Paul Feig only knew ‘Bridesmaids’ would be a hit after several test screenings.
Paul Feig on how he knew Bridesmaids would be a hit
The 59-year-old actor-turned-director was at the helm of the 2011 comedy film that starred Kristen Wiig as a maid-of-honour trying to navigate herself through the friendship politics of her best friend's wedding and although he knew he was getting "really good stuff" on set, he and the cast - which also included Melissa McCarthy and Rebel Wilson - just had "so much fun" making it.
He said: "I always say nobody ever sets out to make a bad movie. But, every movie you're on people are like, 'Oh, this is going to be great' and they’re talking about like 'Oh, we're going to go win an award' even you know if it’s horrendous. But I knew we were getting really good stuff when we were doing it, and we were just laughing every day and having so much fun. Great cast.
"But you know, we did a million test screenings, you know, where you show it to an audience, where you record their laughs, you go like, that joke didn’t work, trade that out, and we did that like nine or ten times over the course of months, and then you kinda know it's going to work with most audiences."
Paul - who as an actor is best known for his roles as Tim the Camp Counselor in 'Heavyweights' and as biology teacher Eugene Poole on 'Sabrina, the Teenage Witch' - also spoke of how he knew he wanted to go into comedy at the age of five when he was dressed in a "s***** elf costume" made by his dad for a Christmas play.
Speaking on Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett OBE’s brand-new weekly podcast 'Dish', he said: "They said everyone must dress like an elf, so parents get an elf costume for your kids. My father owned an army surplus store, so he's like 'Oh, you gotta get an elf costume!' He takes me in, he finds these army socks, these olive, drab, green socks, and these two big foam pieces. I walk out in this costume and the audience goes crazy.
"They're not laughing with me, they're laughing at me, clearly. But all I hear is like, listen to that. They love me, they love me. And so it was like heroin. [I thought] 'For the rest of my life, I want to get that!' And so it never went away. Thanks to dad, and the s***** elf costume!"
'Dish', the new podcast hosted by Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett is available on all podcast providers now.
Tagged in Paul Feig Melissa McCarthy Rebel Wilson