Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Heads podcast network mine never seeing it and this
is my dadmin.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Hi, And when I grow up, I want to be
a TikTok start right, or a sports player okay, hang
on sign aw yeah, even a fashion designer actually maybe
in all the players.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Okay, slow down, Maybe we should talk to some amazing
females who inspire you and who you want to be like, yeah, and.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
We can find out what they did to get where
they are.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Yes, and there's do it as a TV show.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
No, Dad, only old people watch TV. They's do it
as a podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Okay, yeah, yeah, I guess that works through.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
This is when I grow up. Today's guest is Kay Roger,
who has been an entertainment reporter for so many years,
traveling the world to talk to the biggest start. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
I just mentioned sitting in a room talking to the
likes of Taylor Swift, Margot Robbie, Will Ferrell, Daniel Radcliffe,
Tom Cruis, Dlaine, the Rock Johnson. Yeah, you're my dream.
That's right.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
I've even got him to sign your butt.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Yeah I did. I got him to tetor that's the
time I went in the room with him. You're right,
but Kate has some insight and what celebrities are really
like for you on the podcast, and how to deal
with my precious situations of interviewing stars and being on
the Oscars red carpet.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
I think her advice on preparation and how to deal
with nerves can we applied to anything you end up doing.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
You're nervous right now, not next to you, I know.
And there's actually one really surprising admission from Kate about movies.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
That she tells us, and you pranked her with it.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
I did not know this at the time. Hope you
enjoy our chat with Kate Roger as much as we did.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Hey, Dad, when I grew up, I want to be
an entertainment reporter like Kate Roger.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Oh okay, well Kate, this is how this works. Kate's here.
We like to I like to put see her on
the spot because she can't just say that without backing up.
Speaker 5 (01:37):
No, no, she cannot. Okay, what do you want to
be like Kate?
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Well, Kate, for many years, you've traveled the world to
the coolest places, and you've interviewed the world's biggest stars,
and you also get paid to watch movies.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
Like who doesn't want to do that job?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
It sounds like a joy job. You get sick of popcorn,
eating popcorn or what?
Speaker 5 (01:56):
Well, excuse me being in fact trying to some deal
on you know what you're Dad and JOHNO did to me.
You know, back in the day, when I was a
bit of an aucklander, I had a convertible little MG car.
Cost me more money to keep it on the road
that it cost me to buy it. It was an
absolute crap thing, but I loved it. She was my favorite,
(02:17):
She was my baby. And I left it in the
garage undercover and worked one day. And when I came
out of a long, hard day in the news room Siena,
I walked into the darkish, undercover underground car park to
find the two friends I'd like to call your father.
A friend had filled my entire car with popcorn. Car
(02:41):
with the roof down with popcorn. And what they probably
didn't really know is that I absolutely cannot stand popcorn.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
I make the smell, I make the taste. The whole
car was full of it.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I did not know that. I didn't know you.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Yeah, maybe I kept that from you.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
So here, I'm so sorry because I meationed the smell
of popcorn. That's what the things I was about the movies.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
It was a butter popcorn and their defense it was very,
very funny, and you did clean it absolutely spot I
didn't find a single kernel.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Oh that's good. That's good.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
But it is a.
Speaker 5 (03:12):
Weird thing for someone that loves the movie to not
love popcorn. I mean caramel corn I like, but the
actual cinema popcorn. I don't mind the smell because when
I walk in and I smell it, it reminds me
that I met the movies, but it's not enough to
make me want to eat.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
A bowl of it. Sorry about it screen too much?
Maybe that's what it was.
Speaker 5 (03:30):
I overdid it as a child, So I'm also and
you're going to look at me very differently. The noise
of people eating pop oh, it takes when they get
to the bottom of the cardboard container and they're rustling
around at the bottom. Usually write at a really either
romantic or emotional.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
I have issues with people making too much noise, eating
and cinemas. But I'm such a grumpy old lady. Right,
you don't want to you don't want to be me anymore.
I'm so grumpy.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Well, OK, we see you sitting down with stars like Mugger,
Robbie or The Rock, even on the red carpet at
the Oscars. But I imagine it's not always as glamorous
as it looks, and I'm really curious to know what
goes into it and how you got there. So thanks
so much for hanging out today.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
It's an absolute pleasure to be asked thank.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
You, down grade, aren't we from.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
I think you should never undermine yourself.
