Miley Cyrus is leaving Hannah Montana behind when she comes to the United Center on Tuesday with her "Wonder World" tour.
Last month VH1 crowned her as one of its "Divas," she's in an upcoming movie playing a defiant teen and she's calling the shots on her "Wonder World" tour, coming to the United Center in Chicago.
Q. Describe the new album "The Time of Our Lives."
A. It is a transitioning album. ... Everything is like a stepping stone. And that was really to introduce people to what I want my next record to sound like and with time I will be able to do that a little more and timing is just everything. So it is really about us working our way up to being able to do the music you really love.
Q. What would you say is the most diva like thing about you?
A. This tour is the most diva thing. Because when I got here, it was like, "OK, we are not messing around, this thing is going to be like full out. We are going to get everything, it's going to continue to blow people's minds." And everyone was like, "All right, Miley is stepping it up." And I was like, "Yeah, it is my tour." The first time I was actually going out, no "Hannah Montana," none of that. Just my own style.
Q. You are going to be in the film "The Last Song," out next spring. Is it a departure from your "Hannah" character?
A. I really do get to do a little bit of everything. It is not like getting away from it at all, it is just showing more of a side that I want to show. I love doing "Hannah Montana," but I want to continue doing things that are a little bit more darker roles. That is kind of who I am and where I find most of my inspiration in movies like that.
Miley Cyrus: No more 'Hannah Montana' films
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Miley Cyrus plans to be back on the big screen, and soon. Hannah Montana? Not likely after her latest film.
So says the 16-year-old tween phenom, whose alter ego brings her secret double life as a pop star to theaters April 10 with Hannah Montana: The Movie.
The film reveals Hannah Montana's identity to the world in a way Cyrus says is "very clever" and diminishes the chances of a sequel — but doesn't dampen the future of the popular Disney TV show.
The film follows last year's sold-out Cyrus-Montana concert tour and her Best of Both Worlds Concert 3D movie, which grossed more than $60 million, a rare hit for a concert film.
"I don't know if I would do another (Hannah Montana) film, but I would love to do another season," said Cyrus, who's signed up for a third and says she's interested in a fourth. "That would be what we would all agree on."
Cyrus also seems to agree with the idea of a jump to Hollywood: She's planning to spend the summer working on a film written by Nights in Rodanthe and The Notebook author Nicholas Sparks. But this is no adaptation of a bestselling romantic novel — instead, Sparks went directly to the screenplay this time, and did so with Cyrus in mind for the part.
Other than the title, The Last Song, neither Sparks nor Cyrus are giving away any plot points. But Cyrus hints at a role that will put her acting chops to the test.
"I've always been lucky to play parts that relate to me, and this doesn't at all," she said. "I have my issues, but not as bad as this chick. So I'm happy to play someone that's just kind of out there and not someone that I'm like."
Like anyone else, Cyrus is waiting to see whether she's "a good actress or not, or if I'm just good at playing myself.
"So," she added, "We'll see how that goes."
Will that affect her status as a role model for young girls? Not any more than her feelings on the glamorous life she's chosen: Asked what kids should do if they're torn between pursuing an acting dream or going to college, Cyrus responds with her usual unfiltered candor.
"I say 'do it,'" she said, laughing as if she knew what kind of trouble she was causing for herself. "Be a freak. Go to Hollywood."
Miley Cyrus goes back home for a reality check in her latest vehicle
April 10, 2009
BY PAIGE WISER
When it comes to manipulating its target audience, "Hannah Montana: The Movie" takes no chances. Little girls will find all of their greatest passions represented: glittery makeup! Horses! Carnivals! Cake! Shopping! Their daddies! And, of course, little girls love Miley Cyrus even more than the paparazzi do, which is to say: a lot.
The concept of her hammy Disney sitcom is that Miley hides her secret identity as blond, bewigged superstar Hannah Montana so that she can live a normal life. But in the beginning of this movie, Miley is spending more and more time as Hannah. The celebrity perks in L.A. are irresistible, after all; who among us could pass up the free stuff? But when Hannah gets into a catfight with Tyra Banks over a pair of shoes -- really cute shoes, in her defense -- her daddy decides that she needs a break from the high life. He commandeers her private plane for a grounding visit back home to Crowley Corners, Tenn. Miley Cyrus stars in a big-screen "Hannah Montana" movie.
There is a half-hearted attempt at a plot; the town is in danger of being taken over by developers. But it's mostly an excuse for a series of high-energy, inventive musical numbers that combine pop, country and plenty of costume changes. The most fun song, "Hoedown Throwdown," even comes with its own complicated line dance. Real-life and onscreen daddy Billy Ray Cyrus made his hay in 1992 with the "Achy Breaky Dance" -- he must be so proud.
As for Miley's love interest, he's nothing less than a preteen dream. Played by Lucas Till, he's a cowboy who knows his way around a lasso but is in no way sexually threatening. His hair is perfectly sideswept, he talks about his feelings, and boasts both a chin cleft and a secret-weapon dimple. If young girls think this is the way first love is going to be, they're in for some cruel disappointment.
Miley can sing, but she can't act. When she's supposed to be sad, she just puffs out her lips more. It makes surprisingly little difference, since director Peter Chelsom gives her hair the lead. Miley lets her hair down, shakes it out, dances with it in the sun, pulls it on top of her head to signal that she's "down-home Miley" again and lets wisps blow across her face to convey vulnerability. Don't even get me started on the wig.
In heavier moments, Miley deals with the memories of a mom who died when she was young and reconnects with her father. But younger audience members will just see it as "the slow parts." ("Do we go home now?" asked my 5-year-old.) There are performances by Billy Ray Cyrus as well as Taylor Swift, and the show's regular cast members go to any length in the name of slapstick. Jason Earles, playing Miley's brother, is particularly , getting big laughs with an ostrich, a ferret and an alligator we never actually see.
One complaint: I may be a stranger to Crowley Corners, but I'd say they laid on the cornpone a little thick. I didn't mind all the spoon-playing, but Billy Ray constantly hooting "hooo doggie!" was straight out of "The Dukes of Hazzard."
A word of warning. We are in danger of Miley overload: She had a sold-out concert tour in 2008, followed by a 3-D concert film and her memoirs last month. She's 16. But this movie strikes just the right tone, staking out some fertile land in the territory between the Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" and Britney's "Crossroads."
It's not a masterwork, but little girls should love it. Vanessa Williams, playing Hannah's publicist, puts it best: "You just concentrate on the things you do best, like singing your scrappy little heart out."
Miley Cyrus says she was being ridiculous -- not racist -- in a widely circulated photo of the teen idol clowning with friends.
The picture, which turned up on the Internet this week, shows Cyrus tugging at her eyes in what some see as a slur on Asians.
George Wu of the advocacy group OCA said the image "is offensive to the Asian Pacific American community and sets a terrible example for her many young fans."
But in a statement on her Web site Thursday, the "Hannah Montana" star insisted that people were misreading the moment.
"In NO way was I making fun of any ethnicity! I was simply making a goofy face," she wrote. "When did that become newsworthy?"
The 16-year-old singer accused the press of trying to give her a bad-girl image. "Now that Britney [Spears] is back on top of her game again, they need someone to pick on!" she wrote. "Lucky me!"
And Cyrus said she always has "owned up" to her mistakes, an apparent reference to her past apologies for baring skin in Vanity Fair photos and mocking fellow Disney Channel stars in a YouTube video.
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