Ricky Lo interview of Anne Hathaway fail – Juan Tamad Goes To Hollywood

“transcript” from : http://technogra.ph/2013/01/18/ricky-lo-interview-with-anne-hathaway-makes-the-philippine-internet-cringe/. we have removed most of the editorials in this “transcript”, changes are mine.

0:10 – Exchange of pleasantries.
0:17 – Lo: “You lose the 25 pounds for Fantine? And how did you do it and how did you get it back?”
0:22 – Hathaway: “I’d rather not talk about weight loss please”.

0:38 – Lo glances at his phone.
0:50 – After being asked about her preparations for the movie, Hathaway talks about internalizing the “emotional toll” of “being a sex slave”, as part of what she did to “craft the character” of Fantine.
1:15 – Lo: “I have a friend from the Philippines, her name is Lea Salonga.”
1:24 – Lo hands his phone over to show Lea Salonga’s message for Anne Hathaway.
1:31 – After briefly glancing at the phone, Hathaway hands it back to Lo. “Oh I have to meet her too!” Lo: “…and she said she could hardly wait to see the movie.”
1:37 – Lo: “Yes, you really [I think he meant recently, but the syllables just slid through] said in a Vogue interview that you could never have compared with Lea and your mom was who played Fantine, Kate McCauley. Why’d you say that?”
1:48 – Before we get an answer, Lo interrupts with more praise: “But true, you were terrific in the movie”
1:51 – After another gracious “thank you”.  “I think if you think as an actor who sings, rather than a singer, I would be probably be more impressive. But Lea has one of the great voices of our time. Now I don’t think there’s vocally anything that she can’t do. And she’s made a career as a singer so I have complete deference to her. And of course, my mother has a very very beautiful voice as well.”
2:20 – Lo: “You were there in the Emmy’s and saw your mom playing Fantine. What were your memories about having seen your mom on stage?”
2:26 – Hathaway: “I was very moved. I cried. It was very meaningful for me.”
2:34 – Lo: “Did you get any pointers from your mom?”
2:35 – Hathaway : “No”.
2:38 – Lo: “And for somebody who perceived to have lived a life of luxury and privelege, how were you able to identify Fantine?”
2:50 – Lo: “Have you ever experienced to be hungry? To poor, and you know, just like the character.”
2:54 – Hathaway: “That’s a very personal question.”
2:55 – Lo : “What’s your favorite scene in the movie and the hardest to do?”
3:00 – “I think my favorite scene in the movie was when I got to come back as angel. That was with Hugh [Jackman]. Because I got to feel nice!”
3:11 – In the middle of her answer, Lo drops his phone. This prompts a kind “Oh, be careful” from Hathaway. Lo mutters “phone” while picking up his gadget.
3:13 – “The hardest scene was I dreamed a dream.” Lo: “Oh I dreamed a dream, yes yes yes yes…”
3:19 – Lo: “They’re saying that you’re a shoo-in for the Oscars next year. How do you feel about it? At this early?”
3:27 – Hathaway: “It is early, I feel like it’s early. I feel like it would be extraordinary if that were to happen but I’m not counting on anything.”
3:34 – “What about any other musical you like to do, maybe on stage or in a movie?”
3:37 – Hathaway:  “Many…many.”
3:40 – Lo: “Would you like to say any message for Lea, who’s looking forward to watching the movie and to meeting you in person?”
3:47 – Hathaway: “Well, we’ve already talked about Lea.”
3:50 – Lo: “And what about inviting fans from the Philippines to watch the movie, showing January?”
3:55 – Hathaway : “Well why don’t you invite them? I think they’d much rather hear it from you.”
3:58 – “Ah ok then!” from Lo. 4:00 – They exchange thank yous.

this interview of prominent showbiz writer ricky lo was ablaze on pinoy social media today with many describing how they felt as they watched the video as they were “cringing”. the youtube video was eventually taken down by Philippine Star, the newspaper where ricky law publishes his column. they probably took it down as it was getting a lot of negative feedback.

we agree with the many comments in pinoy social media that the interview was cringe worthy. we did not actually cringe while we watched the interview but we were throwing our head from side to side from the very first answer lo got from his first question to hathaway. the interview started to fail from the very first question and it went downhill from there. yes, there was hill after that first question.

in between the head shaking this is what we thought of the interview:

• ricky lo did the typical interview done by pinoy showbiz journalists in the philippines – very personal and familiar questions rather than about the subject’s artistry, craft and the movie. we see these often in showbiz chismis (rumors) chows and clips in news programs in the philippines – questions about the latest break-ups with the subject’s significant other, or about the latest quarrel with another showbiz personality and the latest pregnancy or non pregnancy of the subject. in the philippines, it looks like the latest blockbuster movie is determined by how big the latest scandal has affected its stars than acting, artistry or cinema.
• ricky lo forgot that he was in fact in Hollywood and not in quiapo manila interviewing the latest star who was given a movie role after winning some reality tv show. in hollywood, movie stars talk about their acting and their craft to promote a movie, not the latest abortion or non abortion of the star.
• we thought ricky lo definitely showed skill sets way below what is needed to interview a hollywood star. it was very much like juan tamad goes to hollywood. or maybe lo did not prepare enough for the interview, still juan tamad.
• hathaway’s answer to his first question should have actually told ricky lo that his intended line of questioning on hathaway will fail. unfortunately, lo did not see that and continued on his line of questioning.
• bringing up lea salonga into the interview puzzled us. what was the point of this one? lo saying lea is a “friend” we thought indicated he was dropping the name of the tony award winner. hathway obliged him but bringing up lea again was just too much.
• the interview was about hathaway and her role at les miserables, not about lea. a comparison of lea and hathaway will not bring the interview anywhere,  it does not even make sense  considering lea appeared in a broadway play while hathaway in a movie. the point of the broadway play was the music and the story while the point of the movie was the emotion and the story. it was a comparison doomed to fail. we all know comparing a movie to a book is a bad idea, comparing a movie to a play is equally bad. worst, comparing two performers. the media are just so different from each other. 
• more importantly, if lo wanted to make a comparison, it would have been best he did it on his own when he writes the article to be published in the newspaper, not during the interview with hathaway. bringing up lea was not only out of topic and unnecessary, it could be insulting to the subject. 
• lo’s last two questions are the perfect bookmarks to this “juan tamad goes to hollywood”  interview – to ask the star to greet someone and invite the audience to watch the movie is what is being normally done in pinoy showbiz interviews of stars done on philippine tv. lo asked hathaway to greet lea salonga and ask the philippine movie goers to watch her movie. to both questions, hathway gave shut down answers, even “taray” answers. we don’t blame hathaway for this, we blame it on lo all the way. that may be SOP in the philippines but very much unheard of in the US.
• based on this interview, we think ricky lo should just stick to writing showbiz articles and stop doing filmed interviews. lo is better read in newspaper columns than seen and heard in youtube and tv. to that point, philippine star was right in putting down the video at youtube, that will spare us from viewing it.
• another reason why ricky lo is better read than seen and heard – it was absolutely awkward and clumsy that lo actually dropped his cellphone during the interview and the star he was interviewing, hathaway noticed it. (hathaway: “be careful”.)