I don’t entirely do the Cult of Celebrity but tonight I’m making an exception. I think most of the audience of The Tempest — with Sigourney Weaver as Prospero — stuck to the rules and did not spend the whole performance taking pictures (and she was on stage throughout every minute): but no one said anything about the curtain call. It’s not often one gets to see a movie legend in the flesh.
What a terribly glamorous life I must lead, right? Actually, no. I did shuttle over to Amsterdam this morning (one of the world’s great cities – visit, if you never have), but that was for a boring old academic conference. On my way back to the hotel this evening I passed what was clearly a movie premiere and just inserted myself among the paparazzi for a few moments to see what I could get.
Why are people so obsessed with celebrities by the way? I mean here not as actors (see ‘Tom Baker’, two days ago – which I accept is a case for the prosecution), but as ‘personalities’? I don’t understand it. If people are good at acting, fine, admire them for that, but then again there are people who are good at nursing, at controlling air traffic, etc. They don’t get cameras shoved up their arse on a regular basis.
Being 42 