Let’s be honest, celebrity junket interviews are vital in this crazy Hollywood business. The celebrities sit in front of news cameras to quickly promote new films, TV shows or albums. They become more personable and likeable for fans to learn more about their newest project. On the other side, we have the press who would like to have more star power on their screens to boost up their ratings. The fans appreciate when the right questions are asked to learn more about their favorite celebrities.
You would think it’s a plain and simple two way street. It can’t be hard at all, right? Yet, we all can’t accomplish the craft known as a celebrity interview. Even if both sides can get through the next few minutes with big smiles and easy questions, there’s sometimes an instance where the interview goes…. well, awkward.
There’s a number of things that can go wrong. The celebrity might be jetlagged or the interviewer might not be prepared with questions. A spark doesn’t appear between the two. Then, the interview goes downhill fast and we’re cringing with our eyes glued to the screen. It’s impossible to not be entertained by these uncomfortable interviews, so here are 15 very awkward celebrity interviews from some of our favorite stars.
15 Cara Delevingne
Oh geez, here’s an interview that nearly broke the Internet. Upcoming actress and model Cara Delevingne was promoting the new John Green movie, Paper Towns, when facing this unpleasant scenario with Good Day Sacramento. After one of the anchors mispronounced her name as “Carla,” she did her best to answer the average questions with her subtle and dry British humor.
But as soon as the anchors pointed it out she seemed rather irritated, as she simply answered, “I think it’s just you.” The interview caused quite the controversy on social media as well. Paper Towns author John Green even wrote an online essay to the rather awkward interview.
14 Robert Downey, Jr.
During his press tour for the newest Avengers: Age Of Ultron sequel, Robert Downey Jr. talks to English TV presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy, who has some hard-hitting questions for the Iron Man star. The reporter starts questioning Downey about his past, which instantly makes him uncomfortable as he begins to dodge questions.
Downey first tries to ignore the questions and tell him that he’s simply promoting a movie. But, after more questions are asked about his political views and rocky past, Downey gives up all together to change the course of the conversation. That’s when he ends the interview himself and gets up to leave. The TV presenter seems rather confused and Robert Downey Jr. remains somewhat calm as his mic is being taken off, before he exits he adds, “It’s just getting a little Diane Sawyer-y and you’re kind of a schmuck.”
13 Quentin Tarantino
While you think reporters can learn from their mistakes, reporter Krishnan Guru-Murthy had another instance before with director Quentin Tarantino about Django Unchained. Tarantino understands how controversial and historical the movie’s theme might be, however the conversation turns when the interviewer talks about Tarantino’s pattern of violent movies.
It isn’t a surprise that Tarantino gets this question asked in interviews, and as the reporter insists to ask the question, you can tell how annoyed Tarantino is getting. There seems to be a line between selling a movie versus going in depth on controversial topics. Tarantino shouts, “I’m shutting your butt down!” and refuses to discuss the topic. However, in this case, Guru-Murthy is able to have his interviewee make it to the end.
12 Amy Schumer
While talking about her new movie Trainwreck, Amy Schumer was exhibiting a whole new trainwreck herself in this interview for an Australian radio station. While the female host asks how autobiographical the movie, Schumer agrees a little bit of herself in the film. Everything goes smoothly until the male host comments on how her character is kind of "skanky."
Amy did not take the comment lightly as she spent the remainder of the interview spewing out mean jokes to the man. You could even see his co-host become more and more uncomfortable. There was no way for the guy to win Schumer over. At the end, the female host added about a future interview, “Maybe, I’ll come by myself next time,” and Schumer answered happily, “I love that idea. I love that idea.”
11 Samuel L. Jackson
The biggest fail in any celebrity interview is when you mistake a celebrity with someone else. Samuel L. Jackson was not happy when this TV anchor confused him with Laurence Fishburne in a Kia Super Bowl ad. Jackson does not brush off the mistake as he goes on very angrily, “We don’t all look alike… we might be all black and famous, but we do not look alike.”
As the anchor continues to apologize, Jackson doesn’t seem to drop it. He goes on to talk about African American male stereotypes in the Hollywood business and after a few minutes of being scolded, the interviewer finally got to turn the interview around by talking about the actor's movie, RoboCop. And as soon as that interview ended, the TV anchor instantly knew that mistake was going to be the next YouTube viral video.
10 Joan Rivers
This CNN interview was instantly talked about when the late Joan Rivers stormed out after reporter Fredricka Whitfield asked negative questions about her new book. We all know Rivers was notorious for her mean-spirited humor, but she quickly gets defensive when Whitfield continues to ask her sharp questions on how she feels about making such mean comments.
Even when Joan shares a quote from Winston Churchill on how “If you make someone laugh, you’re giving them a vacation,” the anchor continues to ask about her offensive humor. Joan Rivers is not amused as she goes off on a tangent explaining how negative this interview has been. Even comedians have a tipping point when it comes to these junket interviews. The anchor’s reaction remained rather surprised on how she thought the Fashion Police host was joking the entire time until she cut the plug.
