Featured Articles
WAMG At THE OTHER WOMAN Press Conference
In THE OTHER WOMAN, the all new 20th Century Fox comedy, three women form a bond after they find out that they are all sleeping with the same man. Rather than getting mad at each other, they form an unlikely friendship, and together they set out to settle the score with their three timing lover to make sure that he learns his lesson…
Last week WAMG sat down with stars Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, Kate Upton, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Taylor Kinney in a small press conference moderated by Giuliana Rancic to talk about cheating, soul mates, and horse whips. Check it out below!
After discovering her boyfriend is married, a woman (Cameron Diaz) tries to get her ruined life back on track. But when she accidentally meets the wife he’s been cheating on (Leslie Mann), she realizes they have much in common, and her sworn enemy becomes her greatest friend. When yet another affair is discovered (Kate Upton), all three women team up to plot mutual revenge on their cheating, lying, three-timing SOB.
We’ll start with the ladies… I was saying that I loved this movie so much because it’s called THE OTHER WOMAN, so you’re thinking that it’s about the relationship about a man and the different women, but really, ultimately, it’s about a friendship. Friendships that develop amongst three women that you would never, in a million years, see happen. Is that one of the things that drew you all to the script, and to this project? Cameron, would you like to start?
CAMERON DIAZ : Sure. Yeah, absolutely. I felt that this was such a unique film. When Julie Yorn, the producer, came to me with the idea for Melissa Stack, the screenwriter, to write the script I though it sounded like a great idea. There’s nothing else out there like that. Usually when it’s a story about three women who are all involved with the same man it usually ends in somebody’s eyeballs being scratched out, and some weaves being snatched off. [Laughs] We decided that that wasn’t the story that we wanted to tell, and we didn’t really want to focus either… we didn’t want it to be a story about revenge. We wanted it to be a story about utilizing the commonality of the three of them having a relationship with the same man to be a catalyst to bring them together, because otherwise, like you said, these three women would not know one another otherwise. It’s not only a story of friendship, and women, and how we support one another, and how we are there for one another, but it also shows us how different these women are. They each have their own strengths, and their own weaknesses, and those strengths and weaknesses help each one of them in their own way. They actually empower one another because of those strengths and weaknesses.
LESLIE MANN : We help each other learn, and grow.
KATE UPTON : Yeah, and I know that in my life, my girlfriends are one of the most important relationships that I have… from going through the good times and the bad times. It was a really amazing script because i think it really shows that it’s true in real life.
LESLIE MANN : And, it’s written by a woman… [Laughs]
KATE UPTON : … so, automatically it’s better.
LESLIE MANN : … so, it’s better… [Laughs] It seems like a lot of the other movies with the same kind of idea have been written by men, and maybe directed by men… not that that’s a bad thing. They like to perpetuate this idea of women fighting over them [laughs] and get us into believing that that is what we are supposed to do. So, it’s nice. It’s refreshing to have this new twist on it.
It is empowering. I felt very empowered in the movie. I think we’re so quick when something like this happens in our lives – whatever degree it is… maybe not to the degree that it happens in the movie… but, we feel the need to immediately blame the woman even though she’s probably in the dark half the time, and it’s really the man [nods toward Nikolaj] that we should be looking at…
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : What does it tell us about these women? They all fall for this kind of man. [Laughs]
CAMERON DIAZ : That he’s really good! That he’s really good at what he does! [Laughs]
I wanted to ask you guys a couple of questions. I’ll start with you Nikolaj. In ‘Game Of Thrones’ you definitely come up against some fierce enemies. How does that compare to what you go through in this movie? Especially in the end… you go through quite a bit.
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : Yeah. They take their revenge, you know. All he did was – he wanted to give them pleasure. [Laughs]
CAMERON DIAZ : Oh, this is how this is going? [Laughs]
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : No. I mean, it doesn’t really compare. I think he’s a real prick, and he gets what he deserves. No question about it.
How was it working with these women?
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : It was amazing! I mean, all three girls were amazing. Leslie, Cameron, they are very brilliant actresses. They’ve done this for a long time, and they have impeccable timing. They both like to, how do you say, keep the scene open as long as possible to come up with ideas, and I really had to stay on my toes to keep up with them, and try not to get in their way. I learned a lot from them. I have to say, Kate… [to Kate] Is this your first movie? [Kate nods] I’m just absolutely amazed at how she pulled it off, cause it’s not easy playing the naive, young, what do you call it? To play that character. It’s difficult. I don’t know how to say what I was saying without sounding stupid…
CAMERON DIAZ : You have to be really smart to play that dumb! [Laughs] Amber [Kate’s character] wasn’t dumb, she was…
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : So, yeah. It was a real thrill to meet them.
