There is a scene in The Commitments in which the main character is doing an interview with an invisible journalist while he’s in the bathtub.It is one of my favorite scenes in all of cinema because I’ve been doing interviews like these since early childhood.
http://youtu.be/41L0uedGlf8
Mine usually went like this:
“Q: A.J., tell me honestly; were you prepared for this Pulitzer win?”
A: Oh, certainly, I was. I promised my mom I would put Oakville, Conn. on the map, so I had to win the Pulitzer, or at least the Nobel prize.
Q: But Oakville is already on the map. Look, there it is, next to Waterbury.
A: (awkward silence.)”
That question didn’t come up when Brooke of Books Distilled sent me her interview questions last week, but many other questions that I’ve always wanted to answer did come up. I had kind of a blast answering these questions for real. Check it out.
Will it keep me from doing more fake interviews in the bathtub, or while I’m vacuuming, or while I’m weeding the garden or driving to work? Oh, hell no. I still have to win the Pulitzer.
Actually, it doesn’t appear Oakville is on the map yet. The Wikipedia article on “Oakville, Connecticut” only includes a map of Litchfield County in relation to the rest of Connecticut. So maybe you will, indeed, put Oakville on the map.
I hadn’t realized that. Thank you, Phil. This gives me hope, and a reason to win the Pulitzer.