From the Archives: Diane Keaton
by Jack Tewksbury
For forty years the HFPA has recorded interviews with famous and celebrated actors, actresses and filmmakers. The world’s largest collection of its kind — over 10,000 interviews — is now in the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences Library. The audios are fascinating. Below is an excerpt: Dianne Keaton talking out overcoming shyness, the Annie Hall look and her relationship with fashion.
“In high school they voted me the Shyest Girl In School. I was so timid I didn’t go up to get the flowers. I’m not as shy and insecure as I once was. I’ve changed. You have to change, otherwise you just get more walled off, more protective, less able to get out and face the world. Sometimes you’ve just got to go out there.
Like everyone else, I worry if I do too much, or that I’m not fulfilling myself, or that I didn’t do enough. Or that I’m going to die or lose all my friend or I’m going to miss my family. These are ordinary fears everyone has, and I’m filled with them.
I go to bed at night so wound up by fear that I’m going to die or I’m going to lose a loved one. It’s overwhelming. But, basically, the next morning I get up, drink a cup of coffee, and boom!
The truth is I never originated (the Annie Hall) look. When I did Annie Hall there were people in the streets looking just like her. I had not created anything. People actually dressed like that. I wasn’t anything like Madonna. It was a cultural thing, but it wasn’t a phenomenon.
I’ve always been very clothes conscious, but I don’t think I’m qualified to establish a line. A lot of famous people have tried that but, frankly, you’ve got to know what you’re doing.I’m good at selecting clothes, but there’s a big difference between buying what you like and making up the idea. I’m not everyone’s taste. I said to a nasty friend, ”Whenever I’m down in the dumps I buy a dress.” She replied, “I wondered where you got them.”
Remember when the style for women was the use of padding in everything? Women had wider shoulders than body-builders. When they came down the street they were scarey. They didn’t take off their clothes. They unpacked.”
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From The Archives: Hugh Grant
by Jack Tewksbury
For forty years the HFPA has recorded interviews with famous and celebrated actors, actresses and filmmakers. The world’s largest collection of its kind — over 10,000 interviews — is now in the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences Library. The audios are fascinating. Below is an excerpt: Hugh Grant, in 1992, talking about the perils of kissing the director’s wife on the set of Roman Polanski‘s Bitter Moon, and describing his relationship with then-girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley.
“Roman Polanski’s marriage to actress Emmanuelle Seigner is like a ship with two mates and no captain. I think they’re having a marvelous time. Roman’s temperamental in the old fashioned tradition of the maestro director. It was fun to watch him lose his temper, particularly with Emmanuelle. There was a lot of that.
He would storm off the set saying, “No, I’m not shooting anything today. No, no, forget it.” And she’d say, “Oh no, come back, come back. I’ll try harder this time.”
It was very interesting, but she’s very naughty as well. I remember doing a standard film kiss, which is really quite chaste, and she kept breaking away and saying, “What are you doing? You put your tongue in my mouth! Don’t do that!”
Which, I promise you, I wasn’t doing. She was just trying to create trouble with Roman.
Elizabeth (Hurley) came up to me like a teenage fan. We met seven years ago in Spain on a film in which I was playing Lord Byron, and Elizabeth played the woman who was in love with him all her life. Clare Claremont. In fact I have a theory that she only really likes me as Lord Byron.
We lived together in England for a long time, but after a few years we discovered she was getting more work in the U.S, and I was getting more work in England, so we ended up living on separate continents. Strangely, I think we’ve been getting on better ever since then. It’s fresher, and we fight less.
What makes her so attractive? It’s very difficult to describe what one finds attractive, but she’s it. And I suppose I’m always rather endeared to people who fancy me, and she did. I remember she had a good line. She came up to me one day on the set and just said, “Hugh, I think I’ve got a crush on you.” And I loved that. I thought that was excellent, and we’ve been going out together ever since.
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A Statement From the HFPA
The HFPA was founded on the ideals of diversity, with journalists representing countries from around the world. We would never exclude someone from the HFPA based on race, religion, gender or sexual orientation.
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