Richard Curtis has struck gold casting again the ghost.
Curtis — who wrote the ghostplus classic romantic comedies like Actually love, Four weddings and one funeral and Bridget Jones’s Diary — tells PEOPLE he “couldn’t believe” he was able to land Melissa McCarthy in the lead role. He says it reminds him of the time he was able to get exactly who he wanted for another movie.
“I actually have a photo of me sitting in a chair taking a phone call when Julia Roberts said yes Notting Hill,” says Curtis, 67. “Because we offered it to her and we thought, ‘That’s never going to happen.’ And it was somewhat the same with Melissa.”
In the new holiday comedy directed by Sam Boyd, McCarthy, 53, plays Flora, a ghost unwittingly summoned by hapless dad Bernard (Paapa Essiedu) during the Christmas season in New York.
Bernard struggles to bond with his family while under the thumb of his unforgiving boss (Alan Cumming, who originally played Bernard in Curtis’ 1991 TV movie. Bernard and the ghoston which the new film is based) and seeks Flora’s help to sort out her mess.
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Paapa Essiedu and Melissa McCarthy inside the ghost (2023).
Universal Pictures
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Curtis says he felt McCarthy was the “perfect” person to play the feisty Flora, to the point that they didn’t really consider any other US-based actresses.
“When she came right back to us and said that … you don’t know if people are going to be free, you don’t know if they’re going to say, ‘I never want to make a Christmas movie. ‘ So that was such a joy,” he says. “And then walking into a room with her and her throwing out so many ideas.”
“She’s very respectful of the script, but she’s also mean with the script. So it was a catalog of delights,” adds Curtis.
He says McCarthy has “such warmth” and is “such a good actress” that she managed to perfectly balance Flora’s playful nature and serious side – especially in one particular scene that comes with a heavy dose of deep human emotion.
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Melissa McCarthy and Paapa Essiedu inside the ghost (2023).
Universal Pictures
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“I always knew it would be the best scene in the movie, because it has such depth and tenderness,” says Curtis.
When asked what lesson the audience would like to learn the ghostthe writer notes that “in a funny way,” the story “begins with the end of the film.”
“You can have all the wishes in the world, but do any of us love anything more than simply sitting around the table with our laughing family? And that should happen at Christmas,” he says. “So in a way, the whole movie is a gimmick. It kind of says that you can want anything, you can get anything, but in the end there’s nothing better.”
“I hope a lot of people will watch it at Christmas and feel that we’re lucky to be sitting here with the TV and enjoying a movie with the people we love,” added Curtis.
the ghost debuts Wednesday on the Peacock.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education