Q: My high school journalism teacher has arranged for us to interview some actors and creative professionals. I was assigned Nicolas Cage. I keep reading he is difficult. I am very nervous. I know you interviewed lots of stars. Do you have any tips? — Pami, Houston, Texas

A: Tip No. 1: Do not go in to an interview with any preconceived notions. I have interviewed Cage several times. He is great because he does not just toss out scripted answers. He was also was very nice. But please, do not ask him where he keeps his Oscar.

In my decades-long career I have interviewed everyone from Paul Anka to Ian Ziering and almost everyone in between. Tip No. 2: Do not ask the subject for an autograph or to take a picture with you. You have to be on an even playing field. Asking for those things puts you in a lower position. In all my years as an entertainment reporter I have never snapped a picture, even when close friends begged me. The one time I did get a photo was when I met Bill and Hillary Clinton, but I was a guest at the White House, not an interviewer. And I didn't even take the picture; a White House photographer did.

Tip No. 3: Do not think they want to be your friend. If a star hits on you (yes, several have done that to me) just back off. This is a wonderful business, a fun one, but it's not about pleasure. You really are there to do a job.

Please do your research. Listen to the answers. One of my favorite "are you kidding me" moments happened while I was watching Sandy Hill on Regis Philbin's talk show. Ed Asner was a guest. On that day they also had a counselor who helps people deal with guilt. Asner told Hill he had been filled with guilt all his life. He had just opened the door to a riveting interview; it was a golden opportunity. Sadly, her next question was "How much are you like the Lou Grant character?" My head started to hurt. (By the way, Asner is an actor. He is not like Lou Grant or the Santa he played in "Elf.")

My first big interview was with Anka. I had a crush on him when I was a teenager. Then one day, there I was, interviewing him in his Manhattan apartment. It was one of the best days I ever had. I was about 20. I had moved on to crushing on the Beatles at that point, but there was still a bit of fluttering in my heart. When Anka offered me an iced tea, I said, "No, thanks."

"I wish you would. I asked the housekeeper to make it, and she will be unhappy if she did it for no reason." The interview proceeded. I was taping it on my tape recorder, when suddenly tape started spewing out of the cassette. He found a pencil and rewound the tape.

The next week I received from Anka a gold Cross pen engraved with my name. I assumed this would be how all interviews would go. Nope, in all my years as a movie and TV critic, that was the only gift I ever got. Even better was when I did another interview with him and he asked if I would like to fly on his private jet to Detroit. I would have said yes, but I had to be on TV the next morning!

For the most part, the stars are fine. On a press junket they spend days talking to tons of interviewers in five-minute segments. They often hear the same question over and over.

In all the years I have done this I have only had three people acted like jerks. One was a soap star. He was not only drunk; he was nasty. I will not reveal his name, as he is still on a soap. He plays a very hard-to-like character. He snapped, "You got that?" after defending his character. To be fair, the other times we talked he was fine. Clint Eastwood's daughter Alison once sneezed on me. I am sure it was an accident, but she never apologized.

Now on to "Sesame Street." Frank Oz, filmmaker, puppeteer and actor, was on a junket promoting his great film "In & Out," starring Tom Selleck. My last question to Oz was meant to be funny. I asked what it was like to work with one of the great divas. He asked whom I was talking about. I said, "Miss Piggy." His response: "Do you know she is a puppet?" All righty, then.

I did not have time to lick my wounds. It was time to interview Tom Selleck, who is always a dream.

Please save the clips of your interview. Cage is a big get. It will impress folks when you are applying for jobs and internships. They are used to seeing stories about coin clubs and the like. There's nothing wrong with covering the coin club, either, but razzle-dazzle gets people's attention.

Tip No. 4: Never let a subject read an article before you take it to press. And my final tip: As the golf pro tells his student after giving him all the instructions, just relax and have fun.

To find out more about Lynda Hirsch and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Alan Light