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The Art of the Interview, by Lawrence Grobel.
Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson
I didn't buy this book to pick up tips - I've been an interviewer / writer for most of my life and am comfortable with my style. I bought the book because Larry Grobel is a great journalist and wordsmith, and I was curious to know about how he does what he does. On that count, the book is a hit.
Where it misses is in trying to instruct. The midsection of the book covers several different types of interviews (for print, online, TV, etc.) but completely neglects covering what I consider to be some very important ground. Most celebrity interviewers, like myself, are not at the highest echelon - most of us will not get exclusive sit-down TV interviews for the Playboy Channel; will never spend weeks with Marlon Brando on his private island; or get five or six sessions with Barbra Striesand for a big magazine cover story. Grobel's been there, done that. (But it's nice to know that even Grobel has the same experience with brick-wall publicists; he doesn't necessarily have Oscar winners banging his door down all the time.)
I have interviewed quite a few of the same big stars Grobel has - Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Halle Berry , Meryl Streep - but my experience is quite different. I usually get about five minutes at a red carpet premiere, four minutes at a TV junket, or 20 minutes at an on-the-set press conference in which I must compete with other reporters for answers. It's rather appalling that Grobel does not even mention press junkets, red carpet premieres, or set visits in his book - let alone e-mail interviews which are becoming more and more commonplace as the world goes online.
Grobel has the time to make an "art" of the interview - given the limitations of the situations, what the vast majority of reporters do is a quick caricature or a sketch. Still, there is a certain excitement and spontaneity to the randomness of a red carpet premiere, or having a chat at a press junket with young up and comers who aren't so guarded around the press. As long as the interviewee can express themselves well in writing, even e-mail interviews can be cool. It's too bad that Grobel doesn't mention any of this.
Had I been looking for tips to break into the business of interviewing celebrities, I would have been pretty disappointed in The Art of the Interview. However, if you are looking for more of a memoir and are interested in the process of what an interviewer actually does, then The Art of the Interview is highly recommended. Grobel is an excellent writer, and he does a good job of seamlessly going from point A to point B.
