Justin & Amy deal with ‘idolization’

MANILA, Philippines - Ask any legitimate Hollywood actors what they feel about being celebrities and you are most likely going to hear them recall sad, scary encounters with the paparazzi.

At a recent junket for Warner Bros.’ Trouble with the Curve, music superstar Justin Timberlake and Oscar-nominated actress Amy Adams, shared their own stories and their wishes for the relentless paparazzi stalking to stop.

Justin figured in a physical altercation with one paparazzo before and has now learned his lesson well. So, when he decided to share less about his personal life now, it is not because he doesn’t care about his fans but because he wants to avoid their cameras and have that semblance of a private and normal life like other people.

“Here’s one thing that I, sort of, have trouble with and I want it to come out the right way because it’s all based on humility — it really is,” he stated. “I don’t like the statement where you asked for this job. I don’t like that because we didn’t ask for it. There’s no college course on “Idolization.” It’s true that you don’t know what you are getting into to a certain extent — you really don’t.”

For someone who grew up virtually in the public eye — from the time he started with the Mickey Mouse Club when he was 12 to the time he dated and broke up with Britney Spears, Justin’s personal life is well-documented. He would never have had any problem with it if only the intruding paparazzi kept their distance. But Hollywood has evolved and the public wants more of their stars.

“To be clear, when we started, there was no TMZ,” Amy added. TMZ is a 24-hour gossip site that has become famous for catching and harassing celebrities in their most unguarded moments but, to be fair, TMZ also delivers legitimate breaking news about Hollywood sometimes.

“It was not a tabloid society. There was no Internet. I knew there was some public crossover but the idea that I got into this because I wanted a lot of attention and my picture taken…” The last part of what Amy was trying to say was cut when Justin tried to add to what she was saying.

This writer reminded Justin and Amy that there are also celebrity wannabes, with no considerable talent and who are famous mainly for being famous, that should shoulder part of the blame for this celebrity-stalking madness.

“But what’s that got to do with me?” Amy asked me back. “I love what I do and I understand what comes with it. I am a realist and I know that if I stay out of a certain nightclub and just go home every night… that’s what I ask for: Respect for my child, that’s all. You don’t even have to respect me.”

That last statement from Amy was, of course, meant as sarcasm and not a real invitation to harass her.

“There’s a dehumanization, not just of celebrities, but of human beings in general. I feel that we can tell anybody anything that’s why I’m, kind of, off the Internet…” Amy said further before she stopped herself and said, “I’ve had a lot of coffee! I think I should be quiet!”

Our roundtable laughed with her after and it dawned on me how refreshing it was to have a permissive conversation about the nature of celebrity in today’s Hollywood with two of the industry’s celebrated stars.

Justin and Amy star as Johnny and Mickey in Trouble with the Curve, which marks Clint Eastwood’s first purely acting work in years. The legendary director allowed himself to be directed for the first time since working with Wolfgang Petersen in In the Line of Fire in 1993.

Trouble with the Curve is a funny and heartwarming movie about an aging baseball scout as he grapples with his declining vision and his relationships with his estranged daughter, Mickey, and his rival scout, the young and ambitious, Johnny Flanagan. 

The movie received good reviews when it opened in the US last September with most critics heaving praises on the superb performances turned in by the cast. Amy even earned Oscar buzz about her performance as Clint’s daughter in the movie.

But no amount of compliments from the critics for Justin and Amy would compare to how the two stars described their rare experience of acting with the one and only Clint Eastwood.

“He’s really young,” Justin said, clearly enthused. “He’s charming and funny and his comedic timing is very special. He is really funny!”

“Clint is extremely warm and generous so he, sort of, breaks down that intimidation pretty quickly,” Amy added.

“He’s very disarming — for sure,” Justin later added which was echoed by Amy. “He’s there for the same reasons that we are and he’s every bit as youthful and vivacious about the process as we are. He’s funny, he’s fun to be around.”

Justin considered working on the movie “the most familial experience I’ve ever had.”

Clint did not do the roundtables that day so we did not get his reaction to what Amy and Justin shared with us.

It is worth noting that the junket was held the same weekend that the US press was having a field day dissecting Clint’s rambling speech during the Republican convention the previous week.

The publicity generated by that speech may have also been the reason why Justin decided not to share with us that day what he had been secretly planning all along: He was going to marry his long-time girlfriend, actress Jessica Biel, in a private ceremony in Italy only a couple of weeks after our interview.

Or, perhaps, we can blame TMZ and the paparazzi for that as well.

Trouble with the Curve is now showing in theaters.