JENNIFER PLATT | Pre-edit out-takes are one thing, live interviews quite another

I adore watching out-takes or bloopers of a TV show. It gives one a behind-the-scenes look at what the actors are really like. If you are watching The Crown on Netflix, there are plenty on the internet where you can see the actors goofing around on set. It’s not all stiff upper lip and keep calm and carry on.

And that got me thinking of a few of my favourite out-takes from interviews I have had with authors. Because there’s only so much space in newspapers and magazines, a few interesting bits and bobs are always left out.

My best was one of the first interviews I did for a magazine many moons ago. Sydney-based author Michael Robotham was here publicising his new book. We were chatting about how he became a thriller writer. He was telling me that he was once the ghostwriter for a singer from the world’s most famous girl group. He lived with her for a few months and, allegedly, one of her more peculiar eccentricities was that she didn’t like to close the bathroom door when using the facilities. Good gossip I will never forget!

Robotham is no longer a ghost writer; he’s an award-winning best-seller for his psychological thrillers. The latest is the brilliant When She Was Good (Little, Brown), the sequel to Good Girl, Bad Girl (Little, Brown). If you are looking for engrossing airport reads, do yourself a favour and get both.

The second was a gaff over which I still cringe when I’m in the middle of the midnight anxiety sweats Covid has, oh so wonderfully, given us. When I interviewed Lee Child over the phone a few years ago, I accidentally called him Jack Reacher — the writer and character are so entwined in my mind. His response to my apology was lovely. “Don’t worry about it, it happens all the time.”

He was as laconic as his creation and it was with a little bit of sadness that I learnt he was handing over the character to his brother, Andrew. The latest Reacher is a collaboration between the two and so far most of the reviews have been solid. So if you need some Reacher love for the hols, get The Sentinel (Bantam Press). 

I fan-girled hard with Marian Keyes. She has, since my teens, been one of my favourite authors. My mom and I used to read her books all the time. So when it came to interviewing her a couple of months after my mother passed away, it seemed foreordained. We chatted like bfs for ages, sharing tips about lipsticks, our deep and abiding love for pharmacies, the obsessive need to always have tweezers and how our handbags are filled with just about everything, especially loads of receipts.

Keyes was supposed to visit earlier this year, but, of course, could not. Hopefully one day soon. For some fun, tears and to escape into a differently ditsy yet wonderful family, read her latest novel, Grown Ups (Bantam Press).

They say never meet your heroes. Not so in my job. I am lucky enough that when I do it’s exhilarating. Of course, there are some I will not forget, then there are those I wish I would — those odd Zoom chats with uncomfortable silences. But mostly it’s such fun (and a whole lot of research).