LESLIE MANN : It was a thrill for me too, because I was super excited to make out with the hot guy from ‘Game Of Thrones’ [Laughs] because I’ve been married for seventeen years, and I was like “Yes!” [Laughs]. You know how people say… actors say “Yeah, it’s really technical, and the sex scenes… they’re just so technical. It’s like work, you know. It’s not…” and I’m like “That’s bullshit! [Laughs] That’s such bullshit!”. So, anyway I was really excited, if you [To Nikolaj] don’t mind me telling this story. I was so exited to make out with him, and then we did the kissing scene, and he’s got this scruff, and I got, you know, red… but not just red. I had broken out into full hives! They thought that maybe it was his aftershave, or something…
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : It was just me.
LESLIE MANN : … so they made him wash his face, and we did it again, and I broke out into hives again!
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : It didn’t happen with Cameron, though.[Laughs]
LESLIE MANN : But, I was so bummed!
CAMERON DIAZ : I have a sturdy constitution. [Laughs]
LESLIE MANN : I finished the job. I go the job done, because I’m a professional.
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : You did. You did. You were very professional.
You were a professional. And Taylor…
TAYLOR KINNEY : I think the most exciting part, or challenging… I remember working with Leslie and trying to keep a straight face. You’re in the middle of a scene, and she’ll just throw a curve ball, and then someone just laughs, and has to turn around, and you start going, and then I just would do [makes a serious face while trying to keep from laughing] so that she could keep going. Your head just goes, so it was a testament to her talent. It was great.
What did you think, Taylor, when you read this script for the first time?
TAYLOR KINNEY : I hope I get this. [Laughs] No, I loved it. It changed a lot. It evolved a lot. I know that with Melissa, and Nik, and the girls… there was a template, and then it just kind of evolved into what it is. I hope it turned out great. I didn’t see it yet.
Cameron, you were involved in petitioning the MPAA for this movie. How come, and how common is it for actors to get involved? What did you say to convince them to drop the rating down to PG-13?
CAMERON DIAZ : Um, I’m not certain how common it is for other actors to do it, but myself, and the studio of course, and the producers all felt very strongly that… Well, one, I have to say that I completely admire, and understand, and respect that there are guidelines in which we have to be under in order to get a certain rating. I appreciate the MPAA for what they do, and how they structure that. We just felt that it wasn’t a Rated R film. It was a PG-13 film, and we just felt very strongly about that. In the end, we got what we… we were able to plead the case that showed that, and they agreed as well.
Was there a specific thing that turned them around?
CAMERON DIAZ : I’m not certain because I don’t know why they voted it the way they did. All I know is that we went, and pled our case, and they gave it to us. We’re very grateful, and happy for that, because we really think that it is a PG-13 film. There’s nothing that, to us, feels like an R rated film in this movie.
LESLIE MANN : We just have the one ‘fuck’, right?
CAMERON DIAZ : Yeah. [Laughs]
LESLIE MANN : Just the one!
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : Is that all you get?
CAMERON DIAZ : You just get one for PG-13.
LESLIE MANN : You just get one.
KATE UPTON : It’s amazing that we only ended up with one after the whole, entire shoot!
LESLIE MANN : I know!
KATE UPTON : After our shoot, knowing what happened behind the scenes, it’s surprising to know that only one made it into the movie. [Laughs]
CAMERON DIAZ : There are plenty of opportunities.
I’m from the generation where we saw 9 TO 5, and this sort of reminded me of that. I was just wondering, for all of you, did you look at that film, or do you remember it? Which one of you is the Dolly Parton? Which is the Lily Tomlin? Which is the Jane Fonda? And [To Nikolaj] how did you like playing Dabney Coleman?
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : I loved it.
CAMERON DIAZ : 9 TO 5 is actually one of my favorite movies. I watched it a thousand times as a child. Literally a thousand times. My girlfriend had a VCR, and she had four movies, and that was one of them. We watched it constantly. That was something that I loved about this movie – was the same thing – where it was three women who would have never had come together for any other reason except they had this one thing in common, which was this common cause. That’s really a feeling that I wanted this movie to have. It was a huge influence for it, so…
You guys all did a fantastic job, but I have to single you out Leslie. You have played some spectacular drunks… [laughs] What is your secret? You’re married to a funny guy. What is that like?
