Have you ever met anyone famous?

[KrAzY]

I met Selena Gomez, although it was a CD signing, does that count?

[ND 3:16]

I got to meet Dirk Benedict from the A:Team and Battlestar Galactica yesterday. Had the pleasure of interviewing him for the radio station I work for, really nice guy.

[The Hitman]

I've met a bunch of wrestlers but I'll save that for the main forum thread. I've met quite a few people so I'll try and keep this brief.

 

Boxing: Frank Bruno, Joe Calzaghe, David Haye and Sugar Ray Leonard were all really nice and fascinating to talk to. Johnny Nelson is a nice bloke too, makes you wonder why he gets some stick in boxing circles. Bonecrusher Smith is very much a one-word answer sort of guy.

 

Football: Rio Ferdinand, Edwin Van Der Sar and Michael Carrick are polite but due to signing loads they couldn't talk long. Sir Bobby Charlton was a true gent and probably my proudest moment as a nerdy autograph collector as I just happened to spot in coming out of the director's bit at Vicarage Road. Steve McClaren was cool, shit England boss though . Ian Walker and Patrick Van Aanholt were the biggest footballing cunts I've met. Met too many others to mention, some include Alan Smith, Ashley Young, Jermaine Pennant and Marlon King who stunningly didn't beat me up. Then again, I'm not a woman.

 

Film & TV: Dirk Benedict was amazing to chat to. After a day of talking A-Team and Battlestar, he seemed genuinely thrilled to recall his experience of making "Body Slam" with Captain Lou Albano and Roddy Piper. Ernie Hudson was incredible, meeting Winston after being a lifetime Ghostbusters geek and recent The Crow convert was superb and he had loads of stories to tell. Carl Weathers was quiet but nice, had a little chat.

 

Music: Less Than Jake and Bowling for Soup are both as funny to be around as you'd expect. Blaze Bayley was a true gent, I'm an uber-nerd when it comes to Blaze yet he was undaunted by the pile of CDs and setlists I put in front of him to sign. Rou and Rory from Enter Shikari were awesome, a lot of people seem to think they are cocks but they were two of the most humble musicians I've ever been in a room with. Frank Turner is incredibly fun to be around. I've also met members of Napalm Death, Your Demise, Alestorm, Soilent Green, Poison The Well and a bunch of others.

 

I know this reads like me whipping out my autograph wang, but I am kinda proud in a nerdy sort of way

[Snake Plissken]

I met the cast of Prince of Persia the other week for interviews:

 

Jake Gyllenhaal - Very nice guy doesn't take himself too seriously stopped to take pics with us press folk

 

Gemma Arteton - Wonderful absolutely down to earth and loverly. Also from my town (Gravesend) which had her fist bumping me in the middle of the interview

 

Mike Newell (Director) - Total Luvvie hilarious but long winded

 

Jordan Mechner (Creator of the Game) - Nervous has a stammer and total geek. But in a nice way

 

Jerry Bruckhiemer (Producer) - Legend. That is all

 

Sir Ben Kingsley - Brilliant, brilliant interview, if I was ever doing PR for anything Sir Ben would be the man I would want to promote it. Would have you beleive that Prince of Persia is a sweeping Shakesperean epic. likend the film at various parts of the interview to a 'broad canvas with many colours and brush strokes' dancing and even opera. Also, stopped for pics with the journos.

[Philo_Vance]

There's a very slim chance of me getting to meet Willie Nelson before his gig in London next month, I shall duly report back if it happens. I'm so fricking excited.

[Keith Houchen]

There's a very slim chance of me getting to meet Willie Nelson before his gig in London next month, I shall duly report back if it happens. I'm so fricking excited.

Holy fuck, that would be the coolest thing! Good luck man.

[Risk]

I met the chuckle brothers once. I didn't chuckle. Not once.

 

I also met Kevin Keegan. What a bloke, chatted with me for 10 minutes.

[Philo_Vance]

There's a very slim chance of me getting to meet Willie Nelson before his gig in London next month, I shall duly report back if it happens. I'm so fricking excited.

Holy fuck, that would be the coolest thing! Good luck man.

