The cast of Glee hit the road this summer and performed at sold-out concerts, sharing some of the show's most popular songs with dedicated fans (aka "Gleeks"). But for those who couldn't make it to one of the cast's concerts, 20th Century Fox decided the best way to share the experience with fans was through a 3D concert movie, the appropriately named Glee: The 3D Concert Movie.
Hitting theaters on August 12, 2011, the film features performances by the cast as well as backstage interviews. And together in LA for a press conference to support the movie, the cast talked about performing live in front of screaming fans, being contacted by young people because of last season's lesbian storyline, and what's in store for Season Three of Glee.
Dianna Agron, Kevin McHale, Cory Monteith, Heather Morris, Naya Rivera, and Harry Shum Jr. Glee: The 3D Concert Movie Press Conference
During the season do you guys watch the charts to see what songs are on top? Do you keep track of that?
Harry Shum Jr: "Yes. We go to Kevin for that."
Kevin McHale: "I’m the numbers guy. I’m definitely the one who checks it probably 10 times more than anybody and I look at the numbers."
Cory Monteith: "If I don’t know what the numbers are doing, I just ask him."
Kevin McHale: "Even with the ratings of the show. People will be like, 'Ask Kevin, I don’t know.'"
So when you guys were on a tour, what one moment of the night were you most looking forward to or was your favorite moment?
Heather Morris: "Like every night that we had? Overall? I like the beginning of the night when we would be on the mic and do the mic check. And they’d be like, 'Heather, Kevin,' and they’d start singing up on stage. There’s like five of them that start. They’re joking around on stage the whole time."
Kevin McHale: "And nobody else can hear it."
Harry Shum Jr: "I have one. During 'New York', all the boys go down and everyone waves. What do you say, Kevin? 'Put your hands up?' Literally seeing this with the thousands of people is one of the coolest things ever."
Cory Monteith: "That’s totally cool."
Dianna Agron: "Dublin, last show. Every moment you could find to do something a little bit different, a little crazy, involving huge beach balls, at one point water guns, shirtless boys, Warbler ties, things being thrown out of the audience."
Do you guys feel like you’re at the peak of Glee fame? You have a movie coming out, you’ve done a few seasons, you’re starting another season...
Harry Shum Jr: [Laughing] "It’s all downhill from here."
Cory Monteith: "I guess we can only speculate. I speak for myself but I would never have imagined that if you told me a year ago that we would have a three dimensional concert film...I would never have believed that. I don’t think we'd believe you if you told us what we would be doing this a year from now."
What are each of you looking forward to that’s coming up next season?
Dianna Agron: "Being seniors. It opens up the door for so many exciting things that I think we all remember from our own senior years. And, yeah, it’s a very special time in high school."
Harry Shum Jr: "Yeah, senior pranks."
A lot of kids watch the show. Do you think the sexual content of the show is for a more mature audience?
Cory Monteith: "I think that the show explores a lot of mature content. I think it pushes a lot of boundaries. Maybe it’s crossed the line a few times, but what’s really important about the show is that it brings these topics of conversation up for discussion and into peoples’ awareness and challenges ideas, maybe conservative ideas about how people live. So I think it’s a responsibility in a way."
Dianna Agron: "But also too I think that I didn’t know that Rizzo [in Grease] was pregnant. I didn’t understand any of that. So I think that, hopefully, some of our younger audience members, I think a lot's going over their heads. I know it would have gone over my head, for sure."
A lot of kids dream about being rock stars on stage. Was that a dream for any of you when you were younger and now being rock stars on stage, what has this been like for you. Did any of you get nervous before stepping out to perform in front of an enormous crowd?
Harry Shum Jr: "I think at some point, everyone when they were kids, on their bed, going, 'Ahhhhhh.' I think everyone experiences that at some point of life.
Heather Morris: "And it still feels exactly the same to be on stage. Once you get over the nervousness, and you have that one moment where you’re like, 'This feels like I’m playing in my room,' it’s fun."
Kevin McHale: "It’s easier when you’re on stage with 13 or 14 other people, so you’re not so nervous. But I just remember when I had to kill time before 'Safety Dance' for people to change, it was easy to take that for granted because there were so many people around and I was just like, 'This is easy,' but then when you have to talk to them and you don’t plan ahead what you’re going to say and your joke doesn’t pan out and it gets quiet, you’re like [stuck] in front of 20,000 people Thank God I’m not afraid to make a fool of myself."
When the show first came out and you sang “Don’t Stop Believing,” it really took off. Was there ever any doubt in your mind that the show wouldn’t become what it was when you had such a resonant song? What did the song mean to each of you?
