Ask Lloyd Grove: From 'A Chorus Line' to 'Sunset Boulevard'
Submit your questions to asklloyd@gawker.com.
What's the biggest mistake you made in an article during your tenure at the NYDN?
I've blocked most of them out of my memory. I do remember printing once that Stephen Sondheim wrote "A Chorus Line."
Why were you such a dick about the New York Press when they did that stupid Pope issue?
I was feeling the need to be outraged about something, and the "humor piece" concerning the funniest things about John Paul II's impending death was a perfect target. I didn't for a minute believe that the editor would be fired. Oh well.
I was wondering about the glamour factor. How much tail does the job description "gossip columnist" net these days, especially when some young starlet wannabe recognizes you at, say, Plumm?
I have never been to Plumm, and I can only stay for a few minutes at most of the other clubs before the primal scream inside my skull becomes louder than I can bear. As for the question of "how much tail," I like to think I'm too much of a gentleman to answer that. Why don't you pose it to A.J. Benza?
Let's do gossip word association. What's the first thing that comes to mind when I ask you about the following colleagues?
You are trying to get me into trouble, aren't you? Okay, I'll bite.
Rush & Molloy.
Good people.
Cindy Adams.
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.
Liz Smith.
Total sweetheart. But tough.
Paula Froelich.
Having fun as a blonde.
Roger Friedman.
Virtuosic celebrity shmoozer.
Ben Widdicombe.
New York's hottest young gossip columnist.
Richard Johnson.
Man of few words and many suits.
Michael Musto.
Smart, funny survivor.
You deal with a lot of publicists in the gossip game. Which publicist(s) was notorious for lying?
They all lie from time to time, though the smart ones manage to buffer themselves from the gossip columnist's wrath with a layer of plausible ignorance. One who didn't, the legendary Rob Shuter, was so inventive with his representation of Jessica Simpson that it inevitably caught up with him. He was sacked after he caused a dual-cover Us Weekly/People Magazine train wreck concerning his client's cheesy alleged romance with John Mayer.
What are your top five favorite movies and what do you think they say about you?
Sunset Boulevard, Barry Lyndon, Goodfellas, The Godfather Parts I & II, The Passion of The Christ.
Just kidding on that last one. I suppose these movies say nothing about me. They're not ABOUT me. But I do like big Hollywood epics, so I guess it means that, aside from my weird liking for the odd Kubrick film, my tastes are solidly mainstream and that I am a proud American.
— Lloyd Grove
Earlier: Ask Lloyd Grove: Media Analysis from Amsterdam Edition