fascinating interview

One of the most fascinating interviews of 09.
Only in Hollywood
Our most fascinating interviews of 2009

LOS ANGELES—From Robert Pattinson, who was amused and amusing, to Sarah Ferguson, who was refreshingly candid—these are among our most fascinating interviews of 2009. We thank them for keeping us fascinated:
• Robert Pattinson
The “Twilight” heartthrob virtually chuckled from beginning to the end of our interview.
“Will you marry me?” our female colleague proposed to Robert. She was, of course, joking, since we all knew that in the “Eclipse” volume of “The Twilight Saga” series, Edward Cullen and Bella Swan finally get engaged. Or, at least we thought our Asian friend was only teasing Robert, because he was downright charming and easygoing.
“Why not?” Robert shot back, his blue-green eyes smiling, but he was blushing. With his three days’ worth of facial hair growth and trademark bed hair adding to his roguish charm, Robert probably gets several marriage proposals every day. Even Megan Fox said in an interview: “I want to eat Robert Pattinson.”
British trait
“I’m honestly being self-deprecating,” he said of his disarming, self-effacing British trait. “Eventually, people are like, ‘Oh, we’re so sick of the self-deprecating act. Why can’t he grow some balls?’ I guess you have to roll with that. You do realize that if you keep putting yourself down all the time, an audience suddenly says, ’That guy is an idiot!’ So, it’s strange. You have to push in certain areas. It’s always two steps forward, and one step back.”
• Oprah Winfrey
In our latest encounter with Oprah Winfrey, she was larger than life as usual, given to expansive gestures. With her booming voice, warm nature and easy humor that invite instant camaraderie, Oprah draws you in.
The shtick feels neither fake nor forced. She appears to genuinely love talking to and being around people. “This is like therapy,” she said with an appreciative laughter after she expounded on how one learns to love himself if he didn’t grow up with love. Yes, she inspires such questions on pop psychology and feel-good affirmation, even when she’s away from herpopular TV talk-show set. In this instance, she was in a Toronto hotel room for a press con.
Here’s O on who inspired her when she was young: “I go back to my faith. Growing up, the first things I learned to read were Bible stories. Because of reading, I was able to understand that there was a world that was bigger than my backyard. Something inside me believed I would be able to see it one day. That’s a spiritual connection to something bigger than myself—that’s intuition.”
• Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep continues to astound us. Her performance in “It’s Complicated” is another gem. She is also a divine interview subject. Imagine hearing in person that mellifluous voice which, onscreen, can famously go from sweet to haughty—in various accents.
During interviews, Streep occasionally employs her renowned combination of voice, accent, facial expressions and gestures to drive home a point or tell an anecdote. So, talking to her is like winning a front seat at a Meryl Streep live show.
Sounds
Asked about her phenomenal talent for speaking in various accents, she began her reply with, “I have a very quick ear for the sounds of people.” Then, referring to our group of foreign journalists, and therefore, an amalgam of varying accents, she started sounding like a European: “And, when I’m talking to you, I often start to talk like you. It’s very hard for me not to.” We all laughed, but the effect was eerie—like she had been briefly possessed.
It was refreshing to hear Meryl admit her insecurities when she was a new actress: “I was beset by the same anxieties that all young actresses have. Is my nose too long? Am I too fat? Am I socially inept? But, after a time, you get worn down. You are what you are.”
• George Clooney
We all know that beneath George’s simpatico charm and flippant humor lies a man who’s passionate about humanitarian causes. As usual, he talked sensibly about his advocacy in our interview. But, what you really want to know is if the world’s most popular bachelor experiences moments of terrible loneliness, right?
Relationships
So, here goes: “I have been in relationships where I’ve felt terribly alone. It doesn’t always mean that just because you’re with someone, you’re incredibly happy and complete. I don’t think my experiences are any different than anybody else’s. They’re just a little more amplified. That’s true. We’ve all had great and not so great relationships—and we’ve had both easy and rough ones.”
Will the Best Actor contender for Jason Reitman’s “Up in the Air” get hitched by the time he hits 50? He quipped, “I’m doing fine right now. So, let’s not jinx anything here.”
• Sarah Ferguson
The Duchess of York came to LA to talk about “The Young Victoria,” a movie she produced with Martin Scorsese. The acclaimed film, a hit in Britain, is a period romance starring Emily Blunt as Queen Victoria (she earned a Golden Globe Best Actress-Drama nod) and Rupert Friend as Prince Albert.
The love story is drawing parallels with Fergie’s own love story with Prince Andrew, which ended in divorce, although Victoria and Albert’s relationship ended because of an early death.
A passionate spokesperson for various causes, Fergie is candid, talking openly about Prince Andrew, being compared to the late Princess Diana and her two daughters.
On Lady Di: “Diana and I talked about everything. We were both young and exploring life. A lot of obstacles that were thrown at us made us deal with them rather than going, ‘Oh poor me, it’s unfair.’ Why not say, ‘How can I change myself in order to make it better?’ It’s about understanding your reaction to people’s ways with you. Once you understand, you come back with compassion. You can change it, but that’s because I learned it the hard way—by having a lot of knocks.”
Circumstances
The budding film producer explained why she prefers to say that she and Prince Andrew are happily divorced to each other, rather than from each other: “We divorced through circumstances, rather than through the actual changing of the heart. We were just drawn apart. We allowed that to happen.
“We uphold the same vows, except for one or two, which we won’t go into, because we don’t need to. But, we uphold the same honor that we did in 1986. To this day, when you see Andrew and me together, you say, ‘Why aren’t you married?’ Who says we have to be (married) to have the relationship that we have?”

Source
xoxo
Carrie