Trust me — press junkets are usually boring and tedious for everyone involved. Journalists are subject to hours of filing in and out of hotel rooms where talent from whatever film is being promoted — who are already exhausted from answering the same sorts of questions over and over — await to be interviewed, and it's really all the journalist can do to hope that they get at least one clip-worthy answer out of the hours they've just put in. Remember that Mila Kunis interview that went viral from a press junket to promote Oz the Great and Powerful, in which she and a nervous BBC 1 Radio reporter talked about football and he asked to buy her a pint with his friends? That was literally the product of Kunis being exhausted and bored with the press junket, and it just so happened to work out for the best. However, in the case of the recent Guardians of the Galaxy press junkets that have been taking place recently to promote the release of the film, something kind of...well, strangely magical has been happening. None of the interviews have been boring. I mean, we got Chris Pratt french-braiding an intern's hair mid-interview! And, now, this: Vin Diesel covered Sam Smith's hit "Stay With Me" during an interview, and it was...something.
It's probably got something to do with the fact that the cast of Guardians all seem to be overall cool people, really: Pratt, of course, is all sorts of Andy Dwyer awesome, Zoe Saldana is basically a queen, and Diesel once shook what he's got to Beyoncé's "Drunk in Love" because why not?
While there was no dancing, Diesel's cover of Smith's amazing ballad was...well, amazing, in a sort of "wow, Vin Diesel has an awful voice but this is hilarious" sort of way. I mean, he probably wouldn't pass the first stage of American Idol, but we all love to watch those bad auditions anyway.
See?
Of course, after watching this, I had a thought: How does Diesel's cover compare to some of the others that are floating around the Internet? I can't say that any of the other covers I found have as much raw enthusiasm (or slight fear) as Diesel's does, but they all certainly shine in their own ways.
Ed Sheeran
The obvious first choice. Sheeran covered Smith's song on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge, which is often responsible for giving the world some ace covers of hit songs from established artists who don't usually sing that sort of style. About five seconds in, it's clear: Sheeran's cover is definitely more pitch perfect than Diesel's (sorry, Vin).
Hannah Trigwell
I usually don't like it when artists change gender pronouns in songs that were originally sung by someone of a different gender, but I'll let this cover slide because Hannah Trigwell's voice is just that good. Yes, the line "but I still need love 'cause I'm just a man" was noticeably changed to "but I still need love 'cause I'm just human," but just listen to her singing — girlfriend's talented, so much so that I honestly can't even compare this one to Diesel's cover, because it's that lovely.
Rizzle Kicks' Jordan Stephens
Of all the covers included on this list, Jordan Stephen's cover is undoubtedly the most unique. Even Diesel, who is not exactly a singer (at all), kept Sam Smith's original arrangement of the song — Stephens, who is one half of English hip-hop duo Rizzle Kicks, however, did not. Instead of keeping with the ballad/choir-esque tone, he turned the track into a blues song with only a single acoustic guitar, and his raspy voice. Sorry, Vin, maybe you should have gone the blues route!
Jessie J
Diesel's cover is still funnier to watch, yes, but if you want to hear Jessie J prove she's actually got a great voice, check this cover of her singing Smith's hit live on Elvis Duran. Get it, girl.
There are, of course, a ton of more covers on YouTube, so I could go on and on. But, hey, in Diesel's defense — at least it's clear that Diesel's cover is supposed to be silly compared to the rest of them.
Image: PerezHilton