Speaker 5 (04:25):
The Rock and Margot Robbie, both of them are exception.
I know you've had some time with him over the
years as well, being but someone like The Rock. I
was in a situation where I was looking back through
my twenty years of news Hub stories and I found
the very first story I did with The Rock and
he still had hair, and I remember walking into the
(04:45):
hotel room in la and it was a small room
and he stood up and it was just.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Like he blocked the sun and he had the whitest
teeth in the biggest smile. And that's what I seem
to remember the most about him first time around.
Speaker 5 (04:57):
But now he has very little hair, but a hell
of a lot more mo Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
I mean that's the cool thing. I mean, we want
to get into your career, but also, yeah, you do
want to ask it.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Yeah, is there anyone you have an interview like? Okay,
let's start with some I'll say the name of someone famous,
and you tell me the first thing that pops into
your mind about interview.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
I questioned read okay, especially.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Out Ryan Goslingay good, Okay.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Taylor Swift just a powerhouse.
Speaker 5 (05:26):
She was so young when I interviewed her. She was
only about seventeen, and I was just blown away by
this kid that wanted to be a pop star.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
It was amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Wow. Jason Momore, he's very cruisy.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Yeah, yeah, it seems like love a lot. We've been
like enough to interview once and it's just a lovely
not okay, Yeah, we'll see.
Speaker 5 (05:47):
Tom Cruise just an absolute gentleman and a total professional.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Oh. Margot Robbie just as sweet as Jennifer Aniston.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
She was little, little petite.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
You don't know, you see people in in screen for
my movie screen or team, you don't realize.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
When you doing the Rock Johnson, not petite will fear
all hilarious really yeah wow on the screen.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
Yeah, I'm just like, is it just acting or is
it a great great question though, because often comedians like
Jerry Seinfeld classic example, took me twenty minutes to warm
him up.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Deeply serious, dude.
Speaker 5 (06:27):
So I find comedians can sometimes be really really introspective
and quite serious. Yeah, and they probably used to being
performing seals, you know, it's just like, hey, dude, be funny.
Will I did Will Fearrel and Steve Carrell recently for
The Despicable Me, the Latest one, and they were a
delight together. Wow.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
Timothy Shellamy never interviewed I'm Seana, really, I know.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
I thought you were the last. Al Right, Okay, well
there you go someone.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
I take it all back. I did interview him on
Zoom for Okay.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
But it's so it's such a I mean, we've had
to do it through COVID and it's not the same.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
It's just not the same.
Speaker 5 (07:04):
But yeah, of course I've spoken to him and he
was lovely in a delight, but I haven't had that
opportunity to properly sit down with him in the flesh,
but he was great. Jack Black, I don't even know
what to say. When he came to New Zealand a
couple of months ago. He came into the news Hub
studio and we got to kick the whole studio out
to welcome him, and every single member of the newsroom
and the building wanted to be there. And he was
(07:24):
so lovely to every single person introduced himself, from cameras
all the way through to studio support. It was phenomenal
and then sat down and did his crazy chopstick dance
for us.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
Absolutely insane.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
And I got to introduce him at the screening as well,
and he's just one of life's great dudes. Supremely talented,
genuinely authentic and I love him.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Do you think? And I'm going to cut in here
with a dad question here because obviously this podcast is
designed to look at young people like yourself and follow
their career, but also you get an insight into other
successful yeah as well, and only a small insight, I
guess some times. But did you get to see qualities
and some people like you? Is this said with Jack Black?
And he's so lovely to people that you go, well,
maybe that's helped him be Obviously his talent is a
(08:08):
huge part of it, but obviously helped him as well
to be who he's become a se hundred percent.
Speaker 5 (08:11):
And it's often a question I ask special people like
Meryl Streep or Dustin Hoffman. You know what's the key
to longevity in the industry. I mean, because every single
one of them is an individual, and a lot of
actors are in fact quite insecure and introverted, and they
don't enjoy their fame aspect of what they do.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
They are there for the craft.
