Writing about the box office every week might always be my first love, but I'm really proud of how my interviewing skills have improved and how the resulting interviews have turned out this year. Without question, I did even more exclusive interviews with some of my favorite filmmakers and actors than the year before, starting at the Sundance Film Festival and continuing through the entire year. Unfortunately, the nature of the entertainment business is that these things have a very short lifespan on the front page of ComingSoon.net so if you didn't read them before the movie came out, you probably missed them. These are interviews that were fun or were with people who I generally liked talking to, and no, it's not too coincidental that many of the people on this list are either British or New Yorkers with very few exceptions… because let's face it, New York and the U.K. are great!
I'd like to dedicate these interviews to my good friend Daniel Robert Epstein who sadly, passed away very suddenly this year. The guy was a real inspiration to me, as he was probably one of the best interviewers on the web, and it was a huge loss to have him taken from us so suddenly, which really pushed me to try to live up to the standards he set for internet interviews.
Without further editorial or comment, here are 25 or so interviews I really enjoyed doing this year (after the bump):
2. Actress Leslie Mann, Knocked Up
3. Filmmaker Peter Hedges, Dan in Real Life
4. Filmmaker Rod Lurie, Resurrecting the Champ
5. Hot Fuzz's Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright and Nick Frost
6. Filmmakers Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith aka Hammer and Tongs, Son of Rambow
7. Actress Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
8. Musician and Composer Tyler Bates
9. Actor Terrence Howard, The Hunting Party
10. Filmmaker John Carney and Musician/Actor Glen Hansard, Once
11. The Ten's David Wain, Ken Marino and Paul Rudd
12. Screenwriter David Benioff, The Kite Runner
13. Filmmaker Guy Maddin, Brand Upon the Brain!
15. Filmmaker Todd Haynes, I'm Not There
16. Filmmaker Larry Fessenden, The Last Winter
17. Filmmaker Frank Darabont, The Mist
18. Screenwriters Derek Haas and Michael Brandt, 3:10 to Yuma
19. Filmmaker James Gray, We Own the Night
20. Anthony Hopkins and the cast of Slipstream
21. Filmmaker Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
22. Screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, Transformers
23. Paul Crowder, Documentary FiImmaker, Amazing Journey: The Story of the Who
24. Filmmaker John Sayles and Producer Maggie Renzie, Honeydripper
25. Filmmaker Mark Fergus, First Snow
And a couple Honorable Mentions:
Actor James McAvoy and Again, Later in the Year
Filmmaker Justin Lin, Finishing the Game
Here's to more fun interviews in '08!
