The Media Interview

As I started to watch yesterday’s much talked about interview with Billy Bob Thornton and the Boxmasters on CBC Radio out of Toronto, I thought we were in for another Sigur Ros or Joaquin Phoenix stunt, when the interviewee simply clams up.

Then, as host Jian Ghomeshi asked about Billy Bob’s musical influences growing up, and he replied by talking about a movie monster magazine he loved as a kid, I thought maybe the accompanying glazed look indicated that an intervention was needed instead of an interview.

But things became much clearer when Billy Bob uttered words to this effect: ‘your producer was instructed not to mention my acting career’. Ghomeshi admitted that some form of request had been made, but felt that at least mentioning Thornton’s film career was helpful in providing some context to his musical work.

Billy Bob tried to make out that it was Ghomeshi’s use of the phrase “given that you seem quite passionate about music” that was insulting, saying that you would never ask that of someone like Tom Petty. In other words, by making that statement Ghomeshi is implying that Thornton is principally a movie guy and not a musician.

Trouble is, Ghomeshi used that phrase well into the interview, long after Thornton had started clamming up or talking about movie monsters, and there was virtually no other mention of movies in those first 7 minutes. However, in Billy Bob’s mind, it seems, the crime had been committed in the opening seconds.

During Ghomeshi’s introduction, he had said that one member of the Boxmasters is Billy Bob Thornton, “whose other job, sometimes, is Oscar-winning actor, screenwriter, and director” followed by the statement that Thornton’s name is “most often linked to his cinematic endeavours.” To be fair, Ghomeshi’s point with that last phrase was to contrast it with the fact that Thornton has always said that music is his first love and movies were a diversion. But apparently, the offence had already been taken.

How did Thornton react to that opening? Instead of being up front and reminding Ghomeshi (and informing the audience) of the agreement not to talk about movies, Thornton elected to shut down and respond with “I don’t know what you mean” and then, when legitimately asked about his musical influences growing up, talks about a supposed movie influence instead. It was just plain childish.

Whether Thornton was just tired, had had enough of mentions of his movie work by interviewers, or whatever, he chose to let himself sound and (because it was simulcast on TV) look bad. And how he seriously expects there to be no mention of his movie career in interviews is a childish attempt to control reality.

[Thanks to Bob LeDrew over at Flacklife for letting me know about this interview]