Speaker 5 (08:29):
I just find with people like Jack Black Matt Damon's
another classic example, they never have an entourage. They're the
same dude every time you speak to the Margo Robbie
as well. They don't have heirs and graces. They treat
you with respect and like a human being, and therefore
they ask that you do the same back. So that's
what I see and you get you know it in
the first instant. Of course, there's an element of performance
(08:50):
with any interview. It's not like the same as visiting
them and having a cup of tea in their house
and going and playing pickleball. It's a different thing that
you do get an essence. And I think so and Ben,
you've probably found this and you too will find the
Siena being a kei we has a little bit of
a sneaky little edge sometimes, especially at those big junkets
because we tend to be just a little bit more,
(09:11):
you know, straight up in a hour away and you
find that you can identify with that pretty much really
really quickly.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Yeah, you doing your list now?
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (09:20):
Or Adam Zandler what he's hilarious And back in the
day when there used to be money, Sony used to
do these things called the Summer of Sony Junkets Siena,
where they'd fly me and about another hundred international reporters
to the Ritz Carlton and Cancuna, Mexico for a week
and every day they would fly in all of their
talent from La So you would do something sometimes like
(09:43):
fifteen interviews a day for different films have got coming
up for release, and Adam Sander would always be at
those because he's so prolific with his films, and we
always bought his kids and his family and he would
always just hang out by the pool and chat to
reporters like we were kind of just part of the crowd,
and I just always you know, and on the dance
floor he was hilarious and.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
He was great to chat to. So I'm not part
of me is not.
Speaker 5 (10:07):
A huge fan of his comedy necessarily, but any time
they've had to interact with him.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
He's been a really really good dude.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
You know. I got fly into one, a similar one,
probably a mini version of what you see. It was
covered with a couple of days in Spain and there
were actors coming in. And the first day I was there,
arrived now like, your your time's come out later. I
waited for a bit and then I came back. I
was like, oh, do you know when my time? Yeah,
take a seat and I'll come out later. Got to
the end of the day and then when I'm so sorry,
you're not on till tomorrow, and I set unbelievable. I
(10:39):
don't want to make a but do you know if
I've got to, They're like, yees, sir with you. So
you're like, no worry, said he this hot little room.
I'm so sorry your interviews tomorrow.
Speaker 5 (10:49):
So that's inside into how it cannot be sometimes a
lot of rodding around.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
I'm sorry that happened to you one of these.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I don't think it was. I don't know what the
movie company was, but we've got great interviews out of it.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
But yeah, eventually, yeah, so am I right in saying
you got your first job in a radio as a
producer and then a news presenter. How did you end
up being an entertainment award.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
Yeah, that's an interesting seetuay, isn't it.
Speaker 5 (11:15):
You're absolutely right because I went to christ Church Broadcasting
School shortly after the birth of christ and I was
very young, I was just eighteen, and I wanted to
be in radio because talking for a living seemed like
sweet ass.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
It's pretty sweet ass.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
Yeah, yeah, and I loved it, but it was quite
hard to get a job. So I did start as
a receptionist at Radio Eye back in the day. But
then I started working for two icons of broadcasting, Move
Smith and Alice Worsley that used to work for Radio Eye,
so I was their producer and then I started doing
a bit of on air stuff mid to dawns and
bits and pieces. And then I decided to get into news,
(11:50):
so I became a newsreader and worked as a journalist
for IRN News back in the day, but were used
to supply news to MYFM and all the other radio
stations independently up and down the country.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
That's when I fell in love with news.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
And then I went over to London and lived there
on and off sort of over a decade and they
really dislike the sound of the New Zealand accent from
their lily British radios. So I tried to crack it
there and then just realized it was just too horrific.
So I decided to work in Global Comms for a while.
But that's where I rarely became addicted to cinema, like
(12:25):
I would go to three or four films a week.
We did double features at the Curzon in Shaspbury even London,
and I just became obsessed about movies. So when I
came home and started working for TV three, I realized
I was no good at standing outside caught ah and
that that side of the news was It just sat
so heavily with me because it's hard, and I have
(12:47):
so much respect for all of our journalists at the
cold face of bringing us the hard news, because it's
a really important job, and it was one I realized
I just didn't have the emotional constitution for. And then Henley,
I will give a huge shout out to, was entertainment
reporter at Newshub back in the day three news it was,
and she took me under her very experienced wing and
(13:08):
I was her deputy for a while and then she
left and I took over.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
So this wasn't necessarily a goal or dream.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
I just didn't know you could.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
Yeah, right, And I don't know why, but I mean,
I am one hundred and seventy five years old, and
it's one of those things. We're entertainment reporter, we know
what really is that and mine, what my passion was
really was film. So I just didn't sort of get
that it was an option. And we already had a
film review slot on a Saturday night and edited down
(13:37):
in christ Church was obsessed with film, so we had
a little film review slot and he also left listened
to me, and then I just snuck in and then
kind of rebranded it as film three. So for eighteen
years up until when news Hub closed a couple of
well nearly six weeks ago, now we've had a primetime
movie review slot in a primetime news program, supporting local
(13:57):
content and just movies generally.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
So it's been a privilege.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
This is when I grow up.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
When you find that dream job that you want. Is
that such a cool thing?
