Friday, March 20, 2015

Blog 3: Jennifer Lawrence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81zQdPZHLAk


As a young actress thrown into the spotlight, Jennifer Lawrence does all she can to stay relatable in the face of a lifestyle that has turned many a teenager from the girl next door into a grown woman shoved into the body of a 16 year old. In this interview Jennifer Lawrence strives to accentuate that despite her fame and fortune this is, in fact, just a job. Despite the new lifestyle that she so firmly renounces Jennifer puts all of her hardships aside and manages to cling on to the spark of her innocence and youth. In the first movie I had seen of hers, Silver Linings Playbook, she was portrayed as a widow who, in the aftermath of such a great loss, had been suffering major psychological issues. She was a lot of things in this movie but a child was definitely not one of them. In the next movie I saw that she starred in, The Hunger Games, I saw a completely different side of her. She was a young teen put in a hard position and was forced to grow up entirely too fast. The second film captures Jennifer’s “real” personality in a completely different way than the first and much more closely parallels the life she strives for her fans to see her living; although in a much different setting. The interviewer refers to her “refreshing self image” in more than one way throughout the interview, further solidifying the audience’s opinion of the young star. With no loaded questions or set ups for disaster, the interviewer came across as an old friend rather than an attacker or enemy as has been seen in some of the interviews we have seen of actresses like Angelina Jolie. With Jennifer in, what she refers to as, the “peak of her career” it makes a lot of sense that people wouldn’t be trying to portray her in a negative way. The starlet has almost a cult like fan following of teenagers and young adults that feed off her charismatic energy and the similarities they see when they look in the mirror. Jennifer refers to herself being “star struck” not once but twice throughout the seven minute interview along with references to feeling “lost in school” and “stupid,” this interview doesn’t go 20 seconds without a reminder that despite the different lifestyles, we shouldn’t forget that she’s just like us. After analyzing this interview the main idea isn’t something you really have to dig for. The interviewer and interviewee make a dream team when portraying Jennifer Lawrence as your sweet neighbor down the street. The viewers get insights into her childhood and get to view intimate clips of the beginning of her acting days when Bradley Cooper and Meryl Streep are names that she wouldn’t even recognize and all she wanted was the attention of her father while she put on skits in the home office. After this interview viewers see Jennifer exactly as she wanted it. A girl more like yourself than anyone you see on the big screen, a girl fresh out of her teens who would rather sit at home on a Friday night than go to big movie premiers, and who still strives for nothing more than to make her parents proud.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Anna Kendrick 

Anna Kendrick likes to show her fans that she is a real person and doesn't have a facade. She speaks her mind in all her interviews and says whatever she thinks whether it is a little controversial or inappropriate and yet it is always widely accepted. She always manages to keep a professional appearance while making constant jokes and making everyone around her laugh. Anna Kendrick always likes to laugh at herself before anyone else can do it before her. She entered her  interview with Conan O’Brien on February 11th, talking about how she realized that her dress slit was a bit more revealing than she had thought. She and Conan laughed it off. I believe that her intention in her interviews is to be as open about herself as possible, and humorous while still self promoting. 
If all actresses were as open as she is, there wouldn't be so many false rumors about celebrities. Anna Kendrick makes herself an open book to show everyone that she's a real person and so people treat her as one. I always viewed Anna Kendrick as a respected person because of all the lead roles she's gotten and the lack of controversy in her name. A lot of actors and actresses who have the spot light on them as much as she does, tend to end up with negative publicity. She has managed to stay out of that part of celebrity culture. A lot of the characters she portrays are the awkward, nice, and quirky ones; that is a lot of how she acts in person and interviews. In interviews, she makes you feel like you’re talking to your best friend; she is very familiar with the audience and the interviewer. She tells people exactly what they want to hear about her life but sparing the details to protect her reputation and to keep herself marketable. 
The interviewer Conan O’ Brian likes to promote Anna because of her hilarious and popular twitter persona. Anna’s twitter shows a lot of her personality and she is very proud of what she tweets. He also reinforces her social media morals and values that many other celebrities don't follow and would likely benefit from. Also on the talk show, Andy Richter sat next to Anna and illustrated her compassionate personality traits. She complimented Andy often and diverted the attention from herself to share with him. Conan also gave her compliments throughout the whole interview on things she's done in social media, her talents and her looks. The interview on Conan O’ Brian’s talk show is hilarious throughout the whole thirteen minutes and gives a lot of information about Anna. She is very well represented the whole time, constantly smiling, making fun of herself while still promoting her new movie 50/50. Conan, Andy and Anna all get the audience interested in their twitter pages where Anna states that twitter is where “She’s a mess” but still frequently promotes herself. She's honest about herself to reinforce the fact that she is a normal person and not just a celebrity. Since the movie 50/50 has a controversial plot, a comedy about cancer, she really explained why it is a comedy and sympathizes and understands why people wouldn't want to see it. Anna did very well is showing her compassion on Conan about the movie about people’s lives and situations in general once again proving how down to earth and real she is in her very public career.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvjBzuRsnrw

