Forrest Gump may think life is like a box of chocolates, but for actor Cam Gigandet it’s a box of cookies that is featured front and center in the new musical film, Burlesque. Wearing said box of cookies and not much else, Gigandet takes the stage as Jack, the bartender squeeze of Christina Aguilera’s Ali, a small-town girl from Iowa who has come to the big city to pursue her dreams of stardom. Ali falls in love first with the art of burlesque and ultimately with Jack.
Seattle native Cam Gigandet moved to California in 2001, where he attended Santa Monica College and took his first acting class. He made his TV debut on “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” in 2003 and continued his small-screen work on “The Young and the Restless,” “Jack & Bobby,” and “The O.C.” He began his featurefilm career with Who’s Your Caddy? (2007), but it was in 2008 when he appeared in Never Back Down with Djimon Hounsou and as evil vampire James in the mega-hit Twilight that he began his ascent in earnest. He reprised his Twilight role the following year in New Moon, and also appeared in The Unborn (2009) with Gary Oldman and Easy A (2010) with Emma Stone. Gigandet was named a 2008 One to Watch at the Young Hollywood Awards and will appear next year in Priest alongside Paul Bettany, Maggie Q, Christopher Plummer, and “True Blood”’s Stephen Moyer. Directed by Steve Antin, Burlesque teams Gigandet with the talented Ms. Aguilera in her first major film role, and a stellar group of co-stars, including Cher, Stanley Tucci, and Eric Dane. Lofty company for a young actor, but Gigandet takes it all in stride. In person he is humble, low key, and serious about his chosen profession.
How did you come to be part of Burlesque?
I was working at Sony Studios on a movie called Priest, which is a western-style vampire-type movie. I had been on set in my full leather cowboy wardrobe, all dirty and gross and the producers came up and asked me if I would go to their car and listen to some songs that Christina had done specifically for Burlesque. I was sitting in the car listening and I knew at that moment that it would be the perfect next thing to do because it was so different than my role in Priest and my past characters. Finally I was playing a good guy and he was in love and who doesn’t want to play in a love story?
Tell us about your (mostly) nude scene in the film.
Shooting the naked scene was an adventure…the strategically placed box of cookies. It’s part of the job and you come to accept the fact that you have to do it and you relax and try to have fun with it.
Is there a dream role, one you’ve always wanted to play?
What I haven’t done yet is a period piece of some sort, something that you have to dive into on different levels, physical aspects that I haven’t done yet. Mostly it’s about finding a specific story, something that speaks to you.
Are there any jobs you really wanted that you didn’t get?
The Steve McQueen bio-pic, that was a tough one. The role went to someone else. Steve McQueen is the essence of coolness. I really admired him and would have loved a shot at it.
What’s up next for you?
[laughs] Well, nothing. I just finished a movie a week ago in Shreveport with Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman. It was pretty rough; we went there in August and it was brutal. It’s called Trespass and Joel Schumacher directed. It was quite the experience.
More: cam-gigandet.net
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