The Oscars' voting process awards safe movies

A Vox video which explains the Oscar's voting process.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and say whether the statements below are true or false.



1 La La Land has been widely criticized by critics.
2 Instant runoff voting is also known as preferential voting.
3 With the instant runoff voting system the members of the academy vote for only one film.
4 The film with 51% of votes is the winner.
5 In 2011 The King’s Speech won the Oscar award, despite the fact that it was considered a weak film.
6 Movies about the movies have won the Oscar award for best film in half of the years since the instant runoff voting system was set up.
7 Crash was the first film to win best picture with the instant runoff voting system.
8 Goodnight, and good luck didn't win because of the instant runoff voting system.

This year a grand technicolour film about showbiz is a favourite for best picture at the Oscars. Yes, it was well regarded amongst critics and audiences around the country. But is La La Land hands down the best film of the year? Is it good enough to beat out films like Moonlight that are widely considered more daring and unique? History says yes, because the Oscar voting process favours mediocrity.
Back in 2009 the Academy switched from a straight popular vote to instant runoff voting or preferential voting. The Academy wanted to better ensure that the film with the broadest support won. But the other side of that coin is that bold, polarizing films get pushed to the side.
At its most basic level, instant runoff voting involves ranking a number of choices rather than choosing just one. Then the choice with the fewest votes is removed. And then those who voted for that candidate have their votes counted according to their second-favourite candidate. Then the candidate that now has the fewest votes is removed, and so on. It goes all the way until a candidate has 50% plus one of the vote. This applies to both the nominations process, although that does get a little weedy, and the process of selecting the best picture winner.
So, how would instant runoff voting ultimately play out in a real scenario? Let’s look at 2011 where the King’s Speech beat out 127 hours, The Fighter, Black Swan, Winter's Bone, True Grit, Inception, The Social Network, and The Kids are Alright. All these films were probably first place picks on a lot of ballots and dead last on others. It’s very possible that the passionate fan bases of each of these films all had the King’s Speech ranked second or third. When their first place vote wasn’t enough to stay in the game, their second place votes were counted and re-added to the mix, ultimately allowing The King’s Speech to come from behind. Because the King’s Speech had the broadest support rather than the most passionate support, it took home the prize.
The new voting system seems to favour a certain type of film.
We’ve had instant runoff voting at the Oscars for six years and fully half of those years have been won by movies about the movies. And I would count the King’s Speech as being sort of adjacent to that. The King’s Speech is about giving training in speech and elocution and all things that actors have to go through.
Think Birdman, Argo, The Artist. The Academy is made of 6,687 film industry professionals who probably enjoy movies about themselves. They might not rank a film about showbiz as number one but many might place it second or third, which is precisely where it's most dangerous. In 2005, before instant runoff voting was instituted, Crash won best picture.
It’s a film people either despise or love.
I think we really want those movies that inspire extreme reactions one way or the other. Sometimes the movie wins that you hate but sometimes the movie wins that you love.  I’d rather see that than a movie that everyone was kind of okay with.
In fact, Crash beat out a film that might have easily have won in today's instant runoff system, a period film about entertainment, directed by Hollywood royalty, George Clooney.
Goodnight, and good luck.
 
Key:
1F 2T 3F 4F 5F 6T 7F 8F

Emma Stone, dancing among the stars firmly planted on Earth

In less than a decade, Emma Stone has risen from a familiar face in romantic comedies like Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and Crazy, Stupid, Love and a superhero’s girlfriend in The Amazing Spider-Man, to a two-time Oscar-nominated star, for Birdman and this year’s La La Land. With her tantalizing beauty, the gifted actress burns the screen with emotional intensity and easily commandeers the camera and the audience’s attention away from more experienced co-stars; they are no match.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and say whether the statements below are true or false.



1. Emma and her friends met at college.
2. The Amazing Spider-Man won Emma an Oscar nomination.
3. Emma and her brother Spencer didn’t get on well when they were children.
4. Emma started training to become an actress at the age of 11.
5. She had appeared in over 20 productions at the age of 15.
6. Emma’s mum was reluctant to grant her permission to move to L. A.
7. She got a degree at about the same time as she was cast in her first movie, Superbad.
8. Emma had to turn down her first leading role to look after her ailing mom.
9. Emma feels intimidated when she is around other movie stars and entertainers.

