French humour during interviews
 

Jonah Hill, a US actor, has cancelled all interviews in France.

He was interviewed on Canal+ (a major in France) and the woman interviewing him teased him on some scenes where he did weird things, including a sexual scene with a demon in his last movie (this is the end). Don't ask about the movies, I don't know waht a theater is anymore.

Anyway, Jonah was not pleased and told the girl she did this kind of things frequently, from what he had heard. Ornella Fleury answered at her turn that she had a fantasm : she spent time with Jonah in a hotel, they had a lot of laughs, then Jonah brings him his friends Brad Pitt and L Di Caprio and himself... leaves.

So shocked that he canceled all further interviews.
Ahh the french humour...

lesoir.be/1313950/article/soirmag/actu-tele/2016-09-10/ridiculise-par-miss-meteo-du-grand-journal-jonah-hill-annule-toutes-ses-intervie

The articles I find in english omits to say what he said before she crucified him.
uproxx.com/tv/jonah-hill-awkward-french-interview/2/
http://www.joe.ie/movies-tv/watch-th...ah-hill/559811

I find this interesting on several grounds :
France is irreverential even in interviews
Hill reacted badly - probably (surely) quite taken aback by the first comments
everybody in France knows Canal is capable of doing these tricks, Hill was badly briefed
reactions on both sides of the Atlantic diverge, mostly due to journalists themselves
transcription of interview omits some facts, which indeed make it appear nastier from the French side

How do you read this ?

I've no idea about either of them, but judging by the French summary of the interview, he's lucky Graham Norton didn't get hold of him. And yes, if he's done ridiculous films he should expect to be teased about it, and learn how to do the same in return. Did he seriously imagine no interviewer's going to do anything but join in the PR fluff for his latest movie?

The thing that shocked him the most from what I read is that Ornella Fleury is just the weather girl on that programme, not an interviewer.

Clearly a case of lèse-majesté, then.

American actors nearly always look like "deer in the headlights" when they have to go flog a film, even at Cannes. Even with someone translating for them via earphones, they never seem to get anything right. They'd be much better off not doing publicity in France.

Well, except for Bradley Cooper, who at least makes a good effort to communicate in French.

It's true that even the official interviews usually throw them for a loop. I've heard the actors/directors say on numerous occasions "nobody has ever asked me questions like that before!" But there are a number of interviewers who just (as we say in France) 'serve them the soup' with the standard questions to which they reply like automatons after 50 interviews. "What was it like working with x-x-x?" "How do you like Paris?"

I thought the French comedian was funny. She obviously meant it as a joke not a personal attack.
Why did he feel humiliated? He does get sodomized by a demon in his movie so why did he feel offended when asked about that specific scene?

Jonah's comeback was actually pretty weak. The French comedian roasted hi.

The French journalist started by referring to the demon scene.
She said "It's when I saw you get sodomized by a demon that I knew you're the man of my dreams."

To which immature Jonas replied "I heard you get sodomized everyday".

Seriously? Is this the best he could come up with?

At this moment, the French comedian hit back by saying she had a fantasy that involved Jonas bringing his two friends DiCaprio and Brad Pitt and then LEAVING.

A well deserved burn in my opinion.

Yawn.

The French still think Jerry Lewis is hilarious.

Very funny. If you know French, you get the cheeky slant of her banter - she's making fun of herself at the same time as she's bringing up these scenes from past movies. He reacted like a wimp. Couldn't he play along and say something like "well, you're right, I've been in some remarkable scenes, some of us get to have all the fun" and leave it at that? Look at the faces in the background - smiling, grinning, in on the silliness of it all. No harm, no foul, but he took it so badly that he made it into an embarrassment.

I think he was the rude one by telling her she gets sodomized everyday. She was making fun of one of his movie scenes, and he replied with a personal attack.

Not only that, but he's also playing victim. Idiot

<i>The French still think Jerry Lewis is hilarious.</i>

Do you have any recent statistics about this, BR, or is it something you read 50 years ago?

Ask any French under my age, and you'll hear 'Jerry who ?'.
But he made me laugh .... yes about 50 years ago.
Laurel and Hardy still make me laugh, however.