by Paul Fischer
by
Paul Fischer
At 57, Cher is an abundance of energy,
this time dividing her time between a
farewell 
concert tour and promoting her latest movie, the Farrelly Brothers'
Stuck on You. It's simply hard to imagine what it must be like being Cher,
and this legendary performer isn't about to give too much away. As we sit in
a New York hotel room, Cher laughs at the idea that in Stuck on You she gets
to play an exaggerated version of herself, or rather of some kind of image,
which she sends up to delightful comic effect. I loved the Farrelly
Brothers' work", she explains when asked if there was any arm twisting
involved in getting to co-star in the outrageous brothers' latest film, but
laughingly admits that she didn't think she'd be playing herself in the
comedy about conjoined Twins. "They didn't twist my arm, but just lied
to me.
The script just said 'actress'. Then later they said it would be much better
if you could play yourself. Once we got there and started doing it we
decided to do everything we could do," which included Cher's much publicized
obsession with dating younger men. The scene that gets the biggest laugh is
one featuring Cher in bed with a half-naked Frankie Muniz. "Actually,
he's
very funny because he took off his t-shirt and said, I've been doing push
ups so I'm pumped up, so we got along famously after that."
Cher even managed to have some input into the way her exaggerated persona
was explored in the film. "I think that one of the big things that they
did
for me was let me rewrite some of the things because I said, I said 'Look,
I
have such a special way of speaking and you can't just like completely tie
me down to the script because some of the words are not words I would use,
even with my evil twin, Cher, so they were great about that."
So, what exactly is that Cher persona one hears about? While she happily
dismisses her affection for younger men, she becomes angry when reminded
that a misconception about Cher is her diva image. Which she asserts "is
just ridiculous. I don't like it but it makes me laugh. If I didn't think
it was so full of shit, I'd laugh." When it comes to reflecting on her
own
fan base and icon status, Cher prefers not to give such matters serious
thought. "You know what? Every night I walk out on stage, and there are
like
20,000 people screaming and yelling, I always think, 'Who are they coming to
see? What are they doing here?' I actually tell them it
sometimes." Perhaps for that
reason, Cher's current farewell tour is definitely her last. She is
adamant that enough is enough. "I feel like the only way I can explain it
to you is like Michael Jordan. At some point you have to stop and it's better
to stop when you're doing a really good job, and if you come back I'm not sure
that you're ever as good and people go: Oh, the last show was so much better.
So I just don't want to do it," Cher says, emphatically. "I think
you should stop while you're still doing it really well and I'm doing it really
well."
Cher adds that she hopes post-touring;
there will be "a million other things" after music for Cher to
focus her abundant energies on"Firstly, there is this movie I want
to direct and I want to do another movie called In the Pink, and
I'd love to sing old standards at Carnegie Hall. Just because I've done
certain
things, doesn't mean that there aren't certain things that are on my
wish list," Cher says, half smilingly. What she won't do is write her memoirs,
at least "not until everyone's dead". Nor does she have interest
in looking back on career, defined by a career that includes roles in some
20 films, and over 30 albums. "I don't really much care to look back,
nor do I look or listen to anything. By the time I finish an album, I've
worked on it for, I've heard every song like a zillion times and don't particularly
like the sound of my voice anyway," comes a surprising admission. "So
I like to sing, I just don't want to listen to it and with movies, sometimes
I see them once and never look at them again, and sometimes I see them in
a couple of years." Yet she does admit to at least having a favourite
song. "I really like Believe. I always have a great time maybe because
it's at the end of a show, but I never get tired of singing it."
Cher says that in terms of her own self-reflection, she adopts a philosophical
attitude towards what has been an astonishing career. "My career has had
unbelievable highs and unbelievable lows, so I know not to take any of it really
seriously." Her greatest achievement? "Is that I'm still here." Cher
says that she has only one piece of advice to give young people who aspire to
step into her shoes. "The only thing I can tell them is: Don't pay any attention
to what anyone says." That sounds like advice she has followed for most
of her career.