It shouldn’t haPPen to a film Journalist
Editor-at-large Jamie graham lifts the lid on film journalism.
Jamie decides it’s time to be honest with you.
February, 2014. I’m sitting in a London hotel room opposite Josh Brolin, our knees almost touching. We’ve just said our hellos and shared a vice-like handshake (well, his hand is a vice – mine squishes as I try not to yelp), when he leans forward and fixes me with a hard stare.
“What did you think of the movie?” he asks. I must have paused for a nanosecond because he immediately follows up with, “You look like my kinda guy: no bullshit. Did you like it?”
The movie in question is Jason Reitman’s romantic-drama Labour Day. Not terrible, not good. Only this is an industry built on hard work and huge dreams – to say nothing of hype, money and egos that are at once inflated and fragile – so returning “meh” as an answer really isn’t an option.
What do I do? Lie? Deflect? Tell the truth and risk upsetting him with 45 minutes of our interview time stretched out before us… presuming, that is, he doesn’t get the arse and stomp out?
PERSONAL POLITICS
Sometimes, because of magazine deadlines, interviews happen before a print is locked and shown to the press; the review runs in the issue that follows the feature, by which time the film is ready. This is both a blessing and a hindrance, the latter because you can be more forensic in your questioning if you know what you’re dealing with, the former because you don’t have to tell someone that you think they’ve wasted years of their life.
It’s the same when you love the film. Starting an interview with “I absolutely adore the movie” can sound as fake as Donald Trump’s hair. Often, it doesn’t come up. Perhaps it’s because the filmmaker doesn’t care for your individual opinion. Or maybe they don’t want to risk a negative response. Probably it’s because they have the good grace to not put someone in a potentially awkward position. But when it does come up, and if you don’t like the film, the easiest thing is to swerve.
“I think the audience will really respond to it,” is one colleague’s favourite, while another once said, “It went down really well at the screening” – which it did, though he actually loathed it. Shekhar Kapur outright asked a TF staffer what they thought of Elizabeth: The Golden Age, to which they responded, “I thought it was very beautiful,” and resisted adding, “but also a bit shite.”
It’s different, of course, when you’re looking back on a long career with time and perspective. Chat to Michael Caine and you can enjoy a good laugh about Jaws: The Revenge, while George Clooney, as we all know, will happily pour scorn on Batman & Robin and his own performance in it. But when it’s a new title that needs to score at the box office? They’re hardly going to trash it, as I found out early in my career when chatting to Joel Schumacher about 8MM. Not as guarded in my criticisms as I should have been, the interview terminated after he stood up and shouted at me for five long minutes.
THE REAL DEAL
So, there sits Brolin with flintflecked eyes, waiting for his answer. Partly because I’m caught out by his blunt approach, partly because I sense that he’ll know if I’m lying, and partly because I’m so damned tired of all the politics and obfuscation (read: bullshit) that can come with this otherwise wonderful profession, I decide to just be honest. “I didn’t like it. I think it’s a step down from Reitman’s last couple of films and it’s too sentimental.”
A long pause, his eyes narrowing, and then Brolin speaks. “I agree,” he says, reaching out to squish my hand once more. “We’re gonna get along just fine.”
Jamie will return next issue… For more misadventures, follow: @jamie_graham9 on Twitter.
‘JOEL SCHUMACHER ENDED THE INTERVIEW BY SHOUTING AT ME FOR FIVE LONG MINUTES’