Ep 6： Hollywood EXPOSED： Secrets They Don’t Want You to Know !!？
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
168.71765
Summary
Nelson Aspen is an award-winning journalist, a cabaret star, and an author of several books. We have met on so many press junkets and have also interviewed so many celebrities and have so many stories to tell. He started doing this way before I did and we always love sharing experiences. In this episode, we ll give you guys a little bit of insight of what goes on behind the scenes of these junkets.
Transcript
00:00:00.000
So the publicists always sort of say that in a threatening way, like, you'd better not
00:00:05.040
ask them about their divorce or their children or whatever.
00:00:09.640
And they came out and were like, do not wish him a happy birthday.
00:00:25.160
As many of you already know, I'm an entertainment reporter and I usually talk a lot about Blake
00:00:29.460
Wively and Justin Baldoni's Legal Feud on my YouTube channel.
00:00:32.780
But here on my podcast, I do talk about other things as well.
00:00:36.220
And today I have a very special guest with me who's been on my channel twice before because
00:00:49.060
He's an award-winning journalist, a cabaret star and an author of several books.
00:00:57.980
And he's also interviewed so many celebrities and have so many stories.
00:01:07.720
So in this episode, we'll give you guys a little bit of an insight of what goes on behind the
00:01:13.320
Some celebrities that we had terrible experiences with and some that we quite like and some that
00:01:19.620
were surprising, some that were quite shocking.
00:01:27.680
Things used to be much more juicier than they are now.
00:01:31.780
And also, of course, I'm going to have to ask him about his experience with Blake Wively
00:01:35.360
and Ryan Reynolds and with Hugh Jackman because he knows Hugh Jackman pretty well.
00:01:57.120
And I've got my iced coffee and I dress like an ice cream man for you.
00:02:06.760
You know, people talk about, oh, L.A. and the beautiful weather in Hollywood.
00:02:11.040
But, you know, the happiest moment was when I moved back to New York and I get to have
00:02:28.160
Although it does feel a little bit like there's four seasons there.
00:02:30.840
Now in Spain, as you might know, it's like super hot.
00:02:38.720
But anyways, we have to talk about because we just had like or I had some technical issues
00:02:47.400
Usually, I assume any technical problem is my fault.
00:02:54.000
And so now we're on Zoom instead of my fancy other app that I was going to use.
00:02:57.820
And then you were saying, have you had these experiences in press junkets before when you're
00:03:03.240
sitting there with the talent in front of you and it's so awkward and they're fixing a
00:03:08.480
And sometimes you could take up to like five, 10 minutes.
00:03:12.600
If it takes too long, they'll send you out of the room because it's just it's this strange
00:03:17.900
thing for folks out there who haven't experienced those junket situations, which is why I usually
00:03:24.100
like to go second or third in a rotation because the first person that goes in, they you know,
00:03:36.420
There's there's some kind of delay or even worse.
00:03:39.100
They come back to you later and say, the sound was off.
00:03:44.140
And you've got to recreate that spontaneity and ask, you know, it's that's that's the worst.
00:03:57.340
So to go into a room and have that unexpected delay and some celebrities that I I'm not sure
00:04:04.300
I'll think of some, I guess, but some if they have to wait there, they won't even look at
00:04:11.040
They won't even acknowledge you there because you're just the mere journalist.
00:04:13.960
While there are others, you know, like like a Ben Stiller or or most of them will make
00:04:20.760
we'll make small talk with you because you're stuck there in the same position.
00:04:25.320
I mean, you're you're you're all doing the same thing, essentially.
00:04:28.920
So I have to ask you this because I know that, you know, Hugh Jackman pretty well.
00:04:34.340
And he has received so much backlash lately because of his divorce and also because of
00:04:47.100
And we've talked about Hugh Jackman before because he's one of was at least one of my favorites
00:04:54.740
Do you what do you what do you think about all the things happening?
00:04:57.860
You know, he's he's doing a residency in New York of his one man sort of cabaret musical
00:05:10.960
And I think that's sort of a self-inflicted effort to keep busy because that that gives
00:05:17.520
him the excuse not to get involved in the drama with his ex-wife, the drama with his buddy
00:05:27.860
And he's been nobody's really had anything to do with him because he's been focused on
00:05:33.080
And he'll turn up on on odd street corners, walking around with Sutton, spending a lot
00:05:41.060
But my sources tell me, even though it's been in the press that he's looking at properties
00:05:47.080
in Australia, specifically Byron Bay, to make a new home.
