"Oops." "Hi."

And how technology betrayed them

The giddy joy of deciding to call….

The playing it cool waiting for Louis to pick up….

The disappointment of Louis not answering…

The realization his phone could not summon Louis to him and maybe Louis had plans (and that this all happened on camera in front of the world)….

I was mostly joking, but my assumptions are based on a few things:

(1) The knowledge that anyone – actor, singer, athlete, etc. – who speaks with the press with any regularity has had some media training. I’m sure it ranges in degree and intensity, but even good high school football players who only talk to the local press get some basic training on how to answer questions. I knew someone very tangentially who was a swimmer at the London Games, and some media training was part of their team requirements. It is regularly a part of any rookie training camp for major college or professional teams of all sports. Record labels send their artists to media training; film studios send their actors. Basically, if the person is expected to speak to the media at all, they get some training.

(2) That the answers to questions are polite and politic, never calling anyone out or blaming anyone. Avoiding questions they don’t want to answer. No matter how many times Gabby Douglas is asked about her feelings of not making the all-around, she’s going to say she’s just so excited to be sharing the experience with her teammates and how proud she is to represent the USA. She’s not going to tell you her real feelings. No matter how many times Michael Phelps is asked about Le Clos irritating him, he’s going to shift the conversation back to his preparation or excitement to still be competing or something like that.

(3) They sound rehearsed, which they are. They practice the types of questions they’re going to get, figuring out the best answers ahead of time. They may not know the exact question, but they know that the questions will likely come form a few types and they have stock answers ready to go. Compare (if you watched it) the way they giggled with each other when they were watching the medal ceremony to how they answered Bob Costas’ questions. They don’t even sound like the same people. Think of how many times Harry answered the questions about “Perfect” with some variation of how everyone can take different things away from a song. It was even pointed out that he gave almost the exact same word-for-word answer after being teased. And look at Cillian Murphy’s answer about working with Harry – on at least two occasions, he’s used almost the same words to talk about him. Even if he wasn’t trained to answer that specific question, he’s had training on how to answer that type of question and he sounds the same both times because he’s drawing on that training.

You’re right on the rehearsed part, but there’s a couple of really obvious tell-tale signs to watch for specifically: 

Talking points - If the person speaking is saying the same phrases over and over again, or if, in a group interview, multiple people use the same phrases, it’s a safe bet someone wrote the script and it was practiced.

The pivot principle - When someone is given an unwanted question in an interview, we advise our clients to do what we call “pivot” and turn the interview back in their favor. For example:

Reporter: Mrs. Clinton, you haven’t done a press conference with reporters where you’ve taken questions in over 250 days. Can you address why that is?

Hillary Clinton: Wow, has it been that long? I’ve been doing so many one-on-one interviews with the press, you know, I’m always willing to take questions when reporters speak to me, so I hadn’t noticed. I think at this point I’ve done something like 500 interviews with the press since I announced my candidacy for this election, so I’ve been focusing on that.

Answering a hostile question in an attempt to neutralize the potentially harmful information within it is key to maneuvering the press. One Direction does it in interviews, as well. 

Liam is best at it on the fly. He is nimble and understands how to move quickly to the next topic while still addressing the issue in a professional way. He wants to answer and move on.

Harry is good at inserting promotional information about their merch in interviews in a dry way to make viewers feel like they’re in on the joke, but he isn’t so good at being pressed hard on uncomfortable issues because he wants to answer honestly, which often isn’t the best answer from a brand standpoint. 

Niall is awful at it which is why he often sits quietly and doesn’t say much unless asked directly, god love him. 

Louis is fascinating, because he often uses humor to deflect, but he’s also incredibly intelligent and thinking 3 steps ahead a lot of the time. He’s pivoting and anticipating the next 3 questions at the same time, but using his humor and quick wit to try and win the reporter over.

AND THEN WHEN HARRY FINALLY UNDERSTOOD HE LITERALLY BENT OVER WITH HOW HARD HE WAS LAUGHING AT HIS BOYFRIEND AND THEIR HILARIOUS INSIDE JOKE

lmaooo omg it was the best day ever…