The “really terrible” movie Cher knew was doomed from the start: “It was not a good film”
Being an icon always affords somebody more leeway to speak freely about whoever and whatever they want, with Cher using her status as a music industry legend and Academy Award-winning actor to shit over several films and filmmakers that she’s worked with.
Compared to some of the things she’s said about her fellow collaborators, admitting that she was blackmailed into starring in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, because her friend called her up and told her she’d be part of the cast, was positively quaint, which can’t be said for everyone who crossed her path.
It didn’t affect her performance, since she made the Golden Globe shortlist for ‘Best Actress – Drama’, but Peter Bogdanovich hardly endeared himself to his leading lady when they shot the 1985 biopic, Mask, with the singer succinctly summing up her feelings by saying she “really, really disliked him.” Or, to put a finer point on it, she also branded him “fucking arrogant” and “an asshole.”
Cher also successfully had the “idiot” Frank Oz fired from 1990’s dramedy, Mermaids, and she didn’t have many kind words to say about The Witches of Eastwick director George Miller, either, intimating that the Mad Max creator treated her and the rest of the female cast members “like shit.” In those cases, though, the films were either acclaimed, earned awards season recognition, or became cult classics.
The same definitely can’t be said about Steve Antin’s Burlesque, which should have been a home run. After all, a feel-good musical with plenty of camp starring Cher and Christina Aguilera basically sells itself, and while the film did inexplicably earn a Golden Globe nod for ‘Best Picture – Musical or Comedy’ despite turgid reviews, the former notched a Razzie nod for ‘Worst Supporting Actress’.
Even she knew that it had the potential to win over audiences, but a combination of a shoddy screenplay and a woefully ill-equipped director convinced her early on that it was doomed to fail. “It could have been a much better film,” Cher admitted. “It was always sad that it was not a good film.” The two key tenets behind any halfway decent movie are a competent director and a solid script, and Burlesque had neither.
Still, she knew exactly where to place the blame for its voluminous shortcomings. Antin? “Really terrible director.” Antin’s screenplay? “Really terrible script.” The overlong 119-minute runtime? “Had it been shorter, it would have squeaked by and been a really good popcorn movie.” Instead, it failed on all fronts, which Cher knew from the second she read the script and the moment she watched Antin work on set.
Look, Burlesque was never supposed to be high art, but Cher was nonetheless fuming that it failed to fulfil even the most basic remit expected from a picture of such a nature. The only positive she could take away from the experience was a Golden Globe for ‘Best Original Song’, which ironically had nothing to do with the “really terrible” Antin or his “really terrible” script, because Diane Warren penned the lyrics for ‘You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me’.
