John Malkovich
American actor
That the Proust Questionnaire will continue to be used by lazy, overworked journalists for another century or so (since you asked …).
What is your greatest fear?
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
What would you like to be remembered for?
Death & what remains
Question
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Time & hindsight
Question
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Failure & regret
Originally asked
Vanity Fair, to its interview subject, The Proust Questionnaire
The exact prompt is fixed in Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire and independently sustained in The Guardian's The Q&A over multiple decades.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Overcooking pasta for my Italian family in Napoli – they would kill me.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 December 2022 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 255 →Apathy, either from an audience, the people around me or myself.
I’m from Birmingham. I’m not afraid of things. Things are afraid of me.
Those abduction situations where you’re packed in a bunker for 30 years.
More from Gino D'Acampo
View profile →That Italy didn’t qualify for the World Cup this year.
I wanted to be a footballer at first, like any other Neapolitan kid.
I am always very happy in Sardinia with my family; I spend at least six months of the year there. Six months working and six months relaxing – I think that is a great balance.
As a nice and fair guy who helped bring authentic Italian cooking to the UK.
Minimum effort, maximum satisfaction. That’s the way everyone should live.
I would have spent more time with my parents. I did see them often, but you don’t realise how much you’ll miss someone or something until it’s gone.
More on identity & self
- Which trait do you most dislike in yourself? 242 answers
- What most recently made you cry? 193 answers
- What did you want to be when you were growing up? 191 answers
- What is your idea of perfect happiness? 158 answers
- How would you describe yourself in three words? 110 answers
- What are you most proud of? 98 answers
Also answered this · A–Z
Ai Weiwei, Alan Arkin, Alfred Molina, Alison Steadman, Allison Janney, Ally McCoist
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