Emma Stone may be the toast of Hollywood, but she rarely hogs the spotlight. You’ll often see her sharing the red carpet with her younger brother, Spencer.
Guys, you used to have some darkness.
We some stuff.
We’ve all seen some, yeah.
And to our interview, she brought along her two best friends.
We just met last week. I hired them to do this.
She needed friends for an interview so we said like okay
I need friends, because that’s more relatable, right?
Years ago the three were roommates, struggling actors, sometimes auditioning for the very same parts.
How’d that go?
We would fist fight to the death, and then she would get all of them and we’d call it a day.
Even in their mac-and-cheese days, both Macisac and Sugar Lyn Beard had a sense that Emily, as they call her, might just own this town someday.
She’s always known exactly where she wants to go in her career, and who she wants to work with.
But she was that focused?
Always.
I think if anything ever did go a little bit south or it didn’t go as well as she wanted it to, I feel like you would come home with more fire for the next one.
If you’ve seen La La Land, you know it could almost be Emma Stone’s own story, put to music.
She plays Mia, a wanna-be actress who comes to Hollywood with stars in her eyes; toils for fame and fortune; and finds love along the way. Arm-in-arm with frequent co-star Ryan Gosling, they are a chemically-proven formula.
Did you watch a lot of Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers kinds of movies as you went through this process just to figure out how…
I mean Top Hat was… Top Hat was huge for us, yeah. The energy between them, emotionally, was something we were inspired by.
The film is a love letter to Hollywood, and Hollywood loves it back. Stone has already sung and danced her way to a Golden Globe and a SAG Award, which has a lot of people guessing she’ll have a good shot at the Oscar, too. But until a few years ago, Emma Stone was happiest with just a simple plastic blimp, the Kids Choice Award she swooped in to snag for her role in The Amazing Spider-Man.
I grew up watching the Kid’s Choice Awards and people getting slimed, and I was just like, can you imagine having a Blimp? And then, I got a Blimp, and I was like, well, that’s it for me. I’m signing off. Back to Arizona I go!
Born in Scottsdale, Stone had a passion for acting that she put before almost everything else. Which is why perhaps she takes her younger brother Spencer to all those red carpets, she owes him, big.
Like when I was little, we did our own little shows, and she was the director and bossed me around, tremendously.
He went through so much, you have no idea.
And she would be the star of the show, and I would be everyone else.
Makes me sounds like a crazy person.
To assure us she isn’t crazy…
This was like… this your home away from home.
Yes.
…she brought us to the place that she says made her sane…
It looks exactly the same.
…the Valley Youth Theatre in downtown Phoenix.
Bobb Cooper has been the artistic director here for years. He first met her at age 11 and even then saw a sparkle, and not just because of her braces.
She could project very well.
Why are you laughing?
Because I was loud beyond belief. That means that I always talked over Bobb and got in trouble.
She was willing to take any part; it didn’t matter what the character was, how big the character was, she was willing to take the part.
She was an acting machine, appearing in almost 20 productions before she was 15. At that point, she convinced her parents, using an admittedly geeky Power Point presentation, that it was time to move to Los Angeles.
Did it feel like it was a tough sell?
My dad instantly said yes and my mom was like, Whoa whoa whoa whoa, We’re going to go in another room and have a discussion and we’re probably not going to get back to you for a couple of weeks, because why and my dad was like, Sure, yep, yes.
Her mom, Krista, finally relented, and actually moved to L.A. with her, guiding her through the sometimes crushing auditions.
It’s a strange sort of combination of a job interview and a first date and a break-up, on a daily basis, like you walk into a room, and this could be the next seven years of your life, and you can buy a house and you can travel, and you can, you know, you, you just gonna be, then, wait, oh never mind, break-up, it’s over, it’s never happening. Okay, well, I shouldn’t have built that up.  Next day, are you the one? Are you the one? No? God, wow, no, you really weren’t the one … and you yelled at me.
To focus herself entirely on acting, Stone was home-schooled, getting her GED right about the time she was cast in her first movie, Superbad.
Was there a part of you that missed some of those experiences in school?
I didn’t think I did until I turned 22. And then all of a sudden, everybody that I’d grown up with graduated from college, and I was really hard on myself for like I’m not an educated person, I didn’t take that path. And then I realized I took my path. This was my story, this was how my story went.
A story that really took off after landing her first leading role, in Easy A.  Stone’s portrayal of a snarky virgin who invents a bad reputation was met with rave reviews.
And yet, behind the scenes Stone was struggling. Her mom had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. It looked so bad Stone almost bailed on the part altogether.
I wanted to not do it, and she said, she was very dramatic about it, she was like, Well, you know, if you’re not doing your thing, then I’m not doing my thing. And I was like, Oh you know how to get me, wow, what a rascal. So I did.
And she did?
And she did. And…
And you succeeded, and so did she.
Yeah, yeah.
Her mom is now celebrating six years cancer-free and in that time she’s watched her daughter become the darling of Hollywood: From the society girl-turned-journalist in The Help, to the Hollywood brat in Birdman, the role that got Stone her first Oscar nod.
Despite all the success, she still gets star-struck, especially by anyone from Saturday Night Live, a totem of her youth.
I really just show up, and then they tell me where to go and what to do.
When we met up just before she hosted SNL for the third time last December, she was still positively giddy about just being given the chance.
Do you sort of pinch yourself?
Yeah, I don’t think it ever gets normal to be here.
She may have captured that timeless Hollywood dream, and yet Emma Stone hardly lives with her head in the clouds.
I think maybe there is that notion that if you have a dream and then it comes true, everything will just be great now and you’ll just be coasting, but that’s not how it goes. If anything, it just makes we more and more want to get closer and closer to those I love, and get closer and closer to the Earth, you know, like staying as firmly-planted on Earth as possible because that’s really it. That’s it, you know? That’s the real stuff.

Key:
1F 2F 3F 4F 5F 6T 7F 8F 9T

Interview with Juliette Binoche

Juliette Binoche is best known for her roles in movies such as The English Patient and Chocolat. But she’s also remained a dedicated theater actor, recently completing a tour of Antigone that took her around Europe and the U.S. She speaks to Jeffrey Brown about what has moved and motivated her throughout her career, and what she’s still learning.

Self-study activity:
Watch the interview and answer the questions below.



1 Why is Juliette Binoche unusually busy these days?
2 Why does Juliette's character die in Antigone?
3 Where did the tour of Antigone come to an end?
4 What is the big question all of us are trying to find out?
5 What different aspects of Juliette's prolific career are mentioned?
6 What does she sometimes say yes to a project?
7 Where does she prefer acting, films or the theatre?
8 Apart from cinema and theatre, in what other arts has she tried her hand?
9 Does she fear aging?


