Has Cher lived up to her Oscar? (And is that a mean thing to say?)

I finally got around to viewing this Cher interview from Norway posted by YouTube Master Tyler many moons ago. The picture quality is very fuzzy but the content is pretty interesting.

Cher talks about shopping for clothes in Oslo. I wish I had such a passion for shopping for clothes. Anyone who sees me knows instantly I have no passion for looking put together.

Cher talks about “Believe” being her biggest song to date and how funny it is that the lyrics are so sad but the track so upbeat. Did she really say track? Like it’s karaoke? This reminds me of the Poco song that always bothered me, "Call it Love" – a song that makes you feel very happy until you realize you should be depressed instead.

Cher again comments that her year 40 was her best year – a year when work, love-life and still having the kids at home all aligned in a pleasant manner.

The Norwegian interviewer asked what bores her. A very unusual question. She answered that she has a very short attention span and likes to make everything into a game, that she tends to be childish that way and doesn’t like doing grownup things, like “business crap.” She says she has a rebellious teenager in her and can be very stubborn. Her whole she has fought for the right to do things, she says, and it’s hard for her to know when she’s being obstinate and bull-headed. I wonder if maybe this is why so many projects fall through.

She talked about her first David Letterman appearance, how she needed to pay a 28k hotel bill and the show only wanted to pay scale ($600). They relented only to have Cher call Letterman an asshole on camera. Cher said she was reluctant to appear before because Letterman had a reputation of being mean to his guests. Old story but I find her note of someone else’s meanness suddenly interesting in this interview.

The interviewer talked about her movie If These Walls Could Talk and called it “the anti-abortion” movie. What? That movie tried to show multiple view points and I don’t quite understand how it could be construed as anti-abortion…even by Norwegians. In any case, Cher states that none of her actresses wanted to do the script and she asked them to trust her, not as a director but as an actress. She said they could say whatever they wanted to as long as they got the feeling across and Cher admitted to them “I wouldn’t say that crap.” Ouch. That might sound kinda mean to the writer who wrote that script.

Cher also delved into the very real harrows of being famous, having to ensure photographers can’t film through her house windows, having to shred all her trash and papers. One anecdote had Cher visiting Olivera Street in downtown Los Angeles with Chastity and autograph hounds holding them up. Chastity apparently said “I hate going anywhere with you.” I had that same conversation with my mother once but it wasn’t over paparazzi; it was over her chiding me for not having more passion in shopping for clothes.

In any case, another sucky thing about being a celebrity, Cher says, is having interview comments misconstrued and how the media is often mean-spirited. Hmm – that mean word again.

Then Cher called Bill Clinton’s paramour, Monica Lewinsky "a very ugly girl." I don’t think Cher would get many guests if she hosted a talk show either. She can be plenty mean.

Cher did however give a brilliant explanation regarding how annoying America can sometimes be:

“We’re a strange country…we have aspirations that we cannot meet…we’re like a bad teenager, too many hormones raging a lot of the time. We mean well and we have great energy…we’re just not quite soup yet.”

Also of note, Cher talked about the Oscar, about once seeking revenge through fashion after being criticized for the way she dressed and dating men too young, and about the night she won the Academy Award for Moonstruck in 1987, about meeting Audrey Hepburn that night and feeling light on her feet as a result, and about how she lost her earring and said ‘shit’ inappropriately. An inappropriate shit? I wonder what she thinks about her use of the word Fuck that has caused so much brouhaha lately with US media and courts.

Speaking of Oscar, in an LA Times article on November 7 entitled “The Oscar Jinks” Cher is listed in a small group of actors who have not lived up to the promise of winning a statue.  An Oscar implies you are the best, the article states. Problems with some post-Oscar careers include:

a. Some actors play the same roles over and over again (Olympia Dukakis and Joe Pesci were cited for this). I think Cher plays tough chick way too often – which is why I like Suspect so much – but I really don’t think Oscar-watchers sense this about Cher. I don’t think it’s a huge issue. I just personally would like to see her take on more vulnerable characters.

b. Some actors have earned a reputation for being difficult and so are not sought out for better roles. All the messy Mermaids press rings a bell here…and Cher’s admission of being obstinate often.

c. Sometimes the parts themselves win the Oscars (F. Murray Abraham as Sallieri in Amadeus, Patty Duke as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker and Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoos’ Nest were cited as examples). I definitely don’t think this is an issue for Cher. If anything, I think she won the Moonstruck-era Oscar for her accumulation of great performances in the previous years, her most beloved role being in Mask. I’d almost say it was a delayed win for Mask as much as for Moonstruck. And the character didn’t overshadow her performance in either case.

The article admitted it might be better for one’s career to be simply nominated than to actually win a trophy. In most cases I guess. Wins surely didn’t derail Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep or Katharine Hepburn.

Other disappointing winners according to the list: Liza Minnelli, Roberto Benigni, Whoopi Goldberg, Mira Sorvino, and Kim Bassinger with added mention given to Halle Berry, Helen Hunt, Kevin Spacey, and Cuba Gooding Jr.

A few weeks ago, my bf won a bet with me that he couldn’t hand sew his own frontier pants. He threw a party to celebrate the making of his pants. At right is a picture of him at his pants party looking like Kevin Spacey.