LESLIE MANN : Well, I observe a lot of you drunk people at bars. [Laughs] I don’t know. I think that, what I do is I just let myself go there, and just fully commit to that drunk thing… cause I’ve never done that myself. [Laughs] I’ve had a lot of practice! I’ll just be honest. [Laughs] Thank you though.
For Nikolaj, I understand that during your scene with Ms. Upton she got a little ‘method’ on your ass… literally…
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : Yeah, she did! The scene was cut, and I thought the only way I could…
KATE UPTON : Ok, well let’s start off first with… I said that I didn’t feel comfortable with the scene and somebody [looking at Nikolaj] said that he was totally down for the scene. [Laughs]
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : Absolutely! Absolutely. I was fine with it. And, you know, I thought she did a terrific job. I’ve never seen colors that beautiful on my ass before. But yeah, it never made the cut, so I feel like we have to talk about it! I have to get something out of it. I still have it. I’m still walking with it. But, you know, it didn’t hurt that much. Well, it did when she hit me…
KATE UPTON : You had your hand taken off in ‘Game Of Thrones’… [Laughs] It was a bruise on your butt. What does that even mean? [Laughs]
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : You’re absolutely right! There was just something about the whole setup. It was so funny, and then those pictures… they looked… it was just funny. And Kate did exactly what she was told to do, and she did it full on, and she gave it her best. She’s a strong girl.
KATE UPTON : I’m a horseback rider. I know how to use a whip. [Laughs]
In the film you talk about soulmates. Can you each talk about whether you believe that there is one soulmate out there in your life, or if there are different ones out there throughout your life?
LESLIE MANN : Well, my therapist says [laughs] that because I’m like “It’s really hard”… “I’m having a… It’s really tough” and he’s like “But that means that you guys are meant to be together, to work out all of your problems together.” I’m like “Really? I thought your soul mate… You’re just supposed to be happy all of the time, but…” [Laughs] I think that…god… I guess Judd is my soulmate, cause we have a lot of hard times, but it’s great at times too, so maybe that means that he’s my soulmate? Maybe? [Laughs] I don’t know!
CAMERON DIAZ : Yes! I believe that there are many soulmates… cause my soul has a lot of different facets, and it needs a lot of different…
LESLIE MANN : …different men… [Laughs]… for every facet!
CAMERON DIAZ : I’m just sayin’, you know… But in friendships, too. You’re [to Leslie] one of my soulmates, and you’re [to Kate] one of my soulmates. Our souls are mates, and some parts of our souls are mates…
LESLIE MANN : Yeah!
KATE UPTON : And they found each other.
LESLIE MANN : That’s true!
CAMERON DIAZ : Friendships, I think, can also be soulmates.
You guys have a fun tackle scene in this film. How many times did you do it, and what was it like? What did you discover while working together?
CAMERON DIAZ : That I’m strong.
LESLIE MANN : We discovered that we have a fun chemistry, physically. Cameron’s got really long legs, and a shorter torso, and I have a really long torso, and shorter legs…
CAMERON DIAZ : So, her center of gravity is, like, really low… and I’m always kind of, like, up here teetering and tottering…
LESLIE MANN : We kind of discovered that our bodies…
CAMERON DIAZ : Her torso is, like, all torque. It’s kind of like… a combustion engine has torque… and it just, kind of, revs up. She just powers up, and she torques, and twerks, and twerks, and then all of a sudden she just explodes. I’m holding her, doing it, and I’m like ‘Ahhh!”, and then her leg locks around on me, and hocks in, and one hand is here, and then I pull it off, and then there’s another one here… [laughs] and then I pull that off. It just became, basically… like, you know ‘sticky balls’? Where you throw it on, and it just sticks. It kind of turned into that.
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : Who would win, though, if you guys were to…
CAMERON DIAZ : I don’t know. I think that we always got stopped before it got too far…
LESLIE MANN : Right?
CAMERON DIAZ : But it was funny, because in the script there was no physical comedy, sort of scripted… We just, sort of, started finding it in these little places. She would just basically hold on to me, and then I wouldd writhe in any way possible to try to get her off.