00:05:51.280
So once he gets divorced and they can get married, Sutton and he can get married, that they want
00:05:56.380
to have an Australian home to split their time.
00:05:58.960
But I'm hearing that he's planning to move to Los Angeles, that he and Sutton are looking
00:06:14.700
And I think Debra Lee got custody of the home in the Hamptons.
00:06:19.280
That was a big deal because she wanted to sell herself as an interior designer.
00:06:23.420
And they, you know, they had their place in the Hamptons after a long time.
00:06:27.200
Like they were living at the, you know, at the courtesy of friends.
00:06:31.200
They were always staying with people and places out there.
00:06:34.840
And then they finally got their own home in the Hamptons.
00:06:38.120
And Debra Lee, she got an architectural digest.
00:06:42.760
And it was around that time that I was hiring an interior designer and asked her if she had
00:06:50.420
And she said to me, but I'm an interior designer.
00:06:53.860
And I was like, well, I can't afford you, Debra Lee.
00:06:58.880
But who knows that maybe that's her backup plan.
00:07:02.960
But I feel like I've gotten emails and messages from Australians who are saying that everyone
00:07:09.660
loves Debra in Australia and they're blaming everything on him.
00:07:20.780
And, you know, I sort of figure in those kind of situations, no one is blameless.
00:07:28.300
But it's often easy to blame the man, especially if the man falls in love with somebody else.
00:07:38.120
My mother used to say, you can't break up a happy marriage.
00:07:42.520
So, I mean, if everything was peaches and cream, it wouldn't have broken up.
00:07:57.320
She was named a few years ago the Australian of the Year, which is a very distinguished title.
00:08:05.000
And it must have been really satisfying for her because it wasn't about Hugh Jackman.
00:08:10.880
She and her efforts for adoption, because, of course, their children are adopted.
00:08:15.040
And in Australia, it didn't used to be such an easy thing to adopt.
00:08:18.960
And she was a huge advocate to promote easier adoption laws in Australia.
00:08:25.380
And for that and her other humanitarian efforts, she was rewarded with being named Australian of the Year.
00:08:31.720
And I'm sure that was a big deal, especially because, you know, it was her moment, I think.
00:08:39.480
So back to what we were starting talking about here of awkward moments when the cameras, they have issues and technicalities.
00:08:47.140
So you sent me this really funny clip of John Cusack with this reporter.
00:08:53.160
And, I mean, we've all met these reporters that have prepared absolutely nothing for these interviews.
00:09:00.160
And I'm just going to show the clip quickly so people know what I'm talking about here.
00:09:05.640
I actually was just text messaging with a friend because I'm missing class right now.
00:09:11.000
And it's so funny because they're watching American Beauty today and analyzing it.
00:09:45.060
And then I was thinking, well, it's embarrassing for him as well.
00:09:49.240
And then I started, the more I thought about it, and I watched it a couple times, and I
00:09:55.940
Why is she so woefully unprepared, and how did they ever let her in the door to begin
00:10:01.680
You and I know better than most the sort of credibility you have to have.
00:10:07.600
And I'm watching this now, and I'm watching this now in 2025, and even as far as, like,
00:10:12.780
the White House press corps, the credentials for media access in this TikTok world in which
00:10:28.340
I'm on a major network, and I'm fighting to have my three minutes.
00:10:34.900
You get some inexperienced person who isn't prepared, and I'm not a nut about preparation.
00:10:45.080
Usually, for folks out there, I'm not telling you anything you don't know, but for your viewers
00:10:51.660
who may not be aware, when we get the access to a celebrity, it's usually nine times out of 10
00:11:07.700
COVID was great for that because at least then they would get you the screenings that you could
00:11:11.720
watch at home because the worst was living in Los Angeles and having to get in your car
00:11:17.240
and go to the theater and be policed like you're a criminal.
00:11:21.660
With some publicist checking your name off and watching you go into the theater.
00:11:26.760
And then asking, what do you think about the movie?
00:11:36.880
I'm like, God, the last thing I want to do on my day off is go to a movie.
