Cam Gigandet: Hot Bod in “Burlesque”

Twilight’s tough vampire Cam Gigandet has several movies in the can that we haven’t seen yet. He’s a Western vamp hunter in Priest and romances Leighton Meester in the psych thriller The Roommate. On November 24th you can see plenty of Cam and his wickedly hot bod as he plays Jack, a songwriter/bartender who sets his sights on Ali, a small town girl trying to make it as a performer in L.A. in the fun film musical Burlesque.

TeenHollywood was able to corner both Christina and Cam in a Beverly Hills hotel where we are getting the scoop on their hot scenes and getting Cam to talk about his tattoos, his first days in L.A. and his opinion that Cher (who co-stars in the film) is “one of the coolest chicks I’ve ever met!” Paint a mental pic of Cam with his very short blonde/brown hair, a shadow beard and in a dark blue shirt that looks great with his eyes. He’s opting to go casual so he’s carrying his skinny grey tie.

TeenHollywood: What did you think burlesque was before you did the movie? Did you think it was just strippers or a dead art? What did you know about it?

Cam Gigandet: I did not know a lot. I knew it was not a strip show but I knew it was dancing, I knew it was sexy, I knew it was entertaining. What I didn’t know was how humorous it can be and how [the performers] don’t take themselves seriously, and it’s actual entertainment. It’s an actual art form, which actually made it even sexier, because there is that mystique in there. There is that playfulness.

TeenHollywood: This is Christina’s first film and you’ve made several. What was it like working with her?

Cam: She has such an amazing work ethic that if she was on set and if she was there to work, whatever scene it was, she was fully there. She was open to learn. There was no ego surrounding her as a music artist when she came on the set to be an actress, and so it was such a pleasure to work with her; to be able to watch someone figuring things out for the first time and finding their own process and figuring their way through how they work themselves [was great].She learned things so fast. And to be able to help in whatever way I possibly could, it was kind of cool to say you were working with Christina Aguilera on her first role.

TeenHollywood: Did you audition with her? How did you landing this film come about?

Cam: No, I didn’t. I was working on another movie at Screen Gems called Priest at that time, and so I’m all dirty in a leather cowboy outfit, killing vampires, and then I’d go straight over to the Burlesque stage [on the Sony lot] and listen to Christina Aguilera songs, just blaring them, and at that moment I was like, ‘Alright, I have to be a part of this movie.’ And (it was) such a complete reversal of roles. Fortunately, they enjoyed what I had done on Priest enough to give me this job.

TeenHollywood: You two have a flirty love/play scene. There seems to be great chemistry between you and hey, Cam we see a lot of you to say the least [he’s laughing]. Was that scene fun to do or embarrassing or what? [Note: the film is PG-13 so we aren’t talking R-rated here].

Cam: Yeah. You can’t get out of [showing some skin]. It’s your job so why not have fun with it? I think it’s so strange when people say that it was so difficult and so hard. It’s a perk of your job really. You get to kiss Christina Aguilera, which is not a bad thing and we were in that apartment set 15 hours a day.

TeenHollywood: How did staying PG-13 by covering up your uh, assets with a bag of cookies come about?

Cam:We’re in my apartment set looking in the cupboards and looking at all the different types of cereals and bread and cookies and crackers and we didn’t know what we were going to use. We ended up going for Famous Amos, and that’s kind of how that whole intimacy aspect of the shooting was. Whatever kind of felt natural at that exact time was what we ended up going with. It was kind of a collaborative decision-making process.

TeenHollywood: Jack has a big tattoo on his shoulder. Was that your idea or is it real? [he’s wearing a long-sleeved shirt so we can’t tell]. He has a few others too.

Cam: Yeah, those are my ideas because they were done five years ago. They’re real. Yeah, those are my tattoos. We had a discussion whether he would have more or have less. I always try to push them to get this one off, [he points to his upper arm] because I’ve been in the process of getting it removed for the past three years and so it’s just always that reminder whenever I see it up on screen, I’m just like, ‘Oh gosh, what were you thinking? You psycho!’

TeenHollywood: Was that you playing the piano? I think you told me you had to learn the drums for “Roommate”.

Cam: No. About a few days prior they were like, ‘Alright, we want to make it look real’ [but it was] fancy Hollywood style editing. I was like, ‘No, I can learn it. You remember to push that and that, then that, than that.’ So I was wrong. It’s very difficult to play the piano. I can’t hear music, I don’t understand it; it’s so above and beyond me. But I tried as much as I could, so they have the camera on hands, then they pan up to my face. Maybe two or three notes is all I could end up getting. It’s not easy.

TeenHollywood: Both Jack and Ali say that they left their home towns because there was nobody there whose life they wanted. When you were a teen or a younger guy, whose life did you want?

Cam: No one that I had known. I was the same way. I respect so many people where I’m from, but it was more that I have to try something new, something that I don’t know, because I know this world is huge and I know that I don’t really know anything at this point living in such a small little city up in Washington. So I just chose L.A.

I think the main reason I chose L.A. was because it was in the same time zone that my parents were living in. It was just on a whim, right out of high school, let’s just go to L.A. After being here for a few months someone had said, ‘Hey, you should try an acting class’ And that night I kind of knew that this is where I was going to be.

TeenHollywood: How did you survive when you first got here? Did you have tough times?

Cam: You know, I’ve got to say no. I was so lucky to have parents who supported me one hundred percent whatever I was doing, both financially and emotionally, and so having that made my life so much easier. So, instead of becoming a bartender and trying to survive while trying to pursue my dreams, I didn’t have to worry about that aspect.

TeenHollywood: Can you talk a little bit about meeting Cher for the first time? She’s such a legend. Were you nervous?

Cam: I was nervous meeting Cher, because it’s Cher obviously, right, and so when I was walking on my way to meet her there was so much anxiety and then, within 30 seconds of meeting her, all my nerves were gone and she had my guard down. I’m sitting there talking to her and she’s just so relaxed and just one of the coolest chicks I have ever met. I mean really. And I keep having to remind myself that, ‘Wait, this is Cher. You’re talking to Cher.’ It was a surreal moment.

And then I get to watch her work. Usually, people who have been in it for so long, they tend do take less risks. But take after take after take, she would take a risk here and she would play around and she would try new things every single time. I was blown away the entire time, really.

TeenHollywood: Did Cher give you any career advice, did you go to her?

Cam: I know that Christina and Cher had a number of talks. I think Christina called them their ‘girl talks’. And it was such an exciting thing to see, because you would hear or see Christina and Cher talking and you’d see Cher give Christina a piece of advice, even if it was just in passing, and Christina would just light up and she would just be glowing for the rest of the day, because Cher is such an idol of Christina’s. So it was a great thing to see. Her confidence would be boosted.

As far as for me, the greatest thing for me was just to able to watch somebody as experienced as her have as much freedom and play around. She set such an example for the entire cast. She makes it look absolutely effortless. I can take that with me forever.