Director Paul Feig is reflecting on the immense pressure he faced just ahead of the release of his Oscar-nominated hit “Bridesmaids.”
Feig—who is set to release his latest movie, the sequel “Another Simple Favor” starring Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick this spring—was at the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas, on Friday, where he talked about how so much was hinging on the success, or failure, of the 2011 comedy.
“So many female writer friends of mine were going out and pitching female-led comedies, and they all heard from the studios, ‘We have to wait and see how ‘Bridesmaids’ does,’” Feig said, per Variety.
“I was like, ‘F**k! Don’t put that on me. Am I going to ruin movies for women?’” he remembered thinking at the time.
Feig also made an interesting comparison to a male-led comedy from two years prior, saying, “I don’t think with ‘The Hangover’ they said, ‘I’m going to wait to see all these dudes on screen before we do this again.’ But thank god it did well.”
“Bridesmaids” starred Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy, and Rose Byrne, and went on to snag Oscar nods for best supporting actress for McCarthy as well as best original screenplay for writers Wiig and Annie Mumolo.
The film also ended up grossing close to $300 million, but right up until the weekend of its theatrical release, Feig described how he was kept guessing.
“Right ‘til the day we came out, we were predicted to not do well,” Feig said this week. “We were told, ‘You have to make $20 million on opening weekend, or you will be considered a failure.’ And we did a midnight screening the night before that didn’t go well. They were like, ‘It’s going to be $13 million. Sorry, it’s a bomb.’ All day, I was walking around, like, ‘I guess I destroyed comedy for women.’”
When he finally got the good news regarding “Bridesmaids’” success, he was in good company.
“Melissa McCarthy and (her husband and ‘Bridesmaids’ costar) Ben Falcone were over at our house for dinner, and suddenly, (we got) the texts: ’20 million. 21. 22.’ So we all got in the car. We went down to the (Los Angeles cineplex) ArcLight Cinema and it was packed. It was the greatest moment of our lives.”
