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Live from Studio 1A: Celebrity Watch

I happened to stop by our downstairs greenroom during a break and ran into the two producers in charge of Sandra Bullock and Jeff Goldblum's segments this morning.  I find that one of first questions I get asked about my job is if I have met a lot of celebrities, closely followed with, "So, who's nice and who's mean?"  I am happy to report that both Bullock and Goldblum fell into the "nice" cate

I happened to stop by our downstairs greenroom during a break and ran into the two producers in charge of Sandra Bullock and Jeff Goldblum's segments this morning.  I find that one of first questions I get asked about my job is if I have met a lot of celebrities, closely followed with, "So, who's nice and who's mean?"  I am happy to report that both Bullock and Goldblum fell into the "nice" category this morning.  They were both hanging out in one dressing room, joking with each other about the order of their segments.  Sandra said she could set up anything Jeff wanted since her segment is up first, and he generously chimed in that he could wrap up any loose ends she might forget - like plugging her film.

As further evidence of their down-to-earthness, Jeff Goldblum's producer Dee Dee Thomas told me that at the end of her pre-interview with Jeff he had to get off the phone early, but said, "You can give me a call later - my number is..." (no, I can't include the number here.)  This is a rarity in celebrity dealings because most of the time we communicate through a publicist or outside contact.

Dan Barbossa produced Sandra's segment, and while he did not get her digits, he did say she was very easy to talk to.  When a stage manager came downstairs to bring up both Sandra and Jeff, Jeff commented on how nice his sweater looked, and wondered aloud if he should start wearing sweaters.  Sandra chimed in that she likes the sweater look, but a style pet peeve of hers is people wearing sunglasses indoors.  After a brief fashion debate they all headed upstairs.

Dan had also produced a segment with Sandra in the past.  During that segment Ann had said to Sandra, "So you're from Alabama," and Sandra had quipped, "No, I'm not."  This of course got a big laugh in the moment, but Dan admitted that that mistake was actually his fault.  When he had been pre-interviewing Sandra for that segment she had mentioned she had family in Alabama, and Dan translated that in his note to "Sandra is from Alabama."  It is pretty much every producer's nightmare that an incorrect fact or quote be said on-air.  Dan told me that he had immediately called Ann to apologize for the mistake and that Ann was totally fine with it.

As I've said before, we all love bloopers, and shortly into Sandra's segment today Matt brought up that past mistake, prompting the control room to re-play the clip.  Luckily Sandra's good humor does not exist only in romantic comedies, and everyone had another big laugh - much to Dan's chagrin - this morning.