Bruce Willis and His Interview

[MamaMootz]

I watched the video and really didn't think it was *that* bad. You can tell he's not into the interview and Mary Louise Parker is trying to smooth things over, but really- I think he was just being Bruce Willis. I don't think he was "hostile".... do you?

Video here:
http://kism.com/news/video-bruce-willis-turns-hostile-during-interview/

[Twik]

Ouch, I'd say the hostility was oozing right out before he even started to speak. His body language is signalling trouble from the start.

I'm not sure what his issue was. Yes, he's doing sales for the movie. That's his choice, and part of why he's paid more than most of us will make in a lifetime for one movie. The interviewer is doing his job, by asking him about the movie.

If Willis feels he's above these types of interviews, he shouldn't schedule them, not go and be snarky to the interviewer who is part of the system that makes Willis a star. If he doesn't like it, he should stop making feature films.

I presume there's a backstory here why Willis so clearly did not want to be there.

[MamaMootz]

I don't really think it was that bad - everyone has bad days every now and then. Maybe he was tired, maybe he was in pain, maybe this was the 10,000th interview they had to give that day and he was having an off day.

No it doesn't excuse being snarky to the interviewer, but I don't think he was that snarky.

[Twik]

He was very hostile, and seemed determined not to let the interviewer actually get an interview.

I'm sure there was a reason for it, but it appears rather strange to show u for an interview and not let yourself be interviewed.

[katycoo]

Ouch, I'd say the hostility was oozing right out before he even started to speak. His body language is signalling trouble from the start.

I'm not sure what his issue was. Yes, he's doing sales for the movie. That's his choice, and part of why he's paid more than most of us will make in a lifetime for one movie. The interviewer is doing his job, by asking him about the movie.

If Willis feels he's above these types of interviews, he shouldn't schedule them, not go and be snarky to the interviewer who is part of the system that makes Willis a star. If he doesn't like it, he should stop making feature films.

I presume there's a backstory here why Willis so clearly did not want to be there.

Its not really his choice.  These kinds of interviews are usually part of your contract.  of course, he could quit acting, but that's extreme.  That said, its part of his job.  he should try to do it with a better attitude.
I am sypathetic though. These interviews are often done on media days where theyliterally do back to back interviews for hours.  It must be so old...

[Hillia]

Any minimum wage clerk at McDonalds would be told that they need to treat each customer as if they were the first one of the day...no matter how many times they have to say,  'I'm sorry, we don't carry the mcrib any more' they need to maintain the same professional, friendly attitude, through headaches, pre-shift fights with their spouse, money worries,sick kids.  If they can do that through an 8 hour shift, Bruce Willis can check his attitude for a day or so while promoting the film that paid him more than most people will earn in decades.  If it's too much effort to behave civilly to a man who is only doing his job - which is to help Bruce earn more money by publicizing his film - then he can retire.

[Audrey Quest]

Bruce was not excited and that interviewer was not very perceptive.  If he had rolled with Bruce's devil may care attitude he would have gotten a much more memorable interview and not have been so a awkward.  He should have tossed back the same devil may care attitude instead of coming off like Chris Farley's superfan.

Basically the stars just sit in that same little room while interviewers and their people file in and out over and over again.  I'll bet someone did something to offend Bruce and so he didn't care if they got a good interview or not.

Typically, the interview would be edited so that you don't see that it was awkward.

[Winterlight]

I think he was rude. Being interviewed is part of his job. You may find it dull, but you're getting paid to do it, just like the barista at Starbucks is being paid to smile and make your drink promptly and without attitude.

[Hillia]

I think he was rude. Being interviewed is part of his job. You may find it dull, but you're getting paid to do it, just like the barista at Starbucks is being paid to smile and make your drink promptly and without attitude.