GWEN IFILL: She’s one of the most well-known French actresses of her generation, and she has carved an unusual and distinct career path.
Juliette Binoche has appeared in more than 40 feature films, the latest of which, “The 33,” opens tomorrow. It’s about the 33 Chilean miners who were trapped underground for 69 days in 2010.
At the same time, Binoche is focused on new stage work, taking on the role of a classical heroine in a Greek tragedy. She sat down recently with Jeffrey Brown.
ACTOR: If a man puts family or friends ahead of fatherland, I count him absolutely good for nothing.
JEFFREY BROWN: A political leader, King Creon, declares that the security of the state must take precedence over individual need, and orders that the body of a slain rebel not be given burial rites.
ACTOR: You dare to disobey the law?
JULIETTE BINOCHE, “Antigone”: What they call law didn’t begin today or yesterday. When they say law, they do not mean a statute of today.
JEFFREY BROWN: The rebel’s sister, named Antigone, and played here by Juliette Binoche, defies that order and buries her brother, leading to her own death.
JULIETTE BINOCHE: She has this need of remembering where we come from, the origin of where we come from, and where we’re going back to. So the play is an immense — is reaching immense subjects of what we go through.
JEFFREY BROWN: The playwright Sophocles wrote Antigone in Athens, Greece, some 2,500 years ago, and it has resonated with audiences and actors ever since, including Binoche, one of today’s leading international actresses. At the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., she recently wrapped up a tour of the play that took her to cities around Europe and the U.S. So what is the attraction for you to do an ancient play like this?
JULIETTE BINOCHE: Well, because the myths put you into a teaching of what is — what are we doing here on this Earth? It’s about transformation.
JEFFREY BROWN: That’s a big question.
JULIETTE BINOCHE: It’s a big question, but we here, all — all of us, we’re trying to find out. And, of course, the outside world wants us to go here and there and spread ourselves. But somehow we have to make a relationship within ourselves. And plays and art are helping to make this link, to think, to feel, to reconnect.
ACTOR: You’re in love with him aren’t you?
JULIETTE BINOCHE: I’m not in love with him. I am in love with ghosts. It’s so easy. He’s another ghost.
JEFFREY BROWN: Binoche, now 51, is best known for her Oscar-winning supporting actress role in the 1996 film “The English Patient.”
JULIETTE BINOCHE: And these are for your husband, and refined cacao nibs from Guatemala to awaken the passion.
ACTRESS: You have obviously never met my husband.
JULIETTE BINOCHE: You have obviously never tried these.
JEFFREY BROWN: And an Oscar-nominated best actress performance in the 2000 comedy “Chocolat.” She’s had a prolific movie career, from big budget hits to obscure art house films, that continues, as strong as ever, to this day. But she’s also regularly gone back to the theater.
JULIETTE BINOCHE: It’s true. Sometimes, I say yes to a project, and I don’t really know why I said yes. But the intuition tells you.
JEFFREY BROWN: Really? You don’t know why?
JULIETTE BINOCHE: No. The intuition tells you, so that the intuition brings you into this unknown. But yet, as you’re going and you’re discovering what you’re doing, this is it. This is why I said yes to it. And it suddenly becomes very meaningful. Look at what is happening to me, and look at the men who are doing it.
JEFFREY BROWN: The production of “Antigone” directed by Ivo van Hove was a spare one in its language, its movement, its set. I asked Binoche if she liked the quiet of this onstage world as a contrast to the noise of much of today’s entertainment.
JULIETTE BINOCHE: I love everything.
JEFFREY BROWN: You love everything?
JULIETTE BINOCHE: I don’t put things aside. No, I think it’s another — it’s like painting. You know, you love different styles, because it shows someone’s need to express something. If I feel the need, that’s beyond style. I don’t care where it comes from, which country, what period, because it has truth.
JEFFREY BROWN: The reference to painting is a personal one. Binoche did her own paintings for a film in which she played an artist, and has even had exhibitions of her work. Curious or restless, she’s thrown herself into all kinds of things, including performing on stage in contemporary dance.
JULIETTE BINOCHE: I like to confront myself with new perspectives and possibilities, because I think, we’re alive, so let’s do it now. And we have so many possibilities. So, I don’t like to stay in one comfortable place.
JEFFREY BROWN: There is much discussion, again, about — especially about women actresses aging, not getting as many good roles, what happens to them. Do you even think about that?
JULIETTE BINOCHE: I think if you keep yourself creative — I mean, I have aged, you know? I have had experience. And so it’s not as if I’m not facing it.
But it’s not a fear, because time is a tool to grow. If you don’t have that tool, how can you grow? How can you transform? So you have to believe that time is your best friend. Imagine if you have to die when you’re young. You feel like, wow. What I have learned with time is amazing.
JEFFREY BROWN: All right, Juliette Binoche, thank you so much.
JULIETTE BINOCHE: Thank you.

Key:
1 She has just released a new film and is performing in a Greek tragedy.
2 Because she disobeys the law and buries her brother. 
3 In Washington DC.
4 What are we doing here on this Earth?
5 She's taken part in  both big budget films and obscure art house films, and she plays regularly in the theatre.
6 Because she follows her intuition.
7 She loves everything.
8 Painting and contemporary art.
9 No, time is a tool to grow.

Listening test: Movie news

Listen to five film news items and match each of the headings below with its corresponding heading. There are two headings you do not need to use.

A - Back home
B - Hollywood star, safe and sound
C - Latest technology for classic film
D - No solidarity these days
E - The protagonist had second thoughts
F - Unhappy ending
G - Worldwide project

1
A film that Canadian director Denis Villeneuve says is meant to pose a question about violence and the brutality of the Mexican drug trade had its New York City premiere. “Sicario,” which means hitman in Latin America, creates a hellish Juarez, Mexico, where cartels turn the town into a war zone. Emily Blunt plays FBI agent Kate who gets recruited into a high-risk, CIA-led drug operation across the border. Benicio Del Toro co-stars as a shadowy Colombian working with the U.S. agencies. Josh Brolin plays Matt, the CIA team leader. Brolin said he’d originally turned down the part of Matt but was glad friends convinced him to change his mind. “Sicario” hits U.S. theaters on October 2.

2
Kate Winslet and Liam Hemsworth walked the red carpet Monday at the Toronto International Film Festival for the world premiere of their film “The Dressmaker”. The movie sees Winslet playing a high-fashion dressmaker who returns to her tiny Australian hometown, which she left as a young girl after being suspected of murdering a boy. While there, her character begins to transform the town with her haute couture creations. The film is set for release in Australia in early October, and the rest of the world later in the year.

3
It might be something that so many of us take for granted. But for those in Calais’ migrant camp, the chance to sit down with friends and watch a movie was a luxury few would have seen coming. Secret Cinema on Saturday arrived in the northern French port bringing with it an inflatable screen, a DJ, and a chance to escape reality for an evening. That’s something that founder Fabien Riggall believes they needed.
We believe passionately that culture and art can change the way that people think about issues that are affecting people today, and we hope with this project “Love Refugees” that we will actually begin a cinema network across the worst-affected places on earth.
More than 1,000 migrants huddled together among the sand dunes for the screening. There were cheers as the Bollywood classic on show concluded, followed by smiles and gratitude.

4
Officials say the plane went down in the mountains of San Pedro de los Milagros. Three people were on board, but actor Tom Cruise was not among them. The crash killed U.S. pilot Alan David Purwin and Colombian Carlos Berl. The third person, Jimmy Lee Garland, was injured. Officials say the crash was reported around 5:30 p.m. local time.
Rescue workers from the nearby municipalities were immediately dispatched. They found one person still alive who was transferred to a medical centre in Medellin and two people who died whose bodies have been recovered.
Cruise was in Colombia filming “Mena,” the story of U.S. pilot Barry Seal who worked for Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar before becoming an informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The investigation into the crash remains ongoing.

5
The Jungle Book is back. Rebooted, and live action, almost 50 years after its animated Disney release. The new live-action/CGI hybrid is being steered by Iron Man director Jon Favreau, and packs a stellar cast including Idris Elba, Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson as the snake Kaa. Walt Disney’s teaser trailer has a somewhat serious tone to it. While no voices other than Kaa’s are heard though, there is a familiar song heard after the trailer’s dramatic conclusion.


KEY:
1E 2A 3G 4B 5C

10 questions with Carrie Fisher

Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher about the films that made her famous, her future plans and motherhood in this Time interview.

