The Art of the Interview: Lessons from a Master of the Craft [Paperback]

Lawrence Grobel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 2004

THE ULTIMATE INSIDER’S LOOK AT THE FINE ART OF INTERVIEWING

“I had a fantasy the other night that this interview is so great that they no longer want me to act—just do interviews. I thought of us going all over the world doing interviews—we’ve signed for three interviews a day for six weeks.”
—Al Pacino, in an interview with Lawrence Grobel

Highly respected in journalist circles and hailed as “the Interviewer’s Interviewer,” Lawrence Grobel is the author of well-received biographies of Truman Capote, Marlon Brando, James Michener, and the Huston family, with bylines from Rolling Stone and Playboy to the New York Times. He has spent his thirty-year career getting tough subjects to truly open up and talk. Now, in The Art of the Interview, he offers step-by-step instruction on all aspects of nailing an effective interview and provides an inside look on how he elicted such colorful responses as:

“I don’t like Shakespeare. I’d rather be in Malibu.” —Anthony Hopkins

“Feminists don’t like me, and I don’t like them.”—Mel Gibson

“I hope to God my friends steal my body out of a morgue and throw a party when I’m dead.”—Drew Barrymore

“I want you out of here. And I want those goddamn tapes!”—Bob Knight

“I smoked pot with my father when I was eleven in 1973. . . . He thought he was giving me a mind-extending experience just like he used to give me Hemingway novels and Woody Allen films.”—Anthony Kiedis

In The Art of the Interview, Grobel reveals the most memorable stories from his career, along with examples of the most candid moments from his long list of famous interviewees, from Oscar-winning actors and Nobel laureates to Pulitzer Prizewinning writers and sports figures. Taking us step by step through the interview process, from research and question writing to final editing, The Art of the Interview is a treat for journalists and culture vultures alike.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

To conduct a good interview, you must "converse like a talk show host, think like a writer, understand subtext like a psychiatrist, have an ear like a musician, be able to select the best parts like a book editor and know how to piece it together dramatically like a playwright." This is the sound advice of famed Playboy interviewer Grobel, the man who scored the only in-depth interview with Patty Hearst and who got the elusive Marlon Brando to agree to a week-long interview in Tahiti. Grobel, who has also written a biography of the Hustons and contributed to numerous other publications, gives readers the equivalent of a master class in this thoroughly entertaining treatise on one of the toughest tasks in journalism. He is generous with information and journalistic tips, explaining, among other things, how to prepare for the meeting and how to get the subject to open up. An invaluable resource for aspiring journalists, the book also satisfies the voyeuristic desires of a celebrity obsessed culture by raising the curtain on the idiosyncratic demands of stars and by putting the reader in the interviewer’s chair. Grobel does this throughout the book by deconstructing some of his more famous dialogues, including those of former Indiana Hoosiers coach Bobby Knight, Drew Barrymore and Barbra Streisand, who presented him with a contract drawn up by her attorneys when he arrived at her home for the interview. The book is an overstuffed treat, full of anecdotes, advice from other top writers and the kind of commiserating stories about difficult editors, hellish assignments and prickly stars that will seize the attention of both professional interviewers and their audiences.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Not only are interviews the staple of television and radio talk shows and news, they are also the wellspring of myriad articles and most nonfiction books. Interviews vary from tightwire acts to prolonged, in-depth conversations, and at their liveliest and most revealing, they are true collaborations between interviewer and interviewee. Grobel, the author of eight previous books, is a respected veteran of the form--the first celebrity he spoke with was Mae West--and his work has appeared in such venues as Playboy, Rolling Stone, and the New York Times. He now energetically and entertainingly covers every aspect of the arduous task of interviewing, from research and prep work to handling reluctant interviewees to coaxing out revelations (Mel Gibson thinks the theory of evolution is bunk; Joyce Carol Oates explains her obsession with molestation and rape) to editing raw transcripts. He provides running commentary on a conversation with Drew Barrymore, includes observations by editors and other journalists, and shamelessly name-drops. Rich in irresistible celebrity anecdotes and genuinely useful information, this is an unusually sharp and vibrant how-to. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 1 edition (August 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400050715
• ISBN-13: 978-1400050710
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #136,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Memoir Miscast as a How-To, October 30, 2004

By 

beckyjean "beckyjean" (East Granby, CT) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Art of the Interview: Lessons from a Master of the Craft (Paperback)

Interviewing has been part of my professional life for nearly 15 years, so I was looking forward to reading a book by someone who's been doing it twice as long, and with far more famous interview subjects than I tend to work with.