Taylor Dennis ~ Jennifer Aniston

Taylor Dennis
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Jennifer Aniston
            In 2012, Jennifer Aniston was on Chelsea Lately and interviewed by long time friend, Chelsea Handler. Chelsea Handler is known for her humorous and prying interview style. She rarely holds back her comments and regularly asks the sometimes inappropriate questions the public is dying to hear. This interview is especially entertaining and interesting as Aniston and Handler close friends outside of the Hollywood bubble.
When being interviewed by Handler, I felt as if she was more relaxed and sassy right away. The way they spoke to each other felt like a conversation they would legitimately have as friends and not as if a stranger was prying into her life. Being interviewed by a close friend made the interview much more genuine and funny. Handler also conducts the interview in a way to promote the movie itself. Some main topics in most of Aniston’s interviews are; “are you married yet? Is David ever going to propose? Are you finally pregnant?”. The public is obsessed with when the golden girl of 90’s sitcom is finally going to get married and have the family we are all dying to see. Handler stayed away from all of these topics and only focused on her role in an upcoming film. This may have been stated ahead of time as a topic to not be discussed or as respect to her dear friend. Either way, friendship is not usually a factor in the interview process. I think that Handler was more reserved in her comments because of the friendship they had. If this interview was done by E! News or Ellen, I am sure the topic of her love life would have come up.  
            In this interview, Jennifer Aniston is promoting her new movie, Horrible Bosses. Unlike many other films in which Aniston has stared in, her character in Horrible Bosses is very unique. Aniston plays the “slutty” dentist who is always in promiscuous situations and making her assistant extremely uncomfortable. In the interview, she tells Handler all about her experience playing such a different character than her staple part, Rachel, in the hit sitcom Friends. So many people watched Friends for over ten years and became attached to Rachel and the character Aniston played. No matter how long it has been since the show had its final season, Aniston will always be Rachel to so many people. I think in this interview, Aniston wants to show audiences that she can play a more risqué character that is different than the way we normally see her. Aniston always has the persona of the easy, breezy, girl next door. She is never in the center of scandals, unless it pertains to a current boyfriend, and always rocks her signature blonde hair. By playing such a different role, Aniston showed a side of herself that we have not previously seen.
            The main purpose of this interview was to show Jennifer’s funny side and how that is coming out in her new film. The interview was very light hearted and did not dive into any deep topics. It show cased the person Aniston would be portraying in the upcoming film without focusing on anything else going on in her life. I think that appearing on the Chelsea Lately show was very fitting for the type of humorous and risqué movie that she was in fact staring in!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3msrQ4XcvA

