Edit #4: On Harrison Ford, crying on a plane, & the perfect lip combo
And I'm still thinking about Doechii's Grammy Win Speech
I’m writing this at 30,000 feet, currently flying over Colorado, heading back home to NYC after a weekend in Vegas.
I was on such a fun assignment for E! — covering the press junket for the new Captain America: Brave New World movie. If you don’t know what a junket it is, it’s essentially a large media event where journalists, influencers, hosts are invited to participate in interviews with key members of the cast and crew for a new tv or film project. They’re held anywhere from a hotel suite to a studio to an on-location site to a massive set, and they can be in any city — London, New York, LA, Vegas. (The craziest one I’ve ever done is the premiere of The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare in London with Henry Cavill — that’s a whole other story in itself). On site, you’ll often get to screen the footage before you do your one-on-one interviews or group interviews. All of this to create press and buzz for a movie, which is why you always see those viral interview bites and moments right before a release day. It’s also so fun because you get to hang with all the other hosts and correspondents from other outlets. It really feels like adult summer camp.
This junket in particular was really special — just today we were transported to the Las Vegas Airforce base (one of the biggest bases in the country!) where I got to interview Captain America himself: Anthony Mackie. The backdrop of our interview was a huge plane that Anthony told me was the exact same one he jumped out of for one of his stunts for this film. For these junket interviews, you get a very strict amount of time and each outlet can vary. They have someone on countdown clock duties so you have to really strategize what questions you want to ask and really prioritize specific moments you want for your own outlet. It can be crazy stressful cause of how little time you have, but I love a challenge, and truly do my best work under a bit of pressure. Anthony was so great — we talked about what this moment means for him, how much his kids don’t care that he’s Captain America (lol), and forgetting his line on the first day of set with his legendary co-star, Harrison Ford.
So … speaking of Harrison, I got 6 minutes and 30 seconds to talk to the king. Whew. What a cool one. What do you possible say to one of the biggest movie stars of our time?! How do you narrow it down to 6 minutes and 30 seconds?! Not only was he just so kind and thoughtful with his answers, he’s also just so funny. And what a commanding presence. I asked him about joining the Marvel cast, the friendships he made on set, and the best part about working on his show Shrinking. I also asked if he had a moment shooting *this* movie where he thought to himself, “wow, this is why I still love doing this?” And he responded by saying that there’s never one singular moment he can reference but that he has just always genuinely loves and enjoys creating good cinema. You can tell.
When I then asked if he wanted to continue his role in The Marvel Universe?
“I didn’t turn red for nothing.”
You can watch all my interviews with E! News tomorrow at 11pm ET. Get cable, ok?!
Your new lip combo:
I always do a face of full glam for these junkets, and I’ve recently found a new lip combo I’m obsessed with. I get asked all the time about lip filler, which I’ve never done, BUT I think people forget how big a difference it can make if you line your lips just *right* outside your lip line so you can create a faux natural lip filler. This is my process:
I overline slightly with my new favorite RMS beauty lip liner in color ~nighttime nude~.
Then, I blend the liner up into the middle parts of lips.
Finally, I add a layer of natural or brown gloss. This one from Elf is soo cheap and soo phenom. I get the color ~honey talks~ My lips always look so glowy and full on camera and in photos!
Watch this on your next flight:
I worry my seatmate on this flight thinks I’m unstable — I went from giggling at text messages on my phone to then sobbing at the screen on my seat. I’ve had My Old Ass on my list for quite sometime from back when I interviewed Maisy Stella at The Gotham Awards carpet in New York this past December, and I’ve also heard the best reviews about the movie. It lives up to the hype. If you haven’t heard of it — it’s about a young girl (Maisy) who on her 18th birthday does shrooms with her friends and gets so high, she actually hallucinates and meets her 39-year-old self. I won’t spoil anything for you, but I just want you to imagine the conversation you’d have with your 18 year old self now as an adult.
I don’t know if it’s the altitude or the ripe age of 32, but I felt the passing of time they so accurately depicted on screen so innately in my bones. I couldn’t stop crying. It made me want to slow down time, call my parents, hug my siblings and spend a little more time outside. It also made me think about how we truly do not know what is ahead of us in this life, and nothing we do now can prepare us for what is to come. I highly recommend this for a solo Friday night. Get cozy, order takeout, put it on and cry into your pad thai. So healing.
So inspired by Doechii’s Grammy win:
Let me tell you about the first time I met Doechii — it was at our iHeartRadio Jingle Ball in LA in 2023. I so vividly remember this meeting because she was still an up and coming artist, but I knew of her and her distinct visual and vocal style. We did a quick interview on the carpet, and I just remember her being so present.
And listen, I’ve been doing this job long enough, and sometimes after an artist does one too many interviews, their eyes glaze over and their answers turn to autopilot. She was the opposite— gave me the best bites and such thoughtful answers. She made my job so easy. I’ll never forget when she walked away, it was a quick “Thank you, Emily!” That’s when I knew she was a star. Of all the people she met, spoke to, chatted with that night? She still made it a point to remember my name. And I’m sure everyone else’s too. It may seem like an insignificant story to share, but it’s always the artists that pay *that* close of attention to the details that end up reaching superstardom. Her story is so inspiring too. She quick her job in 2020 and decided to bet on herself. This mashup of her vlog of getting fired next to her Grammy speech? Chills.
An NYC show you can’t miss:
Lastly, I have to share with you, I went to such an interesting event last week. It’s called 300 Paintings by Sam Kissajukian. It’s a live show at the Vineyard Theatre in NYC, and I went in blind not knowing what exactly the show was about. It’s the story of this guy Sam, a stand-up comedian from Australia who chronicles his journey with discovering his bipolar diagnosis — specifically through the lens of his 6 month manic episode where he made over 300 paintings. He had never painted before.
The story is so wild and the art is so incredibly good, I found my mouth literally agape at the twists and turns of this story. The whole performance is heartfelt and human and funny and inspiring and interesting and I highly recommend. If you’re in NYC and love comedy, good storytelling and art — it’s worth seeing!
Here’s the vibe of his work:
Ok, update on my seatmate I was just telling you about:
He just leaned over with a cup of water and told me he noticed I had “been wanting water all night” (I forgot to fill up my water bottle) but that I was so in the zone working on this edit and he “had never seen someone type so fast.” hahaha
I told him I am insane and we both laughed. But also — what a kind, thoughtful act. He saw the flight attendant come by with water and thought I might want some. I love when the universe hands us a a little glimpse of humanity, and even more fun when it comes from complete strangers.
So my hope for you today is that you’re reminded of all the small things that people do to take care of you along the way, or maybe.. you’re the one offering the water to someone else.
I bet he has no idea he made it into my newsletter :D But I hope something really good happens to him this week.
Ok I’m about to have an insane day to prep for NFL Honors for the Superbowl this week(!!) — I head to New Orleans tomorrow! I’m so excited. I’ll fill you in on the alllll the details next week.
Make today great. Love you,
Em