00:11:40.560
You and I have sat through more hours of torture than anyone can imagine and then have to say,
00:11:48.100
Oh, well, I thought it was interesting just to get into the interview.
00:11:55.440
Maybe I'm not like the specific target group for this film, but I love the cinematography.
00:12:03.540
Well, I love the ending because it was the ending.
00:12:13.760
And God, some of those movies that we have sat through over the years, three, four hours long,
00:12:19.160
let alone the time you spend before and after the screening.
00:12:23.220
And then, you know, you're called to be there in the morning.
00:12:25.580
I figured that that was the best thing to come out of COVID was to be able to be given screeners and to be able to see the movie.
00:12:35.060
Because I know for me, a lot of my joy and reaction to a film is based on the experience of watching it.
00:12:45.700
If I'm in a crowded multiplex that smells of popcorn and urine, I'm not going to enjoy the movie so much.
00:12:52.800
If I'm in a private screening room or I'm watching it at home, I'm a day person.
00:12:59.360
I don't want to go to a screening at 10 o'clock in the morning.
00:13:12.120
And we all know that if we like the film more, we're going to have a better interview.
00:13:18.700
We're going to be more enthusiastic about the interview.
00:13:21.660
Unless, I have to say, sometimes when a really big star makes really bad movies, they don't want to talk about the movie.
00:13:29.680
They want to talk about personal things, which has always been good for me.
00:13:36.420
And I remember I came into a, there was a junket once with Anthony Hopkins for, I think it was the movie, Noah.
00:13:44.660
And we were told, like, he doesn't want to talk about the movie.
00:13:59.260
I feel like there's, like you're saying, there's so many journalists who, you know, have no idea what they're talking about.
00:14:07.460
But have you ended up in a situation where, you know, you really said something stupid or something that you really regretted?
00:14:19.580
I've never mistaken one celebrity for another, like the girl in the video.
00:14:36.460
It's funny you mentioned Kevin Spacey because he is so, I don't know if combative is the right word, but Kevin Spacey is kind of a bully.
00:14:46.480
So, and I've had very few unhappy experiences, but Kevin Spacey was one of them because he just, he was combative.
00:14:59.780
But if you're going to do it, suck it up, buttercup.
00:15:02.680
But I was thinking about that and I thought of Jason Statham.
00:15:08.940
It was like Fast and Furious Part 712, one of those Fast and Furious movies.
00:15:18.180
Like whoever, whoever dresses him does a really fantastic job.
00:15:23.900
And there were no restrictions on the interview.
00:15:26.760
And really, after, after so many Fast and Furious movies, really, what can you ask that might possibly be original?
00:15:35.700
And he, it was one of those horrible, awkward, where he just sneered at me.
00:15:42.740
I felt, I felt almost like, no, like he was accusing me of hitting on him because I was complimenting his style.
00:15:53.660
The publicist came out of the darkness to tell me to move on to some other question.
00:15:58.540
And I wonder if that was the same junket that he did the same thing to me.
00:16:11.120
And then he stood up and I was very satisfied to see he was my height.
00:16:19.440
And I looked up his official height, which is 5'10".
00:16:27.920
And I thought maybe that's where all this comes from.
00:16:31.040
Maybe he's got, I don't have a Napoleonic complex, but sometimes some shorter men have a little man complex.
00:16:38.060
And I thought maybe, maybe that was part of it.
00:16:41.680
So I, yeah, I don't like to be made to feel less than because as journalists, we are equal to, we may not be celebrities, but we are here having a conversation.
00:16:58.540
It's so funny that you say that from that junket, because the same junket, I, I asked him because he was turning 50 that year.
00:17:18.860
And the publicist, I heard the publicist from the side, can we move on to the next question?
00:17:27.560
And he was like, Oh, we're not talking about that.
00:17:34.520
I told you that last time we chatted about Paul Rudd.
00:17:39.500
And they came out and were like, do not wish him a happy birthday.
00:17:49.720
And everybody thinks he looks so good for his age.
00:17:53.420
But the Jason Statham thing, I think also there is, you know, there are plenty of, I don't
00:18:03.980
I think they get paranoid about their thirst trap appeal.
00:18:07.100
And these, these sex, quote unquote, sexy stars, they, they want to be sexy, but then
00:18:14.160
they, they get uncomfortable if they're treated sexy.
