{"id":587546,"date":"2023-08-18T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-18T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/cher-on-studio-return-memoir-rethinking-biopic-saving-animals-the-hollywood-reporter\/"},"modified":"2023-08-18T16:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T13:00:00","slug":"cher-on-studio-return-memoir-rethinking-biopic-saving-animals-the-hollywood-reporter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/cher-on-studio-return-memoir-rethinking-biopic-saving-animals-the-hollywood-reporter\/","title":{"rendered":"#Cher on Studio Return, Memoir, Rethinking Biopic, Saving Animals \u2013 The Hollywood Reporter"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n In late November 2020, as another COVID-19 wave had U.S. hospitalizations app<\/a>roaching what would be their pandemic peak, Cher braved the trip<\/a> from Los Angeles to Pakistan to ensure the safe relocation of Kaavan \u2014 an Asian elephant languishing in the decrepit Islamabad zoo. The culmination of a five-year effort largely maneuvered by Cher\u2019s Free the Wild, a charity fund of the Entertainment Industry Foundation that seeks the release of captive animals, Kaavan was moved to a sanctuary in Cambodia. But he was not the first pachyderm to pull at the legendary entertainer\u2019s heartstrings. \u201cThe truth is that I saved Kaavan because I couldn\u2019t save Billy,\u201d says Cher. \u201cAnd Billy still suffers every day.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n Billy isn\u2019t anywhere as far off as Islamabad \u2014 unless you\u2019re attempting a trip during rush hour in Los Angeles. The 38-year-old elephant has spent nearly his entire life at the L.A. Zoo. There are frequent calls for the animal to be released to a sanctuary. That also was the recommendation of a December motion by the L.A. City Council\u2019s Personnel, Audits, and Animal Welfare Committee. But even as the number of American zoos that have closed or vowed to phase out elephant exhibits since 1991 approaches 40, L.A. Zoo leadership has never given any indication of following suit whenever the campaign to move Billy returns to the news<\/a> cycle. (In response to this story, a spokesperson reiterated the comment issued after the 2022 motion, saying the zoo \u201cvehemently disagrees with the characterization of the care and well-being of our Asian elephants.\u201d) But Cher doesn\u2019t want to see momentum wane again. During an August phone call, the singer, actress, philanthropist and newly minted gelato entrepreneur discussed her hopes for Billy and what\u2019s keeping her busy these days \u2014 which, it turns out, is quite a lot.<\/p>\n

\n What\u2019s the top priority for Free the Wild right now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n My main concern is Billy. It took me five years in court to get Kaavan out of that zoo, but Islamabad finally understood exactly why it needed to be done. Now we\u2019re working with one of, if not the most, developed nations on the planet, the United States, and our own people don\u2019t seem to understand or appreciate the effects of zoo life on these creatures.<\/p>\n

\n One might assume that, logistically, Pakistan would pose a bigger challenge than the city of Los Angeles.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n Yes, you would think that. This kills me. I think about him all the time. He\u2019s in constant pain from the cement-like ground he walks on. He is exhibiting the stereotypical behavior of a captive elephant who is in deep physical and emotional pain, literally every moment of every day. If you see Billy, he bobs and weaves and sways. That\u2019s all he does. It\u2019s just awful. He\u2019s been there for a million years, and he deserves to spend his last years in a sanctuary. But zoos keep elephants because they\u2019re the big draw. They bring in the big bucks.<\/p>\n

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\"Cher<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>

Cher in Cambodia in November 2020 in front of the travel crate of Kaavan, an Asian elephant. The star\u2019s campaign to free him was chronicled in the 2021 documentary Cher & the Loneliest Elephant<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

TANG CHHIN SOTHY\/AFP via Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n What do you want people to do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n For people to bombard the City Council by reaching out to them with their concern for Billy and the need to get him into a sanctuary as soon as possible. The citizens of L.A. essentially own the zoo but don\u2019t seem to have the authority to influence the decision-making. \u2026 And they\u2019ve had [more than a dozen] elephants die since 1968. They don\u2019t give you information about some of the deaths. You can\u2019t get records. <\/p>\n

\n When in your life did you feel like you most connected with an animal?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n My sister and I had a dog when we were little named Pansy. But my biggest connection with an animal was with my cat. We found him under a truck when we were on the road in Detroit. He was very sick and so small. You could hold him in your hand. I\u2019m not exaggerating, even though I\u2019m prone to. So he was in the doctor\u2019s while we played Detroit for two days. Then, I took him home, and I had him for 16 years. He was like a dog. His name was Mr. Big.<\/p>\n

\n Other than Billy, what other captive animals have your attention?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n <\/strong>Lucy, an elephant in Canada, and Lolita, a whale in Florida. They\u2019re in horrible places right now.<\/p>\n

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\"After<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>

After years of criticism, the L.A. Zoo moved Billy to a $42\u202fmillion exhibit in 2010. But, in 2022, a City Council committee suggested his health problems are linked to the zoo environment.<\/span><\/p>\n

