Adam White

<p>‘I didn’t need to run away from those young ingénue roles. Honestly, I’d love to go back!’</p>

Interview

Lily James: ‘Every time I watch Alien, I go… wow, that’s my grandma!’

The star of ‘Baby Driver’, ‘The Iron Claw’ and ‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again’ now plays a woman fleeing constant surveillance in the thriller ‘Relay’. She talks to Adam White about losing her privacy in the public eye, the time she boasted about her lineage to impress Edgar Wright, and why she has no regrets about playing Pamela Anderson

<p>‘I think my sheer bluntness makes people uncomfortable, and therein lies the humour, maybe – but I worry that if I actively tried to be funny in something, it wouldn’t be funny at all’</p>

Interview

Rebecca Ferguson: ‘I want to be in movies that twirl my intestines up’

<p>‘I was basically this annoying kid with an orange bag asking too many f***ing questions. But that’s how many doors got opened’</p>

Interview

Cameron Crowe: ‘I think Bowie remembered it all. He just didn’t want to with me’

<p>‘I lashed out in this very public way that didn’t feel authentic to me. Then, suddenly, this relationship overshadows all the work I’d done’</p>

Interview

Lukas Gage: ‘I’m not broken. I’m not a liability. I’m just wired differently’

<p>Diane Keaton, who has died at the age of 79, in the 1987 film 'Baby Boom'</p>

Tribute

Diane Keaton was more complicated than her romcom persona suggests

Audiences adored her scatterbrained charm, sing-song neuroses and stylish menswear – but beyond that beloved persona lay a restless, more complex artist than romcoms often gave her credit for. Hopefully in death the scope of Keaton's work and interests will be more widely appreciated, writes Adam White

Tribute

Diane Keaton was more complicated than her romcom persona suggests

Audiences adored her scatterbrained charm, sing-song neuroses and stylish menswear – but beyond that beloved persona lay a restless, more complex artist than romcoms often gave her credit for. Hopefully in death the scope of Keaton's work and interests will be more widely appreciated, writes Adam White

<p>‘Nobody in the States wanted to go near anything about race. I was told I was stepping into really scary territory’</p>

Interview

Embeth Davidtz: ‘I was a child, so I absorbed the bigotry and violence around me’

<p>‘The consequences never felt real. If you’re shown a yield sign instead of a stop sign, you’re gonna just roll right into traffic’</p>

Interview

Charlie Sheen: ‘I put good and decent people through hell’

<p>Elizabeth Hurley in ‘Serving Sara’, ‘Bedazzled’ and ‘Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery’</p>

Let’s Unpack That

I spent a long, confusing week watching every Elizabeth Hurley movie

‘I actually can’t remember the last modern thing I’ve done’

Interview

Austin Butler: ‘Caught Stealing felt more raw than Elvis or Dune – like I didn’t have this other skin’

Interview

Austin Butler: ‘Caught Stealing felt more raw than Elvis or Dune – like I didn’t have this other skin’

<p>The British actor Rhona Mitra with one of the horses in her sanctuary in Uruguay</p>

Interview

Rhona Mitra on healing, horses and leaving Hollywood behind: ‘I had to save my soul’

<p>‘Alison dies in Scream 4 and that’s like a badge of honour to me. Like, my wife got killed by Ghostface – I’m so proud of her!’</p>

Interview

Alison Brie and Dave Franco: ‘Divulging so much personal info lately... it’s been a little scary’

<p>Rhian Teasdale of Wet Leg performs on the last night of Wilderness 2025</p>

Reviews

Wilderness Festival is glorious – once you get past the overzealous security

<p>Influential: Madonna in the video for her inescapable 1998 single ‘Ray of Light’</p>

In Focus

How Madonna’s Ray of Light became the blueprint for pop music in 2025

<p>‘When those moments arrive where your control is threatened, I can spot it now much earlier and steer it away as politely as I can. Or if I have to be rude, I’ll be rude’</p>

Interview

Danny Boyle: ‘Some days I think I’m a great filmmaker. Other days I think I’m terrible’

<p>An extreme close-up of Telly and a 12-year-old girl making out, mouths grimly colliding, opens the film</p>

Inside Film

Thirty years later, Kids still has the power to disgust

<p>Kneecap drew such a crowd that entrances were shuttered 45 minutes before their arrival</p>