Self-study activity:
Watch the interview and say whether the statements below are true or false.

The activity is suitable for Advanced students.




1 Carrie Fisher is a Libra.
2 Carrie Fisher's daughter dislikes her mom's job.
3 Carrie Fisher didn't like the third Star Wars film because she had to wear a metal bikini.
4 She liked Empire because the actors' skills were put to the test.
5 She's proud of having worked in the Star Wars films.
6 Carrie Fisher will never star in a TV show.
7 She regrets not having had more children.

I was born to simple folk. As your age, it’s about dignity…
No way!
If my life wasn’t funny, it would just be true.

I’m Ari Karpel with Time and I’m here today asking ten question of Carrie Fisher, whose one-woman show, Wishful Drinking, about her life in Hollywood is about to come to HBO. Carrie, thank you so much for welcoming us into your home.
Well, thank you for coming to my home.
So now, you could probably spend hours answering this question. From Ernie Barrera of Lakeside, California, what was it like growing up in a show-business family?
The answer to this is, you mean compared to when I didn’t grow up in a showbiz family? I don’t know. It’s like saying what’s it like to be a libra? I guess I was on movie sets more than other kids. But again, what I mainly can say is, compared to what?
Now Susan Browman of Belle Plaine, Minnesota, wants to know what single event in your life you’re most proud of.
I’m proud that my daughter turned out to be as well as she has, and certainly and I can’t take credit for all that, by any means. But I don’t know that my daughter, she’s kind of an event for me. Maybe I’m more of an event for her. But… I don’t know. I think I never thought I would have like a real life in a way. I… That’s something that comes from growing up in a kind of showbiz family… is that you have these fantasies of having a real life, but I’m proud of… that my daughter has… she’s survived me.
Okay, it’s time to get down to some Star Wars.
All right.
Daniel Johnson, of Rockaway, New Jersey, wonders which Star Wars movie was your favourite.
Empire.
Which was your least favourite?
Of my three?
Of yours and those that are…
I didn’t like the third one but I liked the metal bikini. I wish I could still get into it. I didn’t like Jar Jar Binks, and I could never get into that.
And why was Empire your favourite?
It was the most emotional one. It was the most spiritual one. And Irv Kershner who passed away just the other day, he really was very thorough with the new… there was character work to do. We didn’t have just to recite this impossible dialogue: “I have placed information vital to the survival of the rebellion into the memory system of this R2 unit”. Make a character, give that layers. I’ll wait here.
That one’s definitely my favourite, too. Ramon Salas of Venezuela asks… he wonders whether the Princess Leia character was the dark side of the force in your professional carrer.
No. It’s a… those are great movies. They’re milestones. I love movies. Why shouldn’t I be proud of being in that?
Absolutely.
The dark side? You’ve ever seen… let’s see, Hollywood Vice Squad? Or The Star Wars Christmas Special? That’s really good. Was Star Wars the dark side? I think there’s so much competition for that one.
Li Bingyang of Harbin, China, loved your performance on 30 Rock. Are you interested in starring in a TV show?
No…ish. Maybe. Who knows? Not really. I don’t like to learn lines and I don’t like reality TV, but there’s something in the middle that might interest me. But who knows what I’m gonna do? And also I can’t… worse looking so there’s not a lot of… well, you know, you age. It’s not my fault.
Okay.
You know, God set it up this way or somebody did. Anyway, so I’m gonna get worse-looking so I’m not gonna get as happy to watch myself but also I’m not really selling the house so much as the furniture, so…
If you could go back and visit yourself at the age of 22, what advice would you give yourself and would you listen anyway?
Put those pills down. No, I wouldn’t listen. Have more kids. Put the pills down. Be kind to others and obey the Girl Scout laws.
Carrie Fisher, thank you so much for speaking to us and for having us to your home.
No, thank you for coming.
It’s so nice to meet you.
You too.


Key:
1F 2F 3F 4T 5T 6F 7T

Learn English through Movies

Learn English through movies is a platform that allows to practise English through film trailers.

You can choose three different types of activities to do with each video clip, which will also help us to get to grips with the dialogues in the trailer:
1. Listen and put the words in order
2. Fill in the Blanks Quiz (easy)
3. Fill in the Blanks Quiz (difficult)

Learn English through movies also has a comprehensive collection of 'movie sites for English learners' and 'Best movie and film websites'.

H/T to Cristina Cabal.

Speechyard

Speechyard is a platform that allows English students, specially those at an intermediate and advanced level, learn English through films, series and books.

You have to sign up with your Facebook account or email address and then select your language, which will be used for translations.

Go to the content tab to choose either films or series or books. In the learning page you can learn the words and expressions that you have previously selected while watching a film or reading a book. And you can use the community page to practise your English with other learners.

There are thousands of full movies, series and books to choose from.

This video explains how Speechyard works.



H/T The English blog.

10 Questions for Joss Whedon

Cult-TV-show creator turned big-shot movie director (The Avengers) Joss Whedon talks on athiesm, strong women and the hottest vampire on record in this Time interview.

Self-study activity:
Watch the interview and number the topics below in the order they are mentioned. The activity is suitable for Advanced students.



A failure
Admiration for a writer
Atheism
Funny location to shoot a film
Ground-breaking work
My characters
My family
Romantic comedies
The love of culture for superheroes

Joss Whedon is a writer, director, musician, producer and figure of almost cult-like admiration. He’s probably best known for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Avengers movie, and he’s got a new project which is a natural outgrowth of those, Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing. Mr Whedon is here with us today, welcome!
Thanks for having me.