LESLIE MANN : … but you couldn’t get me off…
KATE UPTON : Cameron was also always wearing these huge stilettos, and like, a leather pencil skirt while…
CAMERON DIAZ : … or, a tiny bikini [laughs]. I was like “Excuse me guys, I’m gonna be… my ass is going to be facing this way, so do you mind, maybe, just standing over there during this take, cause something’s gonna happen?”
KATE UPTON : Yeah. It’s weird how many men went over that direction [laughs] as soon as that scene started happening.
CAMERON DIAZ : “What are you guys doing here?” “Uh, we’re holding the flag… ” No, we had a great time, and we had a great crew.
Whether reading the script, or while shooting the film was there any point where any of you felt any empathy toward the character of Mark?
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : I did. [Laughs] .
TAYLOR KINNEY : Yeah. I did. I felt bad for him.
CAMERON DIAZ : You felt bad for Nikolaj or for his character?
TAYLOR KINNEY : No. Yeah. Well… I remember reading that scene and just being glad that I wasn’t… getting whipped in the ass. No thanks! [laughs]
CAMERON DIAZ : … dangling from a contraption?
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : It was fun!
KATE UPTON : He could have said no! [Laughs]
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU : No?
CAMERON DIAZ : That was not the safe word! [Laughs]
The film is about friendship, but it does involve cheating. Have any of you been cheated on. and is there a moment in the film that you could relate to or had to draw back?
CAMERON DIAZ : [Sarcastically] That we had this cathartic moment where we’re like “Oh my god! I totally know how this feels!”… [Laughs] Well, I think we’ve all gone through some kind of betrayal, whether it’s with a boyfriend, or a friend, or a family member. I think that’s why this is, sort of, relatable to everybody – because we all know what it feels like to feel that betrayal.
In the movie, your characters had to relate under crazy circumstances. For you guys, how did you relate to each other in real life?
LESLIE MANN : To each other as friends? We just, kind of, hit it off right away, luckily. We all did. We had a couple of dinners together, and Cameron and I had a four-hour dinner, and talked about everything! W had a cast dinner, which was really nice. We just… I think we’re different, but we are very similar in a lot of ways, and we really compliment each other in real life, and onscreen too. Cameron’s kind of like, for me, she’s like ‘the teacher’ and Kate’s like my daughter. She’s only five years older than my daughter, and so I was always wanting to protect her. I just love these girls, and these boys too.
Kate, how was your experience working with these ladies on your first movie?
KATE UPTON : It was so amazing. I am so lucky. I didn’t know what to expect when I first came on set, and they opened their arms to me, and made me feel really comfortable instantly. They supported me every step of the way. When I was shooting the bikini scene – Normally, when you go to a beach, everybody is wearing a bikini, but on a film you’re the only one [laughs] and there were, like, sixty people staring at you. They’re doing their jobs, but they’re still staring at you, and I was so uncomfortable, and these girls saw that I was uncomfortable, and came out, and ran off camera with me… just encouraging me, and not letting me be alone. They were like that the whole way filming, and I’m just so blessed to have them on my first film.
NIKOLAS COSTER-WALDAU : I just remembered that there was another girl in the movie that I thought was amazing… I don’t know if she’d done movies before… Nicki Minaj did an amazing job.
CAMERON DIAZ : She was fantastic.
NIKOLAS COSTER-WALDAU : Of course, the writer Melissa with her beautiful script. I think we should also mention Nick Cassavetes, who did a great job directing this. And, at least for me, it was great to have at least one guy on set to have fun with, cause these girls are a force to be reckoned with. Shoutout to Nick.
CAMERON DIAZ : And these guys, honestly, mean… Nikolaj plays one of the ugliest villains.We had to create such a horrible guy, because he is the bad guy in the movie. We took him as far as possible, as pathological as possible, and I really feel that Nikolaj did such an amazing job of bringing that character so that we could have the fun of the revenge. He made it so we looked good [laughs] and he looked bad, and we appreciate that. Taylor’s character portrayed the essence of a man that we all love, and appreciate. He’s a brother, and he’s a best friend, and he gives heart to the movie that is otherwise stolen by the revenge of it all. These two guys really showed up for us, and they were great partners to the three women, and even though we did a movie about heartbreak, I feel that we also celebrate love in this movie, and we just appreciate that these guys were there for us to help us tell that story.
FOR MORE INFO:
WEBSITE: http://theotherwomanmovie.com/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/TheOtherWomanMovie
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/OtherWomanMovie
THE OTHER WOMAN hits theaters this Friday
0 comments