Cory Monteith: "I think that was one of the first experiences how resonant that song was and it was an indication of where the show was going. Once again, I don’t think any of us could have imagined the lengths that it would go. But that was one of the first moments where I myself was like shocked at how widely it was being received across demographics and across age groups. Yes, that was a big moment for me."
Kevin McHale: "I don’t think we even realized when we were filming it the gravity and the effect that it could have. When we all watched the pilot together for the first time before it aired, we were like, 'Oh, crap!' When we were filming we had no idea what we were doing. We were having fun, it was such a new thing, we didn’t know what to compare it to. And once it was all put together and Ryan did his thing, we were like, 'Wow.'"
Heather Morris: "We were naïve to it because we were just the performers. We were in this room watching this show every Monday night with Ryan and then we didn’t really see anybody else seeing the show and we wanted to be included, we wanted to go to all the after parties and stuff like that. And then it started to hit that we were being invited. And you’re like, 'Oh, that’s kind of cool.' We get to be invited and then we can say no."
Cory Monteith: "People used to ask me all the time when we first got started, 'Isn’t the show like High School Musical. It’s like High School Musical punched in the stomach and had its lunch money stolen. I think it was pretty quickly that people realized this show was just a different animal. It was trying to do a different thing. It was trying to be a different type of television show."
Did you have any apprehensions taking the show on the road and not being in a studio?
Heather Morris: "We did it last year. We did the tour last year, so I think a lot of people that weren’t prepared then, they got to have a feel for it, if they hadn’t done a live stage show like that with an audience. They got really mentally prepared for it this time and this time it was really easy."
Harry Shum Jr: "A big part of it is that everybody from the cast brings something to the table, something different. So there’s a lot of weight off of your shoulders. You’re going to get something amazing here and you’re going to get something amazing when you bring this person on stage. I think that helped a lot these nerves."
If the show ended, would you all go on tour again?
Dianna Agron: "Like a reunion tour, like Backstreet Boys?"
Harry Shum Jr: "The Glee-union?"
Naya Rivera: "A 10 year reunion at the Hollywood Bowl."
Dianna Agron: "Never say never."
Heather, can you talk about what you’ve been hearing from girls in the last year since the lesbian story has been so big? And Diana, do you feel left out?
Dianna Agron: "I said, 'Quinn could always go gay.'"
Heather Morris: "Yeah, I got asked a question who would be Brittany’s next hook-up and I said it would be Diana for sure."
Naya Rivera: "I guess I can say, you know, Heather and I both receive letters constantly now from teenage girls all the time, from girls who are struggling with their sexuality. I think that since we’ve tapped into that now, they kind of have something to look up to that maybe wasn’t on television before in that way. We’ve heard countless stories. I know she met someone at a meet and greet and she said, 'Thank you. I came out to my parents because of you guys.' And I get letters like that too. So I think it’s great."
Heather Morris: "Girls are just more quiet about it. I’m sure growing up I had a handful of girlfriends that weren’t sure, probably just kept it under wraps. It wasn’t as accepted, I guess, to just say it out loud. I think it’s easier for some people now."
Usually you can get a break in between shoots, but this was a show for two hours non-stop. You have to sing and dance on stage. What did you do to stay ready?
Harry Shum Jr: "Please define break. What is that?"
Kevin McHale: "I remember during the sixth show and I was pushing myself up that ramp and my arms were just giving out and they were like, 'Not tonight, Kevin, not tonight.'"
Naya Rivera: "I went on a crazy steroid regimen before the tour, so I had no problems. I was ripping and running."
Dianna Agron: "I just channeled Beyonce."
Heather Morris: "I made a good luck charm. I made a cut-off denim jacket. That was my good luck charm. That’s kind of how I prepared for it."
What’s your advice for anyone who wants to pursue their dream of singing and dancing?
Cory Monteith: "If I can do it, anyone can."
Dianna Agron: "I think why go through life not trying? And it’s definitely the easiest field for people to put down. I remember when I was leaving, people were like, 'Oh, see you back next year.' Wouldn’t it be awful to not have tried? Obviously everybody in this room wanted something and live without regrets, I guess."
Harry Shum Jr: "I think it’s amazing. It’s funny, but I think it’s really amazing that it’s never too late sometimes. If he wouldn’t have tried, didn’t even go to the audition, I’m sure this wouldn’t have happened."
Cory Monteith: "The thought crossed my mind."
Harry Shum Jr: "And you did, and it’s awesome, right?"
