A little "Behind the scenes" of my Beowulf interviews

The set of interviews I'll be sharing this week for Beowulf were all from my first press junket ever. And I thought I'd share how that experience is. Watching these videos is kind of surreal because I've seen so many interviews on television and the net that were conducted in this manner, so it's odd to see myself there instead.

Anyway, the junket was held at some swanky hotel in Beverly Hills. After checking in, I waited in a giant hotel room that was bigger than my whole apartment. The room, full of amenties and refreshments (and food, which baffled me, since I was way too nervous to actually eat) was on the 14th floor. Gazing out the eastward balcony, I could see the rest of Los Angeles shrouded in overcas skies.

At either end of the long hallway connecting the room were two of the actors or actresses giving interviews. My name was called and I was set to interview Ray Winstone and John Malkovich first.

The experience is definitely a lesson in camera trickery. If you watch the videos, it appears I'm in a black room with the actor. Not the case. It's just a simple hotel room and each shot is framed to look as it does.

I was surprised how easy it was to interview all four actors. (Alison Lohman, John Malkovich, Ray Winstone, and Crispin Glover.) I won't lie; I was a bit freaked out to meet Malkovich and Glover, because I respect them and have enjoyed their work. But, as you can see from the interview, he was quite talkative and genuinely seemed interested in talking to me:



Oh man. The dude rules.

Alison Lohman also rules. She was tired after having done probably close to 100 interviews by the time I spoke to her, but she was very nice and clearly excited to talk about Paramore.



Stay tuned (as you only can on the internet), as I've got two more interviews to post, as well as my full review of Beowulf. ROCK!

Posted by PanasonicYouth on 11/12/2007 10:07 AM Visits: 157
Seb ™★★★: 11/12/2007 10:46 AM
That was good.

You are a natural at interviewing. Some time in the future we'll all be able to say ”I remember when he wo rked at Buzznet.”
melpixie: 11/12/2007 10:47 AM
Mark, that is SO COOL!

I'm weirdly proud of you....hee.
paxgitmo: 11/12/2007 10:58 AM
When you asked Glover what 'new' music he was listening to ,I was praying he wouldn't just plug some shitty pseudo indie band. When he mentioned Beethoven and my FAVORITE TCHAIKOVSKY PIECE EVER, I knew that I had to come out of Buzznet-Recovery and post.
This, Mark, is why you rule and why Buzznet still has a soul. The internet does make guys like Gaiman and works like Beowulf and music like Crispin mentioned 'new' to people like me who may never have thought of them as relevant before. And our interest in turn makes great old works new again.

It's not just about what assy t.v. shows everyone is talking about, kids. Listen to Panasonicyouth, he tellin' it.

You are a natural interviewer. You can't fake good listening like that. And you gave him a perfect chance to plug his side projects while making you both look very intelligent and generating buzz for Beowulf at the same time.

If you get a chance to interview Gaiman and post it it'll probably make me come.

I mean, good job!
rockinponda: 11/12/2007 11:44 AM
Oh, I love Crispin Glover! I had no idea Beowulf had such a great cast, and I wasn't sure how I felt about it before. The fact that it was CG based on the actual actors seemed really strange to me, like why not just film them instead? But after hearing them talk about it more, it sounds more and more interesting.
hushmoney: 11/12/2007 12:48 PM
Now I feel like I should see this movie.
Great, great interviews, can't wait for the rest.
Ikky-ikky-arriba!: 11/12/2007 1:25 PM
ahhh god bless ya' mark, you looked very nervous!!
but paxgitmo is right- it was a great interview with glover. a nice balance of him talking and you asking the questions. ten points to gryffindor!
Melissa McEwan: 11/12/2007 2:09 PM
Mark, you did a great job! What I love about your interviewing technique is that you're so obviously a fan. I hope you never lose that -- I always adore interviewers who aren't shy about showing their own fandom. It's like when artists talk about other artists in an exuberant, crushy way. The most I ever liked Noel Gallagher was when he was talking about how he emulated Johnny Marr. ;-)
Erica Owens: 11/13/2007 11:27 AM
im so excited you got to do a pj...i could NEVER do it. id die. seriously. xox
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