The other day the IMDb had a link to the New York Times website with an article about Ralph Fiennes appearing on the Tonight Show to promote The Constant Gardener. It mentioned how Fiennes couldn’t “dumb down” for Jay in response to a silly question about any awful jobs Fiennes may have had when he was a struggling actor – that he appeared obviously uncomfortable and awkward, apparently because he’s such a dignified, “classy” actor.
My question is: Why is it Jay’s fault if Fiennes is kind of a stiff in interviews? If he’s such a great actor, then act like a regular schmoe telling funny stories about one’s humble origins. How hard can it be?
I not a particular fan of either; it just seemed like a weird, snobbish attitude to have.
Seems particularly odd since so little on those shows happens by chance. I’d normally assume that if Jay asked “So did you have any odd jobs before you made it big?”, it would be because Fiennes had told Jay’s staff “I’ve got a great story about how when I was starting out, I washed the g-strings at a strip joint”. (Or somesuch)
Nobody’s saying it’s Leno’s fault. It’s just that chat shows are, well, dumb. Superficial and goofy. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Fiennes would probably be in his element on Inside the Actor’s Studio. That being said, it has a much narrower audience and isn’t the best way to promote a movie based on a John le Carré novel.
The thing is, he was there to talk about The Constant Gardener. How do you intelligently promote a film? What should the actor be telling us, to get us interested in the film?
Tell us what makes the character interesting. Tell us what is appealing about the writing.
The “chat show” mentality is dumbed down in this way: It pretends the subject isn’t the movie. It promotes the movie by talking about the actor. Make the audience like the actor, and by extension they’ll want to see the movie. “Aw, Ralph Fiennes used to be a shirt salesman! Golly, I didn’t know that. Why, that’s not entirely unlike my job. Nice guy. What’s the name of that movie again?” It insults the audience’s intelligence by using the thin pretense that the guest is there because they themselves are interesting subjects. “So, let’s chat about inconsequential things for a while. Say, I heard you’re remodelling your kitchen. Tell me a funny story about that… And what about your life at school? Huh. What? You’ve got the lead in a movie that’s being released the day after tomorrow? Really? Golly, that’s interesting, too. Let’s talk about that for a while, since you’re here.”)
Speaking of uncomfortable, I sincerely hope that the first line of that New York Times article was intended to be self-referential wit:
That reminds me of the old excellent HBO show “The Larry Sanders Show”.
It would show the behind the scenes drama of the talk show along with the live show.
The final episode had Larry doing his final show. He had Jim Carrey on as one of his guests. Jim was “on” and all over the stage mugging for the camera and telling everyone how much everyone was going to miss Larry (reminiscent of Robin Williams on Carson). Then during commercial he would sit in the guest chair silently looking bored out of his mind. When Larry tried to small talk with him Carrey said something about “Look, I really don’t like you, I’ve never liked you, I’m just here because I have a movie coming out, so just shut up and leave me alone.” and continued to sit silent. As soon as they came back from commercial he turned “on” again.
My ex-wife is in some way familiar with his mother, who is I believe a poet/writer. Apparently when his mother mentioned Rafe she called him Ralph, as in Malph. It would seem the “pompous” allegation has some legs.
That really sounds more dismissive than it’s meant to. I can’t say I’ve ever been a huge fan of John le Carré, but The Constant Gardener is a first-rate movie.
I guess I’m in the minority. I saw the episode of Jay Leno and I didn’t find him pompous. He wasn’t trying to be funny…maybe because he’s not funny and knows it. I sensed he was introverted…I can definitely relate to that.
I thought it was kind of refreshing–I get annoyed at people who go over the top with cheerfulness on those shows. It seems phony. James Woods is an example. I found him annoying on Leno.
I didn’t read the article, but the description doesn’t make it sound like Fiennes was calling out the Tonight Show. It sounds more like the writer is assigning motives for Fiennes.
That is irresponsible.
(Of course, not reading the article, I may be assigning motives to the writer…but it is a proven fact that I am an asshole.)
Nah, she’s just saying that he’s a gifted actor who’s been very busy recently, and the way things are set up he’s obligated to make dozens of appearances on the inane promo circuit – which he doesn’t manage with the aplomb of, say, Tony Randall, who seems born to it.
Here’s a link. The article is mainly about the man’s recent work – it’s just bookended with a couple of lines about his unfortunately awkward fit for the “let’s pretend we’re not promoting a film” style of film promotion.
Some actors are very introverted. When they are acting they are not being themselves, they are playing a part, pretending. Some people do this because they are not comfortable being themselves. Once you put them into an interview situation where they are supposed to be just them, they can be shy. It would not surprise me if Robin Williams and others like him are still acting when being interviewed. Some very funny actors are very shy and un-funny in real life, e.g., Rowan Atkinson.