ROBYN BECK\/AFP via Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n Are variables that we\u2019re facing right now, like climate change and the continued invasion of Ukraine, increasing concerns for captive animals?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n In Ukraine, we transferred six lions, a bear, a panther and a tiger. We went in before the war and did everything to get them out. But we left the bear, so we had to sneak back in with a big pickup truck and get him out during the war. Do you want my opinion on the war in Ukraine? Probably not.<\/p>\n

\n Sure.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n We\u2019re helping them fight the war so that Russia doesn\u2019t go in and take all the NATO countries. I don\u2019t think a lot of the people in Congress understand or realize that, but [the Ukranians] are doing us a service. They\u2019re fighting the battle. But there\u2019s so much that\u2019s happening in the world. It\u2019s frightening. And I believe \u2014 and I\u2019m not an alarmist \u2014 that if Trump got into office again, we would no longer be who we are or who we try to be. <\/p>\n

\n As in America?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n Yes, it\u2019s scary. If you have gay friends, if you have a trans child, you almost have to divide your mind a little bit so that you\u2019re not fighting every battle at one\u00a0time.<\/p>\n

\n I don\u2019t want to talk about Trump, but I am curious what you think of the indictments that have come through.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n They couldn\u2019t do anything before they had all the information, but he\u2019s been doing this the whole time. That\u2019s my belief. But he\u2019s so good \u2014 oh my God is he good \u2014 at playing the victim and turning everything around to make people think he hasn\u2019t done one bad thing.<\/p>\n

\n You\u2019ve used Twitter<\/a> [now X] in your activism. It\u2019s how you found out about Kaavan. What\u2019s your take on the Elon Musk era? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n I haven\u2019t been on Twitter for quite a while. When he bought Twitter, I was using Tweetbot [a third-party posting app that was disabled by Twitter in January], which was very easy for me. I\u2019m dyslexic, so sometimes I have a hard time navigating things. When I went to try to go to Twitter now, it\u2019s difficult. I don\u2019t know. I just think my people can\u2019t find me. Before, we were all in one place. I went to Threads, so I\u2019m on both now. I used to love going on Twitter \u2026 (Background music interrupts conversation.<\/em>) <\/p>\n

\n Was that the Cherlato truck?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n Very funny. No. Cherlato is at Taylor Swift\u2019s concert today.<\/p>\n

\n The initial reviews for your new gelato brand are pretty good \u2014 congratulations. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n Look, I\u2019ve been loving ice cream for as long as I can remember. You can see pictures of me eating ice cream all over the world. This is the best ice cream I\u2019ve ever tasted. It figures that I had to find it in New Zealand. [Cherlato is a collaboration with Giapo, a New Zealand-based company.] It\u2019s a little bit difficult for us right this minute because we have so many flavors, but in the truck, we can only have four or five\u00a0at a time. <\/p>\n

\n Did you enjoy the flavor development?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n I ate my body weight in ice cream in New Zealand. It was unbelievable. Chocolate was what I wanted the most, but we have interesting flavors as well. People seem to like the avocado. That won\u2019t be one I go to very often. I\u2019m pedestrian. But when I saw the [edible] gold [ice cream] cones, I almost lost it. I wanted to wear them as earrings. Have you seen them? <\/p>\n

\n Yes, on Instagram. Are you joining the truck for the Taylor show?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n No, I\u2019m working into the late night tonight.<\/p>\n

\n OK, I\u2019ve been told you\u2019re not supposed to discuss it, but you have acknowledged you\u2019re recording a Christmas album. What can you tell me?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s not your mother\u2019s Christmas album. It\u2019s a Cher Christmas album, whatever that brings along with the name. It\u2019s definitely my idea of a Christmas album. I had to do what I felt. There\u2019s no \u201cSilent Night.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Speaking of music, you just sold your catalog to Irving Azoff. Why now? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n Well, everybody seems to be doing it. (Laughs<\/em>.) And I get to keep everything from Believe<\/em> on, so I\u2019m fine with it.<\/p>\n

\n We\u2019re approaching a big anniversary for <\/strong>Believe<\/em><\/strong>. Looking back on the 25 years since its release, how do you feel about the role it played in the mainstreaming of Auto-Tune?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"In<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>

In October, Cher\u2019s landmark hit Believe<\/em> celebrates its 25th anniversary. <\/span><\/p>\n

