Owen Teague resorted to ape noises at the ‘nonsense’ interview (Picture: Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage)
The trend of hiring influencers and TikTokers to interview actors has proved a controversial one but it appears to be going nowhere.
One TikToker has been slammed for his ‘degrading’ questioning of star Owen Teague at the premiere of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes in Hollywood.
‘Mumbling to actors on the red carpet,’ captioned Easton Simpson as he interviewed the IT actor.
The uncomfortable interview sees the 19-year-old social media star — with around 370,000 followers — purposely obscure questions as Owen, 25, tried to politely answer.
‘Acting in this movie is a little different because you’re not playing a human, what there any part where you’d say you notice that,’ he said, mumbling increasingly towards the end of the sentence.
Confused, the Stand star responded: ‘Sorry?’ and leaned in to listen closer, only to be given an even more garbled response.
‘What?’ Owen asks after taking a second and looking slightly irritated at the third repeat of the question, asking: ‘And then what happened?’
His side eye sparks laughter from Easton and Owen clocks it’s a spoof interview so cooly decides to respond in the ape language used in the film.
Making a swift exit, the Bloodline star is visibly annoyed as he walks away only to be asked yet another mumbled question.
He huffs into the microphone, signalling he’s no longer interesting in playing Easton’s game — which co-stars Freya Allan and Kevin Durand also fell into.
Owen’s interaction with the TikTok star has sparked anger (Picture: George Pimentel/Shutterstock)
Easton Simpson mumbled his way through the whole thing (Picture: Jesse Grant/Getty Images for 20th Century Studios)
Freya, 22, was incredibly polite as she apologised for not understanding then asked if he was ‘doing it on purpose’ and ‘trying to trick’ her.
Kevin, 50, took the interaction incredibly well as he laughed: ‘Oh you’re messing with me that’s really good.’
However, film fans online have not taken the tactic so well, calling it ‘heinous’ and ‘utter nonsense’.
Sharing the clip on X, Dave Lee wrote: ‘Wow guys; film journalism is moving in such a really awesome, cool, quirky, and fun direction! Nothing better than degrading your product and your talent! That’ll get ‘em to consider entering a theatre.’
‘Heinous scenes. I can’t imagine actors are delighted to be faced with this nonsense on a regular basis,’ said Nick de Semlyen, a respected journalist and film critic.
Owen tried to be polite but ended up walking away (Picture: George Pimentel/Shutterstock)
Other cast members also fell for the prank (Picture: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for 20th Century Studios)
John Squires added: ‘From the team behind “a pivot to video” comes “a pivot to people who don’t really know anything and don’t really care about this stuff but hey, they’ve got followers!” Wild to see experienced professionals who love movies pushed out of this field in favour of this utter nonsense.’
‘I got told twice by talent at SXSW that they were glad I asked actual questions,’ shared Kate Sanchez. ‘It shouldn’t be this way.’
Billie Melissa lamented: ‘This is so painfully disrespectful. As a filmmaker, I would simply refuse to be speaking to ANYONE until stuff like this ends.’
Writer and director Caroline Renard concluded: ‘Stop inviting them to junkets and red carpets! We’re all tired of it.’
This mirrors a fierce debate sparked when Sam Thompson, of Made in Chelsea fame, interviewed Dune stars Timothée Chalamet and Austin Butler.
Freya Allan was incredibly polite as she apologised to the TikToker (Picture: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
The stars had been in the UK weeks before (Picture: Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/WireImage)
He asked about kissing co-star Zendaya, resulting in bland polite answers from the baffled duo.
Sam replied to the hate and said: ‘You should have seen the bit where I asked Timothy if he wanted to play call of duty with me, you’d have loved it.’
Mostly the criticism has been aimed at studios and PR firms for continuing to make space for influencers, despite these repeatedly fumbled interviews that rarely make a positive viral moment.
Fans and journalists alike have been begging bosses to reconsider and allow for professionals to get good, thought provoking pieces rather than embarrassing TikTok clips.
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