00:18:20.700
Like, like, you know, I'm not, I'm not a big fan of Vin Diesel because he's so chronically
00:18:25.720
late to the point of like seven hours kind of late, like rude, passive, not even passive
00:18:33.800
However, Vin Diesel, The Rock, Dwayne Johnson, some of these big macho guys are actually really
00:18:45.060
They're, they're, they can, they're so charismatic that they, they naturally flirt as opposed
00:18:52.360
to somebody like a Jason Statham who might be uncomfortable with that.
00:18:56.000
Maybe that's now that I think about it, maybe that's why Kevin Spacey was uncomfortable with
00:19:02.600
Maybe he thought, oh, you know, there's this gay guy is going to turn something sexual,
00:19:07.220
which I would never in a bazillion years do, but, but maybe it's paranoia.
00:19:12.880
You know, sex is a, sex is a crazy thing for people.
00:19:16.800
It's interesting that you say that also, because I feel like some celebrities, you know, you
00:19:21.840
might have a terrible experience with, I had a good experiences with it, and then you meet
00:19:26.420
them again, and then they're acting completely different.
00:19:29.980
And you never know what kind of person you're going to get.
00:19:36.820
Blake was like, you really don't, you don't know who you're going to get.
00:19:41.600
But then in fairness, I, you know, my husband doesn't know he, who he's going to get when
00:19:49.280
Sometimes, sometimes, you know, you just have a funny day.
00:19:54.940
I mean, well, he's never talked about my bump, because if he did, he'd know he'd be in big
00:20:00.980
And you had, because you said, we talked about this before that, because you've obviously
00:20:04.480
been on my show before, but you thought, you spoke about, you had two different, very
00:20:18.840
She was, she was flirty and gorgeous and fun and smart.
00:20:26.620
And then the second time, but as you recall, the second time she was paired with Anna and
00:20:34.660
And I think in hindsight, that may have been their own thing.
00:20:40.300
That may have been a competition that was going on between them.
00:20:50.540
I've interviewed Ryan so many times and he was always good.
00:20:56.900
But as he became, you know, in the beginning, he was just this nice Canadian guy.
00:21:03.780
But he was, he was just this nice, humble, you know, goofy guy.
00:21:08.700
And as he got more successful and better groomed and then more, you know, ruggedly handsome
00:21:22.320
Then the last time I interviewed him, they were like, we need to see the questions in
00:21:30.440
I'm like, you need to see my questions in advance to talk to him about his new animated
00:21:41.200
That was surprising to me that he was like that, actually.
00:21:43.540
But now that we know so much more about him, you know, I don't know if you follow this drama
00:21:48.220
as closely as I'm, but now I'm like, no, nobody, nobody is following it as closely as you are.
00:22:00.700
And I feel like what I've learned so much about throughout this whole Blake Wively, the
00:22:05.280
drama is how the industry works and how dirty things are and the publicists and, you know,
00:22:13.320
the marketing machine and how everyone is trying to, you know, cover up for each other and no
00:22:19.340
one wants to, you know, tell the truth and no one dares to stand up for someone like you
00:22:28.680
Blake Wively doesn't really have any friends except Salma Hayek at this point and Hugh Jackman
00:22:41.140
You'd like to think in this information era and in this age of oversharing where everybody's
00:22:48.280
sharing every nook and cranny of their personal lives, you'd like to think it's different,
00:22:54.820
that it might be more open and friendly and less paranoiac.
00:23:03.060
And if you look back in classic Hollywood history to the day, the heyday of Luella Parsons
00:23:08.700
and Hedda Hopper, the original tabloid journalists of all the Hollywood rags, that they made or
00:23:18.680
And everybody lived in fear of those journalists.
00:23:24.660
And I think as much as we'd like to think we have evolved as a society, that the industry
00:23:43.340
But they're scared and worried about what we could do.
00:23:51.300
I mean, there are bad, there are bad journalists.
00:23:59.340
You know, we live in a TMZ world, but we've, it's always been a, before TMZ, it was the National
00:24:07.300
Before the National Inquirer, it was Hollywood Confidential.
00:24:10.300
There has always been, you know, tabloid trash.
00:24:15.180
But you and I don't live in that world and operate in that world.