Glastonbury Festival

The Kneecap controversy is proof they’re the perfect Glastonbury band

<p>‘I’m there on this rope, thinking... I studied the classics! I wanted to do Chekhov! How did I get here?’</p>

Interview

Gina Gershon: ‘I have a lot of PTSD from Showgirls’

<p>‘She’s dead… wrapped in plastic’: Sheryl Lee as the immortal Laura Palmer in David Lynch and Mark Frost’s ‘Twin Peaks’</p>

In Focus

Twin Peaks at 35: ‘We broke all the rules – and people were horrified’

<p>‘Right now I really need to think about what kinds of movies I’ll make going forward’</p>

Interview

Steven Soderbergh: ‘Erin Brockovich wouldn’t get made today… unless you get Timothée Chalamet’

<p>Endearingly British tosh: Kathy Burke and Harry Enfield in ‘Kevin & Perry Go Large’</p>

Inside Film

Like it or not, Kevin & Perry Go Large was proud British cinema – now it’s all but gone

<p>‘I had been deemed difficult and alienated the head of every major studio’: Val Kilmer in 1993</p>

Tribute

Val Kilmer was handsome, charismatic and difficult to work with – but he was worth it

<p>‘I would never make someone feel like s***. But if someone crosses me? Then, no, I’m not nice’</p>

Interview

Louise: ‘For years I wasn’t scrutinised. Then bang – everybody had an opinion’

<p>Eighties icons: Susanna Hoffs, Michael Steele, Debbi Peterson and Vicki Peterson of the seminal pop-rock band The Bangles</p>

Interview

The Bangles: ‘If we were a boyband, we’d have just punched each other out’

<p>‘It’s hard to be a child performer, to get out there and do the banana dance over and over and over again. It can be joyful while it can also be dehumanising’</p>

Interview

Keke Palmer: ‘I was a child actor making more money than my parents’

<p>‘Actors tend to get along. We’re like a tribe, a family. Every once in a while there’s somebody you’d like to push down the stairs’</p>

Interview

Christopher Walken: ‘I’m a very normal person’

Pop culture icons Pamela Anderson and Farrah Fawcett both transferred from pin-up fame into late-career dramatic work

Inside Film

Pamela Anderson deserves the dramatic career Farrah Fawcett wasn’t allowed to have

<p>‘I always think I’m so chill, but my kids have told me that I’m laser-focused, too. So bloody hell, I must be then’ </p>

Interview

Marianne Jean-Baptiste: ‘People were following a narrative that had been created to explain me’

<p>‘If you’re not making someone money, they sure as f*** don’t look after you’</p>

Interview

Vanessa Feltz: ‘My ex of 16 years was an utter publicity fiend’

The TV and radio stalwart has released an explosive memoir full of gossip, glamour and heartbreak. She speaks to Adam White about loneliness, tabloid cruelty, being harassed by Mohamed al-Fayed, and the time she was driven through a crowd of lascivious lesbian fans

Interview

Vanessa Feltz: ‘My ex of 16 years was an utter publicity fiend’

The TV and radio stalwart has released an explosive memoir full of gossip, glamour and heartbreak. She speaks to Adam White about loneliness, tabloid cruelty, being harassed by Mohamed al-Fayed, and the time she was driven through a crowd of lascivious lesbian fans

<p>Big eyes: An untitled sketch from Tim Burton’s ‘Boy Series’, on display at ‘The World of Tim Burton’</p>

In Focus

Tim Burton’s new exhibition and the making of a haven for weirdos

<p>‘Comedy is their love language’: Harper Steele and Will Ferrell, the stars of the new Netflix documentary ‘Will & Harper’ </p>

Interview

Will Ferrell: ‘I don’t know why trans people are meant to be threatening to me’

<p>‘“The Substance” is not a glamour role. I knew going in that I had to be vulnerable and raw’ </p>

Interview

Demi Moore: ‘I had to let go of any parts of me that value perfection’

<p>‘For me, when the noise gets really loud, I like to centre in on this feeling of, like, “You’re not gonna take away my joy”’ </p>

Interview

Elliot Page: ‘My queerness is what made Juno extra special’

Interview

Elliot Page: ‘My queerness is what made Juno extra special’