Speaker 1 (14:09):
You know?
Speaker 3 (14:10):
To go? You know, does it feel It probably doesn't
feel like work sometimes, of course it does.
Speaker 5 (14:13):
Work.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
Never felt like work. I know, of course, it is work,
and it just I don't know.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
You know what you say, if you find a job
you love, you'll never work a day in your life.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
It is true.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
I can't remember a day that I've woken up and
not wanted to go into work. I've had days where
I've had lots of anxiety about what I'm needing to do.
First interviews and early days of the junkets were absolutely
terrifying because you just want to deliver, and the oscars
are a huge day and my pads.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
You know what it's like through life.
Speaker 5 (14:42):
It's your first and then you get one under your
belt and you go, Okay, I can do it better
next time. But each time it's that performance anxiety of
making sure you make the most of your you know,
one minute forty interview with drunk Johnny Depp up in
your float, all the way to Chicago to get it.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
You know.
Speaker 5 (14:56):
It's it's that aspect of it that makes can hard
and the hours can be really long, and I've been
a way a lot from my family, so that's always
been a bit of a sacrifice I've had to make
with the travel aspect of it. But it is without
question the most extraordinary couple of decades, and I wouldn't
call it work.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Well, you interview a lot of celebrities as part of
what's called a junket, as you mentioned, Yeah, yes, and
how exactly does that work?
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Do you know?
Speaker 5 (15:21):
The fascinating thing is when you say I'm off on
a junket, they think, oh, someone's paying for everything and
you're staying in a gorgeous hotel and you're interviewer movie stars,
and they're absolutely right. Over the years, it's always been
a funny one because TV three pays a lot of that,
so it's not your quintessential kind of business junket where
people get flown around the all around the world. It's
always been a because the news aspect of what I
(15:42):
do has been so important. We always have put money
towards those flights. You know how it works, But ultimately
that's what it is. It's the way the industry calls
promotional events where they have media interviewing Ryan Reynolds and
Hugh Jackman for wolver In exchange for coverage. And we're
(16:03):
back in the day when I first started this, where
television coverage was the holy grail. Radio as well, but
particularly for movies. It's a visual medium, so getting primetime
news coverage of your release was huge. Now you look
at these stars and they can basically market these films
on their own.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
ABA. That's sure.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
It's a massive change.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
They're still we're still in the mix, but now there
are so many other different ways of being able to
get people to have eyes on to take something like
Dear Paul to a billion.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
So it's that's what a junk it is.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
It's a whole lot of reporters hanging around hotel rooms
waiting to go inside and have their four minutes with
Timothy Shallamy or Ryan Gosling because.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
You don't get you get your time, and sometimes that
gets shortened out throughout the game.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Well I had to.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Day, I got shorn down to thirty seconds.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Always land as you're down the body and you understand
in the pecking order, you know it's off near the bottom,
or so you don't you don't have your camera people.
They've set up the cameras the stars sitting in the
room so that the time you walk in the room,
that's when it starts, that's right. And so if you
start talking to them about, oh you have a good
night last night, well, that's part of your time.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
Yeah, you're dumb.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Okay, let's get under the how are you doing it?
Speaker 5 (17:13):
It is it's a speed date, except that they're not
interested in you.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
And fairness is usually my speed date.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
But no, it is British situation. And how do you
deal with that? Because I've not done very little compared
to you. But it is a lot of anxiety. You
want to sometimes you've flown somewhere. You want to do
a great performance. And this is probably something for young kids,
you know, like in any situation making a speech or
having to perform in a job, and how do you
to fight that anxiety? And you know, to get through the.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Nerves under control?
Speaker 5 (17:41):
Keep your nerves under control. That's exactly right. And in
the early days it was really hard. I mean I
did use rescue remedy to kind of calm my edges.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
A lot of its self talk.
