Once again, CTV's eTalk will be broadcasting live from the red carpet at the Academy Awards. This year, for the first time, Canadians from coast to coast to coast will be able to watch the coverage in its entirety on CTV Broadband.
ETalk will provide two hours of coverage as stars and filmmakers make their way down the legendary Oscar red carpet, stopping on the way to talk to eTalk host Ben Mulroney.
Viewers of CTV's Broadband live stream can watch the show live, Sunday Feb. 25 from 6 pm to 8 pm ET, no matter what part of the country they are in.
This will be eTalk's Ben Mulroney sixth year as host of CTV's Oscar coverage. He recently spoke with CTV.ca about what it's like to quiz the stars' during their all-important walk before the cameras.
How do you prepare for your role on the red carpet?
First of all, you have to see every nominated movie and every nominated performance. Then, we have a team of researchers who are preparing research binders about the movies and the stories behind them. And then after that, we get together as a team and discuss them, looking for interesting points or trends.
From that, questions are born. They get thrown around; certain ones are tossed and others come up. And we do that until the night before the Oscars. We do cram sessions; we'll shoot each other emails.
I have to prepare for this while I'm on the road for "Canadian Idol" so I often do it from a distance. But thank God for my BlackBerry.
How do you snag a spot of the carpet?
Because CTV is the national broadcaster in Canada and we go live, we get a privileged position on the carpet. The organizers reserve the best spot for the media outlets that are going live. So obviously ABC -- as the host broadcaster -- gets treated well, as well as all the other outlets broadcasting the red carpet live, such as E!
But the big American entertainment shows like "Entertainment Tonight" and "Access Hollywood" don't get the position that we get.
Right at the top of carpet, there's an arrival tent where everyone checks in and mulls about. And the organizers pace the arrivals over the course of the hour or two hours. Then next, there's a bank of photographers where the stars will stop for the paparazzi. And then they start filtering down towards us.
So we are actually the second stop for television on the red carpet. It goes: ABC, us, and then E! - and then hundreds of members of the press beyond us.
How did CTV get that spot?
We got that spot after years and years of building a relationship with the Academy and with ABC. Every year, we send our tapes to ABC to show them what we did the year before in an effort to persuade them to allow us to do it again.
About four or five years ago, as CTV stepped up their coverage, ABC stepped up their commitment to us.
What are the best questions to ask the stars on the carpet?
There is no ideal question but there is a good type of question. The best question is one that is going to elicit an immediate response, something that shows that you know and are interested in that person's story, but one that is going to give the people at home some information, whether or not they've seen the movie.
They can't be open-ended questions. The worst questions are things like: what was your favourite memory of working on the movie? Because you're going to get a pregnant pause. You don't want to force a star, in the heat of the red carpet, to sit there and think back to come up with the best answer. You've got to give them pointed, specific questions that will elicit something interesting. It's always great, given the mood and the energy of the red carpet, if you can get a star to smile and laugh.
Last year, we came up with a great question for George Clooney. It was just a spur-of the-moment question my producers and I came up with. We said, 'So George, you never do anything small and here you are nominated for three awards. But people forget: it would be four awards if you had accepted the role of June Carter Cash.' And it wasn't even a question. It was a statement that made him laugh and then he went with it. He said, 'Well of course, I wanted to play June but my schedule wouldn't permit it. And thankfully Reese was able to pick it up at a moment's notice and I think she did an admirable job.'
Another one who was great was Dolly Parton last year. We hadn't seen her on the red carpet in years, and I said, 'At one point you know, someone is going to make a biopic of your life. Who would you like to see play you?' And she said, 'Oh a good Tennessee girl: Reese Witherspoon. But she'd have to get herself one helluva boob job.' So it's questions like that. People have heard all the stories about how hard it was to make the film; they don't necessarily want to rehash all that. The viewers want to know what it's like to be on that carpet. I'm fortunate enough to be there year in and year out, but there's nothing that makes me more special than the people at home. And I want to be their representative.
What questions do you avoid?
The show itself is sensational enough and I don't think that if someone is going through a divorce or something like that, the red carpet is the time to bring it up. There are other times to interview people about that. There's no bigger story than the Oscars and if a star is going through a personal struggle, it's not as big as the fact that that person is on the red carpet for the Oscars.
I don't want stars to shy away from me, that they'll know that when they come up to me, I recognize that this is a celebration, I'm not there to rain on anybody's parade.
What clich�d questions you get tired of hearing?
'Who are you wearing?' But you'd be surprised: people really do want to know that. And it's big business for the fashion houses. The stars go through a lot of time and care to pick a dress or a tuxedo. It's part of the pomp that is the red carpet. So you want to give those people their due. The show is about the awards, and the red carpet is about the fashion do and the fashion don'ts, and who's with whom.
Who is fun to interview?
I love talking to Will Smith. He's one of the most charming charismatic men in the world. He was my first film junket interview, for "Ali." He's nominated again this year so I'm very much looking forward to talking to him this year. He's one of those stars who always gives his full attention to who he's speaking to.
Renee Zellweger always loves talking with us. She always stops to speak with us. A lot of the comedians -- Steve Carell, Will Farrell -- those guys enjoy stopping to talk.
Oh, another good one: Jamie Foxx was a class act when he was up for Ray -- absolutely! He stopped for every member of the press.
Anyone who doesn't enjoy being interviewed?
Well, the ones who don't, just don't talk to you. Johnny Depp is an interesting character. He's quite quiet. But that's OK, if he's a quiet guy, that'll come through. But the ones who don't like to talk usually don't come over to us.
Anyone you're intimidated to talk to?
Well, I've never interviewed Jack Nicholson, but if I did, I'm pretty sure I would be a little intimidated. I mean how could you not? It's Jack.
