Reason to Write: It Knocks Celebrities Off Their Pedestal

Jane Boursaw

Happily, Alisa’s post on her reason to write was so well-received that the pitches just started rolling in! I’m excited to present you with the next installment, from Jane Boursaw. Jane is a family entertainment writer specializing in movies, TV and celebrities. You can visit her at Film Gecko and Reel Life With Jane, and learn how to syndicate her family movie and TV columns in your own publication. Follow her on Twitter; become a friend on Facebook; or email her at jboursaw@charter.net. And if you want to write something for my Reason To Write series, contact me!

When Stephanie mentioned that she was starting a new column on Freelancedom called Reason to Write, a few things immediately sprang to mind for me. Sure, one of the main reasons I write is to get the scoop on what’s new and cool in the entertainment world and pass that along to my readers. But another reason I write involves knocking celebrities off their pedestals.

I don’t mean that in a bad way. Most of the celebrities I interview don’t even want to be put on a pedestal. They just want to do a great job with whatever project they’re working on. It’s our culture that puts them up on a pedestal, and I’ve not been immune to that way of thinking, especially living in the Midwest where I don’t encounter celebrities on a regular basis. You’d never see one shopping for toothpaste at Rite-Aid or sitting in the car next to you at the bank drive-through.

Years ago, when I first started interviewing celebrities, I’ll admit that it was weird and intimidating. These were people I either saw on my TV every week or up on the big screen in movie theaters. Not only that, but I was a huge fan of many of them, so I’d sweat it out for days beforehand, figuring out exactly what to ask and say, and mapping out my strategy so I didn’t come off looking like a starstruck fan.

But you know what? Celebrities are people, too. They’re no different from the rest of us; they simply have high profile jobs that put them on the red carpet and late night talk shows. And truth be told, most of them don’t even like that part of the job. I can guarantee that most celebrities look at conference calls, press junkets, and publicity as a pain-in-the-butt part of their job — and none of them appreciate the paparazzi.

Now I’m no fool. I realize that these people are highly trained media professionals. They’ve been trained up the ying-yang to put on a good show during interviews and turn me into their best friend for 20 minutes. Neither they nor their publicists want them screwing up or saying something stupid. You have to think that the advent of Twitter is making publicists clutch their heart in terror. Who knows what dumb or inappropriate thing their client might tweet about today? Still, it’s fun to talk with celebrities and realize that they’re doing the same stuff we do every day.

Jane has a fancy-schmancy logo. Jealous!

When we talked in the summer of 2009, Stephen Moyer (Bill Compton on True Blood) was driving home and had me say hi to his child, sitting in the back seat of the car. When he got home, he took the dog for a walk, all the while still talking to me on the phone. Angie Harmon was recovering from a cold when we talked this summer about her new show, Rizzoli & Isles. Hayden Panettiere was headed for the gym when we talked in the fall of 2007, but noted that she really couldn’t go anywhere without being hounded by paparazzi. This was during her heyday as the cheerleader on Heroes. Scott Porter was washing dishes at his Austin home when we talked during the first season of Friday Night Lights. And Tim Roth was between scenes while filming Lie To Me earlier this summer.

These folks probably do a lot of interviews. If they put everything else on hold during the calls, they’d never get anything done. Then again, sometimes they just do a string of interviews one after the other, and you get the feeling they’re holed up in an office with a publicist hovering close by.

Such was the case when I talked with Tom Hanks earlier this year about Toy Story 3, and  Ryan Seacrest last year about his New Year’s Eve gig. Michael Moore is known for doing interviews any and everywhere, often standing outside the restored downtown State Theatre in my hometown of Traverse City, Michigan –- home of Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival –- while he talks to Larry King on the air. For a story for Variety this summer, however, I talked with Moore both on the phone and later while standing in line for film festival tickets.

I was standing in line, that is. He was making his way down the line talking to people. He really is a nice guy, despite his public persona.

I generally don’t think of these gigs as interviews, but rather two people having a fun conversation. And if I’m a big fan, I have no trouble telling celebrities I’m a big fan. I think they appreciate it, and I’d rather just be myself than try to put on some fake front just because I’m talking to a high-profile person. So the moral of this story is that celebrities are just regular people who do normal stuff like the rest of us, and writing about them has opened my eyes to that fact. In fact, talking with celebrities is now just a normal part of my job.