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Jonny Deep is one of my favorite actors. He play in so many different genres of movies and pull off any role. He is an incredible actor. Jimmy Kimmel in the interview even said I think you’ve made 15 movies since I last saw you. In the interview Jonny Deep seemed like an odd guy. He wasn’t a very smooth talker, He stuttered a lot and didn’t really know what to say. But Johnny deep has played some odd characters so I was kind of expecting him to be a little odd. What I never knew about him was that he sometimes listened to music as he acted. Which was interesting. But I have heard a little bit about Johnny Deep. My Aunt works in the movie industry, she handles the budget for movies and she has met many actors. She told me that Johnny Depp “was a sweet heart” So I have always thought of him being a nice guy. And in his interview he seemed like a nice genuine guy. He didn’t try to put on a mask on or be someone he wasn’t. I wasn’t quite sure how he wanted to be portrayed because he didn’t really try to come across as anything but himself. In an older interview with Oprah he seemed to be a smother speaker. And Oprah talked to him about His role in Pirates in the Carrabin. And how that the producers didn’t like him at first but it became a very popular movie. He then talked about how he made the Character Captian Jack Sparrow while sitting in a Sauna for an hour. Which is interesting. Oprah then asked him about him moving as a kid. He even said he lived in over 40 houses before he turned 16.  He then talked about how he got into the movie business.  He said that he was and unemployed musician and his friend at the time Nicholas cage suggested that he should meet his agent to become an actor. And at the time he didn’t even think of becoming an actor. This made him look like a he fell into acting as an accident. But he didn’t boast about it. And he seemed very humble. Oprah shaped the interview and talked very highly about him. She talked about how he was a great actor. She then whent on to show pictures of him and showed him as an attractive man. He then said he didn’t know what to think about being on the cover of a magazine being the sexiest man alive.  He though that it was absurd. He almost seemed embbarssed about being considered a a very attractive person. This made him come across as very humble but he seemed very genuine guy.  But he sounded very different in his interview in 20o4 then he did on Jimmy Kimml in 2015  The overall take away that I get from this is that Jonny Depp came across not like other actors who try to make themselves to make them self apper a certain way. He was a very humble guy.

Sandra Bullock - Blog 3

            I chose an interview conducted with Sandra Bullock regarding her role as Leigh Anne Tuohy in The Blind Side.  Leigh Anne Tuohy’s character exemplified the most selfless, caring person and needed an actress to fulfill these traits above and beyond.  Sandra Bullock did just so and completely captured the hearts of the audience by becoming Leigh Anne Tuohy in the movie.
            This interview remained around the topic of the movie entirely with a slight deviation towards the end for just a minute, speaking of her husband and his work.  I believe the main idea of the interview was to fully understand the task of becoming Leigh Anne Tuohy and understanding what emotions were required to become this character.  The interviewer said several times about how great of a role it was and how heart wrenching the movie was because of its accuracy.  The questions asked revolved around the impact of the movie and the character on Sandra Bullock herself, as well as the audience. The interviewer specifically says how she always believed Sandra Bullock was a “dynamo” and had great energy. I believe Sandra Bullock wanted to remain selfless and humble in the interview while the interviewer praised the work of Bullock as a whole and especially in the movie.  Sandra Bullock repeated several times how she did not know how she was going to fill the shoes of Leigh Anne Tuohy because she did not understand how Leigh Anne was how she was.  Sandra said how she would not have let what happened happen personally but was amazed that Leigh Anne Tuohy was able to. I have always viewed Sandra Bullock as an energetic and sincere actress. This interview concreted my view of her as a wonderful actress.  Her sincerity throughout the interview amazed me.  The tone of her voice while she spoke about the real people of Michael Oher and Leigh Anne Tuohy exemplified her love and passion of the actual story and making the movie real.  From the interview I could really tell Sandra was thankful she took on this role after saying “no” several times before agreeing to the job. The passion in her face as she spoke of the steps to learning how to be Leigh Anne Tuohy spoke wonders of Sandra Bullock as an actress.  She did not simply put half of her effort into this movie, but as she said, she spent her entire self on the movie and walked away knowing she spent herself. She explained that as she walked away she did not know if she did enough but she knew she at the very least spent herself. 

            The Blind Side exemplifies a magnificent true story and the passion from the actors really added to the movie as a whole.  Sandra Bullock’s energy far surpassed all expectations of her character.  Her passion for the story was greatly exemplified throughout the entire story and how she portrayed herself as Leigh Anne Tuohy.  This interview portrays Sandra Bullock as the great woman and actress she is.  

