You see 'rudeness', I see vapid interviewers and sassy British sarcasm that simply gets lost on the American brain.
In case you've been living under a rock, Cara Delevingne's latest interview promoting her role in the upcoming movie '
Paper Towns' went viral today - but not for the reason that most of you would think. A stark contrast from the exuberant model-turned-actress that we saw a couple weeks ago as she unleashed her beat-boxing skills on Jimmy Fallon's talk show, Delevingne's energy level was a little low as she appeared via video chat on 'Good Day Sacramento'. There's no denying that. However, while many (*cough* Americans) are brandishing this as 'rudeness' and her being 'moody', I beg to differ. British humour often gets lost in translation in the US and while Cara did provide some dry and sarcastic responses, the questions asked were so unbelievably dull (and some completely moronic) that they honestly weren't worth an exciting answer. The interview started off on the wrong foot and only went downhill from there.
Have a watch for yourselves below before I give my detailed opinion of it:
Now you've had a chance to form your own opinion, here's why I'm
#TeamCara:
1. Tip #1 - get the name of the person you're interviewing right. Cara seems pretty uncomfortable from the beginning of the interview and that was probably made worse when the anchor couldn't even get her name right when it's written in front of her - introducing her as 'Carla'. Sure, that doesn't sound like a big deal , but it makes me suspicious that there was a little bit of discomfort between her and Cara before the interview even began. I'm just speculating, but I feel like something may have happened off-camera or in the past that we're not aware of which caused a bit of bad blood.
2. Asking an actress if they've read the book of a movie they're starring in is unbelievably condescending and just plain ridiculous. It's no wonder that Cara felt she needed to give a sarcastic answer to spice up things - of course she's bloody read it!!! To follow it up with 'do you even have time to sit and read?' may seem like a light-hearted thing to say because, yes, she is unbelievably busy, however I'm sure she's not TOO busy that she can't read the script and learn her lines. The interviewer may have meant well, but this entire question was pretty unnecessary and seemed to be a dig at Cara's intelligence. She would have been better off asking something like 'How was it getting to work with John Green?' instead and Cara would have gone into how much she loves his books.
3. Oh look, another dumb question. I don't even understand this one - how would it be easier to focus when you're busy and harder when you have 'downtime'? Props to Cara for managing to answer this so well because I would be stuck for words at the absurdity of it.
4. Why are these interviewers only asking closed questions and never bothering to elaborate more on Cara's responses? I think Cara's sarcasm is funny and she's been nothing but pleasant at this point. Sure she's not an over-the-top American, but that's not how Brits roll. She's actually being extremely polite and reserved compared to how a lot of other Brits would react by now.
5. After three extremely vapid questions, the third presenter decides to jump in at this point. But only to tell Cara that she doesn't seem to be as excited about the movie as she was in London, and to ask if she's exhausted. Like... uh, SUPER rude. This has nothing to do with the film and is just really unprofessional. Can you imagine how offended you would be if a stranger commented that you looked exhausted? Cara is a human being too and even if you think she seems tired, there's no need to point it out. Just try your best to finish the questions and get the best out of her - don't tear her down. PS. she is excited about the movie, she just isn't excited at the thought of putting on that super annoying faux excitement that Americans are too full of.
6. After Cara denies her lack of excitement and explains that the premiere was just last night, this was the cue for the interviewers to let it go and move on. However, instead the woman thinks it's a good idea to continue the subject and jump in with 'Yeah, you do seem irritated. Maybe it's just us'. Like, yes... she's just said she's fine. Now you really are beginning to irritate not only her, but the audience. Just. drop. it. PLEASE.
7. Nope. They are so adamant on wanting Cara to say she's moody. Clearly not impressed that she still didn't agree with them, the anchors cut the interview short with 'On that note (...) we'll let you go take a nap and a red bull' - a rude remark which completely dismisses Cara's feelings and just assumes that she's lying. When someone says that they're fine, don't decide that you know better and order them to go sleep. We came here to watch an interesting interview, not listen to a petty argument you've started for no reason.
8. Even after the interview has finished, they still have the audacity to continue publicly talking about her. It's just so unprofessional and makes them look even worse. Leave it for when you're off-camera to gossip and be rude about someone.
Overall, I don't feel like Cara was being rude at all. She was simply using British sarcasm as a response to the incredibly vapid yes-or-no questions the anchors were asking. Sure she wasn't overflowing with energy, but we have no idea how she was feeling or what had happened off-camera. She was probably a little tired from the premiere the night before, but I don't feel like she was being disrespectful in any way - unlike the extremely rude and unprofessional interviewers who were out of line. I've seen celebrities act far worse and as someone working in that business, you should be prepared to deal with them and be focused on getting the most out of the interview for your audience, not wasting time pointing out flaws in your interviewee.
I've seen the way Cara acts to her fans and I know she's incredibly sweet and goes out of her way to do things for them, such as inviting them back to her hotel room and interacting with them on social media. She's fun, quirky and doesn't care about embarrassing herself if it's to help someone out. I honestly don't think her using a bit of sarcasm in a boring interview can change any of that.
What do you think of this interview? Moody celeb or unprofessional anchors?
