Cher Slams Her ‘Mask’ Director as an ‘Asshole’ and ‘So F—ing Arrogant’: ‘He Was a Pig’ and ‘Not Nice to the Girls in the Film’
Cher did not hold back during an interview with The Times while promoting her new memoir, “Cher: The Memoir Part 1.” The icon was reflecting on her Oscar-winning movie career when she revealed: “There are only two directors I didn’t like: Peter Bogdanovich and the guy from ‘The Muppets.'” She worked with the former on 1985’s “Mask,” for which she won best actress at Cannes, and the latter was Frank Oz, who directed her on 1990’s “Mermaids.”
“I actually got the guy from ‘The Muppets’ fired,” Cher remembered. “I said, either you’re going or I’m going, which is a shame because he’s a really good director, but he had a thing about me. He would go, ‘At least my wife loves me!’”
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Bogdanovich was a bigger challenge on “Mask.” The film told the true story of Roy L. “Rocky” Dennis, a boy with a rare genetic disorder called craniodiaphyseal dysplasia that causes disfiguring cranial enlargements. Cher earned acclaim for playing Rocky’s unstable and fiercely protective mother. Bogdanovich, who died in January 2022, once said in an interview that Cher was difficult to work with and “didn’t trust anybody, especially men.”
“He was an asshole,” Cher now told The Times about Bogdanovich. “He was not nice to the girls in the film and he was so fucking arrogant. I really, really disliked him.”
During one day on set, Cher remembered Bogdanovich “comes in and says, ‘Cher, where do you think we should film this scene?’ And I say, ‘Well, the kitchen is working pretty well, why don’t we do that again?’ The next morning he arrives on set eating an egg sandwich and starts screaming that he’s not going to let me direct this film; I’m a nobody; he can cut me out at any moment. Oh yeah, he was a pig.”
“Ask everybody: I’m really easy to work with,” Cher continued. “I’m not arbitrary in the things I say, because it’s right to do what the director wants until you need to speak up. Meryl says that if the director wants you to do something you don’t like, you say: ‘Yes, yes, yes, I’ll do it that way.’ Then you do it your way and they don’t even notice. I’ve worked with Bob Altman, Mike Nichols, Norman Jewison… Really great directors whom I respect. I know when to listen.”
Cher’s memoir is now available for purchase. Head over to The Times’ website to read her latest interview in its entirety.
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