Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson is the daughter of two
Christian ministers who allowed only gospel music in their home.
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| Photo courtesy:UIP and Solar Entertainment |
But Hudson's alter ego, 27-year-old Katy Perry, looks every inch the pop star, with her purple hair and
pink ruffled dress, as she arrives at a Beverly Hills hotel suite to talk about
her new movie, Katy
Perry: Part of Me 3D. Perry invited two filmmakers to tag along
as she circled the globe on her sellout 124-arena California Dreams Tour. The
movie captures performances and real life, including a glimpse into her
marriage to comedian Russell Brand at the beginning of the tour, and one
painful moment depicted later when she is seen sobbing as the marriage
unravels.
''There were some moments
that made my tummy turn when I saw them in the final edit, because I'd already
lived them and I really didn't want to live them again,'' Perry says.
''But I thought maybe if I
shared that I got through the problem, other people wouldn't feel so alone in
their problems. We all go through a lot of the same things and it's not about
the problem but about how you solve it. The theme of the whole movie for me is
about overcoming obstacles.''
Perry never met an obstacle she couldn't overcome, it seems,
starting at age nine, when she taught herself to play guitar. In 2007, she
landed a record deal and her first single, 2008's I
Kissed a Girl, held the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for seven
weeks. She went on to become the first woman in music history to produce six
No.1 singles from one album, Teenage Dream,
including Firework and California Gurls.
''I think we're all
blessed with gifts and I was lucky I just found out what mine was early on and
have planted that seed and tried to water it every day,'' she says.
The down-to-earth performer admits that she does harbour a desire
for perfection.
''What holds me up is
focus and determination, and this incredible ambition that just hasn't subsided
yet,''
she says.
Had you any other music films in your mind when you made that call?
I
was inspired by Madonna’s documentary “Truth or Dare.” I loved her documentary and I loved seeing
it, because I wasn’t exposed to anything like that, really, when I was growing
up. For instance, I want to watch the
first “Alien” film, because I want to see “Prometheus,” and I haven’t seen the
first one. I wasn’t allowed to watch or
hear or be exposed to a lot of different pop culture moments in the ‘80s and
‘90s, when I was a kid, because of my upbringing.
And
you gave the filmmakers unlimited access during your California Dreams tour?
Yes,
they came on the road and they shot everything—they were there for probably
eight months out of the whole year, and they had over 300 hours of
footage. Then, we started taking swings
at the idea of making a movie and reached out to a bunch of people – it was a
long process. We took it to different
studios, and Paramount really latched onto the idea, and they’ve been great
partners. We’re so in-synch and we
wanted the same thing, and it’s been incredible. And in the movie industry, the summertime is
really important. They’re putting it out
on such an important weekend, and it’s very exciting – I have Christmas Eve
jitters [laughs]. I’m very excited about
it, and people seem to be responding to it in a very positive way.
Tell
me about the decision to shoot in 3D. It
works really well with the concert footage.
What does it give the film?
We
filmed that at the Staples Center for two nights with these new 3D cameras that
hadn’t been used before—or, at least they hadn’t been used for this type of
thing—and the texture is so beautiful.
The slow motion shots are great – and I love that we can bring that to
this type of film, because it adds some gorgeous nuances and detail. There are a lot different textures in the
film that we use to tell the story, because there is a lot of backstory. Overall, I’m very happy with it, and I’m
happy with the narrative.
And
there is a clear narrative. It’s not
just a film of you on tour; it’s a diary of your life up to this point…
Yes,
the narrative is really about overcoming these obstacles of where I came from
and who I wanted to be, and my personal obstacle of what I had to get
through. And now, I’m still here and I’m
still standing. And I think it was
important to me to leave in those scenes of me in distress.
It
shows too, that no matter what was going on backstage – no matter how upset you
were – you still have that ‘the show must go on’ mentality….
A:
You have to find a balance between being a human being and a performer. I know
that it’s important for me to realise that this is a job at this level and to
separate my personal life from my professional life and the fact of the matter
is that we all have obstacles and problems in our lives. It would be unfair for
me to press my problems on to my audience who were never there to experience that – they were there to be
entertained, they were there to have a great time, they were all in costume and
so I had to turn that side of me off when I went on stage.
No,
it doesn’t. But it is poignant and it’s honest. But clearly you could have left
those scenes out. Why did you feel it was important to include them?
Well,
it’s the elephant in the room that I couldn’t avoid or ignore, because it would
be ignorant of me to think I could make a complete film without even touching
on it. And I’ve always wanted every
choice I make to have integrity.
Sometimes, that’s not the easy choice, but hopefully, what people get
from this is that they don’t have to change who they are to fulfil their dreams.
That’s what I believe and that’s what I’ve tried to do myself.
Is
one of the messages in the film that there is a price that you pay for fame,
too?
Yes,
there are definitely sacrifices. But
that’s part of a lot of people’s stories, whether they are famous or not. There is sacrifice. You know, heavy is the head that wears the
crown. I put that in one of my
songs—‘Heavy is the head that wears the crown, don’t let the greatness get you
down.’ Sometimes, it can be an extreme
pressure, but really, it’s an opportunity.
I try and have a positive outlook.
You’ve
said before that Alanis Morissette was an influence on you. Have you met her?
Yes. I hung out with Alanis the other day—she is
just so wise beyond her years. She said
something that really stayed with me—she said, ‘Transparency is the new
mystery.’ I agree with that, because in
our culture, in our society, unfortunately, you see a lot of women, a lot of
girls, and people who are ‘famous,’ and they are always perfectly presented—I
think that can make people feel insecure.
They think that they have to appear perfectly presented and perfectly
made up, and to have certain possessions or material things that make them seem
more of value...and that’s not at all what people should be focused on in order
to achieve their dreams. And that’s some
of the reasons why I kept those moments in the film where I’m clearly tired and
I look horrible, I don’t look like I used to be, perfectly presented at all
times. Because I’ve really built up this cartoon image of me and, in some ways,
I think it’s time—not necessarily to break that down, but...to show that not
only am I Dorothy wearing slippers and I’ve been on this long journey, but
also, here’s what’s under the hood.
Here’s where I come from.
What
do you hope the audience will get out of this film?
I
hope that people will be inspired and get moving, and I hope that they will be
encouraged to know that they don’t have to change into something that they are
not in order to succeed. My message is,
live a full life and reach your goals, however big or small they may be. I think some of my audience, especially
teenagers, can feel a little bit lost about how to get to where they want to
go. I think they can be confused about
what they want to do in life, and how they want to fulfill their
ambitions...because I think we’ve been fed, especially in the last five years
or so, the wrong priorities. And
although I’ve been susceptible to some of those things, I’ve tried to move
beyond that idea that you have to be a victim in order to achieve your dreams.
“Katy Perry: Part of Me”
is released is distributed by United International
Pictures through Solar Entertainment Corp.
SHOWING
ON AUGUST 29. NATIONWIDE
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