Ali Plumb is the interviewer’s interviewer, the man behind some of your favourite ever viral moments and a hardcore celebrity favourite. Not only is he an all-out movie buff* (*read: nerd) with an encyclopedic knowledge of everything from Bond to Batman, indie shorts to Indiana Jones, he’s racked up some pretty cool fans of his own, including Tom Holland and Hayley Atwell to name but two.
From finding out his favourite interview moments to what really goes down at his big movie quizzes, we sat down with Ali at our Notting Hill favourite The Mall Tavern to sip some pints and spill some beans.
1. It’s typically Brits he loves interviewing the most
Don’t get him wrong, he loves all interviews, but his favourite interviewees all have one thing in common: they’re all Brits. Well, most of them anyway. What matters though is the feeling that it’s less of an interview and more of a… conversation.
“The best interviews are ones where you don’t realise it’s an interview and it’s just ridiculous fun. Like Olivia Colman is such great value (ended up dancing with her), Tom Holland too, who is just amazing. Hayley Atwell - we at one point found ourselves singing a David Bowie song from Labyrinth… that was surreal.”
“Naomi Ackie - I spoke to her recently and just fell in love. Florence Pugh. Who doesn’t love Florence Pugh?! There will be a load of folks I’m offending by not mentioning them, but it’s typically Brits - Brits and Irish, Canadians, South Africans, Aussies. They’re the extra fun ones - they understand my sarcasm addiction best.”
Ali with actor, writer, and comedian Jamie Demetriou
2. He had a seriously wholesome interaction with Idris Elba
When you think of the crème de la crème of British acting, you think of Idris Elba. And whilst his on-screen characters can be pretty serious (think his most recent turn as UK PM in Heads of State), it turns out that he is a pretty lovely human being too - if he wasn’t perfect enough already.
“Idris Elba I love because he once told my mum he loves her,” Ali revealed.
“I asked him if he could do me a favour - this was over Zoom in about 2021 - I was like ‘Could you say something for my mum? Because she really loves you.’ And he went ‘What’s your mum’s name?’, then looked straight down the barrel and said, ‘Jenny, I love you.’ I couldn’t believe it. It was such a lovely out of the blue thing to do.”
3. Matthew McConaughey gave him a masterclass in pronounciation
It turns out that even a pro interviewer still gets starstruck, much to our relief. And it’s usually the charisma-loaded-charm-whacks-you-in-the-face actors who have this effect the most.
“I had a great moment with Matthew McConaughey,” Ali shared. “I once spoke to him and sort of stumbled over my words a bit because he was just so Matthew McConaughey. I was stammering and he just went [*cue Matthew McConaughey voice] ‘Now, I’m going to teach you how to say my name; it’s Matthew M-Con-o-hey - it rhymes with What would Madonna say.’ And I went, ‘Well there’s the clip, I’ll just go, end the interview there.’ Extreme charisma can just knock you off your perch.”
4. His worst interview? His first day on the job
We’ve all had a bad interview from time to time, but for most of us, it’s probably a job interview that we fluffed because of nerves, rather than a celebrity interview in a room full of cameras, TV execs and celebs.
“My very first interview was back in 2009 with Clive Owen. I was ushered into the room and I was meant to be interviewing the director. I walked in, the guy who was showing me in went ‘Just go sit over there’ and pointed to a sofa. So, I went and sat down, not on the seat in front of him [Clive] - where I was supposed to go - but sat in the corner instead…”
“When I finally sat down on the seat in front of him and opened my notebook, all my questions were for the director. At this point I was drenched in sweat, completely panicking… Pure cringe. But on the plus side it got a really bad one out of the way.”
