I was thrilled to attend the Snow White & The Huntsman international press junket at Arundel Castle, set deep in the beautiful English countryside, on Friday.

I’ve been in LA so long now, I’d almost forgotten that castles do not have to be accompanied by the smell of ketchup and drama students in Disney costumes.

I was there, along with hundreds of other press types, to interview the cast of #SWATH. My one on one was with the rather manly Chris Hemsworth – aka Thor - for Sunday magazine in Australia, but I also got to sit in on roundtables with Charlize Theron (our third meeting in six months, she’s still irritatingly gorgeous and intelligent), Kristen Stewart (just a million times more delightful than anything you’ve ever read) and Pirates’ Sam Claflin. Actually thinking about it, they were all gorgeous, delightful and intelligent. Where do movie stars come from? They’re other-worldly. They must be hatched because jaws that chiselled, eyes so blue and skin so honeyed can only be manufactured in a lab somewhere.

They were all on top form though. Chatty, and all clearly happy with the movie, which is a rollicking romp, dark in places, and adds a new spin on the fairytale. Chris was anxiously checking his phone as his actress wife Elsa Pataky was heavily pregnant. I interviewed him at 5pm, and the next day the papers were full of stories of their little girl’s birth in London that same night. I’m honoured to have spoken to Chris on the first day of the rest of his life (and the last he’ll have been allowed to sleep uninterrupted through the night before).

The interview will be out soon but here’s a snap of Arundel taken as I was being escorted (in the nicest possibly way of course) to the shuttle back to London. Chris and co were ‘coptered away – no sitting in M25 rush hour traffic for the A-listers – but as we meandered through the tiny country lanes I sort of fell in love with England all over again.

I was bewitched by the thatched cottages, the cricket greens and pub signs. America is wonderful but the rich history we have in the UK is totally and utterly mind-blowing. Arundel Castle was founded on Christmas Day in 1067. Take that Six Flags.

And best of all, for the first time in 40 days, it had stopped raining.

Watch the trailer for SWATH here.

It was my second time around meeting Ms Jones.

Except this time one of us had just given birth.

Exclusive: it wasn’t me.

Read my story with Mad Men’s Betty Francis (formerly Draper), in this week’s Sunday Telegraph.

If ever there was a woman I moved to LA to interview it was Betty White.

I had the pleasure of meeting her at The Lorax press day, held on the Universal lot, in Studio City. Heart-felt thanks to my commissioning editors at Sunday Magazine, in Australia, who asked me to interview her for the cover of the magazine. Box ticked!

READ MY INTERVIEW FOR SUNDAY MAGAZINE BY CLICKING HERE .

Ms White was a vision in yellow. She never stopped smiling. She remembered everyone’s names and their outlets, and oh yes, she’s 90.

She remembers when LA was orange groves and not just freeways and fast food outlets.

She won the first every Best Actress Emmy and has been in a hit show every decade since the Fifties. She’s only ever shot one love scene and that with Leslie Nielson who put a whoopee cushion under her (somewhat ruining the mood).

She’s a bona fide legend.

I was nervous (after how many years of doing this?), and managed to drop my tape recorder, trip up and spill my drink all within 60 seconds of entering her trailer.

During the interview I got a little bit teary-eyed (I was jet-lagged okay). But she was so delightful and honest about her love for her late husband, Allen Ludden, that at one point we ended up having a little hug. So sweet. So unique. And yes, I had tears in my eyes.

After Betty had been whisked away in her limo (with a hot-dog to go), her publicists told me that two other journalists had been in tears that day. Betty had turned to her and said, “I don’t know what I’m doing but I’m making everyone cry!”

Well Betty, it’s because you touch people’s hearts. And I am honoured to have met you.

Watch the trailer for The Lorax here.

And the theme tune to The Golden Girls here…come on, you know you love it!

Angelina’s Leg. Those two words have excited viral-friendly nerds the world over. She came, she posed, she looked…erm…a bit weird.

But hey, she got some press (as if she needed more).

Not since Janet Jackson’s Superbowl nipple slip, has a body part garnered so much coverage. It certainly pepped up the Oscars this year, that’s for sure.

Think about it, has a leg ever had an instant Twitter feed?

Trouble is, we have no idea what Ms Jolie was thinking. Was it a joke? Was it deliberate?

Or was it just an unfortunate fold in a gorgeous Atelier Versace dress?

To get to the bottom of this leggy conundrum, The Sunday Telegraph in Australia, asked me to talk to some industry ‘insiders’.

So thanks to Perez Hilton, Melanie Bromley, the west coast editor of US Weekly, Ellie Genower, from PA and Julie Kramer, agency director for ArtMix, for their entertaining and insightful words of wisdom.

You can read their thoughts by clicking here.

And also thanks to Jim Rash, winner of the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, for The Descendants, for his amazing ‘homage’ to Ange. He plays Dean Pelton in Community and he made my night.

Can’t resist. Here’s some Dean Pelton magic.

I apologise…my headlines are getting worse. By Christmas I’ll be trotting out ‘Poppadom Preach’ and ‘Shell We?’ regardless of who the story’s about.

My last interview of 2011 was with Elizabeth Banks, who stars in Man On A Ledge, with Sam Worthington, although I know her best from her stint as Jack Donaughy’s wife, Avery, on 30 Rock.

You can read my interview for the Sunday Telegraph’s Insider magazine, here.