00:24:19.540
And I guess that's why the actors and their publicists are paranoid about it.
00:24:28.440
But I was speaking to another journalist a little while ago, and he was like, oh, I was
00:24:33.680
talking, he was talking to a producer who said that, oh, I miss the old days, you know,
00:24:39.140
when you had junkets and celebrities didn't behave right.
00:24:46.640
And it was such good PR marketing for the movie, because people started talking about
00:24:52.080
Now, it's so controlled that there's never any headlines from these type of interviews.
00:24:57.200
I think the last time there was like any viral moment was when Ariana Grande was, you
00:25:03.400
know, holding that fingernail in a wicked interview.
00:25:06.600
I was like, that was like the big moment of last year of viral moments in these press
00:25:17.360
You know, it's become so boring, these interviews.
00:25:20.500
And they don't really happen that much anymore.
00:25:32.380
And it's funny because I'm doing commentary and reporting on political stories.
00:25:39.520
And it's interesting that I'm flexing the exact same muscles.
00:25:46.160
But instead of talking about movie stars, I'm talking about politicians.
00:25:58.300
And it's a fun change of pace for me because I, you know, you get a little fatigued after
00:26:07.680
It's kind of fun to talk about something different.
00:26:12.700
You mentioned Anthony Hopkins not wanting to talk about the film.
00:26:16.300
So that's that's exciting for us because it's something different.
00:26:24.240
And I like when publicists say, do not ask them about their children.
00:26:33.280
And they they always the publicist always sort of say that in a threatening way, like you'd
00:26:39.480
better not ask them about their divorce or their children or whatever.
00:26:50.440
I'm like, no, no, you don't want me to talk about it.
00:26:53.300
Because nine times out of 10, like an Anthony Hopkins, if they feel comfortable, if the
00:26:59.560
talent feels comfortable with you and they can trust you, you've agreed not to talk about
00:27:09.480
They had all this list of things you couldn't talk about with her.
00:27:13.080
And I thought, oh, she's going to be a giant pain in my ass.
00:27:27.480
I think the celebrities don't even know what the publicists are talking about behind their
00:27:32.020
I had just had a drink with another journalist here in Spain that used to do junkets as well.
00:27:37.960
And she said she was representing someone now because she was going on to the other side.
00:27:43.600
And she said that, you know, she got all this list of things that, you know, they couldn't
00:27:53.160
And he was like, wow, I don't mind talking about that or that.
00:27:56.040
So sometimes they don't even know that we are not supposed to ask them about things.
00:28:02.300
I don't know why you would agree to give an interview if you had things you couldn't
00:28:09.560
What nefarious, evil, salacious things are you up to that you have to restrict it?
00:28:25.300
And, you know, so with my last book, I hired a publicist to help me get the word out about
00:28:32.240
So it's interesting because for the first time, I'm on that side of things.
00:28:37.020
And they'll ask me, you know, is there anything you do or don't want to talk about?
00:28:41.640
And I'm like, no, well, obviously I want to talk about the book because that's why we're
00:28:46.120
talking, but it would never occur to me to say something's off limits, but maybe that's
00:28:57.020
Or, you know, if there's the, if they're asking something you feel uncomfortable about,
00:29:01.420
you know how to answer it and you'll be like, yeah, yeah.
00:29:07.080
Most of these people have been trained in interviews and, you know, a lot of them have
00:29:12.020
So why wouldn't you be able to, to answer a question in a way that doesn't really give
00:29:19.040
You know, people like Leonardo DiCaprio who never answers anything really personal.
00:29:24.060
He just like, you know, make sure that he just kind of get it back to the movie.
00:29:30.540
I hate when they do that and you ask them something else.
00:29:32.940
And then they were like, and I always did the tricky thing.
00:29:37.240
I'd be like, yeah, you know, in the movie you play this character who's like this and
00:29:42.160
In real life you have to kind of get them to talk about personal things.
00:29:50.180
I mean, I'm sure they see through it, but they're like, okay, she's making an effort
00:29:53.880
here to make it sound like it is about the movie.
00:29:56.380
Well, we started this conversation talking about preparation and, and awkward moments
00:30:03.040
of where you might have to kill time with a celebrity.
00:30:05.820
And one of the preparations that I always have made when interviewing someone famous is
00:30:13.220
to, you know, it, it, it either springs to mind or it's a quick Google search.
