You Know You're In
One of the things journalists learn sooner or later is that if celebrities use profanity or call you names to your face during an interview, it means they like or at least respect you. Or at least that they trust you enough to take their frank words like a grown-up and not get all emotional. I've been yelled at by dozens of Hollywood people over the years, and I still have relations with the vast majority. It's the ones who never talk to you straight or let you know what's really going on in their heads -- they're the ones you need to fear.
In this MTV.com interview, Charlize Theron -- promoting Battle in Seattle -- calls Josh Horowitz an asshole several times, and the twinkle in her eye says it all. And yet MTV.com editors have bleeped out the "hole" each time -- what kind of namby-pambies would so such a thing? You can say the word "ass" on TV these days. Nobody cares about mildly salty language.
Eight years ago in Cannes I was part of a round-table group speaking to George Clooney, who was promoting O Brother, Where Art Thou? I started out with a compliment about his performance in From Dusk to Dawn, explaining that I thought he had a certain edge and intensity in that 1996 Robert Rodriguez film that I quite liked. I didn't mean that he was flat in the films he'd made after that (One Fine Day, Batman and Robin, Out of Sight, Three Kings) but that I really enjoyed what he was putting out in in Dusk to Dawn and that I kind of missed it.
Clooney frowned a bit, looked down, thought it over for five or six seconds, glanced in my direction and said "fuck you." I've liked him enormously ever since. Good fellow.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on September 23, 2008 at 11:51 AM
comment #1
actionman
says ...
That's very funny. I can totally see him saying that to you in a half-joking kind of way. Have the two of you spoken about anything since? And I agree with you; there was a menacing glee in his performance in FDTD that I also miss from time to time. He's a master of the smooth operator; I'd like to see him play the heavy some time.
Also, for what it's worth, and this is completely superficial but whatever, but is Charlize Theron the hottest woman in Hollywood?
Posted by actionman
at September 23, 2008 12:44 PM
comment #2
thevisceral
says ...
I want Charlize to call me an asshole.
Posted by thevisceral
at September 23, 2008 12:50 PM
comment #3
Bart Smith
says ...
While it's true that you can say "ass," I'm pretty sure "asshole" is not allowed.
Posted by Bart Smith
at September 23, 2008 12:52 PM
comment #4
p.Vice
says ...
Hmmm... too bad this rule doesn't apply to the other 99.99% of humanity.
Posted by p.Vice
at September 23, 2008 1:00 PM
comment #5
Jay T.
says ...
Charlize can call me whatever she wants...
Posted by Jay T.
at September 23, 2008 1:04 PM
comment #6
Josh
says ...
Charlize sounded like she had one too many alcoholic beverages. She definitely was a little drunk because she was slurring her words and had no filter
Posted by Josh
at September 23, 2008 1:05 PM
comment #7
Jay T.
says ...
On another note, this goes beyond the celebrity/actress thing, it can also relate to beautiful women. Some of you will shake your head and think I'm full of shit, while others will know exactly what I mean by this...
Posted by Jay T.
at September 23, 2008 1:06 PM
comment #8
storymark
says ...
I want to meet Charlize when she's a little drunk....
Posted by storymark
at September 23, 2008 1:08 PM
comment #9
NotImpressedYet
says ...
Yeah, she sounded like she might have been a little buzzed. But still way way sexy.
Posted by NotImpressedYet
at September 23, 2008 1:12 PM
comment #10
FilmTurtle
says ...
On a related note, I had a similar experience with Dennis Farina I've never forgotten. I was an extra on a film he was doing years and years ago. He joked around with us all and would say things like, "Hey, you, ya little prick, get over here..." Stuff like that, all day long. Left a big impression and almost everyone adored him. I say "almost" because a few extras were mildly offended by his use of profanity instead of our actual names. The production crew shrugged it off.
Posted by FilmTurtle
at September 23, 2008 5:11 PM
comment #11
JaggedUnderpants
says ...
When H-E message board posters use profanity or call you names, though, THEN you know you've really arrived!
Posted by JaggedUnderpants
at September 23, 2008 5:38 PM
comment #12
Yuval
says ...
"You can tell me right now to my face that Reindeer Games is a piece of a shit". Yeah, she's honest.
Posted by Yuval
at September 23, 2008 8:16 PM
comment #13
Roman
says ...
George Clooney was simply LAUGHABLE in Solaris. In nearly all of his movies he is simply terrible up till Syranaish when he became marginally better.
You are right about him in D2Dawn though. But even there, he didn't have that much edge.
Posted by Roman
at September 23, 2008 10:08 PM
comment #14
Roman
says ...
The most pathetic thing though, as it is clearly obvious that the real point of this post is too announce to the world that Hollywood somebody called told him fuck you. And he liked it.
I wonder how long we was saving that one?
Posted by Roman
at September 23, 2008 10:09 PM
comment #15
Rich S.
says ...
Clooney's best moment in FDTD is when he gets back to the hotel room after leaving QT alone with the bank clerk. Clooney's been playing the tough guy to the point, but at that moment he recognizes that, yes, his brother is a complete monster, and in a whole other league of evil. And he doesn't know how to handle it. All without saying a word. Good stuff.
Posted by Rich S.
at September 24, 2008 5:44 AM
comment #16
janee
says ...
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Posted by janee
at May 18, 2011 3:52 AM