I saw the movie at the tiniest screening room at the Dick Clark Studios. I think it had 12 seats – slouchy armchairs, four in a row. The film was great – surprising given that it was about a man on a ledge but then Phone Booth with Colin Farrell was also good. Just shows, you don’t always need a big stage to enthrall an audience.

When I came out of the screening room it was dark and LA was experiencing the worst storm in a long time. The power was out on the west side and a branch fell off a tree hitting my car, as I drove up Santa Monica Boulevard. It was terrifying.

Almost as terrifying as standing on a ledge 22 floors up above New York City…

What a life she leads too. Flown across the world to audition for Martin Scorsese, she fooled him into thinking she was British. And lo! the role of Isabelle, in Hugo, was hers.

She seemed very grounded – and was in fact travelling with her older brother (who is also her acting coach), her dog Jackson, her mother and her tutor. (Those aren’t necessarily written in order of importance.)

Asked what she thought of her tutor she told me: “Sometimes after long day on set I think, ‘Aaagh, I don’t want to do it!’ but then I think about how I want to go to Columbia (University), and mom reminds me that I won’t go unless I do the work. I want to be more than a smart actress. I want to be well-spoken, intelligent, and well-rounded, so if something does go awry, I’ll be able to  figure out another career path. I’m trying to follow every dream I have.”

We don’t need a tutor to learn something from this delightful young adult.

Read my interview with her for the Sunday Telegraph’s Insider magazine here.

Charlize Theron is an absolute riot. I can’t remember an interview with a female A-lister that involved so many curse words and raucous outpourings, to the point where her publicist literally yelped in shock at one particular phrasing.

I was in New York interviewing Ms Theron for Young Adult, Diablo Cody’s toe-dip into why so many apparently successful (and single) women in their late thirties are unhappy. I described the character of Mavis to Charlize as being in a ‘spinster panic’, and she said, ‘Oh that’s good, I might steal that for the press tour’. I granted her every thievery.

Charlize tells it like it is, as my cover story for the Sunday Telegraph’s Insider magazine shows. She comes from a small town in South Africa called Benoni, and by coincidence the South African reporter at the YA press conference was from the same tiny town. Charlize stopped her as she was asking a question to tell the room that “this bitch is from Benoni – it’s amazing, the place is like, this big!”, and then she did that pinchy thing with her fingers to denote it’s smallness.

Patton Oswalt is her co-star, and also gave good quote. If you don’t know him, check out Big Fan. It’s one of those small gems of a movie that takes you by surprise. I think – and hope – that the role of Matt Freehauf, the sweet nerd that Mavis befriends, will elevate him to a new level of fame.

Him and Charlize seemed to enjoy a hearty banter – but compared to many of the drier female actresses I meet, she must have seemed like a breath of fresh air.

Albeit one who regularly turns the air blue.

Watch the trailer for Young Adult here.

I’m really excited about 2012. Yes, even at this age, it’s possible to be excited about your job. There are still so many people left to interview and no-one’s getting any younger…although you wouldn’t know that living in Botox Central.

I’d like to tick this lot off my interview list (in no particular order): Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Tiny Fey, Gary Oldman, Tom Hanks, Kristen Wiig, Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep, Joe Cornish, Hugh Laurie, Lizzy Caplan, Penn Gillette, Weird Al, Agnes Jaoui, Ricky Gervais, Woody Allen, Michael Sheen, Demi Moore, Sir Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman and Steve Carell (for the second time), Betty White, Madonna, Aaron Sorkin, Kermit the Frog, Christian Bale, Emma Stone, Sandra Bullock…you know what, this could go on forever.

I’m still curious about people; I love movies, art, creativity and California – and I’m hugely grateful that I still get to rearrange the alphabet for a living. Journalism is a noble pursuit – I don’t care what that Leveson bloke says. I was raised on the romanticism of the great writers and reporters, and in my mind’s eye, I’m living the dream. *clacks away at Olivetti*

So here’s to a year that ticks more boxes, brings health, happiness and abundance – and if I’m lucky, a scoop or two that makes you sit up and take notice, as you peruse your iPad for something interesting to read…

Lisa

Contact lisamarksmedia@gmail.com

And I got to interview one of them last October at the Four Seasons Hotel (naturally), in Beverly Hills.

Kate Beckinsale, the star of Shooting Fish (one of my favourite indie movies of the Nineties), was there to talk about the fourth Underworld movie. I watched a few minutes of kick-ass 3D footage with the publicist, who had to show me how to TURN THE GLASSES ON. What?

Kate had Hollywood hair, a teeny tiny waist, and was happy to divulge her love of Finsbury Park bus station (that didn’t make the final copy).

Read my interview with Kate for the Australian Sunday Telegraph here.

This my last post of the year, so Happy Holidays – may your mince pies be sweet and your Santa hat be fluffy! And thanks for all your positive feedback. It’s much appreciated!

Underworld 4: Awakening trailer.

I’ll be honest, I was on very strong pain relievers when I interviewed Scarlett Johansson, which is why I sounded like Mutley when I listened back to the tape.

She called me on it too. “Are you wasted?” she laughed.

Sheepishly, I replied, “Yes. I was suffering from back pain after the flight to New York and took an extra strong pain killer this morning.”

She thought it was hilarious.

I thought the concept of buying a zoo was hilarious.

We got on like a house on fire.

Read my interview with Scarlett for the Sunday Herald Sun, here. 

We Bought A Zoo trailer.