From: jlgross@webtv.net (Loretta Gross)
Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 16:49:53 -0500
To: bonjovi@istar.ca
Subject: Barbara Walters Interview

Hi,

I'm sure that there were some of you on the list that were not able to
see the Barbara Walters Six to Watch interview with Jon.

This is for you.....

It began with Barbara giving a very nice introduction and summary of
Jon's career. You couldn't see her but only hear her speaking like a
narrator as footage of Jon was being shown. There was clip after clip of
various music videos, concert footage, appearances, movie clips, still
pictures (one as a young boy & one playing guitar-probably in high
school, a few of him and Dorothea), all with his music playing in the
background as she spoke. The very last scene was of Jon in a movie
studio with headphones on - dubbing lines for his most recent movie Row
Your Boat.

Barbara's introduction:

In the 80's Bon Jovi Rocked & Ruled. And if ever a band had a face or a
hairstyle it was Jon Bon Jovi's. With his tight pants and voice aching
with passion... the stage was his world. But 78 million record sales
was just Chapter 1. Chapter 2 - a new acting career. But hiding
behind all that hair was a quiet actor and critics say "He's got it".

He is a New Jersey boy to the core, who always perferred playing music
to getting good grades. At 21 he formed the band that bore his name. As
rock stars go, he broke the mold...no drugs or trashed hotel rooms. And
as for girls, Dorothea Hurley stole his heart in High School and never
let it go. They married in 1989 and now have two children.

He wrote the theme song for the movie Young Guns II. It won him an
oscar nomination and inspired him to cut his hair and his losses. He
was battling depression, fearful of becoming one more aging rocker, so
he took a break from the band, got an acting coach and found his subtler
self. In three movies this year, he has shown a masterful ability to
all but dissapear into his roles.

The week we met him he had been working two jobs...recording some of his
song material and dubbing a film called Row Your Boat. He's enjoying
the challenge of making another name for himself.

(Then it goes to Barbara and Jon in a room sitting at a small table
together and Jon turns towards Barbara. It appeared that they had just
watched the same introduction that we, the TV audience had just viewed.)

(The interview begins:)

BW: Jon...you're a big star in the music world. You are a beginning
star in films. Isn't that tough?

JBJ: It's tough... but it's good. The humility serves a great purpose
in my life. It helps me stay grounded in the music business too.
Because, in all honesty you know, you're used to playing stadiums, and
the private plane, you know...the best of everything.

BW: And the people cheering?

JBJ: Sure... and you know, then you're doing an independent movie
where, you know, the budget's as big as what you spent on catering, you
know. (laughing at the contrast)

BW: But it is interesting that you started with the small roles. It
was very wise. You didn't come on and say "Look who I am, give me
anything".

JBJ: No, I've seen other people make those mistakes and uh, you only
get one shot at the first time and for me it was about baby steps,
getting my confidence up and feeling comfortable in front of the camera.

BW: There are not many rock stars who make the transition from music to
films... and you don't sing in these films?

JBJ: No

BW: Do you have any role models?

JBJ: (without hesitation he says) Frank Sinatra

BW: Yeah...but for a long time, he sang.

JBJ: "Here to Eternity", right? The guy wins an academy award
(speaking in total awe) You know, I mean the guy toured until he was 80!
I'm 36, it hurts (laughing) I don't wanna... I don't know about 80.
(laughing and shaking his head)
BW: Let's talk about your hair.

JBJ: OK... (the way he said OK was as if to say "If I really have to"
then he rolls his eyes and shakes his head)

BW: Do you feel that the hair gets more attention than the music and
the acting?

JBJ: It did... I don't think that it's such a big deal anymore. I do
remember though, six years ago when I cut it short, it was on CNN!
(totally amazed) I mean... I couldn't believe it!

BW: It was big news "JON BON JOVI CUT HIS HAIR !!! "

JBJ: I know, yeah (smiling and laughing)

BW: You still have got a good head of hair.

JBJ: Fortunately yeah, it's mine, it's mine.

BW: There are a lot of bald men who still hate you (joking)

JBJ: It's mine

BW: In the early 1990's with all of your success, you went through a
period of depression. Why? (bewildered)

JBJ: (Jon nods his head yes, and becomes quite serious and says)
That's a good question.

BW: You know, you say why? But you had it all.

JBJ: Yeah and I wanted to give it back.

BW: Why?

JBJ: Uh... I had done four albums back to back to back. We lived on
the road for 250 show tours at a clip and uh... we were burned out on it
because all the romance was gone. It wasn't what I thought it was gonna
be. It became a machine.

BW: The Band?

JBJ: Yeah

BW: Traveling? Touring? Here we are, there we go?

JBJ: And we were supporting 100 people and you know, agents and
managers and lawers. They were doing their jobs but they were booking
us and booking us and no one was giving us a break to stop.

BW: What happened?

JBJ: I fired everybody. You know, I just, I went home, caught my
breath, uh, did the Young Guns record, did a lot of things to start to
develop a 2nd Chapter to my life.

BW: Is this when you decided you wanted to try acting?

JBJ: Yeah

BW: Did you seriously study acting?

JBJ: Oh yeah, and continue to uh.. now.

BW: You didn't just say, you know, "I can do it"

JBJ: No... No no no not at all. I have much to much respect for the
medium to ever think that because I was a singer in a rock band that was
popular, that I think I could act... I mean, even Robert DiNero couldn't
go make a record tomorrow. He'd have to learn the craft, you know.
(smiling and laughing)

BW: What would your dream film role be?

JBJ: Uh...something opposite uh.. Dinero, Sean Penn, Pachino (laughing)
and Paul Newman. (he's counting on his fingers as he names each actor)

BW: And could you hold your own?

JBJ: I'd hold, you know, cables. I would hold whatever it took to
hold. (laughing)

BW: What does acting give you that music doesn't?

JBJ: (serious now) I think what it does is, it takes all the experience
that I have and allows me to be a beginner again. I have confidence. I
have the luxury of knowing I have a great day job to fall back on if I
get the rejections from a producer or a director.

BW: The day job is the recordfing job and that's going to go on?

JBJ: (no hesitation) Absolutely. It's in my blood. I have to do it.
(hard to explain but the way he says this is as if it is totally out of
his control - he has to do it - it is who he is)

BW: So what can we expect from Jon Bon Jovi the musician in the next 10
years and the same guy, the actor, in the next 10 years?

JBJ: (he thinks then says) A lot of it...(laughing) I'm gonna record.
I'm gonna make movies. I'm gonna have fun. I'm gonna enjoy it. This is
the time to really take the blinders off and take it in.

THE END

Hope you enjoyed that.
Always
Redda

All rights of the transcript reserved by Loretta Gross.