Part A:
Like Lady Gaga sings, "I'm your biggest fan, I'll follow you until you love me, papa-paparazzi."
These lyrics are about celebrities trying to get the paparazzi to fall in love with them. If a celebrity feels as if they are fading from the spotlight, they will do something extraordinary and make sure the paparazzi are there to see it.
Paparazzi are photojournalists that follow around celebrities, athletes, politicians, and other prominent people trying to take that one embarrassing and/or candid picture that they could sell to the media, such as newspapers or magazines.
The term "paparazzi" derives from the Fellini film, La Dolce Vita, in which the main character, Paparazzo, rode around on a scooter taking photographs. Paparazzi have been active for a long time, but within the last decade, they have been pushing celebrities buttons. In 2005, Lindsay Lohan experienced some aggressive tactics from paparazzi. A man trying to get her picture ran his minivan into her Mercedes on a busy street. Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake also experienced some bizarre tactics proposed by the paparazzi. Once while walking with a friend and his dog, a photographer in a Toyota came up behind them and hit their friend to the ground. He got a picture of Diaz and Timberlake "[racing] to help a friend'.
The term "paparazzi" derives from the Fellini film, La Dolce Vita, in which the main character, Paparazzo, rode around on a scooter taking photographs. Paparazzi have been active for a long time, but within the last decade, they have been pushing celebrities buttons. In 2005, Lindsay Lohan experienced some aggressive tactics from paparazzi. A man trying to get her picture ran his minivan into her Mercedes on a busy street. Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake also experienced some bizarre tactics proposed by the paparazzi. Once while walking with a friend and his dog, a photographer in a Toyota came up behind them and hit their friend to the ground. He got a picture of Diaz and Timberlake "[racing] to help a friend'. The biggest paparazzi-celebrity incident would have to be Princess Diana's death. Her driver was drunk, and was trying to drive away from the paparazzi chasing them. After an eighteen month investigation, it was concluded that her cause of death was reckless driving by her driver and paparazzi photographers.
But, really, is the paparazzi this dangerous? That they're causing the unlawful death of people?
In some cases, yes. And others, no.
Some paparazzi, will do anything they can to get that sometimes embarrassing, million dollar shot. Like Sean Penn. There are too many examples of Sean Penn having bad encounters with the paparazzi. A long time ago, in 1986, he was in China filming a movie, and when he returned to his hotel room, he found a photographer inside waiting for him. Furious, Penn dragged the photographer to the balcony, and dangled him by his ankles from his ninth floor balcony. Penn was arrested, charged with attempted murder, but broke out and fled the country by jet.
I know.
Pity the next paparazzo who is stuck getting a shot of Sean Penn.
But, some actors (who have also encountered some brutal paparazzi), claim that some paparazzi are respectful. Actor Kellan Lutz (Twilight, New Moon) talks about how he and co-stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart escape the paparazzi (3:08). He also talks about how he has encountered respectful paparazzi (see 4:11). The respectful paparazzi are from Canada. Ironic, eh?
Sometimes, no matter how respectful/disrespectful paparazzi are, they can make or break your career.
For example, Britney Spears. After her breakdown (which some say was provoked by the paparazzi), Britney became famous all over again. She was on the cover of all celebrity gossip magazines imaginable. She became the poster girl for train wreck. So on one hand, the paparazzi made her career. On the other, they have been blamed for her breakdown, so you could say they have broken her professional career.
I think that celebrities have a love/hate relationship with the paparazzi. Do you ever notice that celebrities seem to not mind them when they're promoting an album, movie or whatever. But they are extremely bothered by it when they aren't? Which I guess is understandable; around the time you're promoting something you're, well, promoting it. It's expected that you go on talk shows, or do magazine spreads and be followed by paparazzi. But stars seem to be more upset if they aren't promoting anything and they're getting their pictures taken by the paparazzi.
Part B:
It helps to know people. Especially when I realized my dad's friend friend is Evangeline Lilly's dad. So when their family came to visit my dad's friend, (Evangeline was only about 20 at the time) we bonded. Although I was 7 at the time, she loved looking after my sister and I. She became a flight attendant, and we'd still write and she'd call whenever she came back to Canada. When we found out from her family that she was auditioning for a role in the upcoming T.V show, LOST, we were ecstatic for her. It wasn't until a few months after she'd been settled in Hawaii that we finally came in contact with her again. We'd email back and forth occasionally, but her schedule was way to hectic for us to normally communicate. So you can imagine my surprise when she came to physically visit us and suggest I come to Hawaii and audition as an extra on LOST.