Speaker 5 (17:50):
And if that's one thing I can say at any age,
it's that you can do this. And the one thing
that helps that attitude is by doing it, and it
is it's hard and just making yourself go into that room.
And my technique is kind of to be in a
bigger version of myself which can be a little bit
too intense. So often it's just like calm down. But also,
(18:10):
and you know this, Ben, it is going into a
room with some natural, genuine energy that can change you
know this. Robert Pattinson, for example, from Twilight, they're the
junketing that they had to do for those films and
also the red carpets, and they were doing seventy four
minute junkets inside interviews in sign a time room a day,
just plowing.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Through to four different interviews.
Speaker 5 (18:31):
Yeah, they're just cramming them out, as so many of them.
So it's exhausting from their perspective, and you have to
ask often the same questions. It's all about asking them differently,
but in all honesty, it's coming in with just energy
and letting them feel a comfortable that they're not going
to get hijacked by some random question.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
Or secondly that you know that you're a friendly, genuine
person that doesn't mean them any harmfect.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Well, when you're in that room, how do you not
get like staff stroke from all the people? Like so
you're sitting across from like Jason Moore or Adam Sandlers
and you're just like, hi, Like, how do you not
get some star stroke from that.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
I think it does come down to the performance aspect
of what they do, and also that they The one
thing I did always tell myself outside that room is
they're just another human Yeah, They're just another human being.
And someone like Pedro Pascal, for example, has exactly that
kind of aura about him where you he's just like, ah,
he's another cool person, or you're from New Zealand, and
(19:29):
it has a genuine interest in the human being in
front of them. And then you have other people that
might stay on their phone and then when that's finally
ready to roll, you know, and you're talking to them
and they're kind of just going yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
and then they look up from their phone and then
they start giving you some pretty samy answers to the
question who are not engaged perhaps in the process of
(19:50):
what they're doing, And that can be quite hard. I
mean I've walked out of some rooms and burst into
tears from time to time. Once with joy because it
was Mark m for Loo was yeah, but everybody, for
grown men in their sixties, walked out of that Roman tears.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
It was somuch.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Othertimes, you know, one time because there's a lot of
rolls around these junkets, so you can't take photos. You
understand the time limit and things. So I got I
got in trouble for an interview where you were in
the same one and siddeny.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
I don't remember that. I don't happened.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
And it was a Ninja Turtles interview and I had
done will Anet, who was great, he loved it. A
comedian and he liked it. I had a whole series
of potential prop gags that I would do, and like
Shredder as the evil character. So I brought like a
paper Shredder over and they've got a good laugh from him.
So I just kept going for all these prop gags,
and at the end I thought it was great. He left,
I left. I was like feeling good and then this
(20:38):
lady pulled me aside and told me off. And there's
nothing like being nothing. I'd been an adult and get
telling off. And I sat down next to you at
that time, I remember, and I was all like, oh
my god, really like it was all just silly things.
And there, you know, might be sitting at home because
they had another interview do it. And you really helped
me in that situation. So thank you, Kate.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
I hope so, I think, and I want to do it.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
I just wanted to go home.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
You just needed a hug and to lie down and
a cup of tea.
Speaker 5 (21:02):
And that's just not fair because realistically, what do you
want to drill down into the creative process of Ninja Turtles?
Speaker 4 (21:08):
Give us a.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Freaking Breakfully liked that, and I was like, it probably
was silly gigs.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
To be honest, I was shredder talent hating it. Then
you know you get it, But it doesn't sound like
he was.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
There are plenty of ups and downs, and the media
industry isn't all that it seems, So how do you
deal with the moments when things don't actually go right?
Speaker 5 (21:30):
There has been so many, and I react really emotionally
to all of them. I think I think it was
the first Hobbit was an LA premiere and I got
the only interview with Peter Jackson on the red carpet,
and then we were pretty much going straight to air
and we were doing a live cross and I had
the interview ready to roll at literally Mike is crossing
(21:52):
like Mike mc robertson's crossing live and a police chopper
flew over the top of us and they must have
some kind of cloaking thing, but I don't know. Everybody
cell phones went off air and we were live, and
the whole live cross fell and they couldn't come back
to me. It didn't get back online, so it was
what we call an ftdlure.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
Oh she's not coming on, and that was it.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
And I had spent the whole day getting it to
that moment and sharing an exclusive interview and doing a
live cross from the Hobbit premiere, and all I did
was sit down and just cry like a baby. I
was so so upsetting to me. So that was a
technical kind of failure situation. But I've also come out
of interviews where I really wanted it to go incredibly well,
and I will usually have a bit of a cry.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
I don't get angry because.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
It's never anybody's fault, so I don't tend to have viscerally,
you know, I can't remember getting really I remember this
one time, but that was a personality clash more than anything.
