Oh, boy. Vegas. Amy Schumer. Goldie Hawn. It was a dream come true when I was invited to attend an all-expenses paid press trip by 20th Century Fox to CinemaCon and interview the starts of the movie, Snatched!
I have been a HUGE Goldie Hawn fan basically my entire life, and let's just say that Amy Schumer is pretty much my celebrity spirit animal since I got divorced. Meeting the two of them - them being in a movie together...OMG, guys. JUST O M G.
After my initial near nervous breakdown resulting from being in the same room as these amazingly talented ladies, we began discussing the movie, motherhood and badassery in general.
A Little About Snatched
After her boyfriend dumps her on the eve of their exotic vacation, impetuous dreamer Emily Middleton (Amy Schumer) persuades her ultra-cautious mother, Linda (Goldie Hawn) to travel with her to paradise.
Polar opposites, Emily and Linda realize that working through their differences as mother and daughter – in unpredictable, hilarious fashion – is the only way to escape the wildly outrageous jungle adventure they have fallen into.
Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn star in the new comedy adventure SNATCHED, which also features Ike Barinholtz (“Neighbors”), Wanda Sykes (“Bad Moms”) and Joan Cusack (“Working Girl”).
Now, for those who aren't regular readers, I'll clue you in on why this movie is so near and dear to my heart...I am recently divorced. I have an adult daughter. We travel. THIS COULD TOTALLY BE MY LIFE.
So we started asking AMy and Goldie about the movie, then interviewed Paul Feig and Johnathan Levine as well.
Of course we had to know whose brilliant idea led to the creation of this movie!
Paul Feig: Amy had written the script based loosely on her experiences with her mom, who had gone through a divorce and all this. It was just such a funny script, but I didn’t have time in my schedule to do it. But we really loved it. And then that’s when Jonathan came on. And we’re such big fans of Jonathan that it was a really good match.
Jonathan Levine: I was very excited to work with Amy. I loved Trainwreck. I loved Katie’s writing and her work with Paul. And the script I read was just fantastic and had this great kind of mother-daughter relationship at the heart of it. At the heart of the movie are two things. It’s about learning to see your mom as a person again. From the mom’s perspective, it’s about her sort of learning to reconnect with that person she was before she had her daughter, or early on when she was a mom.
Amy Schumer: We really wanted this to be a movie about mothers and daughters and just how unique that dynamic is. And once we realized we had the same goal in mind to tell the story through a lot of laughs but really have it grounded in a real relationship, we were like, “Let’s do this.”
How was is relationship with your mom in the movie versus the relationship with your actual mom?
Amy Schumer: Well, there’s a lot of things taken from my exact real life with my mom. There’s a line where we say, “Just because you can’t control this moment, you don’t have to lash out at me.” And that came from it exactly.
What I would say that, the character and my mom have in common is I think my mom’s very pretty also. They are good at playing passive aggressive and also really funny and the victim. They can be the one making you laugh or they kind of let you laugh at them.
I just drew from those moments that I think we can all relate to, when you hear about something happened somewhere, and you know your kid is so far from there but you got to just check. My mom would call and be like, “There was an earthquake in California.” I’m like, “You know I’m in New York.”
Now, we all know that Goldie Hawn has not acted in quite a while, so while super excited to see her on the big screen again, we were also curious as to WHY. Why this movie?
We asked Goldie: Why did you want to take on the role?
Goldie Hawn: Well, I wanted the role to take on me, actually because it was really a perfect situation. Actually, I’ve been away from movies for a while, and I really was ready, ripe. But the truth is, there’s very little stuff out there for women of a certain age. And when this came about, it was sort of a dream come true, meeting Amy, who had a sensibility, a similar humor, the ability to make you laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time. It’s a gift and it’s a talent.
And it’s a part of being able to tell a whole story, not just jokes, not just laughs, not just a silly comedy, but something that actually could say something. So, I was stimulated by that, and also the process in which it takes to get there.
So, that’s why I was ready for the role to take me over, and surrendering to that because this character is nothing like me. It was a challenge because I’m not a wallflower and she was sort of a wallflower in this movie. More importantly, the process with Amy was what made it everything for me. It really did. It matters, because the connection and the collaboration is what makes movies good, you know? And you can’t collaborate with somebody you can’t collaborate with or who won’t let you collaborate with them.
Jonathan said how he liked how it showed a different way to see your mother. So when we interviewed the ladies, we asked: Can you talk about how you see your mother now after experiencing this?
Amy Schumer: Yes, and I’ll try not to cry. No, I’ll probably cry. My mom and I were always really close. And then, I turned 12 and she kind of utilized me more as a friend. Then we got close again. And then at about 30, I kind of took in my whole life and saw the mistakes that she had made, and it really hurt me. And now at 35, because it’s a constant evolution and it’s a constant negotiation, your relationships with your family, your whole family. But I really look at her as someone’s daughter. And I know she did the best that she could and she continues to. And I really try to love her for who she is, because you said this once. You just crave your mother. There’s a moment in the movie where I hug her and I just say, “You’re always there,” like, if I call you at 3:00 in the morning. I have a nightmare and I can still call my mom and she’ll pick up. She always answers. And so, no matter what happens with you two, it’s this bond. That’s what this movie is, you know? And everyone will run out and call their moms. And yes, it is this constant negotiation, but I really try to just love and accept her like she’s always done for me. It’s just biological. It’s this insane connection.
Paul Feig: We really want this movie to be pro mom. You know, Amy’s the girl who’s not quite growing up. But, we have great sympathy for mothers. And just the idea that here’s mom, yes, stuck in a rut, but the terrible thing we do when we’re younger, just like put all this baggage on a mom and think she’s this and that. There’s a nice scene right in the first act where they’re off on vacation together, and they see this older man with this really young woman walking around. And Goldie’s divorced, and she makes some joke about, “Well, I didn’t realize they had a daycare center here.” And Amy laughs with her. And it’s a very warm moment.
That, to me, was like the defining moment. That was the first day of the shoot. I was like, “Oh, this is so great,” because it’s not just like, mom’s an asshole, and then she wins in the end. You have such empathy for this relationship that they have. And that warmth, because of that chemistry that they have just carries through through the whole movie. And it’s really exciting to watch.
Jonathan Levine: And as much as the movie is sort of told from the daughter’s perspective, I think you empathize with the mother more than anything.
OMG, guys. Tears. All the tears. Most of us in the interview are moms and this story, and this interview? OH MY GOODNESS.
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Snatched is in theaters May 12, Mother’s Day Weekend!
Friends don’t let friends get Mom bathroom soaps for Mother’s Day. Go here: SnatchedMovieTickets.com
Here’s a very important message from Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn!
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