.
Still, you will have to ask the tough stuff.
You will have to ask about it if a celebrity is experiencing some personal conflict. Even when their PR tells you you cannot. (My opinion has always been that a publicist’s responsibility is to get the celebrity ready for certain questions, not inform the press we cannot ask – since we will be asking.) Still, there are ways to deal with it. We were scheduled to interview Halle Berry years ago on a press junket with buddy Jann Carl, a superb reporter.
At the time she was in divorce. Her boss also claimed we were not allowed to ask about it. We now said: it’s our responsibility, not merely ignore him and startle her by asking nevertheless.
If Halle could prepare an answer, maybe something along the lines of “I’m going through a terrible period right now, but I’m incredibly thankful of all the love my fans have given me,” then we will have asked, she will have replied, and we won’t have to investigate it any further. And that is precisely what transpired. She had this kind of response ready ahead of time, had it ready when we asked, and then we proceeded with everyone satisfied.
Bruce Willis went there covering a premiere, and that was the day his ex, Demi Moore, got engaged to Ashton Kutcher. Bruce may now be really frightening. I had to defuse the matter then. “Bruce, please don’t kill me, but I have to ask this since it just came out in the news today,” I pleaded following our movie discussion.
And I asked for his response. He remarked, “have a pleasant day,” grinned, and gave me a head pat. So no, I never heard back. Still, I asked and I didn’t irritate him. He was good with me the following several times I visited.
TO GET THERE
You have to figure out how to get there if you have further questions unrelated to the subject you are now talking about. Often it’s just “there’s major news today that I have to question you about.” Other times you must be more clever. once I was interviewing Michael Caine on the filming site of one of his films.
(A great excitement for me; he is a real legend!) And the film publicist solely wanted us to discuss the movie. But I had heard in the press about a somewhat shocking fact in his life: he had a half-brother he knew nothing about who was housed in a mental hospital. His mother brought him before she wed Michael’s father. Every day, she would also visit that half-brother, claiming to be seeing their Aunt Lil. Michael had just met his half-brother and had just learned of this.
I had to probe into it then. By chance, Michael stated during our interview that he was writing his memoirs on the set when not filming. I so simply stated, “Well, you’re definitely going to have to write about this latest chapter of your life with your half-brother!” And his eyes brightened as he spoke about it, clearly delighted. (The publicist was unhappy, but I had my story.)
Everyone has terrible days.
Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, and Will Smith would most likely be the top three if you asked Hollywood reporters which the friendliest individuals are to interview. Always polite, always professional. They arrive early for premieres and speak with everyone; the one-hundredth interview was far less effort than the first.
They do, however, have terrible days. I observed Tom Hanks be a little short with folks as he was reducing the weight for Castaway. But he was hungry; thus, give him a break. Just as word of Stanley Kubrick’s death had leaked, we had to interview Tom Cruise on the Eyes Wide Shut junket. He therefore found it difficult to talk.
And I was on the set of a music video for Will Smith’s son; Will decided he wanted to keep it about his son that day and he didn’t want to chat. And while my office wanted him on tape, he was most likely right. And I failed to understand it as well.Therefore, you may have to speak with a celebrity at a moment or two when she is having a poor day. But avoid evaluating them based on just one incident!
You will run out of time.
You most likely have 10 minutes for your interview, as I said already. So rank your queries and choose your loss limit. Sometimes you have even less time. Once I was traveling the Television Critics Association Tour, the TCA. On those days, you would get five to seven minutes to really interview TV personalities about their next shows 25 to 30 times in one day.
I had an Emmys interview with Garry Shandling scheduled. The publicist stated, “you have three minutes,” as he was walking in the door. I exclaimed, unable to help myself: “THREE MINUTES!” Then Garry added, “but it’ll be a GRE three minutes,” after listening to me. And it was.
Because he understood I needed three excellent minutes. You’ll most likely have time for three questions at premiere or red carpet events; the first two should center the movie or event. Therefore, make sure you can receive all you need in one query if you must inquire about something else.
Examples of Questions for Celebrity Interviews
- What guidance would you give young people who aspire to be actors or actresses?
- In five words, how would you characterize yourself?
- What worries you the most, and what makes you smile?
- Do you have any upcoming film projects?
- What are your main advantages and disadvantages?
- Which kind of film do you enjoy acting in the most?
- Describe your plans and the next five years of your life.