<p>‘I haven’t played the quote-unquote ‘leading lady’ in a very long time. And I appreciate it more the second time around'</p>

Interview

Carol Kane: ‘In comedy, you have a little more leeway with your looks’

<p>Shannen Doherty was sharp, icy, and a tiny bit dangerous</p>

Tribute

Shannen Doherty was honest, irresistible – and often underrated

<p>‘I’m not going to see “Longlegs”. I know that’s not me up there’ </p>

Interview

Alicia Witt on grief, catharsis and Longlegs

<p>At Glastonbury 2024, Charli XCX played a tiny set at Levels while Dua Lipa headlined the Pyramid Stage</p>

Comment

Charli XCX’s tiny set proved Glastonbury misjudged our big pop girls

<p>‘When I got to “Saturday Night Live”, it was a time of super-strong, powerful, funny women – I was very aware that other people had a completely different experience with it’</p>

Interview

Amy Poehler: ‘You don’t need a chaotic work environment to be funny’

<p>‘If you were in Clint Eastwood movies, you were in the Clint Eastwood movie business,’ Locke said in 1977. ‘You weren’t part of Hollywood’ </p>

Features

The tragedy of Sondra Locke, Clint Eastwood’s breathtaking muse

<p>A delicate dance between Mitski the artist and Mitski the idol: the singer-songwriter performs at London’s Eventim Apollo</p>

Reviews

Cult musician Mitski is a cross between Beyoncé and Marcel Marceau

Interview

Dannii Minogue: ‘I wanted to stand up, walk off the show and run’

<p>‘I’ve never had a good sense of picking projects that make money. That’s just never been how my brain works’ </p>

Interview

Mary Elizabeth Winstead on fame, Tarantino and working with husband Ewan McGregor

<p>‘I have a soapbox to stand on and something worth saying’ </p>

Interview

Olivia Williams on her ‘harrowing’ time on Friends and playing Queen Camilla: ‘I had queasy moments’

'I didn’t have to emote. I didn’t have to be sad. I didn’t have to despair!’

Interview

Maura Tierney on The Iron Claw, Joe Rogan and the aftermath of ER: ‘I need to stop playing women in despair’

Interview

Maura Tierney on The Iron Claw, Joe Rogan and the aftermath of ER: ‘I need to stop playing women in despair’

<p>‘I think a lot of his stuff can be quite shocking for people’: Jonathan Glazer’s ‘Birth’, ‘The Zone of Interest’, ‘Sexy Beast’ and ‘Under the Skin’ (clockwise from top right)</p>

Features

How Jonathan Glazer became our greatest and most mysterious filmmaker

<p>‘I was young and foolish. I suppose I had a certain amount of arrogance’ </p>

Interview

Jonny Lee Miller on fame, heroin and Harvey Weinstein: ‘I felt fury’

<p>Fond of your face: Bridget Fonda at a premiere in 1999, and in films ‘Single White Female’, ‘Scandal’ and ‘Jackie Brown’</p>

Features

Bridget Fonda: the Nineties great who vanished without a trace

<p>‘I’m pretty good at just blocking any of the noise associated with whatever fandom is – not letting it affect me, or more importantly my family’ </p>

Interview

Jamie Dornan on The Tourist, Marvel rumours and his Fifty Shades stalker

Interview

Jamie Dornan on The Tourist, Marvel rumours and his Fifty Shades stalker

<p>‘I’d watch Sofia Coppola’s movies and I’d just think: oh my god, this is so punk!’</p>

Interview

Cailee Spaeny on playing Priscilla Presley: ‘Their marriage was strange and shocking’

Interview

Patricia Clarkson on standing up to Weinstein and fighting for trans rights

<p>‘The best movies always make you uncertain about things’: Filmmaker Todd Haynes (centre), alongside (left to right) Cate Blanchett in ‘I’m Not There’, Julianne Moore in ‘Far from Heaven’ and Blanchett in ‘Carol’ </p>

Interview

Todd Haynes on May December: ‘All my movies feel headed for disaster’

<p>Britney Spears, photographed performing in 1999, has written a memoir so breathtaking in its rage that you can practically see the spittle on its pages</p>

Reviews

The Britney memoir is raw, unfiltered and breathtaking in its rage

<p>‘How would I like to be remembered? As a feminist icon’</p>

Interview

Julia Fox on fame, addiction and dating Kanye: ‘Men feel entitled to consume your beauty’

