During roundtable interviews for the Screen Gems film in Los Angeles, 64 year old Cher - who has no plans to retire - explained why she takes so long between films. "Oh, God, everybody’s going to ask me that. I don't know. Nothing comes to you that you really want to do or you end up doing other things. I’ve said this like a million times, but I wanted to do Mamma Mia, but I was on the road so I couldn’t do it. So I don't know. That’s why."
On being lured back to the big screen with Burlesque:
Cher: "I think that it was [producer] Clint Culpepper that forced me and twisted my arm. I wanted to work with Stanley [Tucci] truthfully, because he did one of my favorite characters in the world who shall be nameless, but go to 'Muerte, Stanley.' He was great in it so forever...it’s like I saw Nicky [Cage] in Peggy Sue Got Married. When we did Moonstruck, I just thought he was so great in it, anybody who would just risk looking that foolish should be the person in Moonstruck. That’s what I thought about Stanley in that movie. So I really wanted to work a lot with him. I did Witches once because I wanted to work with Jack [Nicholson] and so I think a lot of it had to do with Stanley."
On choosing projects that make a lasting impression - Silkwood, Moonstruck, Mask, Mermaids:
Cher: "Oh, well, there are many that are not. I just try to do the ones that I like because I don’t do them exactly for work. I do them because it’s fun. It’s not a hobby, but I’ve always known I wouldn’t make a lot of films. When I do them, you hope they turn out to be fun. This one turned out to be really fun. [Stanley] and I never met before but we just laughed all the time. Christina was, everybody was great to work with. Everyone was very excited."
On the similarities between she and Christina Aguilera and feeling a connection:
Cher: "Yeah, because we both wanted to do the thing that we’re getting a chance to do. We both wanted to do it in real life, so it makes it kind of easy. You just understand the person. It’s a shorthand."
"Our relationship was good on screen and off screen. Of course I’ve been through all the things that she’s going through so you can tell somebody, 'I did this. This is what happened. Don’t sweat that. Watch out for that.' Then Stanley, obviously, hasn’t gone through those things so it was a way of connecting that also made us connect closer on the set."
On the necessity of identifying with a character in order to play her:
Cher: "In some way, I think. It’s a no brainer. She’s a no brainer for me. It’s not that much of a stretch. I just played myself in that situation. That’s kind of what I do. I just kind of find the part of myself that is in the character. Also, I’ve never really done a stretch but I’d really like to. Like Stanley did The Lovely Bones. He must have found something in that person that he felt he could bring to life."
On why she hasn't done more movie musicals:
Cher: "Because there’s not a lot of musicals. There aren’t musicals made all the time and all of them aren’t the right fit for you. This one just happened to be. I always wanted to do it. I always wanted to sing, but it just doesn’t happen that often."
On the ups and downs of filming Burlesque:
Cher: "Lots of 16 hour days. This was the hardest time, period. It was like the longest days I’ve ever had and thank God that we had a great time on the set. We really did. [Tucci] and I laughed all the time and were totally abusive to one another. The girls were really fun to be around."
On longevity in the business:
Cher: "It’s luck. It’s truly luck. There’s all the other little things thrown in, but it’s luck."
Is she surprised about where music has gone with more emphasis on the rhythm than melody?:
Cher: "Yeah, because, look, I’m a dinosaur in this kind of business. I started in a different business. It was a different business when I started and Sonny and I were just coming in on the wave of a new business, because the old business a record company would take an artist, they would pick the songs, they would have a producer that they picked and an A&R person that picked what the tone of the albums were going to be. We were people that came in, wrote the songs, played the music, made the album and then basically sold it to the studio heads because they really didn’t know what was going on at that time. So that was the best time, I think, to be in music and I think this is a hard time."
On words in songs that aren't even real words (example: “Rah mah rah mah ah”):
Cher: "[...] It's like 'Mairzy doats and dozy doats' from the ‘40s, so things like that happen. It’s the feeling that you get from music. Music is so visceral. It’s like my favorite song I still don’t know what the words are. It’s 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' by Procol Harum. I have no idea what they’re saying. It’s my favorite song."
On Lady Gaga, Rhianna and Beyonce:
Cher: "Look, they’re really talented girls. They’re great singers and they’re talented girls. Talent comes out. They’re themselves. They are Lady Gaga, they are Rhianna. They’re not someone else. For every Lady Gaga there’s probably 10,000 girls that were coming up at the same time and didn’t make it."
On the current status of the music industry:
Cher: "It’s a different industry and I think it’s just so much more difficult. When I was young if people liked you, they went and bought an album. They didn’t just go on the internet and pick one song. It’s a different time. It’s a much more difficult time."
"Before, people just had an album and they liked the singer and they liked the feeling. Of course there’d be like four songs they liked more, but it was just different. It was just an easier time and a more fun time, less cutthroat."
Looking ahead to her future music plans:
Cher: "I’m still working in Las Vegas and I’m going to do an album in Nashville. I have things. You never stop wanting to do art. I’ve said this a million times, but I believe it. No one said to Picasso, 'Okay, that’s enough. There’s no reason, you painted all these pictures, why do you need to do anything more? You’ve done everything.'"
So, how does it feel to be Cher?
Cher: "Sometimes it’s a major pain in the ass. I don't know. I never think about that."
* * * * * * *
Burlesque hits theaters on November 24, 2010.
