Interview (June 2004)

Few magazines in the US are as publicist-driven as Interview, which seems to exist solely to further the careers of whomever is the latest "It girl" or resurgent celebrity. The magazine is so patently false, despite an appearance of absolute on-the-cusp hipness, that it could not have less to do with real life. And yet, there is much to admire in that falsehood. Interview is the literary equivalent of "Sex in the City," weaving a fantasy so attractive that it doesn't matter that much that it's completely plastic. It feels good.

Given that it started as Andy Warhol's baby, Interview can be forgiven its faults in the same way Paris Hilton can: it looks good, it can hold a conversation, and it is better than you. That is, if, as I suspect, the world ends, and it turns out that fabulousness was worth more in securing your ticket to Heaven than spiritual depth.

The concept is as it always has been: interviews between fabulous people and more fabulous people. The "It girls" of yesterday talk with the "It girls" of right now. Musical legends talk with supposedly "hot" up-and-comers. "Hot" actors talk with the directors they are working with … and it's all as casual and shallow as your average coffeeshop convo. Which is as it should be, right? You want depth, go read confessional poetry … nerd.

I always enjoy passing time with Interview, though it dates even more quickly than it can reach my mailbox. The cover subject is bound to be someone with a new movie or album coming out, and all of the interviews are bound to be equally relevant to this moment only. A back issue of Interview from only a few months back has the strange capacity to look as foreign as one from 1987 … for most of these "It folks" never amount to much, and the "up-and-comers" never really up-and-come.

So an hour spent conversing with the fabulous folks in this magazine is roughly the same as an hour spent in a super-hip lounge filled with people who've "been there," and people who seem like they're about to "be there." The issue at hand: "It girl" Lindsay Lohan, interviewed by Paramount producer Linda Obst (Paramount, of course, having produced Mean Girls). Hipster obligation Jim Jarmusch, interviewed by Cate Blanchett (who appears in the movie he's stumping for, Coffee & Cigarettes). Mario Van Peebles, doing the rounds for Baadasssss! with an Interview associate editor). Lenny Kravitz talking to elderly artist and novelist Gordon Parks. Al Franken interviewed by friend Nora Ephron, who shares his political leanings.

The best stuff is like Lenny Kravitz and Gordon Parks … seemingly strange bedfellows who turn out to have some shit to say, and it becomes unclear just whom is being interviewed. Less successful are more obsequious interviews (most of them) which seem to serve only to promote the latest hot thing. The mag bottoms out, though, with CD and movie reviews that hold no critical weight … they're basically press releases reworded to sound like they're coming out of the mouth of an attractive model with two Cosmos in her.

So while I see through Interview, I like it, choosing not to be insulted and instead to hang out for awhile with the supposedly fabulous folks of the moment. Certainly this offers me a few moments' respite from talking to my dog.

Review by La Fée