<p>‘My whole career has been this ridiculous series of “Sliding Doors” moments’</p>

Interview

Boy Parts author Eliza Clark: ‘Everything’s become bland – people don’t want the slop anymore’

<p>‘We were talking about desire, about carnal knowledge. Sex scenes were necessary’ </p>

Interview

Pedro Almodóvar on love, Bowie and gay cowboys: ‘I wanted to see if I could do a different kind of sexy’

<p>‘My high school teacher always said, “Jordan, use your powers for good and not evil”. Because he saw that I was capable of using them for evil’ </p>

Interview

How comedian Jordan Firstman went from Marvel to having real sex on film

<p>‘I knew I had to work hard to be better, to always take chances and always dare to suck and take big swings. I’ve tried never to play it safe’ </p>

Interview

Rebecca Romijn: ‘I wanted to do my trans character justice – and make her as hot as possible’

<p>‘Me and Clea DuVall were, I guess, famous teen actors, but we were never allowed to feel ‘normal’. It was made clear to us that we were broken in some way’ </p>

Interview

Natasha Lyonne: ‘I’m a broad – but that’s been a gift and a curse’

<p>‘I think when you’re young, some people have that chill already – I just had pretty intense angst'</p>

Interview

Into the Wild’s Emile Hirsch on remorse, wanderlust and child stardom

The star of ‘Into the Wild’ and ‘Speed Racer’ talks to Adam White about the aftermath of his violent attack on a female executive in 2015, saying sorry and meaning it, and playing a murderous fugitive

Interview

Into the Wild’s Emile Hirsch on remorse, wanderlust and child stardom

The star of ‘Into the Wild’ and ‘Speed Racer’ talks to Adam White about the aftermath of his violent attack on a female executive in 2015, saying sorry and meaning it, and playing a murderous fugitive

<p>‘I had paparazzi chasing me, people approaching me. You weren’t allowed to really be yourself’</p>

Interview

Josh Hartnett on Black Mirror, Oppenheimer and saying no to celebrity

<p>‘Simon Cowell said, “This is gonna be really big.” And I just wanted to cry’ </p>

Interview

Alison Goldfrapp: ‘I got letters from Americans saying that I was inciting bestiality’

<p>‘If you’re a queer person of a certain generation, you think about death daily’ </p>

Interview

‘I had shame that stayed with me’: Russell Tovey on sex, death and Derek Jarman

<p>‘My family always wanted me to be very proper and conventional. But I didn’t want to be known as the Hilton Hotel granddaughter’</p>

Interview

‘I’ve been violated my whole life’: Paris Hilton on sexism, #MeToo and surviving fame

Interview

‘I’ve been violated my whole life’: Paris Hilton on sexism, #MeToo and surviving fame

<p>‘A lot of times when grief happens, tragedy happens. Human beings reach for anything to numb the pain’ </p>

Interview

Zach Braff on depression, Manic Pixie Dream Girls and Florence Pugh

<p>‘When people ask how it feels to be nominated, it’s strange. I really feel nothing. If I can be completely honest, it’s more like, oh dear,’ says Chau </p>

Interview

The Whale’s Hong Chau on backlash, awards and hitting Brendan Fraser

<p>‘The very thing that makes you able to achieve something difficult – that’ll be the same thing that’ll kill you’ </p>

Interview

Jason Segel on Shrinking, puppets, and tiring of How I Met Your Mother

<p>‘I’ve always had a very specific sense of right and wrong, and it was hard to have that in this business... because there were a lot of wrongs’ </p>

Interview

Sarah Michelle Gellar on slaying, sexism and surviving Hollywood

<p>‘I feel more confident, I don’t feel as raw. If [my work] is rejected, I’m not gonna die’</p>

Interview

‘I’ve not led a traditional life’: Kate Hudson on nepo babies, cancel culture and Glass Onion

<p>‘I love being in front of the camera and telling stories, but [fame] feels alien to me. I can already see my life changing’ </p>

Interview

Naomi Ackie on playing Whitney Houston: ‘I know I’m putting myself in the firing line’

<p>‘She’s the people’s pop star. She doesn’t seem to have that bravado’: Filmmaker Alek Keshishian with Madonna in 1991 and Selena Gomez in 2022</p>

