“Ivan Reitman is a real legend and it is a real honor tinder mobile to get to work with him,” says Natalie Portman. “He’s very generous and listens to everyone’s opinions, and gives us the chance to have a ‘free take.’ It was wonderful to just have a chance to fool around and improvise the scene and dialogue.”
Hardly a standard practice in Hollywood, screenwriter Elizabeth Meriwether was on set every day during production, continuing to collaborate during filming. “It’s been amazing to be genuinely appreciated and listened to,” says Elizabeth Meriwether. “To have Ivan come to me for new line ideas and bring me into the process of building a scene has been amazing.”
The actors appreciated having Elizabeth Meriwether on set and found great solace in knowing she was there to provide on-the-spot needs. “It’s been a huge advantage having Elizabeth Meriwether on set, because you always run into times where a scene or shot has been manipulated in such a way that you need that perfect one-liner, and she is there to crank out ideas,” explains Ashton Kutcher.
Working with Ivan Reitman has been a dream come true for Elizabeth Meriwether and the experience was not lost on her. “I’d be working with Ivan Reitman and he’d make a reference to another one of his films, and I was reminded that he made practically every good comedy from the past twenty years-and I was completely in awe of him all over again,” offers Elizabeth Meriwether. “He has been a great mentor and friend, and this couldn’t have been a better experience.”
But far from resting on his laurels, the filmmaker is eager to find new comedic shadings for the current filmgoing audiences: “I’m at a point in my life where I either have to find some fresh way to represent my comedy language, my ability to express myself comedically in a film, or I believe I shouldn’t do it. I think I did a few films in the recent years that were not particularly successful and not representative of the energy that I had in the first 20 years of my career. I have been fortunate to have a long career, and have made some films that resonated with worldwide audiences. I think it’s one of the reasons that I really focused in on Elizabeth Meriwether’s script so much. I felt it gave me the opportunity to now do something for myself in a fresh and meaningful way.
However, over the years the loveable Aston became not just a heartthrob, but a serious contender for the role of Cary Grant of this generation
Ivan Reitman goes on to close, “I think it’s important that films represent the audiences that go to see them, that we can see and recognise a clever, humorous distillation of our lives-that it focuses on who we are and where we are in our society at the moment. I think a film like this, that deals with the subject both humorously and frankly, will hopefully resonate with audiences. perhaps even become a kind of film that we love to go to in groups and have conversations about afterwards. I want it to draw in both men and women, so that they can go together, because frankly, there is a difference in gender perceptions of what dating is like, what relationships are like, what sexuality is like. “
Ashton and his Leading Ladies
Ashton Kutcher first burst onto the silver screen in Dude, Where’s My Car?, as a bit of a slacker and an unlikely romantic hero. Having stared alongside Hollywood’s most beautiful and talented actresses, he takes on the role of Adam, who is hoping to turn his friendship with Emma (Natalie Portman) into something more. But how tight was the relationship with some of his other leading ladies?
