During an international press tour, every minute of a celebrity’s time is accounted for. Their schedules are jam-packed with interviews, red carpet events and roundtable Q&As. Journalists vie for access, for five more minutes, for just one extra question. To get an hour-long interview for a celebrity profile is a luxury, to get double that over two interviews is unheard of.
Lupita Nyong’o isn’t your average celebrity, and this isn’t your average interview. We first meet – over Zoom, because it’s 2024 – on a Wednesday afternoon in Los Angeles. It’s early in the morning in Australia. Normally, I would be anxiously reading over my questions and crunching the numbers to make sure I have enough time to get through them all. But this isn’t normal, remember. Today, I’m not asking the questions.
“It’s like we’re on a speed date,” explains Nyong’o, who wants to get to know me before we sit down for her cover interview. As speed dates go, Nyong’o is quite the match. She’s intelligent, thoughtful and engaged. She listens deeply and takes a real interest. She asks me about my favourite stories, my interview style and my sister’s PhD. I’m not used to sitting in the hot seat, but Nyong’o puts me at ease. I