POD.  Being an actor is job just like any other, and those workers should be held to the same standards as every other worker out there. Endless interviews are mind numbingly boring; well, guess what?  A line of 10 people at the checkout who all want to argue over which bread is on sale is boring, but the cashier doesn't get to give attitude.  A previous interviewer offended him?  I was mightily offended each time someone threatened to wait for me after work and beat me up (customer support for a web hosting company), but the very next caller got a friendly voice and my best efforts to help them.  Bruce needs to get over himself.

[Twik]

Bruce was not excited and that interviewer was not very perceptive.  If he had rolled with Bruce's devil may care attitude he would have gotten a much more memorable interview and not have been so a awkward.  He should have tossed back the same devil may care attitude instead of coming off like Chris Farley's superfan.

Basically the stars just sit in that same little room while interviewers and their people file in and out over and over again.  I'll bet someone did something to offend Bruce and so he didn't care if they got a good interview or not.

Typically, the interview would be edited so that you don't see that it was awkward.

I wouldn't call his attitude "devil may care," which implies a carefreeness. This was quite openly "I don't want to talk to you," which is kind of hard for an interviewer to deal with, unless they're in a police interrogation room.

It's unprofessional, but there may well be an issue that we're not aware off that sparked the spat.

[Roe]

Wow, what a jerk.  Granted, the interviewer was rather boring but Bruce Willis...jerk! 

[PastryGoddess]

Lainey gossip did a blog post a few months ago about a pretty bad Jesse Eisenberg junket interview.  The blog post rambles a bit, but the part that stuck with me the most was towards the end where she laid out the details of the power imbalance between stars and reporters. 


Mind you she is a reporter..so biased.  But it has given me something else to think about when I see interviews like this, specifically the comment "A junket however is not a public bar. A junket favours the celebrity and minimises the reporter.".  There is some language in the piece as well

Jesse Eisenberg Interview

[Redneck Gravy]

I agree with Hillia

 

Any minimum wage clerk at McDonalds would be told that they need to treat each customer as if they were the first one of the day...no matter how many times they have to say,  'I'm sorry, we don't carry the mcrib any more' they need to maintain the same professional, friendly attitude, through headaches, pre-shift fights with their spouse, money worries,sick kids.  If they can do that through an 8 hour shift, Bruce Willis can check his attitude for a day or so while promoting the film that paid him more than most people will earn in decades.  If it's too much effort to behave civilly to a man who is only doing his job - which is to help Bruce earn more money by publicizing his film - then he can retire.

Bruce Willis, Jesse Eisenberg & Billy Bob Thornton all seem too full of themselves.  While I'm no fan of reporters in general, they have a job to perform, why would anyone want to make someone's job hard to perform?   

[Mental Magpie]

You think that was hostile?  I think it was a dry sense of humor with a small side of snarky in some instances.  I mean you can obviously tell he's bored and doesn't want to have to act excited about these things anymore, but I don't think that's even close to being hostile.

I agree with Audrey Quest in that the interviewer wasn't very perceptive; he kept trying to push his excitement on the actors instead of trying to pull it from them.  It was like he wanted to have a one sided conversation about his feelings on the movie instead of rolling with what the actors said and pulling information from that.

[Twik]

You think that was hostile?  I think it was a dry sense of humor with a small side of snarky in some instances.  I mean you can obviously tell he's bored and doesn't want to have to act excited about these things anymore, but I don't think that's even close to being hostile.

I agree with Audrey Quest in that the interviewer wasn't very perceptive; he kept trying to push his excitement on the actors instead of trying to pull it from them.  It was like he wanted to have a one sided conversation about his feelings on the movie instead of rolling with what the actors said and pulling information from that.

If it were a private conversation, I would say he was just bored. But he's doing his job here, and so is the interviewer. The interviewer cannot just say, "oh, you're clearly not interested. Let's call the whole thing off." Making it impossible for a young person without any control over the situation to do his job is rude. If Willis didn't want to do an interview, he shouldn't have agreed to one n the first place,