 

Yeah, a friend of a friend's Dad is involved with whoever the big concert promoters are, and he's going to this industry meet and greet thing the afternoon of the show. It probably won't happen but he's trying to swing me a +1. This would be, without a doubt the coolest thing to ever happen to me. I'd probably cry.

[SpursRiot2012]

was avin a meal in southport with me family and stevie g came in the restaurant. seemed like a nice enuff fella doin signachures and had a bit just for him an his bird but when he left he left without payin the cheeky sod!!!

 

#Sign a couple autographs so I can eat my meals for free...#

[Gwailofilms]

Today, I met both Gollum and Luke Skywalker. Who wants to to touch me?

 

I'm out in Cannes covering the film festival for work and we seem to be interviewing about a billion people a day. Most of them, sadly, are arty French ponces. In the past few days, though, we've spoken to Terry Gilliam (always great value), Aishwarya Rai (former Miss World & all-around Bollywood hottie), Jennifer Hudson (very lovely, quite beautiful in person and surprisingly normal), Terrence Howard (absolute fruitcake) and Stephen Baldwin (ditto).

 

The icing on the cake came today though. We'd been waiting on Hamill and Serkis confirmation for ages and they ended up being scheduled practically back-to-back.

 

Andy Serkis is a gentleman and a damn fine interview. He bought us all coffee and gave us a near-45 minute interview on... well.. just about everything!

 

Mark Hamill is freaking awesome. A genuinely nice man, he insisted on knowing how to spell my name properly (I told him he was my new best friend when he got it right first time; few people do) and said he has a weird thing about spelling people's names "like George in Seinfeld... I just compared myself to George Costanza... That's probably not good..."

 

We were scheduled for a 20 minute slot (which is really long in this business; a colleague of mine recently interviewed Jennifer Lopez and was a granted a princely four minutes) and ended up going nearly double. When he answers a question, he answers a question, complete with impressions of George Lucas, Anthony Daniels, Malcolm MacDowell & Hugh Jackman, his "Joker" voice and Monty Python jokes.

 

In the end, he was almost dragged away by his PR rep as he was now late for his next interview.

 

Two fantastic men and, with the addition of shooting a personal parkour demonstration on the Croisette, a hell of a day!

[Astro Hollywood]

Ah, so glad Gilliam's not a prick. I'd have been crushed to find out he was anything less than as awesome as he looks.

[spurs 4 life]

That story about Luke Skywalker has made my day. Brilliant.

[Gwailofilms]

Ah, so glad Gilliam's not a prick. I'd have been crushed to find out he was anything less than as awesome as he looks.

I've run camera on interviews with him three or four times and he's great. He's always laughing and refreshingly honest. If he thinks something sucks, he'll tell you, make a joke about it,t hen fall into peels of laughter. I question that weird little rat-tail thing in his hair, but still want him as an uncle... Him and Bill Nighy who, by the way, is also awesome.

 

I fucking hate you with every fibre of my being. She could piss in my bath. I bet she smells delicious. Did her boobs jiggle like they do in the Spotlight video? I NEED ANSWERS!!

She was wearing quite a decolletage-happy dress and, yes, they're lovely. I didn't really get close enough for a sniff, though. She just seems like a happy, normal southern girl, which, for the few years she's had, is really quite remarkable.

 

(I don't really hate you man)

Yay!

[Boycie]

I met Jim Davidson once and he was a really nice bloke. Very friendly and down to earth.

 

Also, during the Championship play-offs when Ipswich were playing West Ham I was having a drink in a town centre pub and in walked none other than Ray Winstone! The landlady joked with him saying she wouldn't serve him as it was 'Home fans only' and he took it all in good humour. Told me he just fancied a quick drink before the game. Top bloke.

[Smegma Cake]

I met Carol Smillie in Silverburn almost two weeks ago. She was nice, chatted for a few minutes then left her alone. I wasn't the only one who interrupted her shopping trip. I didn't realize how small she was until I stood next to her. I'm only 5"4 but I towered over her.

 

The first famous person I ever met was an actor called Gary Hollywood. He was in Taggart and Take The High Road in Scotland and it was a pretty big thing. He came to my primary school to talk to our class about careers or something like that. Can't remember exactly.