The interview: 

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Among the many interviews, that I have watched of actors it is right to say that Kevin Hart’s Interview is one of my favorite ones. I learnt various things from the interview after watching it. For instance, after keenly watching Kevin Hart’s interview there is a way that I can say he wanted to be portrayed to the people or rather the audience in a unique way. He appears to lack sympathy to the people that he talks about in his stand up. However, he tries so much to avoid coming off as a mean-spirited, mainly because he is also so hard to himself. In addition, this routine regarding the wild animals that are in the suburbs brought some unexpected terrors of his personal life and to that of his family. It is true from the interview that he had some challenges to win the audience over with his confession, which indicates his inability to stay with his wife in case she might be attacked by a mountain lion.
In fact, this interview of Kevin Hart differs much from the information that I knew about him previously. In the previous times, he is a person who I knew was comfortable playing gay but now it is as he is very uncomfortable. This has been depicted in this interview with the New York’s power whereby he openly declared to have turned the role that he was given because he was not comfortable anymore with the way the role was so flagrant.
In addition, when they proceeded to interview him whether he will ever in his time dream of playing the gay role again, he stood firm and declined. This shows the opposite of expectation of even the interviewer because little did they know that he would let it go in his life. He gives a reason of insecurity as the obstacle that made him neglect the role and suggests that it is not because of any disrespect. Therefore, this is ironical and openly depicts to us that initially he was a fun of the same role that presently he is escaping hence differentiating himself from what I knew about him previously.
The interview has shaped my perception on the actor in a different dimension that I initially did not know. For instance, through the interview, I have seen that sometimes when things do not go as per the expectations of the actors (and for this case Kevin Hart), there are likelihoods of the individual doing away with the same. When Kevin realized that due to insecurity, he cannot manage to proceed with his role he was forced to stop it and turn to other different things though not mentioned in the interview. Therefore, I perceive Kevin as a character who is a man of his words and principles. He decides to neglect the role believing that he cannot perform it a hundred percent. This is a part that I liked in the interview that shows how honest Kevin is in his life.
Lastly from the interview there are many main ideas and points that I can highlight but the most best one is that once one feels that he cannot manage to perform a given role assigned to him in life, it is good to be honest and leave it for those who can perform it correctly. This is what mostly the interviewer from my point of view was targeting. It is true from the interview that Kevin achieved it well and appeared as the best representative of the same concept. It is a lesson to everyone in life and ought to be always practiced.

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston is one of the most photographed celebrities in Hollywood yet she always plays a similar role. She has mostly played comedic roles in romantic comedies or sitcoms similar to the famous “Friends”. Jennifer stated that she wanted to answer her own question of “Could she play a serious role?”. In her upcoming movie Cake she hopes to start a new chapter and wash away any doubts on if she has been “type casted”.

This interview seemed to be completely under Jennifer Aniston’s control. She has rarely ever been formally interviewed unless she had something specific to say. In this interview on January 4 of 2015 she wanted to show that she can act in really any role. I think she wanted to be portrayed as a serious actress that can play any role. She wanted to be portrayed as a real woman and not the characters she has played.

Although I have not seen her new movie Cake it does seem to be a very serious drama with real emotions and no more of the glamorous roles she has played. Jennifer Aniston has always played comedic and beautiful roles. In this interview she showed somewhat that she wanted to be known as a true and strong serious actress rather than “Rachel” from friends. This definitely changed my perception of Jennifer Aniston because I saw her as a whole and as someone that is just doing her job and she isn't like the characters she has played.

The interviewer helped Jennifer Aniston immensely. I think he could have been more critical and more inquisitive if he wanted to be. Since, Aniston does not do many in depth interviews I'm sure that when she does she makes sure the interviewer has the right questions and the ones she wants to be exact. For example the interviewer asked where all the emotion and depths of the character in her upcoming film Cake came from, she then replied that she played off her own emotion and it grew to find her true strength in acting. The interviewer then asked if there was any part of her that wanted to say “I told you so” to all the doubters. Aniston was hesitant and started with a “maybe” but then said “maybe a tiny one”. This portrayed Aniston to be humble and just an amazing actress with strength that she wants to explore.

The interviewer did of course ask about some tabloid drama. He started by asking if Aniston still talked to Brad Pitt, her previous husband which ended in a messy divorce and revenge against his next wife. Jennifer Aniston replied that they have “exchanged good wishes but it hasn't been consistent”. The interviewer did not seem satisfied so Jennifer added “do you still talk to your ex wife?”. This seemed to simplify and silence his urging questions about the tabloid drama.


This interview made Jennifer Aniston appear extremely gracious and relatable. The main take away was simply that she is much more than the girl next door. Furthermore explaining how she became an actress, her comedic start, her life despite all the rumors and that she had always wanted to be a serious actor and is now accomplished that.