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On Set: Bridesmaids
Director Paul Feig takes us behind the scenes of his raunchy new comedy starring Kristen Wiig.
“Judd’s power as a brand allowed us to do this,” admits Paul Feig, creator of the cult classic TV show Freaks and Geeks, and now of the film Bridesmaids, recently released. The latter is produced by Judd Apatow and driven by the improvisational talents of an exceptional ensemble of comediennes, led by Kristen Wiig. “We didn’t need A-listers to get our movie greenlighted.” Rather, Bridesmaids is Wiig’s long-awaited star turn after years of stealing scenes in comedies like Knocked Up. The Saturday Night Live veteran, who cowrote the screenplay, plays a down-and-out single woman, Annie, who is asked by her best friend, Lillian (Maya Rudolph), to be her maid of honor. Dissatisfied by casual (and comically athletic) sex with a boorish womanizer (Jon Hamm) and flummoxed by an unexpected rival for Lillian’s devotion (Rose Byrne), Annie’s bundle of insecurities begins to unravel. But before the inevitable and genuinely heartfelt redemption montage, there is a slew of gags that stretches even a strong-stomached viewer’s capacity to endure bodily fluids and bad taste. There’s a reason this movie is being referred to as the female version of 2009’s hit The Hangover. “I enjoy the comparison,” says Feig, noting The Hangover was the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time. “I hope it ends up becoming true.”
June 2011
"I was always such an enormous fan of Kristen. People engage with her
immediately. We shot all of this really funny stuff where Jon Hamm's
character was an asshole to her. Then we did the first test screening
and the room was absolutely silent. We realized it was because the
audience was so behind Kristen they'd tense up if anyone was mean to
her. So we had to cut it."—Paul Feig
June 2011
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