how to win friends and influence people: first, stop being yourself
IN show business PR is big business. When millions are invested into the image of some young waiter or waitress on their way to becoming the next who ever - you don't want any malfunctions derailing things. You want to build on their likability and creditability as much as possible, so that people will want to see their movies and support their projects. Interviews can be rough since it requires young performers to answer questions and often give opinions. If they say the wrong thing then it could be the train to goodbyesville for 'em.
dancing with the stars, singing for their supper
You can almost imagine a small battalion of image wranglers and interview coaches employed by the studios to help young talent to keep their feet out of their mouths! They might offer such helpful hints such as "When Letterman asks about your previous relationship act like you're cool with it and totally get the joke - don't stare off in the distance and start talking to yourself" or "If anyone asks, Sarah Palin is a wing nut but you're enjoying her daughter in Dancing With the Stars".
attack of the Krisbians
So with the sad fates of Mel Gibson and Tom Cruise serving as cautionary reminders more and more emphasis gets put on faking it - or prepping for those risky public interviews as if they were high school examinations or job interviews to be tap danced through. That makes it even more difficult to get to know what sort of person our favourite celebrities really are. "Not finding out" is the point, I guess. Occasionally though an interview will be minor enough and the question awkward enough to provoke some kind of psuedo human response. AS in the case of Kristen Stewart when asked by an MTV host if she knew what "Krisbians" are.
Different strokes for different folks
Kristen does a lot of nail chewing in that one. If she ain't highly uncomfortable then she's a much better actress than several Twilight installments would suggest. As for Krisbians, if you didn't get it they're lesbians who want to bend the fair Ms Stewart to their will! You can see the appeal, Ms Kristen is an attractive young woman. They didn't mention how many people Ms Stewart may have turned Krisbian, or whether the rumours are true about her being a practicing Krisbian herself - but that was neither the time nor the place. Let us just be thankful that so successful a young woman - successful enough to be on Emma Hermione Watson's hit list, is still capable of some human, or at least human like, responses. Of course I suppose that those human touches will get airbrushed out by the time she's ready for her big magazine cover or spread.
It amazing that the celebrity class, who are schooled in the black arts of fake sincerity, are still sometimes capable of giving themselves away through body language. Then again a life of constant deception must be rough. No one can ever know what you're really feeling thinking etc cause if they did then they might not like you as much any more and your future career as a talk show host or info-mercial pitch man might go down the toilet. Then you'd have nothing to look forward to but reality TV redemption, and that's a hard path back! So you're stuck with constantly faking it and suppressing yourself for the sake of the image. Must feel a lot like being Clark Kent!
freaking Megan out
Speaking of which the woman who was almost Wonder Woman, Megan Gale, is usually a pretty controlled customer. She's hardly the kind ot blow her cool. Yet some Italian TV presenters got quite a reaction out of her for their show. It only needed a amorous Italian driver behind the wheel of a high speed automobile to freak Megan out! Then she showed viewers all kinds of body language!
Even non Italian speakers will have a fair idea whats going on their by Ms Gale's shocked expressions. That's part of what made the practical joke so good - Gale's responses are universally understandable and no explanation is necessary. Plus there's no need to edit out naughty language! When she crossed her self and started praying even the most obtuse should've caught on. I like the way she took control and pulled the keys out of the ignition. Now that lady is an Amazon! You'll be happy to know that Megan reverted back into her mild mannered alter ego in time to attend the studio audience screening for the clip!
