Parky, it ain't...

Introduction

Good long interviews with actors and directors are rare. If you're lucky that you'll see some short brown-nosing from Parky or maybe some really poor jokes from Jonathon Ross or maybe a semi-decent to short epk extra on a DVD. Those interviews are mainly either to promote a particular event or to reminisce and regale some amusing stories. Rarely do you get an in depth interview that looks past the latest film promotion and gets to the heart of the actor and his/her life.

Inside The Actor's Studio attempts to do just that. Starting in 1994, this series has lasted 14 years and seen over 200 guests appear. Hosted by James Lipton, an actor himself, this series attempts to examine the acting craft from the perspective of the guest. The series seems to form part of a degree course at the Actor's Studio, a New York based acting school that has been the home of method acting in the US for more than 60 years.

This set, subtitled Icons, features interviews with Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood and Barbra Streisand.

Visual

4:3 picture, and a very static one at that, but then it's an interview format so it's not going to be that dynamic.

Audio

2.0 Stereo with no subtitles.

Extras

Each episode has a (long) introduction from host James Lipton who, considering he's an actor, doesn't seem too comfortable in front of the camera. The switched views between cameras is very blatant and unnatural, and boy, can he talk for England.

Great moments that didn't make the cut - deleted scenes in other words. Only the Streisand interview doesn't have any, not sure why, as that one uncut was five hours long apparently.

Overall

There's only so much that you can say about a series of interviews, so here you go. Lipton is a so-so host, but he knows it. He plays to his audience of students quite often and sucks up to his guests, but then most hosts do this. Lipton's style seems a little forced in places, he has a series of cue cards that he uses for questions; his style is an attempt at free flowing conversation but his cue cards get in the way sometimes and the guests aren't provided the opportunity to really explore some of the things they say at times. Lipton appears to be well aware of his hosting deficiencies though, and despite this, it works very well. It must do to have lasted so long. Although the guests who appear may well have had a little to do with that.

The interviews showcased here all last for a minimum of an hour apiece with two lasting over an hour and a half. It was nice to see an interview with the recently departed Paul Newman, I didn't realise that he was actually the President of the Actor's Studio; you sometimes get so caught up in the acting hype that you don't realise what's happening outside of that arena. Redford is a nice and very popular bloke and Eastwood is just a legend. These interviews are all very good.



However, the pick of them all for me was the one I suspected I would enjoy the least. Barbra Streisand has always been an enigma to me, I've heard bits of her reputation but not seen any of her appearances on film or TV bar the South Park episode that she 'guested' on. Lipton as host had the same kind of warnings given to him about Streisand about what would happen when she appeared as my own preconceptions on what would happen; Streisand would run the show, put on a grand performance and just be a total Diva. We were both wrong. Streisand's interview was superb, she came across as completely open and honest, answering every question truthfully - so truthfully in fact that she almost broke down a couple of times and looked quite vulnerable. My respect for her rose significantly on the basis of this interview.

Very interesting.