After my parents gave the thumbs up and all the paperwork and everything was organized, Evangeline and I flew out to Hawaii to begin shooting the 5th season. When we arrived, the producers just asked me to say a few lines and I got the part! Although I was only an extra, that eventually developed into a few minutes of screen time each episode, then a few lines, then actual full-on conversations with the main characters!
As time went on, I grew closer with the rest of the cast, and we began going on outings. In certain parts of Hawaii, there are places where the paparazzi just wait for the LOST stars to make an appearance somewhere. I don't know if they were there waiting for the bigger names, but they seemed pretty excited when I was there as well. I know that the paparazzi have a bad rep with some people, but I don't seem to mind them. They keep their distance when we're off doing our own thing. The only one bad encounter I've had is when Evangeline and I went to the beach on a day off and they followed us around, and were literally hiding in the bushes. Kinda creepy. Especially when you're at the beach.
I feel they're nice to have around. As my screen time increases, my publicity will have to as well. Anyways, all publicity is good publicity, right? ;).
But, really, is the paparazzi this dangerous? That they're causing the unlawful death of people?
In some cases, yes. And others, no.
Some paparazzi, will do anything they can to get that sometimes embarrassing, million dollar shot. Like Sean Penn. There are too many examples of Sean Penn having bad encounters with the paparazzi. A long time ago, in 1986, he was in China filming a movie, and when he returned to his hotel room, he found a photographer inside waiting for him. Furious, Penn dragged the photographer to the balcony, and dangled him by his ankles from his ninth floor balcony. Penn was arrested, charged with attempted murder, but broke out and fled the country by jet.
I know.
Pity the next paparazzo who is stuck getting a shot of Sean Penn.
But, some actors (who have also encountered some brutal paparazzi), claim that some paparazzi are respectful. Actor Kellan Lutz (Twilight, New Moon) talks about how he and co-stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart escape the paparazzi (3:08). He also talks about how he has encountered respectful paparazzi (see 4:11). The respectful paparazzi are from Canada. Ironic, eh?
Sometimes, no matter how respectful/disrespectful paparazzi are, they can make or break your career.
For example, Britney Spears. After her breakdown (which some say was provoked by the paparazzi), Britney became famous all over again. She was on the cover of all celebrity gossip magazines imaginable. She became the poster girl for train wreck. So on one hand, the paparazzi made her career. On the other, they have been blamed for her breakdown, so you could say they have broken her professional career.
I think that celebrities have a love/hate relationship with the paparazzi. Do you ever notice that celebrities seem to not mind them when they're promoting an album, movie or whatever. But they are extremely bothered by it when they aren't? Which I guess is understandable; around the time you're promoting something you're, well, promoting it. It's expected that you go on talk shows, or do magazine spreads and be followed by paparazzi. But stars seem to be more upset if they aren't promoting anything and they're getting their pictures taken by the paparazzi.
Part B:
It helps to know people. Especially when I realized my dad's friend friend is Evangeline Lilly's dad. So when their family came to visit my dad's friend, (Evangeline was only about 20 at the time) we bonded. Although I was 7 at the time, she loved looking after my sister and I. She became a flight attendant, and we'd still write and she'd call whenever she came back to Canada. When we found out from her family that she was auditioning for a role in the upcoming T.V show, LOST, we were ecstatic for her. It wasn't until a few months after she'd been settled in Hawaii that we finally came in contact with her again. We'd email back and forth occasionally, but her schedule was way to hectic for us to normally communicate. So you can imagine my surprise when she came to physically visit us and suggest I come to Hawaii and audition as an extra on LOST.
After my parents gave the thumbs up and all the paperwork and everything was organized, Evangeline and I flew out to Hawaii to begin shooting the 5th season. When we arrived, the producers just asked me to say a few lines and I got the part! Although I was only an extra, that eventually developed into a few minutes of screen time each episode, then a few lines, then actual full-on conversations with the main characters!
As time went on, I grew closer with the rest of the cast, and we began going on outings. In certain parts of Hawaii, there are places where the paparazzi just wait for the LOST stars to make an appearance somewhere. I don't know if they were there waiting for the bigger names, but they seemed pretty excited when I was there as well. I know that the paparazzi have a bad rep with some people, but I don't seem to mind them. They keep their distance when we're off doing our own thing. The only one bad encounter I've had is when Evangeline and I went to the beach on a day off and they followed us around, and were literally hiding in the bushes. Kinda creepy. Especially when you're at the beach.
I feel they're nice to have around. As my screen time increases, my publicity will have to as well. Anyways, all publicity is good publicity, right? ;).