With the introduction of YouTube in 2005, the internet has seen a shift in the type of entertainment that is viewable. There has been different waves of trends on YouTube from the early stages of YouTube personalities sitting in front of their cameras and doing various challenges (i.e. Chubby Bunny, the Whisper Challenge), to the more widespread interest in vlog culture (i.e. the Vlog Squad), and to more niche interests such as mukbangs and ASMR. The popularity of these types of videos shows a sharp increase in viewers’ desires to watch extremely mundane tasks.
I happen to be apart of this group of viewers though my interests are in a bit of a different genre. Though I see the appeal in watching people eat food or whisper in front of the camera (actually not really), those things are not for me. The thing I can spend hours on end watching is interviews. Celebrity interviews, director interviews, anything.
My favorite type of interview is Variety’s Actor on Actors discussions. These are full conversations that come around during awards season. They can last from anywhere between 30 minutes to a full hour. And I love every minute.
Source: https://variety.com/video/timothee-chalamet-emma-stone-early-rejections-2/
Why? Because they don’t feel like interviews. They are discussions between two actors–no interviewer involved–who are finally able to be real with one another. Discussions can get deep and very revealing of the film industry (i.e. Shia Labeouf & Kristen Stewart, or Tom Hanks & Viola Davis) or wholesome and deeply genuine (i.e. Timothée Chalamet & Emma Stone).
Some discussions are so interesting to watch solely based on the duo in front of the camera. I never thought I would get to see Jennifer Lopez in front of the camera talking about Twilight with Robert Pattinson.
Kristen Stewart summed up the superficiality of other interviews for press junkets when she said, “People have to try to understand that it’s very weird for me to talk to people I don’t know about something I care about so much.” And it’s so true. We expect these actors to be so open and honest and put together when in actuality it is hard for any human to be any of those things when it comes to stuff we care so deeply for.
But these Actors on Actors seem to get past that point of awkwardness and tension as they are finally able to talk to others who they can relate to.
These snippets of humanity are what I consider to be my guilty pleasure. They help me to understand the creative choices behind an actor’s performance and I can further appreciate what actors go through both on and off the camera. I can even gather some creative writing inspiration based on the organic dialogue that formulates between the two.
Ultimately, I guess it doesn’t matter what your YouTube guilty pleasure is, I just hope yours gives you as much joy and insight as mine does.
Here are links to some of my favorite interviews:
( Emma Stone & Timothée Chalamet) https://youtu.be/8Lj1Cx4pNUw
( Robert Pattinson & Jennifer Lopez ) https://youtu.be/AXDWnTvvYLk
( Tom Hanks & Viola Davis ) https://youtu.be/lk-H3VZQpsY
( Timothée Chalamet & Daniel Kaluuya ) https://youtu.be/9ybYrQgeCUs
( Gal Gadot & Kumail Nanjiani ) https://youtu.be/7NbKkeRNC2o