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 most recently made you cry?
Identity & self
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
Question
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Failure & regret
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Question
What would you like to be remembered for?
Death & what remains
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.
When I was growing up, I thought quicksand was going to be a much bigger fear to contend with on a day‑to-day basis. It hasn’t proved to be a bother yet, but there’s still time.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 August 2022 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 266 →
Stephen Fry
Actor, writer and broadcaster
Being found out.
To lose the ability to do my work.
Daphne Guinness
British socialite
Aggression without provocation or consequences.
More from Vick Hope
View profile →This sounds so silly, but I cry with happiness all the time. I cry when my flowers open!
J-Lo, a foreign correspondent and, at uni, I assumed that someone would tap me on the shoulder and ask me to be in MI6, but it never happened.
I don’t like it when people manipulate your words, which sometimes happens in the tabloids.
My younger self. I told myself so often that I was not good enough, that I was not smart enough, that I was not interesting enough, that I was boring and ugly. I wasn’t kind to my body, and I did and said things to myself that I would never do or say to a friend.
I can’t say no. I am a people-pleaser, and it means that I burn myself out because I take on too much.
As someone who had a laugh.
More on identity & self
- Which trait do you most dislike in yourself? 252 answers
- What did you want to be when you were growing up? 204 answers
- What most recently made you cry? 193 answers
- What is your idea of perfect happiness? 161 answers
- How would you describe yourself in three words? 114 answers
- What are you most proud of? 109 answers
Also answered this
Helena Bonham Carter, Jia Tolentino, Cory Taylor, Sally Mann, Patrick Stewart, Sofia Coppola
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