But it wasn't too far into the book before I realized the same points were being made over and over and over, using scenarios with different famous people as examples. The book seems to be part memoir, part how-to, and doesn't really satisfy as either one. It's too repetitive and not quite in-depth enough to be a good how-to, and it's not quite personal enough to be a memoir. By the time Grobel resorted to interviewing _himself_, I felt the book had wavered so much between memoir and how-to, that the self-interview seemed not only redundant (bringing up many of the same how-to points that had been reiterated throughout the rest of the book) but self-indulgent.

The book feels padded, especially by the interviews with prominent editors and interviewers -- I feel those could have been trimmed even more than they no doubt already were. I think the material in this book could have made a compelling magazine article. As it stands, however, it's a rather lightweight book.

The parts I most enjoyed were the parts that approached memoir. I loved hearing about Grobel's personal reactions to, and opinions of, big-name celebrities. I loved hearing stories about battling recalcitrant publicists. I appreciated the bits of personal information, such as Grobel's initial desire to be a novelist. Maybe there _is_ a memoir inside Grobel. If he ever writes it, I'll read it, because the scraps of information he throws in "The Art of the Interview" are fascinating.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More of a Memior, July 13, 2005

By 

Staci L. Wilson "Author: Animal Movies Guide ... (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Art of the Interview: Lessons from a Master of the Craft (Paperback)

I didn't buy this book to pick up tips - I've been an interviewer / writer for most of my life and am comfortable with my style. I bought the book because Larry Grobel is a great journalist and wordsmith, and I was curious to know about how he does what he does. On that count, the book is a hit.

Where it misses is in trying to instruct. The midsection of the book covers several different types of interviews (for print, online, TV, etc.) but completely neglects covering what I consider to be some very important ground. Most celebrity interviewers, like myself, are not at the highest echelon - most of us will not get exclusive sit-down TV interviews for the Playboy Channel; will never spend weeks with Marlon Brando on his private island; or get five or six sessions with Barbra Striesand for a big magazine cover story. Grobel's been there, done that. (But it's nice to know that even Grobel has the same experience with brick-wall publicists; he doesn't necessarily have Oscar winners banging his door down all the time.)

I have interviewed quite a few of the same big stars Grobel has - Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Halle Berry, Meryl Streep - but my experience is quite different. I usually get about five minutes at a red carpet premiere, four minutes at a TV junket, or 20 minutes at an on-the-set press conference in which I must compete with other reporters for answers. It's rather appalling that Grobel does not even mention press junkets, red carpet premieres, or set visits in his book - let alone e-mail interviews which are becoming more and more commonplace as the world goes online.

Grobel has the time to make an "art" of the interview - given the limitations of the situations, what the vast majority of reporters do is a quick caricature or a sketch. Still, there is a certain excitement and spontaneity to the randomness of a red carpet premiere, or having a chat at a press junket with young up and comers who aren't so guarded around the press. As long as the interviewee can express themselves well in writing, even e-mail interviews can be cool. It's too bad that Grobel doesn't mention any of this.

Had I been looking for tips to break into the business of interviewing celebrities, I would have been pretty disappointed in The Art of the Interview. However, if you are looking for more of a memoir and are interested in the process of what an interviewer actually does, then The Art of the Interview is highly recommended. Grobel is an excellent writer, and he does a good job of seamlessly going from point A to point B.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More to interviewing than I thought., September 1, 2004

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Art of the Interview: Lessons from a Master of the Craft (Paperback)

Would you believe that there's a class in interviewing people at UCLA? Well there is, and it's tought by Lawrence Grobel. What I found astounding was the amount of preparation that he goes through before interviewing someone.

After having it explained, it all makes sense. If you're going through the effort to travel to Tahiti to spend a week interviewing Marlon Brando, you're not going to get another chance to follow up with more questions later. But for the interview with Drew Barrymore he prepared 158 questions, that's right one hundred and fifty eight.

I don't plan to go interview movie stars, but I've had job interviews, and the preparation he does in advance makes it clear that these techniques will work in both directions. The person interviewing you will turn out to be interview by you instead and can't help but be impressed with your preparation and understanding.