00:30:18.640
I try and find what is the one degree of separation.
00:30:21.960
And after all those years of living in Hollywood, it was easy.
00:30:28.340
What's my degree of separation away from Leonardo DiCaprio?
00:30:31.640
So I can throw that in and make it feel personal and, and trustworthy.
00:30:35.740
In his case, I spent a few Christmases with his mother.
00:30:39.780
She and I were on the same guest list at somebody's house.
00:30:43.160
So I had Christmas dinner for like three or four years in a row with his mother.
00:30:46.800
So it was a, so whenever I would interview Leo, I'd say, how's Ermelin?
00:30:51.680
And, you know, we, we, you know, and I'd ask for his mom, we'd have a quick little chat
00:30:59.200
It could be the, oh, I know your personal trainer.
00:31:02.120
Oh, I know your chef, Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt.
00:31:05.900
And it was, they, they made a lot of snacks for the munchies that they would get.
00:31:10.600
But, you know, having, having, having just some little degree of separation really helps
00:31:23.700
I had to kill some time with Ben Stiller and I lived in the building next door to his parents
00:31:34.760
The parents are gone and Ben doesn't have the apartment in the building anymore.
00:31:37.680
So it's not a secret to say it was West 84th Street here in Manhattan.
00:31:41.880
And West 84th Street is also called Edgar Allan Poe Street because the famous writer Edgar
00:31:52.180
So when I would see Ben, I'd be like, saw your dad on Edgar Allan Poe.
00:32:00.080
And I find that's always a tip I give to young journalists.
00:32:03.780
Find that thread, find some degree of separation that, that you have in common with your interview
00:32:13.360
When the weather cools down, Golden Nugget Online Casino turns up the heat.
00:32:18.980
This winter, make any moment golden and play thousands of games like our new slot, Wolf It Up,
00:32:28.280
Whether you're curled up on the couch or ticking five between snow shovels,
00:32:35.220
From brand new games to the classics you know and love.
00:32:38.820
You can also pull up your favorite table games like Blackjack, Roulette, and Craps.
00:32:43.420
Or go for even more excitement with our library of live dealer games.
00:32:48.240
Download the Golden Nugget Online Casino app and you've got everything you need to layer
00:32:55.280
In partnership with Golden Nugget Online Casino.
00:33:18.120
Well, I was still living on West 84th 15 years ago.
00:33:26.740
Although I don't have any kind of connection with most people I interview.
00:33:31.300
But yeah, I sometimes talk about the weather or, you know,
00:33:36.780
I go into everyone's Instagram before I interview people.
00:33:49.980
And if they're posting it, if they're posting it, they're proud of it.
00:33:59.080
And they have to talk about it, too, because they're already posted it to the world.
00:34:02.640
They can't say, I don't want to talk about that.
00:34:10.560
They would have no leg to stand on if they wanted to be upset about that.
00:34:15.460
We had one of the best vacations of our life earlier this year.
00:34:34.100
Well, all of a sudden, the Ritz-Carlton yacht cruises have started bringing in celebrities.
00:34:40.940
Martha Stewart just posted something of herself on a Ritz-Carlton yacht cruise making Martha
00:34:49.840
And then some other handsome, hunky guy was coming off the Ritz-Carlton.
00:34:56.040
It was like, oh, look at who takes our vacations.
00:34:58.240
And a friend of mine who's not in the business said, oh, I got to do one of these vacations because look at the celebrities that are going on them.
00:35:10.760
I don't want to go on a vacation because a celebrity goes on that vacation.
00:35:16.280
It would be fun to run into a celebrity if they were incognito under the radar going on vacation.
00:35:23.360
You'd be like, yeah, we're taking the same vacation.
00:35:31.120
I wouldn't want to go on a vacation with a celebrity.
00:35:39.880
But I remember when we were at Sony, had these things in Cancun.
00:35:43.920
I don't know if you ever went to those where we spent a year, a week at a Ritz-Carlton with all these celebrities.
00:35:51.540
They were all there and they brought their families.
00:35:54.680
Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie was there and they brought their kids and they were everywhere.
00:36:01.500
It was really interesting and weird and to see them in an element of being on vacation at the same time.
