The Recalcitrant Interviewee

Abstract

The most important thing, when interviewing any filmmaker, under any circumstances, is to have actually seen the film about which you are talking. This may sound obvious to film scholars, but you would be surprised just how often it does not happen among journalists. Any working practitioner who has served their time on the promotional circuit will be more than familiar with the interviewer who has done nothing but skim the press notes—and occasionally, not even that. So it has become increasingly necessary to state at the outset of an interview that you have seen the film (or films) in question, just to put your subject at their ease, and to encourage them to feel comfortable discussing all and any of their work. This is not something you can lie about: you must not, under any circumstances, pretend to be familiar with films which you have not seen—it will only end in tears. So let your interviewee know that they are in safe hands. Often such groundwork may be established in preliminary negotiations, such as e-mails and phone calls setting up the interview. But it never hurts to begin your questioning with the clear declaration that you have shown your interviewee the respect of doing your homework. And in the age of DVD, there really is very little excuse for not familiarizing yourself fully...