5. His most memorable moments aren’t from the times interviews have gone, er, smoothly...
Whilst his first ever filmed interview might be his worst (see above), it turns out, that’s not where his slightly more memorable interactions with Hollywood’s darlings ends…
“I’ve tripped over in front of Tom Hanks,” Ali reminisced. “I started an interview with Meryl Streep without any batteries in my dictaphone. I ran out of the room - thought I’d shut the door (I hadn’t) and I screamed in the corridor, ‘HAS ANYONE GOT ANY DOUBLE As FOR MERYL?!’”
But maybe this is just the key to his success? After all, according to Ali, “The thing is, what people forget - and this is a strong opinion of mine actually - is that no one wants to hear an anecdote about the times you did something really, really well. If you tell a story at a dinner party or something where you went, 'I made a fool of myself', that’s way more interesting. You think, yup, that’s my kind of guy.”
6. He sort of misses the theme music that classic movies used to have
There are many iconic theme tunes out there, but when you stop and think about it, they’re either from movies of yore (or at least, from the era of the blockbuster heyday), or from TV shows. And yes, if you’ve got the Bake Off or Antiques Roadshow music stuck in your head after reading that, you’re not the only one. As someone whose job entails a lot of movie watching, we thought Ali might have some good ones to bring into the mix. The best theme music of all time in Ali’s opinion?
“Movies don’t have intro music that way any more,” Ali agreed. “TV shows sort of do but even then, it’s not the same.”
“I would say Naked Gun (and not just because the reboot is now out) - that song is the sound of my childhood. And then the main theme from Terminator - I watched that way too young. You’ve obviously then got Pirates of the Caribbean, Gladiator. I’d add Ratatouille and Up."
“There are so many themes you don’t realise you know. That’s one of the things I love doing the most in my big film quiz” - for those not in the know Ali hosts the ultimate film quiz in different cinemas around the UK, it’s kind of like a film-focussed pub quiz.
“It’s always a pleasure when doing the quizzes - to get people to realise what they don’t know they know. Making people go oh wait I know this. Or more commonly, making people go ‘Uurgh! I know this!’”
7. He still has comfort films, even when he's on the job
As a film critic and interviewer, it must be hard to not feel like you’re on the job sometimes. It’s like in that classic scene with Domhnall Gleeson and Rachel McAdams in About Time, when he asks if normal reading is ruined for her because she works as a book editor and reads for a living. So even though most of his life is consumed with watching things for work, Ali still manages to have some comfort movies.
“Occasionally I allow myself to watch a movie just for me - you know if it’s raining or you’ve got a cold or something. Singin’ In The Rain, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - those are big ones for me. A lot of people are aware of how much I love the Paddingtons… but sometimes it’s the older films that feel like a real treat. It’s so easy to think I’ve got to keep up with the industry, you know I’ve got to watch Too Much or whatever the latest thing is. So much of it is obligation - fun obligation, sure - but when you get to have 'you' time, it’s the best.”
8. The secret behind why he’s a beloved interviewer? He’s kind to everyone. And prop comedy...
Most people who are either a fan of Marvel, of Tom Holland, or of Ali Plumb, will recall an adorable, heartwarming moment between Plumb and Holland at the start of a recent interview when Tom interrupted the start of questioning to tell Ali he was his favourite ever interviewer and went in for a hug. And this isn’t a unique reaction to Ali’s interviews - Hugh Jackman and Millie Bobbie Brown to name a couple of recent examples expressed the same.
The secret behind Plumb’s success? He’s a lovely guy. “Tom accidentally gave away a huge plot point. It came out of nowhere but I didn’t pick him up on it or make it into a story point and I think he was grateful to that,” Ali reminisced.
“I dobbed him in it once the film had come out and I was interviewing Andrew Garfield, mind. But I think he [Tom] was grateful. Me and Tom - we both like a quiz and that goes a long way to me.”
But it’s not just being a lovely person - turns out there’s some pretty important prop comedy too. As much as prop comedy can be considered important.
