Rage: Please tell me why you chose Burlesque as your feature film debut? CA: There have been many attempts at making
movies like this that haven’t turned out so well. I definitely had to think it over to do this film. At first, they had to rewrite my character…I was like, “This girl, she doesn’t have enough drive, she doesn’t have enough meat. I don’t think she is for me. I want someone with more bite and more passion for what she wants in life. So, they rewrote it. I had to have a balance of starting out very vulnerable and wide-eyed and naïve. But, I put that energy into how I was really feeling in approaching acting in the first place…which is wide-eyed, a newcomer who is open and vulnerable to everyone’s opinions and ready to learn.
Rage: You’ve owned many a concert stage. How is this different for you? CA: It is different. Even though I was a performer
first. I did music first and foremost. My first love is my singing. Doing this movie was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I knew it would be, there were so many challenges that rose up. I had to wear so many different hats. When I went in to write the music, I wasn’t just writing it from my own point of view. I had to look at the scene, the motivation behind the scene and write it from my character’s perspective. Then record the songs and figure out where I wanted to come from in my vocal approach. There were also intense, intense dance rehearsals. I never really danced before in my life before Burlesque. The technique I learned, the styles I learned…it felt really good for my body. For the film, everything was prerecorded so I fully had to concentrate on the dancing. That’s what you walk away with too, as a female, living and watching this movie, you feel very empowered.
Rage: Which musical songs did you compose? CA: I wrote, “Express,” “Bound to You,” which is a big ballad in the movie and I wrote “Burlesque,” the finale of the picture.
Rage: I know you are an admirer of the actual art of bur- lesque. I really enjoyed your performance in “A Guy What Takes His Time” number. CA: Yeah! Thank you.
Rage: Making a musical film can be grueling. Being a mom too, it had to have been exhausting at times. CA: It’s always hard. As a mother, they are your
first priority. I had the weekends off…which was good. I spent as much time as I possibly could with Max. It’s important for me to work too, so he can have an example of a strong woman in his life, one that has her own passions so that he can have his own goals and dreams. They tried not to let me have weekends off but when you’re working 17 and 18-hour days, I was like, “Oh no. This is my first movie and I know you’re trying to take advantage of me but I’ve got to put my foot down on this one.”
Rage: With this being your film debut and a starring role, how was it tackling a whole script of dialogue for the first time? CA: It was so overwhelming looking at the entire
script! I was like, “Oh my god! How am I going to memorize all of this at once? But…you don’t. I got to understand the process of each scene. Some days, you have no dialogue; it was just about a walk or a look. Each day, I would take it as it came. If there was more dialogue, I would study the night before or run lines that morning. So, it was actually less strenuous then I thought it would be.
Rage: I really think you did a fine job of showing the transformation of your character during the course of the musical. You don’t come across as a hardened person at the end of the film. CA: I think there was a fine line. I definitely wanted
GUILERA
to portray Ali in a very likable sense. There was no point in the movie where…because some of the scenes I had to like yell at Cher. There are moments that are explosive. I never wanted to come across “bitchy.” I was very fearful of that. But, rather believ- able…making Ali someone who every girl could re- late to. She starts out vulnerable, scared and afraid, “Is this going to work? Should I really leave my small town?” Then, ends up conquering what she goes for by kicking her foot in the door, taking risks and taking over the club and changing it for the better.
Rage: How would you describe a bit of this growing experi- ence as a person? CA: Well…by the time I was done with the movie,
I was just a completely different person. I have new things to say and new points of view. Now, I’m in a place where I’m in an introspective state of mind. I have a lot to say and have grown leaps and bounds from that film. I’m a changed woman! I’m very much ready now to make a new record. It really has moti- vated me for what’s next.
Rage: It was excellent speaking with you. CA: Thank you. Take care.
DECEMBER 2010 | RAGE monthly 51
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