You’re known actually as a writer. Why take on Shakespeare where you don’t actually have the control of the material?
Well, I don’t know many writers who don’t revere his works. I grew up listening to them, reading them, seeing them and you…, you know, it’s been a passion of mine for a long time. My friends go over at the house to read the plays, and, you know, it’s exciting to be able to have my time, my turn at interpreting his work.
As I recall, you shot this in your own home like only contractually on the break you were contractually obliged to have after shooting the event.
Actually, I’ve shot it in my own home on the break that I fought to the nail to get from the Avengers, which was officially one week. All I needed to do was get back to the roots of creativity and reconnect with the central passion of what’s first attracted us to this business.
You’re kind of known for you strong female characters, but there’s news of creating tension there because often the females in your creations, they meet a really ugly end. Is there a disconnect there?
When you’re known for creating strong female characters, people like to put that in a box and say, what’s what you’re gonna do. What I like to do is create human characters. I’ve killed off characters male and female , will-nilly I have a good reputation for it, one that I’m kind of quite tired of to be truthful. But the fact of the matter is that if you’re not putting people through the paces, if I’m not giving them real pain and real loss and real hardship and sometimes real tragedy, then I’m not a story teller.
You are the son of a TV writer and, I think, the grandson of a TV writer. So were family get-togethers, were they like, okay I’m not sure you quite found the comic sweet spot yet for that, Joe. I mean, was there a lot of this discussion of the latter?
No, you know, it really wasn’t. What it really was, was my dad and his comedy writer friends all milling about to all hours, just being incredibly funny, and me just hanging out with them waiting for the day that, you know, I would make them laugh. And, you know, every time you did, you scored a little hit, you just, Yeah! That’s right! I’m in the drive.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer was kind of seminal in that it was kind of big before vampires were big, and it was kind of big before we had such strong female action heroes. Do you think it fell into that or were you sensing it in the side cast.
I had a need to see a girl fight monsters and not die. I had a need to see somebody’s high school journey written large. Vampires are a wonderful metaphor because the other, you know, the sort of monstrous isolated creature but that we all can relate to especially when we’re in high school, but they happen to be the most beautiful, sexy, perfect, usually sort of vaguely wealthy and well-dressed virgin. It’s not, you were not up there with the hunchbacks ringing the bells, you know, we’re not in…
The zombie.
Exactly, Phantom of the Opera. It’s like, no, vampires are, you know, a Frank Langella.
That’s who does it for you, Frank Langella.
I’m sorry, honestly. Frank Langella’s Dracula is still the hottest vampire on record.
Why has the culture, do you think, become interested in superheroes for so long? It seems like it hasn’t gone away even though it used to be considered kind of a small boy thing.
Well, those small boys grew up and, you know, and they had other small boys that they showed their comics to and all of them buy things or are running studios or are filmmakers. You know, for a long time, people sort of poked at the edges of comic books but they either didn’t have the money, they didn’t have the technology or they didn’t have the understanding of what it was they were trying to adapt. I think that really changed with Sam Raimi’s Spiderman, which was the first movie that absolutely got the essence of the book and turned it into a film.
Will it like other things reach its end? Are we close to that?
It felt to me when I saw the Dark Knight that, you know, it was like sort of we got past it, you know, it’s sort of like, okay, we understand the superhero movies, now I’m going to make Godfather with superheroes and, and sort of the post-superhero era and I was like, whoa, wait a minute, I still wanna see the hero part, you know, I feel like the great superhero movies are yet to be made and so it’s not deconstructing completely just yet.
When I asked our readers to, you know, what they would ask, one of the interesting things that kept coming up is your atheism and I wonder if the fact that you do not believe in the supernatural makes you more able to imagine these universes because you’re working with a blank canvass.
Since I don’t have a fantastical belief in my life, it is nice to create a world where there could be one. So I think it helps fuel my level of science fiction fantasy, but I wouldn’t say that it makes me particularly qualified to do it.
I have questions from readers. Wilson Vega asks, in retrospect is Fox cancelling Firefly the best thing that ever happened to your career?
No.
No.
No. It’s a terrible thing. It hurts like a wound every single day.
But it did free you up to do other things?
No, no, no. Boo.
Boo. Okay. So you’ve done Shakespeare, you’ve done horror, you’ve done superheroes, is there a genre that you, are you dying to do a rom-com and I know some of the work crosses over but…
Yeah, I mean, you know, I just did a rom-com and I did in fact the rom-com but…
Do you consider the rom-com more than the Taming of the Shrew?
I do. I think that it’s much more, I think Much Ado is really the, you know, the granddaddy of all modern romantic comedy. You know, I would love to do a straight up period drama, you know, some empire dresses and, you know, some swords and manners and stuff like that.
British actors.
Probably British. Probably mainly British.
On that note, Mr Whedon, thanks very much.
Thank you.

KEY:

A failure - 8

Admiration for a writer - 1

Atheism - 7

Funny location to shoot a film - 2

Ground-breaking work - 5

My characters - 3

My family - 4

Romantic comedies - 9

The love of culture for superheroes - 6

10 Questions for Javier Bardem

Spanish actor Javier Bardem was interviewed by Time Magazine a few years ago.

Self-study activity:
Watch the interview and say whether the statements below are true or false. The activity is suitable for Intermediate and Advanced students.



1 Bardem still goes to acting school.
2 Only one per cent of actors are wealthy.
3 Bardem is a very instinctive actor.
4 Bardem used to sing.
5 Bardem played rugby for twenty-three years.
6 Rugby taught Bardem how teams work.
7 Bardem played rugby professionally.
8 Someone helps Bardem prepare his roles in English films.
9 Bardem knows how to drive.

