Monday, May 9, 2016

Interviewing a film celebrity

James Lipton and George Clooney on Inside the Actors Studio




Radio interview techniques in film…

James Lipton: You have acted in many films.

George Clooney: Over 60, yes.

James Lipton: And as producer or director.

George Clooney: 30 times.

James Lipton: Do you work for money?

George Clooney: I work because I want to enjoy what I do. The money and fame doesn’t matter. I choose films I want to make and will make a statement; ones that will leave a legacy.

James Lipton: Have you ever felt rejected?

George Clooney: Actors feel badly rejected when they don’t get a role. They’re selling a product - themselves. If they get rejected, that’s personal.

James Lipton: What do you consider your best film?

George Clooney: One that I feel was worthwhile doing was Good Night and Good Luck. My father was a news anchorman and I majored in journalism at college so I had a special interest in doing the story of TV journalist Ed Murrow and his battle to discredit Joseph McCarthy’s anticommunist hysteria in 1953.
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Voice-over
James Lipton is famous for reading his questions off index cards and then staring at the interviewee. Although his Inside the Actors Studio celebrity interviews are filmed, this technique would also work well as a radio interview. Or as a podcast.
Some of his interview question techniques:
Get the background out of the way with a statement: “You are… You have…”
Use research to praise: “Do you work for money?” Obviously not.
Use something surprising to probe for an uncomfortable insight: “Have you ever felt rejected?”
End on a high note: “…your best film?”
And then turn the show over to the student questions.

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