The Heartbreak Kid Movie Trailer. Without studio pressure to feature an A-list star as Lila, the Farrellys were able to cast a wide net. They tested over 60 actresses before finding Akerman. “We found the best one,” says producer Thomas. “Her performance is just a tour de force. She is, I can honestly say, our greatest discovery. It’s a very demanding role. You have to be extremely likable and sweet, and also kind of psychotic. The whole movie hinged on her being brilliant and she’s ten times better than what we thought. She’s a genius.”
“Malin is a real discovery,” agrees Bobby Farrelly. “She’s a gifted comedienne and really, really surprised us. We knew she was pretty, we knew she was a good actress, had good timing skills, but we had no idea that she could hit the comedic high notes that the part called for. She made the character so much better than we had even envisioned.”
He even goes as far as to compare Akerman with some of the most acclaimed comic actors of our time. “We’ve worked with Bill Murray and Jim Carrey. You give them a role and you’re just stunned at how much better they make it than you had even hoped; they knock it out of the park. That’s what she’s done here. She’s done things with a grace and comedic timing we didn’t even imagine.”
“We tried to be very fair to Lila, because we didn’t want her to be very nice in the beginning and then just turn evil,” says Peter. “She just grows increasingly annoying, but in a way that some people in the audience won’t actually be annoyed by. I’m sure there’s going to be a group of guys who are like saying, ‘Eddie, don’t leave her, she’s spectacular.’ But she’s just not for Eddie.”
Akerman impressed the entire company by committing to acts that could only be conceived by the Farrellys. “I had moments when I couldn’t believe what I was doing,” she says. “It’s one thing to read the script and have a good laugh, but another when you have to do that part. I have to put on a merkin (a hair wig for private parts) and pull down my pants and pretend to pee on Ben Stiller with the camera right in my crotch. It’s not the most comfortable position to be in.”
The blonde beauty had to put her vanity aside for another essential part of the film. When Lila gets a severe sunburn, the makeup crew created a hideously realistic look for her. “My skin is peeling and they put some boils on me and I have blisters on my hands and it makes me look so unattractive and un-sexy,” she says. “It’s the last thing a man wants to see on his honeymoon – some creature reaching in for a kiss.”
Stiller was very impressed with his co-star’s gung-ho attitude. “She’s hilarious,” he says. “She had to do a lot of crazy things and really be okay with putting herself out there. She has this horrible sunburn for a lot of the movie and has to bare parts of her body, and she’s just a real sport.”
“This girl Miranda, Mac – who I had the horrible misfortune to meet on my honeymoon – She’s the one!” – Eddie
Michelle Monaghan plays Miranda, the “other woman,” portrayed by Cybill Shepherd in the 1972 Neil Simon version of “The Heartbreak Kid.” “She’s the voice of reason,” says Bobby Farrelly. “She’s the one that all the wackiness sort of bounces off. She’s like the Mary of this movie – an ideal, beautiful woman that you wait your whole life to meet.”
Stiller says of his co-star: “She’s the most likable person; sweet and just genuinely fun, and that personality is what the character is in the movie. I have to fall in love with her very quickly and the audience has to believe that I would go for her and she’s the right person. She has that naturally.”
Monaghan’s background is as much of a throwback as that of her character, notes Peter Farrelly. “She came out to Hollywood from the cornfields of Iowa, the whole thing,” he says. “She’s a great talent who is girl-next-door beautiful. She feels like an old-time movie star from the ‘40s, which is a dream come true for this role. She’s a movie star.”
The actress says her favorite scene was one in which she falls back over a wall into the ocean. “It was so much fun. I always like to do physical things like that. And I really liked working with Ben and having Jerry there as well. It reminded me of an old-school comedy.”
Casting Eddie’s father was probably the easiest choice the filmmakers had to make. They brought in Ben’s real-life dad, veteran comedian Jerry Stiller, who had already appeared with his son in “Zoolander” and “Heavy Weights.” “It was a great honor to work with Jerry,” says Bobby Farrelly. “We’ve never worked with him before, and always thought the world of him. To have Jerry actually playing Ben’s dad was an easy sell.
“He is one of those guys, you just look at him and you want to laugh,” says Bobby. “It’s a gift. When you meet him and talk to him, you are instantly in the mood to laugh. He’s fun, he’s fearless, and he’s a real trooper. He’ll work anyone under the table; he just keeps going.”
The elder Stiller was delighted to join the cast. “When I saw “There’s Something About Mary,” I thought it was one of the funniest movies of all time,” says Jerry Stiller. “The Farrellys know what’s funny. They think on their feet. While you’re doing your scene, they’ll give you something that will make it funnier. I work from the inside of the character and I never try to be funny. That’s not my style. When I have a director who understands what’s going on inside, they can enhance what I’m doing.”
Bobby says that Jerry Stiller’s character, Doc, is loosely based on his and Peter’s own father. “He’s supposed to be giving us words of wisdom and all, and you know it’s in there, but the things that stick with you are the audacious things he says.”
Working with his dad, Ben Stiller felt the pressure was off him to be funny, and it just came naturally. “He’s just hilarious,” he says. “He’s so unique and he does his thing and since he’s my father, it’s there already. I didn’t really have to act.
“He steals every scene, which is exactly what you want,” he continues. “He cracks me up all the time. He’s just funny. He’s a funny person, and he’s a lovable person. He’s just a great guy.”
Jerry has equally high praise for his son as a colleague. “Ben is a generous actor,” he says. “Generosity allows the other person to relax so they discover and go further than what is on paper. He’s fast, he thinks fast, and you want to be as good as him. It’s not easy to do that, but he allows the space for the other actor to come in.”
Akerman says of the Stillers: “They’re so cute together. Jerry is the sweetest man I’ve ever met. You just want to smoosh him—in the nicest way. It’s just that he’s so polite and Ben is so polite. I love seeing family together like that.”
The Farrellys turned to comedian Carlos Mencia for the role of Tito Hernandez, a free-spirited hotel employee. “We needed a guy who sold the Mexican flavor,” says Bobby Farrelly. “He’s got so much energy and bravado, and he really knocked it out of the park for us.”
For his part, Mencia says he wasn’t sold right away. “It’s very embarrassing for me to be this person. But they liked my flavor. And once they showed me how much money I would make I said holy— I would love to be in it!”
Stiller found himself calling Mencia by his character’s name, Tito, even when the cameras weren’t rolling. “He’s got this incredible wig and a huge moustache. When he puts it on I feel like he’s another person. He’ll show up to the set as Carlos Mencia, and then when he comes out to the scene, it’s like Uncle Tito’s here. Uncle Tito’s in the house.”
The Heartbreak Kid (2007)
Directed by: Peter, Bobby Farrelly
Starring: Ben Stiller, Michelle Monaghan, Malin Akerman, Jerry Stiller, Rob Corddry, Carlos Mencia, Scott Wilson, Amy Sloan, Lauren Bowles, Stephanie Courtney
Screenplay by: Scot Armstrong, Leslie Dixon, Bobby Farrelly
Production Design by: Sydney J. Bartholomew Jr, Arlan Jay Vetter
Cinematography by: Matthew F. Leonetti
Film Editing by: Alan Baumgarten
Costume Design by: Louise Mingenbach
Set Decoration by: Cindy Carr
Art Direction by: Stephanie J. Gordon
Music by: Bill Ryan, Brendan Ryan
MPAA Rating: R for strong sexual content, crude humor, language, a scene of drug use.
Distributed by: DreamWorks Pictures
Release Date: October 5, 2007
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