An Oscar-winner for his chilling performance as Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, Javier Bardem stars as the romantic lead in Woody Allen’s latest film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Today he’s taking questions from Time.com readers. Do you think you’ll ever explore your acting abilities to their furthest limits?
Well, I start going to my acting school when I was 18 years old and now that I’m 39 I’m still going every year. And I go there for several reasons. One of them is to find the pleasure of acting, which sometimes you could lose it, and you have to go back there and get a hold on . . . of what it was that when you were young that made go ahead and be an actor. Acting is not an easy choice. I mean, people usually think that actors are people that work constantly. That’s not true. That’s one percent of the actors in the world. Most of them are unemployed, and it’s a hard job. So if you choose that it’s because you really love, and you really need to do it. And I felt that way. And I’m lucky enough to make a living out of that.
How do you make sure your performances are distinct from one film to the next?
When you read something, if it hits you in a very instinctive way, then it’s something that you feel like it’s worth to do. The body doesn’t lie, and when you are an actor or someone that is theoretically creative, you have to give more room to the instinct. So when I’m performing, it’s because I feel that I have to do that and only that because the body said so. And once it’s done, it’s done. It happened in that very moment, and I don’t want to see it again. And that’s the great thing about performing, that it’s something that happened in that moment, and only that moment. And when you see it on screen, for example, if it’s a movie, it’s weird to see it, because it’s not… most of the time it’s not what you tried to do, it’s something that happened there. It’s something that it [sic] came out naturally and you are surprised and you don’t never know if it’s good or not. It’s the people who is going to tell you if they like it or not.
You have a unique voice, do you sing?
Well, thank you for that. I don’t know what this person means by unique. It can be a unique horrible voice or unique beautiful voice. I don’t know. My voice comes from my big neck. I have a big neck. I played rugby for a lot of time so I had to reinforce my neck muscle. No, I don’t sing.
Well, since you brought up rugby, we did have a rugby question from James Sho in Beverly Hills who says, are you still an avid rugby player?
I’m a huge rugby fan, yeah, European rugby. I started playing rugby when I was nine years old and I played until I was twenty-three so it was fourteen years, and I live it. I think it’s a sport that taught me a lot of things, among all of them one that is very helpful if you’re doing movies, which is to have the sense of a team, to know that you are only one piece in the whole thing, that you have to do what is needed to be done, no more than that. There’s no room for anything more than that. There’s no room for the ego.
Do you miss playing at all?
Yes, but I’m old, I’m old for that and the rugby nowadays is so different from when I was playing because now it’s professional and you can tell. When I was playing rugby I was like a little fat man, yes, holding the ball and going through the field. Now they run like, like gazelles, and it’s spectacular the rugby nowadays.
Is rehearsing for an English-speaking role any different for you compared to rehearsing for a Spanish-speaking role?
Totally. You need to work hard in order to own the language, own the words. I’m always saying that this is like surgery. You have to put emotion and sensations into the words that are, otherwise, blank, emotionally blank to you because you haven’t had the experience in your life to use those words, to live with those words. So it’s a matter of really sit down with a great dialect coach and work little by little until you own those dialogues, and that takes time, but I love that work, I’m not lazy, I can be everything, but I’m not lazy.
Lucy Dagastino in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, asks, Javier, have you learned how to drive yet?
Yes, and if you see the movie from Woodie Allen you will see me driving one of the most… one of the nicest cars I’ve ever seen in my life, so good… I don’t know the name because I don’t like cars but it looked good and with Scarlett on the side looked amazing. And that’s me driving. It took me hours to learn to drive. One little thing from here to there but finally I did it. I don’t drive. I don’t have a driving licence and, you know what, I’m scared of cars. I don’t like cars. I don’t care about planes, I don’t care about helicopters, I don’t care about ships but I care about cars and… I don’t know, I never had an accident but I guess… I think it’s like… they’re like bullets, speeding bullets, going like that, I don’t know. It’s like in No Country for Old Men I had to drive this huge pick-up, and I learned, it’s fine, I didn’t kill anybody. My colleagues were always like action, I said, come on man, but I don’t have a driving licence. One day, I guess, I[’ll] have to go to the school and learn how to drive.
Are there any actors you’re dying to work with?
Well, I’m always saying that I don’t believe in God, I believe in Al Pacino and it’s true. For me Al Pacino… it’s, I mean, I don’t know, I get crazy about his performance, I learn so much what he did, what he does, so yes, if I ever have a phone call saying, do you like to work with Pacino, I’ll go crazy.

KEY:
1T 2F 3T 4F 5F 6T 7F 8T 9T

10 Questions for George Clooney

Director and actor George Clooney talks about his new movie, Ides of March, Obama, politics, Darfur and Berlusconi's bed.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and say whether the statements below are true or false. The activity is suitable for Advanced students.



1 In the film, Ides of March, Clooney plays the part of a conservative guy running for President.
2 Clooney thinks that the fact that politicians lie is very often more serious than their immoral actions.
3 Clooney and his team decided to delay the filming of Ides of March after Obama's election as president.
4 Clooney is disappointed with Obama.
5 Clooney has a house in Italy.
6 Clooney was called as a witness in Berlusconi's trial.
7 Clooney convinced Berlusconi to lend them eleven helicopters for Darfour.
8 Clooney is considering to run for president.

The problem with having George Clooney is that everybody in your life, who haven’t heard from in a long time, is like, ‘Hey, you think I could meet George Clooney?’ And here’s George Clooney, meet George Clooney. Welcome.
Hi, guys.
Hello. So the poster, right, fantastic.
Yeah, it’s okay. Half of it’s good.
So, it’s a terrific movie and having been in politics myself, you get the politics alright, I think.

George plays this guy running for President who’s very left-wing.
Yeah. Right.
I mean, is there any sense that, that like there’s somebody who could actually succeed.
You could picture a scenario where this could work.
Yeah.
It could work right now.
Yeah.
It could work in the… now, as, as the left is the center and the right is further right. I’d be pretty hard to run as a guy who’s, you know, as progressive as this guy is. But, you know, on the other hand this is a Democratic primary…
Right.
… and everybody sort of moves further to the left and, you know, we say a lot of the things that really is red meat for, for liberals. So, you know,  and we do it specifically because we’re going to make this guy, you know, make mistakes along the way.
Yeah. But, I mean, in our culture now there, do people make a separation? Like you allowed this personal moral failing, but that doesn’t really influence who you are as a, as a politician.
I don’t know. It depends on how you handle it. I mean, honestly, I really do think in general political moral failings almost always, almost always come down to not just the hubris, not just the stupid act itself, but covering up of that stupid act. I truly believe that if Nixon had taken the tapes and burned them on his front lawn and said, these belong to me, you know, screw you, I think Watergate would have been a very different case. If you come out right away and go, welp, you got me, I think you have a better shot at it than if you try to hide it.
I won’t even make all the references to that that exist, John Edwards, etc.
We, we wrote it before John Edwards, the scandal, broke out.
That’s why.
Not, not before John Edwards was, you know, but before the… but before the scandal actually broke, we, we’d already written it and we were actually in pre-production and then Obama was elected. And it was a funny thing because it is a pretty cynical film. And everybody was in such a good mood. I was sitting with Grant Helsoff who has been my, my partner in, in films for, you know, almost 30 years now, and he and I were sitting there, we were feeling pretty good, the script’s in good shape, the cast is coming together. And we realized that everybody is in such a good mood that we couldn’t possibly make this movie now. And then it took about a year. Badge of the country, very good for film-making.
So let’s talk about President Obama. Are you one of those progressives who is disappointed with how he’s been in office?
I get sort of angry actually at people who don’t stand around and stand for him. Republicans are very good at rallying around and standing with their candidate. If this was a republican president, they would be bragging, not on the issues, because they’re not gonna be bragging on don’t ask, don’t tell and things like that, but they would say, We’re losing 400,000 jobs a month, we stopped it. We saved the car industry, we, you know, you could go down the list. We passed a health care bill. Is it perfect? No, but neither was social security when it started. I could give you a list of things that he’s done that if you were gonna sell it, you would be selling this as a very successful presidency. Particularly as polarized as it is right now.
And do you chastise your liberal progressive friends by saying, hey, you got to support this guy.
There’s just two ways of doing this. You know, it’s half empty or half full, and we, Democrats, tend to generally eat own, you know.
Exactly.
They pull one thing out and go, you didn’t support us enough on this issue, so you didn’t do it. And I find that to be silly.
Now you have a house in Italy, right?
I do, yes.
So you spend a lot of time there. And we look at American politics, I look at Italy and think, hey, it’s not so bad. Anything we, we can learn from Italy? I mean, what are the lessons or the counter lessons that we can learn?
I don’t know. I mean, there’s no… I, I’ve had one evening with Berlusconi that was one of the more astonishing evening in my life.
Didn’t he ci, he cited you in his defence?
Yeah, he wanted me to be in his defence and I, and I spoke to their people and said, I’ll, I will come and testify if you’d like, because I wasn’t at the party that the… I was said to have been at, and that’s what they were using me as the defence, saying that I wasn’t at his bunga-bunga party. But I was at another party. I went there to speak about Darfour. And, you know, I’d done all my homework. I’d shown up and said, you hace 33 C1-47 helicopters, you have eleven of them in Afghanistan. You need eleven others down. That leaves eleven, we have, we need three. We’ve got South Korean pilots that can do it. We just need three helicopters in Darfur. And there was, you know, and it was an amazing conversation of, you need to grab his shoulder in his bedroom, and the bed that Putin had given him, there’s so many jokes and so little time.
Ronald Reagan said, when he was asked, how can an actor be president? How can the President not be an actor? So, how good an actor, how good an actor is Obama?
If you consider a good actor to be the guy that you want to do when you’re doing the live TV drama, or when you got one take left and the sun is setting, then he’s a very good actor because with his back against the wall he’s always terrific, always, every time.
Would you run?
No, I run from… I mean, I honestly think about it. I don’t have to compromise like that, you know. I get to say, oh, I think that what’s going on in North, South is bad. And I don’t have to worry that the Chinese would be upset if I say, or the Russians are upset. I can just say this is something we have to deal with and I don’t have to compromise so much. I like my job’s much more fun.

