About those press conferences

Press conferences are funny things. Around 200 members of the press (print, TV, radio etc) from all around the globe, all gathered together in a cavernous hall for around half an hour, trying to put questions to a panel of filmmakers/actors who often have trouble hearing/understanding what's being said. The questions are rarely good; the answers likewise. But strange behaviour is often the norm. Like the guy from Croatia who always asks a comic book related question. To Ang Lee, here for Lust, Caution, a question about The Hulk. To George Clooney, here for Michael Clayton, one about the new Batman movie. Granted, the gentleman also asked Ang Lee whether his actors were really "doing it" in his new film, to which Lee replied: "Have you seen the movie?" Clooney, too, was irritated by an Italian journalist whose exact question escaped me because I wasn't listening to the simultaneous translation on my headset, but it had something to do with his Nescafe ads I believe. "I find that question irritating," he told her. But at least he was charming about it. Press conferences, too, are a good gauge of popularity. Clooney's was well attended, of course, but the one for Sleuth with Jude Law, Michael Caine and Kenneth Branagh was jammed. Never in all my years in Venice have I seen so many people squeezed into the conference hall; there wasn't even standing room to be had. Not sure if it was simply the Law effect, or the combination of Caine too. Or maybe it was Branagh who pulled them in. Like I said, funny things...