But it's usually that's how I resolved, Just big fat,
girly tears.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
You pick yourself up from that for the next time you.
Speaker 5 (22:56):
Get better at doing it because I beat myself up
a lot.
Speaker 4 (22:59):
I think a lot of women particularly, but a lot
of people do.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
And it's just as you said, you fly all the
way over for a three minute interview, and if it doesn't,
if you don't get what you want out of it,
it's it's and you feel the pressure of what's how
I'm going to pull the story back together? What are
the producer's going to say? We paid a lot of
money to get over there. You know all of those
And the Oscars is a classic example as well, because
we're so tight to deadline. I have to go live.
(23:23):
I have to know what I'm doing and I know
what I'm saying and have the content and my voice
on the story needs to be caught, so that can
that can get quite intense.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
And also there were a few speed wobbles.
Speaker 5 (23:34):
Just in the last couple of years when we had
COVID and then I got back into it and I
had to go. The first big carpet was Tom Cruiser's
Maverick Top Gun film, and for some reason, because I
hadn't done it for a little while, it was a
huge event on an aircraft carrier. Same thing that you
just said Ben where there was I don't know, slots
along the red carpet for a maybe three hundred press,
(23:56):
and I was the last slot, and I thought, he's
not gonna he's not going to stay, he's not going
to do every single member of the press. He's just
not going to And that I remember the day before
really really the biggest sort of anxiety I've felt about
delivering in a really, really long time. And I just
had to hit the streets with my headphones on and
(24:19):
just do some power walking. But it was it was
a lot, and I didn't get a lot of sleep
because I just felt the pressure.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
So what about going into something like that? So how
much preparation do you.
Speaker 5 (24:32):
Preppers everything, everything and what happens When you've been doing
it as long as I have and as long as
you have been, you you just have so much more
institutional knowledge that I know if push came to shove that.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
I could probably deliver.
Speaker 5 (24:46):
Whether I delivered to my satisfaction, but I could mostly
deliver just based on what I already know, and also
because I will have already likely interviewed this perce. But
it is it's all about prep and it's all about
figuring out some New Zealand angles that aren't or do
you like Flight of the Concords, which I used to
said to be the classic back in the day. For me,
(25:07):
it's trying to get under the skin a little bit
to get something that's a little different. It could be
an interaction, it could be an answer to a question.
But it's all about prep and as long as I
go and knowing I've done everything I can, then whatever
happens in that room or on that red carpet, it
is just it's up for grabs and it's how you
handle it.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Wow, there's also so many other people interviewing celebrities and
so many people wanting to do your job. So how
important is it to just be yourself.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
One hundred percent?
Speaker 5 (25:36):
Yeah, that's all you can possibly be, and in every sphere,
because if you have to put on a version of yourself,
you're never going to keep it all together. And all
of those different environments, and also like the Jack Blacks
and the Matt Damons, it's about how you treat the
people around you, whether it's you know, the camera person
who's from APTN that's shooting your live cross on the
red carpet, it's just knowing that everybody's got their own
(25:59):
stuff and we're all trying to do a great job,
So how can we all make sure that that happens?
And that's for life. If you can't treat every single
person with the same respect, then you're not going to
have a great time.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
Yeah, true, are you just generally.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
This is when I grow up?
Speaker 3 (26:20):
What about the Oscars? Were you?
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Yeah? Flash is known Hollywood on the Academy Awards.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
Really they are amazing.
Speaker 5 (26:26):
I love the Oscars so much. I've done six of
them now. And you talk about the glamor of it,
They're just for me. They're not necessarily very glamorous. I'm
not from the knee caps down anyway.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Oh.
Speaker 5 (26:37):
I'm always in trainers and it's like five am makeup.