Key:
1F 2T 3T 4F 5T 6F 7F 8F

10 questions for Vanessa Redgrave

Some time ago, actress and activist Vanessa Redgrave talked about the U.S. Constitution, singing and what upsets her for Time Magazine.



Vanessa Redgrave needs very little introduction. Her new movie is called Unfinished Song and she’s here to talk about it and other stuff with us. Miss Redgrave, welcome.
Thank you.
You’re a pig. You are going to take me to singing.
So Unfinished Song is what I would call like a four-handkerchief weeping. What drew you to it?
Here’s a couple who lived very ordinary humble lives. They both working during retirement, and they have really deep, deep love and respect for each other. Nobody else sees why she loves and respects him but she does and she sings a song about it.
Do you like to sing? Was it part of the reason that you were drawn to the movie?
I always love singing because we used to sing around the piano when my father, he’s a brilliant pianist, he loved American musicals. So it was a very short step from loving that to loving to be trained by a train professional coach.
One of the poignant things for me about the movie was that as Marion gets, she seems to care so much less about her dignity than the people around her seem to care about it. Was that a contrast choice on your part?
Well, some people have an innate dignity. They don’t need to be thinking about it, I guess.
Having done all the work that you’ve done and known what you know now, is there anything you would go back and say to yourself in your youth?
No.
Would you like to be getting in a business now? I think your granddaughter is in a film. So, this will be the fourth generation of Redgraves.
No, it will be the sixth generation.
Sixth? That’s a dynasty ….
It’s not a dynasty. It’s a hard-working lot of people and loving this entire fantastic world by which we discover ourselves.
Do you have any advice then for Daisy?
No, I’ll give advice. I was given a lot of advice when I was young and I didn’t always appreciate it but later I came to appreciate it.
What’s the one piece that stands out in your mind?
My singing teacher said you’re listening to yourself. You’re trying to control the sound that you’re making. And he said, you’ve got to think of yourself, your body and mind as a lot of little poodles you’ve got on a leash. And if you keep the leash tight all the time, they’ll be very obedient, they’ll do what you keep telling to do. But if you undo the leash, and say go and run, they’ll outperform what you expect of them.
You live half the time I understand here in America and half the time in Britain. Is there one American habit you wish the British would adopt or vice versa? Like is there one…
No, I don’t think there’s any habit except I’ve always thought the British should have a constitution, there’s a lot to admire, of course, but since you asked for specifics, that’s what I can think of right now.
What do you think then of Obama?
No, I’m not going to say.
Oh, really?
No, I’m a British citizen. I don’t have the right to vote too.
You have a right to your opinion, though.
Yeah, but we’re not discussing that, at least I’m not.
Apparently not. As somebody who then was a very early person who used whatever fame they had to speak out about the issues they cared about, are you pleased with what celebrity activism has become in its current interaction or disappointed?
I don’t see life that way. I was brought up to think that I had responsibilities to think about these things and become somebody who would work for these rights in some shape or form, nothing to do with being famous or not.
In this movie, I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that you pass away. Do you think about death?
Of course.
Are you afraid of it? What do you imagine?
That’s undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns.
Anything that’s not from Hamlet that you imagine?
No, I’m rather embedded in Shakespeare. His mind was somewhat greater than mine.
Miss Redgrave, thanks very much.
Thank you.

Listening test: Why we love films that make us cry

In this week's listening test you will listen to part of a BBC radio programme where two reporters, Rob and Feifei, discuss films that make us cry. In each of the spaces given in the sentences below, complete the missing information with up to THREE WORDS (numbers count as one word). 0 is an example. You will hear the information twice.

listen to ‘Why we love films that make us cry’ on audioBoom

0. The particular film that made Feifei cry was Turner and Hooch.

1. The film that made Rob cry was ……………………………………………………… .

2. The event recently held that Rob and Feifei mention was the 85th  ……………………………….  .

3. The mark of good films is that they cause us to reveal …………………………………… .

4. According to Dr Averil Leimon, people want to have their emotions ………………………………… so that they can have them.

5.    In a film the style of the pictures and the music or ………………………………………………… are used to affect our emotions.

6.    Grown men cry when seeing Toy Story 3 because they become nostalgic about their ……………………………………………………… .

7. According to composer Philip Sheppard, in films people find a way out for their emotions, especially when they are ……………………………………………………… .

