After slithering her slinky self through countless music videos, pop siren Christina Aguilera will sizzle on movie screens for the first time this fall in the song-filled fantasy Burlesque.

“It’s sexy, it’s sensual,” she promises. “The whole idea of burlesque has always intrigued me. The art of the tease, the dance, beautiful women — need I say more?”

Her Ali might be a showbiz staple as old as greasepaint: a plucky gal from Iowa who runs off to the big city to follow her dreams and lands a job at a struggling nightclub.

Yet it was her character’s heart and grit that caught her eye. Says Aguilera, 29, who has been candid about her own childhood travails: “It wasn’t just a girl who comes to L.A. and makes it big. It was a girl who had suffered and felt pain, been in seven foster homes. She doesn’t let her past make her a victim. And that to me was so appealing.”

Director/writer Steven Antin was impressed by how quickly Aguilera adapted to a new type of performing. “She figured out how it works within weeks. She is a little bit of a freak of nature and a perfectionist. This girl is a movie star.”

The novice actress found the perfect mentors in such castmates as Cher, who hasn’t had a major film role since 1999′s Tea With Mussolini, and Stanley Tucci, recent Oscar nominee for The Lovely Bones.

“I love no-bull-(expletive) women, and she’s the best of the best,” Aguilera says of Cher, who plays Tess, owner of The Burlesque Lounge. “An original trendsetter in her time and a legend in mine. I found her kind and warm. She had helpful advice and stories for days.”

As for Tucci, whose gay stage manager once had a fling with Tess, “he’s such a professional and hilarious to be around.”

Aguilera’s famous pipes get a workout, along with her legs (“I’ve never danced so much in my life”). She wrote four songs for the soundtrack and does an Etta James oldie.

While music will always be her first love, Aguilera is keen on continuing to act if Burlesque manages to seduce the public. “I think people will definitely feel energized and excited.”

Source: USA Today