Artists rarely make for good interviews.

François Demachy on the right trying to explain his creative process.

I attended what seemed to be the worldwide launch of Dior’s latest perfume, Joy by Dior.  It happened here in Montréal by non other than its creator, François Demachy, who is Parfums Dior’s nose.  I paid money to hear him talk and although I was pumped I knew not to expect too much.  You see, for years I’ve been watching interviews on YouTube and although some are stupendous, many are lacklustre because creators often can’t express themselves in words.  This was NOT the case with François Demachy, his spoken French was excellent but I felt that Public Relations wanted to keep him “on message”.  Fair enough.  I was proved correct when at the end of the hour, he was very quickly escorted off the stage indicating to the one hundred or so attendees that there would be no question period.

The best interviews that I have ever seen have been on the Dick Cavett show because he had some very interesting guests… Katharine Hepburn and Bette Davis come to mind.  And, of course, because they talked about their lives and their craft, I learned something.  Actresses and actors really get off track when they talk about politics (I’m looking at you Roseanne!).  The Marlon Brando interview was a complete yawn because he didn’t seem to want to talk at all!

Ricky and I went to see the André Leon Talley documentary, The Gospel According to André.  It was excellent but, of course, André is a great communicator.  He’s a writer… so words are his specialty.  And the documentary was edited.  Anything silly or crazy was certainly cut out… as it should have been.

I, myself, have been suffering from writer’s block… or as Fran Lebowitz would say, “writer’s blockade”!  But, I’m hoping this post brings me back to life, as it were.

Probably the craziest and most fascinating interview was the one Dick Cavett did with Katherine Hepburn.  She had NEVER appeared on television.  (She famously avoided the Oscars, although she won many awards.  Her excuse? She had no dress!)

If you only watch a few minutes of this interview (it is long), watch the first 10 minutes.  Miss Hepburn had agreed to come to the studio to simply see how it felt and then, once there, insisted on doing the interview to an empty theatre.  It gives me a chuckle every time!

Enjoy!

Posted by Normand Cardella on September 16, 2018

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