“I was once really cheeky with Benedict Cumberbatch… It was 2021 I think (around the time of Multiverse of Madness) and I started the interview wearing one of those [Covid] masks. I unveiled it at the beginning and I showed I had one of those goatees. I said, “Oh I’m wearing this goatee in honour of my favourite Marvel superhero" and Benedict went “Oh that’s really sweet thank you so much” - thinking I meant Doctor Strange. And then I went, “Yeah, Tony Stark.” And he went “Oh you [[expletive deleted]]”. It was such a bad prop joke - but it was 2021 and that passed for humour then. Mask gags… Good stuff right?”
9. If he could have any film cameo it would be a Tony Stark Marvel moment
He is Ali Plumb the movie man after all so when it comes to picking a flick to have a cameo in, there’s some pretty stiff competition.
“I think if Domhnall Gleeson joined the MCU and they needed a variant, I’d step into those shoes,” Ali reflected.
“I’ve often thought about [being in] those classic Hollywood-style moments - one of my favourite tropes is flipping a table in anger, or getting into a car and saying ‘Follow that cab!’ But I think my favourite would be wearing a cap that says ‘PRESS’ on it, running up to someone with a microphone as part of a mob of journos.
"I’d love to be in that mob whenever they unveil the new Tony Stark (whoever it may be). If Dohmnall Gleeson said “I am Tony Stark” I’d love to be one of those journalists just yelling *incoherent babble* - you know when none of it makes sense, they’re not actually saying anything, just yelling over one another. I’d love to be one of those people, that would be my cameo.”
Petition for a) Domhnall Gleeson to be the next Tony Stark and b). For Ali Plumb to have that MCU cameo.
10. He never planned to be an interviewer - he thought he’d be a very experiential features writer (including stealing microwaves) at best
“I never dreamed this was conceivable as a job when I was younger, it felt truly impossible. It was a hobby and a passion.” Plumb confessed.
“I wanted to be a feature writer and do crazy things. I remember [Shortlist friend and contributor] Danny Wallace who wrote the book Yes Man - that’s the sort of feature I wanted to write. When I was at uni I wrote a feature about how I thought it was possible to steal a microwave from every single student accommodation to test campus security - and it was ridiculously easy. People helped me steal their own microwave - one guy helped me get it out of his own window.”
“I ran shotgun with a bouncer and cabbie. I did a week of just eating Tesco Value food (which my body was not happy about). Experiential silliness was what I loved doing. But it was pure chance that I ended up doing this. I was interning at the sadly now defunct Arena when someone in the IT department was made redundant at the holy grail of movie magazines, Empire, just next door, and I was told that I could sit at the desk and… things grew from there. The rest certainly wasn’t history - it was working three jobs and sleeping on a sofa and a lot of fun, hard graft - but I made it work and I am very grateful.”
11. If he wanted a criminal wingman, he’d be picking Tom Holland and Stephen Merchant
Reminiscing about his experiential writing days and the whole (surprisingly successful) microwave heists, we had to know who Ali would be picking out of his extensive friends, family, and crucially, interviewees to be his men-on-the-inside.
“I’d get Tom to backflip, and Billy Elliot his way out of the building - with a microwave. And Stephen Merchant because he would just attract loads of attention and be able to capture the crowd, telling loads of stories.”
Which to be fair, sounds like a solid plan. So solid in fact, we’d like to pitch a sitcom idea of the same storyline to Stephen Merchant - The Outlaws spin off anyone?
He didn’t set out to give advice to aspiring writers, movie buffs, or interviewers, but he did. Maybe it’s a reminder for people starting out, maybe it’s advice for people with imposter syndrome at their current jobs, but in the words of Ali, “The idea that somebody who's good at anything, and they don’t have a series of stories where they totally fluffed, up is ridiculous. No one gets good at anything by being good at it right off the bat. You’ve got to be rubbish at it more than a few times and go, ‘Don’t do that again!’”
- You can catch Ali IRL at his film quizzes which kick off at East Dulwich Picturehouse on 10th September. See all the dates and buy tickets via Ali's Linktree
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