9 John Cusack
There’s a reason why this video is titled on “How Not to Start an Interview.” While this interviewer may have skipped class on interviewing, maybe she should have spent a few extra minutes on researching her subject or paying more attention in film class. John Cusack instantly becomes confused when she tells him how funny it is they’re watching American Beauty in class today.
But, she doesn’t realize that she’s confusing John Cusack with Kevin Spacey. Awkward! The worst part is she repeatedly asks “Really?” while Cusack continues to say that she doesn't know what she's talking about. Well, at least he didn’t yell at her! Next time, it might be best to do a quick Google search before interviewing a celebrity no matter how well you think you know them.
8 Jerry Seinfeld
Amateur reporters aren’t the only ones to make mistakes, sometimes even the veterans need some more prep before interviewing a legend comedian like Jerry Seinfeld. While promoting the Bee Movie, Larry King asks if it was his choice to end Seinfeld or the network’s to cancel the show.
Jerry Seinfeld’s face to the question is priceless. He then goes on in the typical Seinfeld voice on why on Earth the network would cancel the very, very successful sitcom. “Do you know who I am?” might be the best line. At least Seinfeld has a good laugh (with a little tone of annoyance) and teases King endlessly about it before the commercial break.
7 Dakota Johnson and Melanie Griffith
Even on the red carpet, there is a big chance for an unpleasant interview, especially when a mother and daughter is involved. Not many people might know that Melanie Griffith’s daughter is 50 Shades Of Grey actress Dakota Johnson. Will her mom have a chance to see the scandalous romance movie? According to Griffith in this Oscars Award red carpet interview, not likely. She didn’t seem too thrilled to talk about it either.
Johnson, on the other hand, did seem quite annoyed to get asked the question (Did your parents see the film yet?) and her mother seemed rather annoyed as well. A movie is a movie, after all. We only hope the interviewer will ask these two much more interesting questions next time.
6 Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis was not shy at all to share his disinterest of press tours at the beginning of this interview for Red 2. As he said, “The fun part was making the movie” and not them promoting the movie. He even insisted that the only acting done during these press tours was by the interviewers themselves.
Despite the very uncomfortable beginning, the interviewer seems to be able to continue with much enthusiasm. Willis seems rather bored and his costar, Mary Louise Parker, has trouble to make the interview lively as well. Even if the interview was awkward, they were able to reach the end even when sirens started blaring outside. I guess we can’t expect all celebrities to be happy about their press tours!
5 Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader
Research is so important when prepping for an interview. This situation happens way too many times in our news industry. It’s very vital when interviewing two comedians such as Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader on their film, The Skeleton Twins or else they’ll make fun of you the entire time. This energetic interview asked Wiig how she felt about filming a nude scene, the awkward part is that there were no nude scenes in this picture.
The two comedians were lost into giggles as they couldn’t help to joke about the anchor’s mistake. Research guys research!
4 Jude Law
Sometimes the embarrassing moment has nothing to do with research. For reporter Poppy Jamie, she made a quite of a grand entrance when interviewing Jude Law during his Anna Karenina press tour by falling down before the interview even began.
The woman got into a fit of giggles while Jude Law couldn’t help but laugh himself. After the video gained so many views, the two were able to reunite again while Jude Law was promoting Side Effects as they attempted a “normal” interview. She even mentioned how she got recognized on public transportation from the interview disaster. At least the two were still able to have a good laugh about it!
3 Crispin Glover
Do you remember the dad from Back To The Future? Back in 1987, Glover was promoting River’s Edge when he acted very eccentric during a David Letterman interview. Letterman seemed rather confused by the whole charade. We didn’t understand if he was serious or completely joking. After Glover attempted to arm-wrestle the late night host, Letterman quickly exited the stage saying, “I’m going to check on the Top 10.”
Glover actually returned to the show on another night to explain he was playing a character for a future movie. Really? Everyone, including Letterman, seemed confused about the whole act. As much as we love celebrities goofing off in interviews, we think it would be better to just see them be themselves no matter how weird they really are.
2 Jesse Eisenberg
We don’t understand if these two are flirting, hating each other or a little bit of both. As soon as the reporter calls Morgan Freeman by only his last name, Jesse Eisenberg can’t help to continue to annoy her for the rest of his Now You See Me interview.
Romina the reporter keeps up the battle as she argues back. When he calls her the “Carrot Top of interviewers,” she then realizes how sour the interview has turned.
1 Mila Kunis
Not all awkward interviews have to end terribly! This interview between Mila Kunis and Chris Stark is pretty adorable. The young reporter right away admits he is very nervous to interview the actress on her latest film, Oz, the Great and Powerful. But, it seems like Kunis becomes the interviewer as she learns about Stark’s life. We can’t believe this is real!
From talking about his friends drinking at their favorite bar and his local football team, he even invites her to his best mate’s wedding. What does Kunis think about this? She has a great kick out of it and admits that this is the best interview she had all day. We couldn’t agree more!
Sources: ew.com, zimbio.com, mirror.co.uk