I have this amazing makeup artist and la who's done
my makeup every single Oscars, called Valerie, and she gets
up very early in the morning and comes to wherever
we're staying to do hair and makeup, and then you're
just on the go the whole day. I'll be usually
live into whatever breakfast show it is, whether it was Sunrise,
(26:58):
First Line or the AM Show with the Poor Henry Show,
and then I wouldn't maybe have a hit for mid
day news, but the six o'clock is where you need
to get it right, and the best film is often
announced at five to six or if it's running over
after that. So whether it's someone telling me in my ear,
who just one best film because I'm going live at
the time, but also I'm sending voice back the whole
(27:21):
time because there is always a three minute package which
is we do from LA but also needs to get
cut and get to air at the same time as
I'm going live when we've only just been dishing out
those big hitting awards.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
So you know it's probably not as I mean, it's clamorous,
but you're working hard at this event.
Speaker 5 (27:37):
Hilariously, because you know TV three is always run on
the smell of an oily rag. We had the most
amazing time where we didn't have accreditation and what we.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
Did was technically meant to be.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
We were meant to be there.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
We couldn't get properly onto the carpet to do any
of our live crosses, so what we did is we
just spent the couple of days kind of loitering around
the Hollywood rs of out hotel across the road, from
the Oscars and it was E Entertainment had booked the
whole hotel.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
They had the whole swimming pool.
Speaker 5 (28:03):
Set up with all of their sets, all the stars
were coming and going, and we just kind of wandered
around until people stopped really caring who we were. This
is me and Cameron and John Fleming and there was
a kind of an overbridge looking down on all of
this and it was an amazing shot on the day,
and we thought this is where we need to go
live from, so we kind of just loitered and hung out,
and it was kind of where they brought the stars
(28:24):
in as a green room to wait before they went
down anyway, We're about to go live, essentially, and we
were just standing there and no one was really looking.
So John just put the camera on his shoulder and
put the sun gun on and I just did a
live cross and waiting the whole time during the live
for someone just to tap.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
Me on the shop and say what are you doing?
Who even are you?
Speaker 5 (28:43):
And then we finished up and it was just like
one of the most amazing moments of my life.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
It was so TV three, so Gorilla.
Speaker 5 (28:50):
We basically just stolen their entire set live prospect and
then got really cocky and did another one for the
project and managed to get that on the can as well.
So there are weird little things like that where you
just have to make do and sometimes you're not guaranteed
accreditation at main reason being that you know, there's three
people in New Zealand and Hollywood doesn't care about any
(29:10):
of them.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Well, there's so many amazing movies in New Zealand that
have been popular all around the world. And there are
so many Kiwis who are starring in movies or even
directing movies. I know, and it shows you can do
it from here in little old New Zealand. What is
about kiwis that makes them so successful in the movie industry?
Speaker 4 (29:28):
I was asked this so bizarre.
Speaker 5 (29:30):
I was asked this question last week and I sat
and thought about it. Per head of population, because the
Aussies like to think, Ah, you know, we've got Nicole Cadman,
We've got Hugh Jackman, and I look at all of
our filmmakers, from Jane Campion to Peter Jackson to Tiger.
We've got Gaileen Preston and Niki Caro. You look at
(29:52):
Sam Neil and Cliff Curtis and Carl Urban who are
all and Melanie Lynsky who've just crafted the most Noel
International careers from their basements with their Super eight camera
in the case of PJ. And also you look at
what Peter Jackson has done in terms of turning us
into a filmmaking destination with he did with Lord of
(30:14):
the Rings. It means all of these crafts people from dops,
from cinematographers to grips, to people who edit and light
and location scouts and performers, actors, directors, producers, They get
to cut their teeth on big productions and small productions.
But it really shone a light on New Zealand. And
I just think we do same reason as well.
Speaker 4 (30:34):
We just crack on.
Speaker 5 (30:35):
People love working with Kiwi's, they love coming down and
shooting with Kiwi's, they love Kiwis on sets overseas, and
I just think it makes a really big difference.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
It's pretty cool they could do it. I mean advice though,
because you've seen it's a changing industry. Obviously Zoom comes
into it with interviews in the way. Social media is
very different from when you and I first started. So
what would you recommend for someone getting into the media
industry because I mean, he has always to be around.
I guess that's the way it's changing quite quickly. It's
hard to know how to navigate sometimes.