8. The film that has won the most Oscars was made in ………………..……… .

Rob: Hello, I'm Rob, welcome to 6 Minute English. With me in the studio today is Feifei. Hello there.
Feifei: Hi Rob.
Rob: In today's programme we're discussing films that make us cry and why we actually enjoy watching something that makes us burst into tears.
Feifei: I'm afraid yes, I have done that.
Rob: Is there a particular film that's made you cry?
Feifei: I think, Turner and Hooch (0)… and how about you Rob?
Rob: Well, being a man, obviously I would never cry - well almost. There is an old children's film called The Railway Children (1). At the end when the children's father returns from exile, his daughter runs down the station platform shouting "my daddy, my daddy!" That makes me misty-eyed.
Feifei: You big softie!
Rob: Of course, the 85t Academy Awards (2) – better known as The Oscars – were held recently and there was one major weepy that won several awards. And that film was Les Miserables. I've seen it and it really is a tearjerker. So why do we choose to see a film – or movie – that makes us get so emotional?
Feifei: Well, I suppose it's the mark of a good film if it causes us to reveal our emotions (3). A really sad story, if it's well acted and directed, can really make us blub. And a sob story – one where a character tries to get our sympathy for him or her – can have the same effect. But what is it about a film that can makes us cry when we can't cry in real life?
Rob: Well, according to psychologist, Dr Averil Leimon:
Dr Leimon People want to have their emotions manipulated (4), because then they're allowed to have them. We spend so much of our life being told you shouldn't feel like that, you don't feel like that when in fact we do feel like that. And both the visual and the, you know, the auditory allows us to know what emotion we're meant to feel.
Feifei: In real life we are told how we should feel.
Rob: But when watching a film, at the cinema for example, we can let our emotions loose. But there is something else in a film that effects our emotions.
Feifei: So that's the style of the pictures and the music or sound effects (5) that are used.
Rob: Like the music in the Jaws movie, although that's not really a tearjerker.
Feifei: Come on Rob, I bet you cried at the scary bits?!
Rob: I told you, men don't cry. Although there is one film that has had grown men crying their hearts out. That's the film Toy Story 3.
Feifei: Really?
Rob: Yes. I don't think it's because the film is sad but because watching it makes men nostalgic about their youth (6) and perhaps they can see their kids reflected in the story too.
Feifei: Well I bet these men were crying alone. They wouldn't want to be seen crying in public?
Rob: Well not according to Philip Sheppard who composes – or writes – film music.
Sheppard: All of us sort of need to find a catharsis, especially with in a group (7) to have this sort of place to have an emotional response. It ends up being something where you need to have that kind of release. As British people we're terribly bad at it I think. But when people find an outlet for it such as a film, especially when they are in a crowd (7), people's emotional responses are much more instantaneously responsive.
Feifei: So if one person cries then other people will start to cry too. Unless you're British of course!
Rob: That's what Philip Sheppard thinks.
Feifei: OK Rob, well let's not cry over spilt milk!
Rob: Which film has won the most ever Oscars? The answer is actually Ben Hur. The 1959 (8) film has won 11 awards – the same number has also been won by Titanic and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of The King. Thanks Feifei. Well, it's a crying shame but we're out of time.
Both: Bye!

10 Questions for Julie Louis-Dreyfus

A couple of years ago comedian and actress Julie Louis-Dreyfus talked with Time Magazine about her role as the Vice President in Veep, her Elaine dance moves, and her biggest regret in life. Click on this link to watch the interview.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus is one of the most successful comic actresses working in TV today. She is now playing the vice-president a new HBO show, VEEP, and she's here to answer 10 questions of Time Magazine. Welcome to Time, Julia.
Thank you. I'd actually like to answer nine questions.
 Nine, ok, we’ll see what we can do.
Alright.
How similar is the character you play, the life of the VEEP to your life?
Well let's see, how similar? Of course I, personally, I'm not the vice president, so I just wanna make sure everyone understands that, but in fact the aspect of presenting yourself in a certain way to the public and the desperation to be liked is, there is a parallel between the political life and life as a person in show business, and that's sort of fun to, to draw on.
Did you talk to people in power, former vice-presidents?
I did talk to former vice-presidents and chiefs of staff, and, and schedulers and speech writers and, you know, the list goes on. It's kind of an ongoing process.
Was there something that you learned that you were surprised about, that you didn't know before?
The big takeaway for me and it's very sort of basic but it's just how human everybody is, for instance, on the senate floor there's a desk that has candy in it, on the senate floor, it’s one of the senator’s desks and it’s loaded to the brim with candy. They're eating candy in there, they like candy just like you and I like candy, how about that?
Apple pie…
Yeah.
Comedy of course can be quite tricky. There's a great scene in your new show where the vice-president makes a joke, and she makes another one on top. And it keeps getting laughs and she takes it a little too far. Has that ever happened to you?
Oh yeah, tons of times, yeah, it may happen in the next 10 minutes or so, but yeah, it has happened, yeah. And how do you deal with that?
Flop sweat comes to mind. It’s horrible, it's horrible, it's a nightmare. If you're gonna be a clown you gonna risk it, and sometimes it will not work. And it's not worked for me many times in my life.
The characters that you have become famous for, they tend to be narcissistic and unaware of their narcissism.
And angry.
Does it impact your life that you've always played these sort of not always easy to like characters?
Well come to think of it, I have very few friends, so I guess so. It had never occurred to me until this moment.
It's a breakthrough.
It’s breakthrough moment for me.
A lot of readers, when we asked them, told them you were interviewing you, Elaine still really, really resonates with them. Does she still live with you somehow?
Yes, of course, yeah. That whole experience was a gift and keeps on giving, frankly. I'm so proud to have been part of television history making, that show, and people talk to me about all the time and I can't really remember one episode from the other because there are so many of them, but I actually really am delighted when that makes people happy.
Can you actually dance?
Yeah.
Much better than Elaine?
Correct, and it's problematic when I go to any event that has dancing. When I go to a wedding or something, I'm hugely self-conscious because I know that people are watching me, and even though that may sound paranoid, I have reason to be paranoid because they are watching me to see if I'm going to do that…
Elaine, and you sometimes break it out for special occasions?
I've never broken it out.
Never?
Never.
Do you think the fact that you've had the most successful post-Sienfeld career is luck, talent, timing, gender or hair? Or all of the above?
I'm gonna say it’s luck, to be honest and now I'm answering it seriously.
Right, no, please.
Otherwise I would say it's because I'm so incredibly talented but that’s the joke version. I actually do think it’s luck. I think there's much more luck involved in show business than people care to admit.
If you were to start your life all over again, what one change what you make?
I would wear more sunscreen.
Your skin is amazing.
Well thanks a million, but I got a lot of  *** right now.