Interview

Alek Keshishian on Madonna, Selena Gomez and the art of documenting pop stardom

<p>‘It felt like people always wanted me to be on the side. To play the sidekick. But I knew I had more to say’ </p>

Interview

‘I needed therapy’: Brian Tyree Henry on grief, loneliness and Causeway

<p>‘Kicking around, taking the subway into the city from deep Brooklyn, trying to figure out how to live on five bucks a day… all that stuff sounds clichéd now, but that was really how it went down’ </p>

Interview

John Slattery: ‘When Jon Hamm walked into a room, people would go catatonic’

<p>‘When I first came to Hollywood, I would wear sexy outfits and be this other person, but it wasn’t who I was in real life’ </p>

Interview

Jennifer Tilly: ‘I love sex scenes! Who wouldn’t love sex scenes?’

<p>‘I thought... I need to get out of this film, because I think this guy’s a bit of a lunatic’ </p>

Interview

Judy Davis: ‘My honesty has definitely got me in trouble’

<p>‘They meant well, they wanted to save me. But they said, “Vicky, you have to change your approach.”’ </p>

Interview

Vicky Krieps: ‘I’m not a punk any more, but rebellion is just in me’

<p>Raven Smith: ‘The thing I’m most proud of is not quite fitting into a box’ </p>

Interview

Raven Smith: ‘Men are a club I was born into that I still don’t get’

<p>Busy Philipps: ‘This person was like, “She just annoys me – she’s too much.” And I’m like, I get it! I wish I could unfollow myself sometimes, too’ </p>

Interview

Busy Philipps: ‘I was just grossed out by Hollywood’

<p>‘We had no illusions that we were making the next Billy Elliot’: ‘Men’ stars Rory Kinnear and Jessie Buckley</p>

Interview

Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear on the provocative and perplexing Men

<p>Sissy Spacek: ‘I represented the young everywoman of the Seventies, and then one thing led to another...’ </p>

Interview

Sissy Spacek: ‘I represented the young everywoman, then one thing led to another…’

<p>Connoisseurs of roads: Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix of ‘My Own Private Idaho’</p>

Interview

Gus Van Sant on 30 years of My Own Private Idaho

<p>The ‘Friends’ after ‘Friends’: Jennifer Aniston in ‘Cake’, Courteney Cox in ‘Scream’, Lisa Kudrow in ‘The Comeback’, David Schwimmer in ‘Intelligence’, Matthew Perry in ‘Go On’ and Matt LeBlanc in ‘Top Gear’</p>

Features

Which of the Friends has had the best post-Friends career?

<p>Still wondering: Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw in the ‘Sex and the City’ sequel series ‘And Just Like That...'</p>

Features

We couldn’t help but wonder… is Carrie Bradshaw still misunderstood?

<p>Lucy Punch: ‘I’ve always liked people just verging on the grotesque. Not to be friends with, of course, but just to observe’ </p>

Interview

Lucy Punch: ‘I moved to the US as I kept getting cast as posh idiots’

<p>Kevin Williamson: ‘Me and Wes Craven were saying it’s maybe time to pass the baton'</p>

Interview

Kevin Williamson: ‘The Scream movies are coded in gay survival’

<p>‘It’s about the emptiness of the American Dream’: Steve Schirripa, Michael Imperioli and James Gandolfini in ‘The Sopranos'</p>

Interview

Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa: ‘James Gandolfini never felt comfortable with attention’

<p>‘She threw herself into things, she was a free spirit, and she took no s*** from anybody’: Katrin Cartlidge in 1994’s ‘Before the Rain’</p>

Features

Katrin Cartlidge was the greatest actor you’ve never heard of

<p>Saxophone scores and phallic murder weapons: William Baldwin and Sharon Stone in ‘Sliver’</p>

Features

Ice picks, full frontals and the grand return of the erotic thriller

<p>Joshua Jackson: ‘Fame is notoriety, but it’s also access, and that can lead to some pretty dark places’ </p>

Interview

Joshua Jackson: ‘The process of not being a d*** is a lifelong one’

<p>Rachael Leigh Cook: ‘Weird was my happy place. If it was something strange, I wanted in on it’</p>

