It’s the heart of the Glee experience in 3-D. ELAINE LIPWORTH can’t help but sing
GLEE fans of all ages have been dancing in the aisles at this summer’s sold-out concerts by the cast from the hit TV show. With the release of Glee The 3D Concert Movie, Gleeks (that’s Glee fans for you) worldwide now get to experience the magic and excitement on big screen.
The movie was filmed during the concert tour on June 16 and 17. The cast, who appear on stage as their small screen character, belt out ballads, show tunes and a rocking blend of sensational pop songs, all of course familiar from the show. They include covers of Paul McCartney’s Silly Love Songs, Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream and Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’, which was Glee’s first hit.
Cast members — Golden Globe winner Chris Colfer (who plays bully victim with a boy soprano voice, Kury Hummel) and Lea Michele (the club’s prima donna Rachel Berry) — sit down in London to discuss their upcoming concert film.
What can fans expect from the movie?
Michele: The movie is a documentation of our stage performance, singing live and dancing to the popular songs, mainly from the second season of Glee. I think fans should expect the heart and the truth of Glee, but live on stage.
How exciting is it doing the concert when you know it is being filmed for the big screen?
Colfer: I tried to treat it like any other concert. But it was nerve-racking and there was more pressure than usual because they were filming everything. It is challenging to do things live, honestly, but there is a great sense of freedom to get out there and have fun and just do what you want with it.
How does this film extend the Glee experience?
Colfer: Well, we won’t be in 2-D, we will be in 3-D, so you’ll see us a little closer and in a different way.
Michele: It’s a great opportunity for people who weren’t able to see our concerts this year to see it on the big screen in 3-D.
How thrilling is it performing live on tour?
Michele: Coming from a theatre background, to be back on the live stage is fantastic. It has been thrilling but pretty exhausting. Season 2 of the show entailed 10 months’ work, 22 episodes and we only had three days off. Then we went right into rehearsals for this tour and filming the movie at the same time. But honestly, and I know it sounds cheesy, what gets us through it all and what refuels us every night is getting that energy from our audience.
We may get homesick or tired sometimes, but the experience of making the movie and having the chance to meet our fans overseas and give them this live experience is so great that it makes it worthwhile.
Colfer: I used to do community theatre and I definitely missed the instant gratification of a live audience. So it is great to do the concerts and physically see the fans, the kids that we represent on the show.
Michele: Doing the concerts is therapeutic, but I love both performing live and television.
Are there any favourite numbers in the concert and the movie that resonate emotionally for you?
Michele: Probably Don’t Stop Believin’ and I love Don’t Rain On My Parade because I sang it so much as a kid. It is very emotional doing Glee. I cried so much this year as Rachel Berry. Chris and I cry a lot during this concert, but at weird moments. I cry a lot during Happy Days Are Here Again/Get Happy, so I look at Chris and he’s thinking, “What’s wrong with you?”
Colfer: I’m like, “This is redundant, why are you crying? Forget your troubles, just get happy.”
Michele: We’re singing that we’re supposed to be happy and while I’m singing, it’s not as though I can stop the song and say, “I’m really sorry”, but I’m looking at Chris and I’m sitting there crying. Poor guy, what he has to deal with!
Colfer: I always think I stepped on her foot on the way up there. I’m thinking, “Oh, what did I do to make her cry?”
Did you ever imagine that there would be a Glee movie?
Michele: We’ve done a lot of things that we never thought we’d do, like flying around the world and singing for the president at the White House. But movies are something that I never thought I would ever get to do. I hope this is just the beginning of the journey.
What is it about your character and the show that has struck such a powerful chord around the world?
Colfer: The world is now more willing to admit that there are more Kurts and Rachels out there than people previously wanted to admit, and I think our characters have a strong vulnerability. That is what anyone with aspirations can relate to.
Are you in character during the concert?
Michele: It’s funny because at the concert I feel like what you see is a blend of Lea and Rachel. Obviously, we are playing our characters and I think we are blended into the concert more than we are in the TV series.
Colfer: I’m Kurt full on from the minute the music starts and I’m Kurt till the music stops. But I use Kurt as a shield because I don’t think Chris could go and sing and dance in front of all these people.
Are there any censored behind-the-scenes moments during the tour that we might get to see in the movie?
Michele: I don’t know what you will see in the film from behind the scenes — it’s a crammed, wild backstage area. If the cameras were behind the scenes, we didn’t see them much, they were very sneaky. I know that we have some fun pre-show rituals you might get to see, for example, we circle up before the show and I know that they had some people backstage to catch us doing that. We have a special little tradition that we do every night and they’ll probably show that, which will be cool.
The two of you have a love-hate relationship on the show, but you clearly get on well in real life.
Colfer: It is all love.
Michele: They created a strong bond between Kurt and Rachel at the end of the season, and in our lives all of us are close. I know that is hard to believe and not likely given the nature of this industry, but all of us have established a strong bond.
Do you feel a responsibility as role models to teenagers?
Colfer: I don’t know because unfortunately we do live in a world where if we were to go out and do something stupid tomorrow, it would reflect on us and our characters because the world doesn’t like to distinguish between the character and the actor, so it is a lot of pressure. I don’t think any of it is unmanageable because we’re pretty boring people. We don’t do much exciting, fun stuff.
Michele: That’s true. I feel there is a microscope on us right now and on our lives and that comes with a little bit of pressure, but during almost four years now I think we have proven we can handle that and we are level-headed kids. It is a big deal, but we are proud of what we do. I’m proud if people see me as a role model. This is an industry in which people are going to write what they want to write and say what they want to say and we can’t control that, but I think we know who we are and we just try to do the best we can in our personal lives to uphold that, but also play these characters that I think are most importantly the best role models of all.
Chris, you won a Golden Globe, the show is loved everywhere, and you were named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. What does all that mean to you?
Colfer: I think, “Where did that come from? How did that happen?” It is surreal and very, very humbling to think that things like that could happen to you.
How does it make you feel to know that this show/movie is your legacy, or at least part of it?
Colfer: Well, I think Glee is a rocket. It just keeps going. There’s not a height that it has to reach, there’s nothing it has to surpass. It is its own engine, just going on.
Michele: I can’t believe we did this, that we put this together in such a short time, that our bodies are still pushing along, that we get up there and we sing these songs live in front of everybody. Even when I’m out there and I see all the people in the sold-out arenas, I can’t believe it. I think I’m going to have to watch the movie over and over again, and in years to come I will say,
“Oh my God, we did that.” We’ve got some triple threats here in terms of talent, so I think it’s awesome to have it put down in history on film. — Twentieth Century Fox
Glee The 3D Concert Movie opened yesterday in cinemas nationwide.
source: nst.com.my
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