Courtesy of Warner Records.<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n We did it. We were the first ones. I was talking to [producer] Mark [Taylor] about that last night when we were in the studio \u2014 about how we felt when we did it. I don\u2019t think they called it Auto-Tune then. It was just a pitch machine. I was having a hard time with the song. That\u2019s the only argument Mark and I ever got into. He\u00a0kept saying, \u201cThe chorus is fine, but you\u2019ve got to sing the verses better.\u201d I was singing and singing and singing, and finally he said, \u201cCher, you better do it better!\u201d And I went, \u201cYou know what? If you want it better, get somebody else.\u201d I walked out. And then the next morning, I saw this beautiful boy on the morning show in England. His name was [Andrew] Roachford, and he was singing with a vocoder. So I called Mark, I said, \u201cCould we use a vocoder?\u201d He said, \u201cNo, but I\u2019m working on something that I think might be amazing, but I\u2019m not quite there yet.\u201d I went back to the studio, he started it, and we both jumped up and high-fived ourselves after we heard it. The record company didn\u2019t want to do it. They said, \u201cYou can\u2019t tell who it is.\u201d I went, \u201cYes, I know, that\u2019s the beauty of the whole\u00a0thing!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n You said in an interview last year that you\u2019re offered more work now than you can actually do. What gets you to say yes to something at this point?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s just a feeling. Usually I say, \u201cThat would be a lot of fun.\u201d No matter what it is. It just strikes me. <\/p>\n

\n You\u2019ve had a biopic in active development for two years. Has that been impacted by the strikes?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n No, because we are kind of starting again. It just wasn\u2019t working out, and we needed to adjust some of the things. But we\u2019re going to have to wait [for after the strikes]. I\u2019m not going to go against my people.<\/p>\n

\n The impulse of late for recording artist biopics is to make a jukebox musical of all their hits. Is that your plan?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n I can never decide what I want to do. The thing about my life is that there\u2019s too much. It\u2019s hard to capture it and all the things I\u2019ve done. So it\u2019s really a lot. The biggest problem is trying to get the story into a decent time period.<\/p>\n

\n What\u2019s the latest on your memoir? You first said you were writing it in 2017.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n Well, we\u2019re almost finished because [HarperCollins] goes, \u201cCher, how long are you going to work on this?\u201d (Laughs<\/em>.) That\u2019s difficult too, but we\u2019re so close. <\/p>\n

\n Nicolas Cage recently said in an interview that, in the years following <\/strong>Moonstruck<\/em><\/strong>, he got slapped at the airport a lot \u2026 <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n I didn\u2019t know that! (Laughing<\/em>.) That\u2019s so funny. Oh, Nicky.<\/p>\n

\n Is there something, hopefully less confrontational, that you get a lot from strangers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n I still get, \u201cSnap out of it!\u201d Over and\u00a0over! <\/p>\n

\n Do you two still talk?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n Yeah, we\u2019re still friends. He\u2019s a very interesting man. I mean, he\u2019s very, very Nicky<\/em>. You know? I quit the movie because they weren\u2019t going to hire him. But I knew that Nicky was the one when he did Peggy Sue Got Married<\/em>. The way he said some of the craziest lines in that film, I knew that was the man we needed. It had to be Nicky. But he can do all kinds of stuff.<\/p>\n

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\"April<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>

April marked 35 years since Cher (in Moonstruck<\/em> with Nicolas Cage) took home the Oscar for best actress. <\/span><\/p>\n

MGM\/ Courtesy: Everett Collection.<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n Anything you do, be it starting a gelato company or your dating life, seems to generate a lot of attention. Being in the public eye as long as you\u00a0have been, are you ever surprised to see the interest hasn\u2019t waned? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n You know what? I never planned a thing. And I did have bad periods. I had horrible periods \u2014 things that might make somebody else go, \u201cOh, I\u2019m giving this up.\u201d But I didn\u2019t quit. I don\u2019t know how to do anything else. That\u2019s what I was put here to do. That\u2019s who I am.<\/p>\n

\n Who\u2019s a performer that really impresses you right now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n That\u2019s not a question that appeals to me. And I don\u2019t mean that in a bad way. I just don\u2019t want to single out someone or something \u2014 because there are so many great people right now. When you single out one of them, it just diminishes everyone else that\u2019s working.<\/p>\n

\n You recently listed your longtime home in Malibu for $75 million. Are you getting\u00a0out? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n I think I will. I\u2019ve been here forever. I built this house so long ago, but I want to be flexible. And you can\u2019t be flexible in this house \u2014 as much as I love it. <\/p>\n

\n Well, thank you for talking and for all of your advocacy work. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n There are so many important things to do right now that you can wonder, \u201cHow can we get all this done? How can we change all this?\u201d And then you wonder why some things are changing that shouldn\u2019t be. It\u2019s a full plate. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on in America\u00a0right now. It\u2019s not what I dreamt of.<\/p>\n

\n Interview edited for length and clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n This story first appeared in the Aug. 16 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In late November 2020, as another COVID-19 wave had U.S. hospitalizations approaching what would be their pandemic peak, Cher braved the trip from Los Angeles to Pakistan to ensure the safe relocation of Kaavan \u2014 an Asian elephant languishing in the decrepit Islamabad zoo. The culmination of a five-year effort largely maneuvered by Cher\u2019s Free…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":587547,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/24fea_cher-icon_MAIN-splash.jpg?w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[77397,39394,135494,36984,75674,70868],"class_list":["post-587546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-cher","tag-elon-musk","tag-irving-azoff","tag-nicolas-cage","tag-philanthropy","tag-ukraine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}