00:36:15.120
And then you were like, okay, that's Leonardo DiCaprio at the pool.
00:36:19.360
And then you're just like, I have to lie here and stare at him because you have to.
00:36:35.480
Oh, there's so many things to make movies about.
00:36:38.540
I was going to say, I like it when you run into, like when we would travel for a junket, you would see a celebrity in the gym.
00:36:47.320
I remember being in the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills and I'd be on the treadmill at four in the morning or whatever.
00:36:52.300
And there would be Chris Hemsworth lifting weights.
00:37:05.100
You wouldn't believe how limber Antonio Banderas is.
00:37:08.180
So I, you know, that's how I want to see a celebrity in their own habitat.
00:37:12.680
I don't want a staged opportunity, Martha Stewart, with your Martha Taney.
00:37:21.020
Let me see if I've gone through everything that we were going to talk.
00:37:23.720
Did we talk about what we were going to talk about?
00:37:25.660
So Magnus asked me earlier, he's like, ask Nelson if he ever felt like, because he's like, yeah, you should talk about what celebrities you feel threatened by.
00:37:35.760
And I was like, would he be threatened, like physically threatened?
00:37:38.260
He's like, yeah, I feel like, or Magnus feels like Michael Fassbender or someone like Russell Crowe would kind of get to the point where they could get so angry that he would be afraid of them.
00:37:52.620
Well, I can't imagine, I can't imagine I would ever instigate anything that could make someone that angry at me to feel threatening of me.
00:38:06.080
Right now, I'm in New York City right now, I'm in Harlem, and I'm looking at two parasailors.
00:38:28.940
I was coming out of a bathroom in a hotel doing a junket.
00:38:32.420
I wasn't supposed to see him for hours, but I had other people to interview, and I was coming out of the bathroom, zipping up or whatever, and he was coming in, unzipping, and we looked at each other.
00:38:45.040
And, of course, I recognized him, and he looks at me, and he went, I know you.
00:38:49.120
And I was like, well, I know what you're watching in the mornings then.
00:38:54.680
I said, you have very good taste in television.
00:38:57.460
And I said, oh, you have very good taste in television if you recognize me.
00:39:06.340
And I said, I'm going to make you repeat that when we have a camera rolling, which he did.
00:39:11.700
But, no, I don't think I've ever felt threatened.
00:39:15.000
What I think is interesting is when you interview these really hot, perceived as hot actors, like Hugh Jackman or a Jason Statham or whomever, but they're really just not ever hot.
00:39:34.180
I thought Guy Pearce was a lot more attractive in person.
00:39:39.320
And that first time I met Blake Lively, I was kind of blown away by how beautiful she looked.
00:39:45.500
But most of the time, they're not as sexy as you hope they'll be.
00:39:52.500
Oh, I'll tell you who's scary, who I thought was going to be scary.
00:39:56.800
Everybody, everybody was warning me, you better be ready.
00:40:00.820
You've got to get, you know, you're going to hate this.
00:40:06.200
Harrison Ford, Kevin Costner, and Tommy Lee Jones.
00:40:11.460
And I didn't interview them at the same time, but over the years.
00:40:15.280
And Harrison a couple of times, Kevin once, Tommy Lee a couple of times.
00:40:40.260
But I think Kevin Costner, I only heard good things about, though.
00:40:44.500
But what I was a little scared of Mel Gibson, I remember.
00:40:49.640
But then I realized he's very insecure and kind of shy.
00:40:53.240
So it was like, but Russell Crowe can be very intimidating.
00:40:59.620
Very, I had a horrible experience with him once.
00:41:04.660
You know, you never know what kind of mood he's going to be.
00:41:18.740
Are there any women that you feel like you've been a bit scared of?
00:41:22.860
Well, you know, of course, every time you interview Meryl Streep,
00:41:26.780
and I've interviewed her, I don't know, a half a dozen times.
00:41:43.620
I feel like you really have to be on your toes with him.
00:41:58.840
I get, there are a couple times I've been tongue-tied just because of my own,
00:42:06.020
Viggo Mortensen is, without a doubt, to me, just, it's subjective,
00:42:12.720
the sexiest, most attractive, intimidating, talented.
00:42:21.960
And I first met him in the 80s when we were both on a soap opera called Search for Tomorrow.