Interview

Rachael Leigh Cook: ‘I was never at the top of the pretty-girl list’

<p>‘It’s really a snapshot in time of what I was feeling’: Michelle Branch performs tracks from ‘The Spirit Room' in Taipei in 2002</p>

Interview

Michelle Branch helped raise a generation of angsty romantics

The singer-songwriter’s debut, released when she was 18, remains a millennial classic and the blueprint for teenage pop-rock. She talks to Adam White about capturing youthful truthfulness and lighting the way for Taylor Swift

Interview

Michelle Branch helped raise a generation of angsty romantics

The singer-songwriter’s debut, released when she was 18, remains a millennial classic and the blueprint for teenage pop-rock. She talks to Adam White about capturing youthful truthfulness and lighting the way for Taylor Swift

<p>Ramy Youssef: ‘The representation that I care about is emotional representation’</p>

Interview

Ramy Youssef: ‘There’s no, “Yo, Muslims, here’s your show”’

<p>‘Nobody' star Connie Nielsen: ‘America is terrifying – I insisted that my kids practise self-defence and karate’</p>

Interview

Connie Nielsen: ‘I’ve been the token woman in so many films’

<p>Silent witness: ‘My voice was cracking, but then I was like: it doesn’t even matter, because we don’t talk much in this movie anyway’</p>

Interview

Noah Jupe: ‘In a zombie apocalypse, I’m gonna call up Emily Blunt’

<p>‘Even if I took pies in the face, or got tarred and feathered and ran out of town, I wasn’t going to change’</p>

Interview

Liz Phair: ‘I feel like I’m the youngest of the old people’

Interview

Liz Phair: ‘I feel like I’m the youngest of the old people’

<p>John Hawkes: ‘I’ve always pulled for the underdog, and the underdog rarely wins'</p>

Interview

John Hawkes: ‘I play a lot of characters who you might want to avoid’

Mythic Quest’s F Murray Abraham: ‘After Amadeus, I became known as a “heavy”, but I’ve always preferred to make people laugh’

Interview

F Murray Abraham: ‘I was a pain in the ass, but I’m wonderful now’

Angourie Rice: ‘If I ever expect people to know who I am, I’d be very worried for me'

Interview

Angourie Rice: ‘When you’re a kid actor, you feel like an annoyance’

Clockwise from centre: Kelsey Grammer and Moose the dog in Frasier; Charles Shaughnessy and Fran Drescher in The Nanny; the cast of Friends; Queen Latifah, Kim Fields, Erika Alexander and Kim Coles in Living Single (l-to-r); the cast of Seinfeld

Features

The bittersweet afterlife of sitcom stardom

Lee Daniels: ‘I know I’m in a lane of my own’

Interview

Lee Daniels: ‘No one sees the world the way I see it’

<p>‘Big Sky’ star Ryan Phillippe: ‘You want to be a part of something that gets people talking’</p>

Interview

Ryan Phillippe: ‘The type of movies I used to make are virtually gone’

<p>James Caan, photographed in 1974: ‘I wish I had an Academy Award – I sound like I’m bitter, and I am!’</p>

Interview

James Caan: ‘I was Mr Tough Guy – they wouldn’t let me do much else’

Nigella Lawson eats pasta with nduja and cavolo nero (alone) in Cook, Eat, Repeat

Comment

Nigella Lawson has taught us the pleasure of being alone

David LaChapelle: ‘My work was sexy, but there was always a lot of fun’

Interview

David LaChapelle: ‘Britney and Paris were trailblazers’

‘I’ve discovered how to be kinder to myself, and that’s a tough thing for a wrestler to say’

Interview

David Arquette: ‘I can out-crazy most people’

‘I don’t mean to get high and mighty about it but art has a responsibility to push the envelope and push boundaries and deal with difficult subjects’

Interview

Kevin Bacon: ‘I think of myself as an actor, and not a movie star’

He’s been a movie mainstay since the Eighties but has always evaded celebrity, instead gravitating towards grisly characters other actors wouldn’t dream of touching. Adam White meets a true Hollywood original

Interview

Kevin Bacon: ‘I think of myself as an actor, and not a movie star’

He’s been a movie mainstay since the Eighties but has always evaded celebrity, instead gravitating towards grisly characters other actors wouldn’t dream of touching. Adam White meets a true Hollywood original