Most fascinating interviews of 2015

 (First of three parts) 

LOS ANGELES—This column is dedicated to Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc, Inquirer’s beloved editor in chief, who passed away last Dec. 24. She loved my year-ending roundup of my memorable interviews which, she said, made her want to read the original columns again. Here’s a red wine (her favorite) toast to the woman we simply and lovingly called LJM. This time, instead of featuring Angelina Jolie, Meryl Streep, Woody Allen and other figures who always end up every year on my list because, well, they’re always fascinating interviewees, I am featuring talents who were just as engrossing.

JUDI Dench. PHOTO by Ruben V. Nepales

Judi Dench

“I’d rather be younger and not know so much,” Dame Judi Dench declared in her commanding voice in a meeting room at the Claridge’s Hotel in London.

The great actress doesn’t mince words—none of that stuff about having wisdom as one ages.

Judi would rather be young again. “Age has nothing much going for it. There aren’t many advantages in getting older.”

Judi looked frail and seemed in pain the last time we interviewed her for her film, “Philomena,” in 2013.

But, on this dreary afternoon in London, Judi, 81, was a bright presence. “I don’t think it matters about your age at all,” Judi remarked. “It only matters about your determination not to give up or not to stop learning new things, which I absolutely applaud. I don’t want to be told I can’t do something. I just have to go at it! I may make a terrible mess of it, but I’d sooner make a mess than not have a go at all. ”

AVA DuVernay. PHOTO by Ruben V. Nepales

Ava DuVernay

Ava DuVernay, who made history as the first black woman to earn a Golden Globe Awards nomination for best director for “Selma,” wants to inspire girls, from the Philippines to Brazil.

The trailblazing former publicist, whose film about Martin Luther King Jr. landed an Oscar best picture nod, brought this up when asked about the figurative crossing of the bridge in her life (the reenactment of “Bloody Sunday” in 1965, when armed officers attacked civil rights demonstrators crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama, is a crucial scene in her movie).

“My bridge crossing is getting out of thinking in a small, limited way as a young girl from Compton (California),” said the spirited filmmaker. “Compton is an inner city. As a young black girl, I never saw anyone making films, especially women. So, the idea that one can see more for themselves than anything they’ve ever seen before—that really captured my imagination!

“I see that with Oprah (Winfrey) as a young girl from Mississippi. So, I always imagined girls from all over the world or people with brown skin from all over the world, whether it’s the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Brazil or Africa—seeing something they’ve never seen—people making films, taking control of their images… that was a bridge for me to cross, because I never saw it! I hope I can be that bridge for other people.”

BRIAN Wilson. PHOTO by Ruben V. Nepales

Brian Wilson 

Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys’ cofounder, who is now hailed as an American music genius, gets a dark, harrowing and ultimately compelling biopic in director Bill Pohlad’s “Love & Mercy. ”

Brian, who composed and produced the band’s “Pet Sounds,” universally regarded as one of the all-time greatest albums, is played by two fine actors at different points in his troubled life—Paul Dano and John Cusack.

“I hung out with John and Paul for about a week, and they became familiar with my mannerisms,” said Brian, who turned 73 last June 20. He sat by a piano.

While Brian is noted for his sunny California songs for the Beach Boys, his debilitating mental illness plunged him into a dark world.

Asked what the most difficult song to write was, Brian answered, “‘God Only Knows’ (he played a few bars on the piano). The easiest song was ‘409.’”

On where he got his inner strength to survive those dark periods in his life: “It came from my heart, my piano and some friends who helped me through.”

 (Continued tomorrow) 

E-mail [email protected]. Follow him at https://twitter.com/nepalesruben.