00:42:29.200
Like, I can barely speak when I'm around Viggo Mortensen.
00:42:35.740
And she's lovely and charming and can talk the hind legs off a donkey.
00:42:39.100
But I'm so in awe of Idina Menzel that I, I, I, I, I, I can talk, I can barely talk when I'm with her.
00:42:51.060
As I said before, I had this with Tom Hiddleston that I thought I never, like, I was never attracted to him or anything like that.
00:42:59.520
But then I had that interview with him where I was like, whoa, it turned out to be, like, this really deep conversation about love and falling in love.
00:43:18.220
I think Patrick Wilson, of course, he's been married forever, straight as an arrow.
00:43:28.440
I don't, I don't even know if he thinks he's flirting.
00:43:38.160
Jeff, Jeff Goldblum is looking down at you and making, making this, this sensual eye.
00:43:50.860
And then he'll, he'll touch you gently on your arm while he's talking to you.
00:43:56.900
And you are just like, tell me more, Jeff Goldblum.
00:44:04.260
I've never, I was supposed to interview him once, but I don't remember what happened.
00:44:10.320
And that's exactly, Magnus did an interview with him when he was so funny.
00:44:30.660
I think it was Maui for one of the Jurassic movies.
00:44:33.640
And he was there and I showed him the picture of us from 1997, you know, 20 years earlier
00:44:41.220
And he's like, Nelson, we've got to recreate that.
00:44:44.480
And, you know, he called somebody out to take the picture and he's just, I have all the
00:44:57.680
I've been like so critical towards Hollywood and everything going on there throughout my
00:45:15.020
So I'd always rather, I'm not afraid to talk about the, the, the terrible things, but I.
00:45:20.540
But you have to talk about your books and your cabaret and your other projects because
00:45:26.260
you have so much going on and I want you to have the opportunity here to tell everyone
00:45:34.340
And in a nutshell, my new book, Kindred Spirits, A Titanic Tale, which is a historical fantasy
00:45:46.800
I, who I believe had an unrequited love affair.
00:45:53.640
Uh, it's, I'm enjoying traveling the world, promoting the book, uh, available on Amazon
00:46:02.160
And, um, uh, we're having such a good time with it that I'm, I've been booked on Cunard's
00:46:09.620
Queen Mary too, to make a transatlantic crossing of Titanic's route.
00:46:14.640
And we, I will be giving speech lectures and talks about Titanic, uh, over the rec site,
00:46:26.120
So I never thought in my quote unquote retirement, I'd be spending all my time doing Titanic stuff.
00:46:33.000
And in October of 2026, I, people can come with me.
00:46:40.760
I will take people around Ireland, culminating in Belfast, Northern Ireland, which is where
00:46:49.180
It's where the original offices have been converted into a hotel.
00:46:53.920
The definitive Titanic museum is there, which is breathtaking.
00:46:58.620
And, you know, the Irish, the Irish people are so warm and wonderful.
00:47:06.320
You can, you can find the books, you can find my tours and all that stuff.
00:47:10.040
But it's, it's really interesting that Titanic has taken such a major part in my life, including
00:47:20.240
I'm doing a cabaret show where it's an evening of songs and stories related to my book about
00:47:30.420
It's not all Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.
00:47:34.820
I will leave links below in this video on YouTube.
00:47:38.600
So people can go and check you out and get tickets if they want to.
00:47:42.920
And then also, of course, your two books that we spoke about last time with your crazy life
00:47:55.060
Jackie Collins told me, always put sex in your books because even if people say they don't
00:48:00.420
want to read it, they're going to want to read it.
00:48:02.280
If nothing else to say that they didn't want to read it.
00:48:09.640
Thank you so much, Nelson, for having the time to talk to me and for, you know, for being
00:48:22.100
This is so great to be in each other's clutches after all these years.
00:48:27.580
Thank you so much to Nelson and to you guys for listening.
00:48:32.280
And so, yes, if you haven't subscribed to my channel yet on YouTube, please do that and
00:48:36.080
hit the notification bell so you don't miss an episode of any of my podcasts or any of
00:48:41.460
my episodes that I post every day because I do that too.
00:48:44.920
And of course, if there's anything you want me to talk about, please send me a message
00:48:48.620
on flawsometalk at gmail.com and I'll see you in my next one.