Speaker 5 (31:04):
I'm having some really interesting conversations because I hilariously was
asked to appear on the panel for a careers evening
at my old school last week's Center Great Preparation Barring
as a Catholic girls school which I went to when
you still carved your essays on stone, and there was
a lot of questions around exactly that because news have
(31:27):
just shut down, you know, Wanner Brothers shut down an
entire newsroom of journalists, and not so much as that,
it's the whole tenor of how the industry is feeling
at the moment from a journalistic perspective, because you've got
really passionate men and women, young men and women coming
out of school in university and study that want to
be journalists are going I'm where am I going to
(31:49):
work for a journalist with twenty years experience hasn't got
a job.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
What hope is there for me?
Speaker 5 (31:54):
It's changing so much at a time where I would
argue it's never been more important to have people speaking
truth to power.
Speaker 4 (32:02):
I mean, we're.
Speaker 5 (32:03):
Almost in a post truth apocalypse, so that's so much
more important. But I have this weird little job within
that newsroom, which is obviously purely entertainment. So some would
argue that we still need that escapism and that technically speaking,
I can use those skills to do a number of
other things if I so choose to, But it's much
(32:24):
much harder. So my advices know what you want, what
you're wanting to achieve. But you, guys, I'm so jealous
of you because you have these big, beautiful minds that
can be so much more open as a sponge to
new technology, whether it's AI, whatever it is, that means
we can I still feel a little stuck in my
(32:46):
ways often where I just feel like I need to kind.
Speaker 4 (32:49):
Of hang up with you a little bit more. I
think I'm in a.
Speaker 5 (32:53):
Situation perhaps where you could teach me more almost now
than I could teach you, because it's still about content,
and content is king. So how do you reach more people?
How do you make that content more authentic? How do
you make that content watchable? But I have some guts
and manna to it in a way, how do I speak,
(33:13):
you know, being a woman, a young woman, an older woman.
I think it's really important that we have a voice,
and how do we provide a lens for the female voice?
All of those things I feel really passionate about. But
I still feel like I've got so much to learn.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
Well before you go some quick fire movie questions and
find out if I really want to be like you.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
This is called this or that?
Speaker 1 (33:34):
Oka Are you ready two Harry Potter or Lord of
the Rings or the Rings. Crying at the movies or
not tee ever?
Speaker 5 (33:41):
Crying at the movies all the time?
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Barbie movie or Fast and Furious Barby movies based on
books or original movies, originalspying well, this is probably not
your thing. Buying your popcorner. The movies are bringing your own,
not eating.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
I get tired off for so yeah, I'm not doing
that anymore.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
TikTok or Netflix.
Speaker 4 (34:03):
Netflix.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
People who talk in the movies or people.
Speaker 4 (34:05):
Who fall asleep jail people.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
We were at a Broadway show in New York and
this guy next to me, he was asleep, kid, it
is the most interesting.
Speaker 4 (34:20):
Show and was snoring. I was like, oh my god.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
This guy camping or staying in a hotel.
Speaker 4 (34:32):
Five star all the way baby, Yeah, me.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Too, watching movies at home or in the theater.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
In the cinema. Get the to a cinema.
Speaker 5 (34:39):
That's how they made that's how they meant to be seen.
And if we don't watch them in a cinema, it
will disappear. If we don't pay to go to the movies,
they will disappear.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
That's scary.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
Oscar winning movies or fun, epic blockbusters.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
Both.
Speaker 4 (34:55):
This podcast for.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
Interviewing the world's biggest stars.
Speaker 4 (35:01):
You're the biggest start of the future and your dance
just hanging.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
On for that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Okay, thank you so much for your time. It's amazing
when you look at everyone you've talked to and the
places you've gone. And finally, what would you tell your
thirteen year old or fourteen year old self?
Speaker 3 (35:16):
Do it?
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Do it?
Speaker 3 (35:17):
Do it?
Speaker 4 (35:19):
Wow, that's pretty good advice.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
Just do it.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
Yeah, they should make that into a really big international camp.
Just do it, Nike, just do it.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
It was.
Speaker 4 (35:44):
Just do it.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
Okay, you loved it.
Speaker 4 (35:48):
Thanks guys.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
I can't believe you filled.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
Up her car with popcorn.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
That didn't like it. I thought you love movies.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
It was such a cool chair and the Holy with Salib,
she's spoken to amazing people.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
Yeah, we might have one of those people on next week.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
On the podcast, right any one way to find out?
Subscribe to the podcast and we'll catch you next episode
as we work out what I want to be when
I grow up.