Daily News
This section should just be called ‘name-dropping’. I wrote film and music reviews for my university paper, and I’d also done some amateur work for a friend’s blog. That led to a stint moonlighting as a freelance reporter for the New York Daily News. I covered entertainment for a columnist who was stretched too thin. That meant going out to film premieres and parties in the evening and filing my background coverage and interviews by the next morning. Then she’d take my reporting and write up some of the items you see below. It was a pretty wild experience. To this day, I still have some fond memories. Like getting shouted at and told off by Susan Sarandon for asking a question that was too personal. Or the failed interview with Woody Harrelson, who was paralytically stoned and answering every question with one word.
John Cleese
The Python’s were always childhood heroes of mine. John Cleese may have felt guilty that my hands were ice cold after hovering around the red carpet on a rainy November night, because he was surprisingly open about his divorce. After talking about his money problems, Cleese landed a couple of ad campaigns. I’m glad I could play my part in keeping him out of squalor.
Marcia Gay Harden
I was a little nervous waiting to interview Clint Eastwood at his Museum of the Moving Image tribute. Then Marcia Gay Harden explained what happened the first time she met the legend, and I felt a lot better.
Kevin Spacey
My interview with Kevin Spacey was remarkable for a couple of reasons. One being all the disturbing allegations that came to light much, much later. The other was how I saw him at a restaurant just a month or two after this interview in 2009, and I was convinced he’d be offended if I didn’t go over and say hello. Ah, the delusional confidence of a 25 year-old.
Mad Men
Being a copywriter, my first assignment was covering a party with the cast of Mad Men to celebrate the release of a Brooks Brother’s Mad Men edition suit. (Go ahead and roll your eyes.) I found myself awkwardly mingling with the cast in between games of pool. Scotch seemed like an appropriate drink at the time. Transcribing my interviews the next morning, less so.
