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In Conversation

02 December 2008 02:30 BST

Monaghan: The Heartbreak Kid felt like a paid vacation

InTheNews got the chance to discuss new film The Heartbreak Kid with co-director/producer/writer Bobby Farrelly and actress Michelle Monaghan in London’s plush Haymarket Hotel.

Bobby and Peter Farrelly are famous for their gross-out comedies, responsible for dishing out generous laughs in films such as Dumb and Dumber; Me, Myself & Irene and most notably, There's Something About Mary. They've been off the romantic comedy radar for almost nine years now, but an opportunity to remake the quirky 1972 flick The Heartbreak Kid has brought them back to what they do best.

The Farrelly brothers' Heartbreak Kid centres on Ben Stiller’s Eddie. Feeling side-lined by everyone around him paring up, Eddie decides to get back in the game with beautiful Lila (Malin Ackerman). After a whirlwind romance and being egged on by his father Doc (Jerry Stiller) and married best friend Mac (Rob Corddry), Eddie proposes and he and Lila get married. It's only when he meets Miranda, played by Michelle Monaghan ("You'll love her," Farrelly assures, "because she's so cool"), on their honeymoon that Eddie realises Lila is not the girl for him.

Eddie's married friend Mac seems to know all about having a happy marriage, hilariously chanting his mantra "Happy wife, happy life" throughout the film.

So just how much inspiration did the Farrellys draw from their own marriages?

"There's a hook in that question!" Bobby Farrelly says with an unsure grin as he positioned himself in his chair, before adding carefully, "We got inspiration from some of the girls we had met on the way to meeting our lovely brides - so no!"

Interestingly, The Heartbreak Kid is the first film where the Farrelly brothers have created a female comedic lead, one where the woman gets most of the laughs and all of the gross-out scenes.

"We've made a lot of movies and have had some funny characters but we've never had a female character that is anywhere near as funny as this Lila character," Farrelly laughs.

"Usually the guys get the brunt of all the jokes, the beatings and all that but here, she takes a lick."

Folded into an armchair, Michelle Monaghan barely blinks before stating: "I literally said to them I'd do either part, I just wanna do the movie."

But the role of Lila went to unknown Malin Ackerman.

"We had a lot of actresses who wanted to play this role because it was so juicy and they could really, ya know, go for it," Farrelly continues.

"So we auditioned everyone. But Malin came in and she just made us laugh in the audition."

Didn't she hesitate in accepting such a full-on role?

"We did pull her aside and say 'Malin there's a lot of stuff in here that you'll have to do and we wanna make sure you’re comfortable with it and that you're not going to pull on the day we have to do nudity or the peeing sequence or those kind of things," Farrelly admits.

"If you are, tell us now and maybe we can re-write it" he concedes, in his thick Rhode Island drawl.

"She just said 'No, no - I'm Swedish… and I think it's really funny and I'm happy to do it!'"

According to Farrelly, the only person to ever balk at a gross-out scene was Cameron Diaz, when it came to the shooting of the infamous hair gel gag in There's Something About Mary.

"She said 'I just feel like if it doesn't work, I literally feel like my career is over – they'll never look at me the same'.

"We assured her we'd try it and if she didn’t find that the audience was laughing then we would take it out. Since then, they [other actresses] have been pretty game."

Monaghan reasons without a pause: "I think there's an innate trust with the Farrellys that you have when you historically look at the films they’ve done.

"They sort of do right for you, even though it’s an R-rated comedy. Certainly I wouldn’t have done the role of Lila, and I think Malin would agree I don't think she would have done the role, had it been in the hands of other directors."

Never ones to disappoint, the Farrellys have included a scene almost as notable as the hair gel incident.

InTheNews won't divulge exactly what happens but let’s just say there's a jelly-fish sting and a merkin involved. Oddly enough, Monaghan can't seem to hide her excitement about it.

"We shot that scene the first week and that was like a moment for me where I just went 'Oh my God, I'm really in a Farrelly brothers movie!"

Monaghan adds that Ackerman was a bit nervous about how the merkin would come across on screen.

"Poor Malin! She was adamant, she was like, 'listen you guys, it's gotta be so outrageous where people don't believe that it's mine' and I was like, "I don't think you'll have to worry about that' and sure enough, when we saw it, obviously it was special effects - it was quite shocking!"

It’s clear that both Farrelly and Monaghan are in awe of their leading lady's performance and her ability to give the role everything she has.

"I give Malin Ackerman a lot of credit because she played it so fearlessly," Farrelly continues. "She really brought the character to life."

But with a cast of comedic heavy weights such as Stiller, his dad Jerry, Carlos Mencia and Daily Show regular Corddry, together with the Farrelly's writing/producing/directing expertise, one wonders how it can really go wrong.

Monaghan sums up the experience best. "We really felt like we were making a funny movie because it was just fun.

"It seriously felt like a paid vacation," she says with a smile. "I hope the audiences really like it!"

Louise Cadell

To watch the Heartbreak Kid trailer, click here