Dianna Agron: "Say it’s awesome, Cory."
Cory Monteith: "It’s awesome."
Dianna, if a guy can’t sing or dance does he still have a chance?
Dianna Agron: "Define sing or dance. I feel like it’s all objective. I had someone interviewing me today who said, 'I can’t dance,' but it’s all in the eye of the beholder. That might be the particular style of dancing - I think that’s the thing. Maybe we’ve seen too many movies where Patrick Swayze is lifting up the girl and they’re like, 'Wow I definitely can’t do that.' And maybe that’s the perception: 'If I can’t do that, I’m not a dancer.' But I think the beautiful things is that we’ve seen so many kids on Youtube and not even just kids recreating our dances and submitting their own funny videos. Some of the viral video stars are the ones that maybe you wouldn’t necessarily peg to be the singer or the dancer. Kenan came and visited us on the Chicago leg. He’s such a cutie. He’s 14 years old, he’s in High School, he’s got a condition and he is the most brilliant happy boy who doesn’t see anything about his life as holding him back. It was his first concert ever."
Naya Rivera: "I can’t sit next to Kevin or work next to him in scenes. I can’t sit next to him in scenes or anything. We just laugh for no good reason. I want him to get away from me right now."
Has the confusion over what will happen with some of the seniors after this season affected the climate or the mood of the cast? And what do each of you hope for or imagine for your characters?
Kevin McHale: "Clearly it hasn’t affected us."
Naya Rivera: "It hasn’t. And, you know, nothing’s even been established or confirmed, so we’re just focused on this season and I think that’s our attitude right now. We’re really excited to get back to work. It’s like going back to school. We’re really excited about this season. As far as what I would like to see in my character, I don’t know. I’d like to see her be pretty mean, like real mean and maybe get a girlfriend."
Heather Morris: "I’d like to see her have a girlfriend for sure. Like a hot girl."
By virtue of being on set, the numbers are more contained and you’re playing to the camera. The stage for this was huge. What did it do to the performances, the fact that you had so much space and so much distance to cover?
Kevin McHale: "It was more so that we had so much space to work with, because normally we don’t get that much space and you have to more let loose. It wasn’t a concern for us to cover it because there’s a lot of us, so it was easy to cover the whole thing. It was nice to be able to actually do dances and have a lot of room to do the moves."
Harry Shum Jr: "Yeah, there’s like 80 of us."
Dianna Agron: "Although every now and then there would be an explosion. A rogue explosion and you’d be like, 'Oh, that was really close!'"
Cory Monteith: "The possibility of being set on fire when you’re on stage just makes the performance that much more alive."
Harry Shum Jr: "It was very hot too."
And there's the danger of falling off the stage.
Harry Shum Jr: "That’s real. That’s a real danger."
Dianna Agron: "Yeah, you should always look down every now and then, that’s true. Lea saved me once. There was a slightly smaller stage and the fireworks I guess we could maybe call them, the drizzling rain fire came down a little closer, almost on top of us. Lea’s like, 'Get over here, you’re about to die!' Not really, but you know. It was kind of serious."
What about the 3D cameras?
Dianna Agron: "They were actually really beautiful to watch because they were all suspended on these cords. I called them the black flying swans. Also the lighting had to be different for the movie and you could see so many more people than you could normally see, so that actually was a really cool thing to pay attention to."
Did having the 3D cameras following you affect you at all in terms of your performance?
Kevin McHale: "It only got in my way once when the whole thing was I didn’t get out of my chair until I was hidden behind the band. That had been so strongly stressed when we started the tour, to not break that. The 3D camera was in the way in the back and I got a little angry because I had to leave the chair out in the middle, so everybody could see me get up and leave because we had to make room for the camera."
Dianna Agron: "Harry saved me. Remember, there was a camera on the back of Kevin’s chair and Harry is a very coordinated dancer. So I remember the first number where I’m right behind him and that would be an area that I might not necessarily want a camera swaying back and forth. And Harry just kind of went like this. I went, 'That’s really weird, Harry’s really coordinated.' Then I saw he was going in and out of the camera. 'What a gentleman, he’s saving me.' He saved me."
Harry Shum Jr: "Of course, I don’t want you to get hurt."
You've had two successful tours now. How did this one go and would you do one next summer?
Dianna Agron: "Never say never. It was so much fun. We just don’t know."
Harry Shum Jr: "We’re going to do one on the moon. Let’s do one on the moon."
Kevin McHale: "We didn’t think one would happen in the first place and now we’ve done two."
