"I play Anita," Perry said on set at Brooklyn's Navy Yard. "Although I know I should be playing Natalie Wood's part, which is being played by Taylor Swift, because I've got the big eyes and the brown hair. But everyone keeps telling me Anita is hotter, cooler and sluttier. So I can relate to that!"Perry rounds out the cast of Taylor Swift, Cobra Starship, Ne-Yo and 2009 MTV VMA host Russell Brand in the "West Side Story" promotional spot.
Always the showstopper, Katy Perry has become known for her outlandish outfits. She wore 12 different outfits as host of the 2008 EMAs. Come September, she's looking forward to the challenge of yet again surprising fans with something new.
"I'm excited about that process, because you can wear all kinds of crazy things to the VMAs," she said. "It's not like the other awards shows where you have to be popular and pretty and stuff. I'd come and look like a real-life cat if I wanted to ... or just a strawberry."
And if last year's event set a precedent, some form of fruit might actually be in the running for what Perry is going to wear.
"Last year, I had a jumper made, and it had a banana on it, because everyone knows I'm obsessed with fruit. I don't know why. But bananas are kind of cool. ... I basically just peeled it in a very seductive way. And it was a little phallic. It was still innocent. That was kind of my little creation. It was really fun."
Perry's "Hot N Cold" is up against Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)," Kelly Clarkson's "My Life Would Suck Without You," Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" and Pink's "So What" in the Best Female Video category.
The 2009 MTV Video Music Awards will take place September 13 at 9 p.m. ET. Nominees, celebrity presenters and additional performers will be announced in the coming weeks.
