Adrian Grenier Explains Narcissism to Paris Hilton

It's not every day you are able to see Paris Hilton's reaction to learning about origins of the word narcissism. All of this will change Monday night with the HBO airing of Adrian Grenier's documentary "Teenage Paparazzo."

In the film, Grenier's takes time to explain to the famously self-absorbed heiress the Greek myth of Narcissus -- the story of a man who falls in love with his own reflection in a pool. The myth became the modern word explaining a condition of excessive self-love, narcissism.

"It's one of the funny moments in the film," Grenier tells PopcornBiz.

Hilton's reaction? She looks positively confused and wants to know if the story actually really happened. Pretty classic.

Grenier's documentary website is harsh about the onscreen moment, calling Hilton "dumb as nails." But Grenier is kinder in person, saying that he too enjoyed the irony of presenting the concept to Hilton.

"There is serendipity in documentary film-making," he laughs about the moment. "It's just about sewing all of those little gems together and that's what we did."

Grenier explains that he was seeking a solution from the paparazzi frenzy which dominates Hollywood in both his documentary and his discussion of Narcissus with Paris.

"I was exploring how we can escape or transcend the narcissism that is created by the amount of images in the media," he says.

While Paris didn't necessarily offer any help beyond her confused look, the discussion did help Grenier think of another avenue to take in the documentary. In the meantime, he admits it's humorous to see Hilton learn this valuable story.

"Oh yeah," says Grenier. "Enjoy it."


 

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