‘We all know we are being listened to’
Superintelligence — a comedy about AI — sees Melissa Mccarthy in a role originally meant for a man. Georgia Humphreys hears more
MELISSA Mccarthy’s character in Superintelligence was written for a man at first. But “it’s not my first time to take an originally planned male role for myself ”, quips the Illinois-born comedian and actress.
In the romantic action-comedy — which is directed by McCarthy’s husband Ben Falcone (who also stars in the film) — she plays Carol Peters, aka the most average person on earth.
A “do-gooder”, Carol left her job at Yahoo at the pinnacle of her career to pursue a more meaningful profession and has become a bit of a lost soul.
But suddenly she has a big mission on her hands: when an all-powerful Superintelligence (voiced by James Corden) chooses to study her, the fate of the world hangs in the balance.
It’s up to her to prove that people are worth saving, as the AI decides to enslave, save or destroy humanity.
Mccarthy and 47-year-old Falcone — who both have producer credits for Superintelligence — make a dynamic duo both on and off-screen.
After meeting in 1998, they married in 2005 and have two children together, Vivian (13) and Georgette (10) — and have also worked together on several different projects.
They memorably starred alongside each other in cult comedy Bridesmaids (some of the funniest scenes involve the pair together), while Falcone has also directed Mccarthy in Life Of The Party, The Happytime Murders and The Boss.
Earlier this month, it was announced they are teaming up for a new Netflix workplace comedy series called God’s Favourite Idiot, and they also recently completed feature
Thunder Force for the streaming service too.
A lot of the projects they do together have either been written by Mccarthy and Falcone, or just Falcone — but it was Steve Mallory who came up with this idea.
The couple are friends with Mallory (he also co-wrote Tammy, Life Of The Party and The Boss) “so it’s still within our little world”, notes Mccarthy, who first gained recognition for her role as Sookie St James on the
TV series Gilmore Girls.
“At first, I was going to be the voice (Superintelligence) and then I wormed my way into the whole thing,” continues the mum-of-two.
So what did Falcone think was fun about the script as a film-maker?
“Well, I thought it was really funny and I thought it was a really interesting idea that unfortunately — or fortunately, depending on how you spin it — is definitely happening; AI is more a part of our lives, the algorithm is more of a part of all our lives, and I thought it was really current and really interesting.
“I showed it to Melissa and it seemed like she agreed, and we were like, ‘Okay, we agree — shall we call Bobby?!’”
Bobby is Bobby Cannavale, the New Jersey-born actor who stars in Superintelligence as Carol’s love interest, George, the one that got away, and who she is determined to make things right with.
When we chat about the film, the stars are — unusually for Covid-19 times — all in the same room — they’re once again working on the same project, they reveal, and are currently filming in Australia.
“We bubbled together and we test (for coronavirus) all week so that’s why we can be shoulder to shoulder,” says Mccarthy gleefully.
It’s clear the trio get on really well — there’s energy fizzing from them as they joke together.
Plus, this isn’t their first collaboration. Cannavale and his partner Rose Byrne worked with Mccarthy in the espionage comedy Spy (and let’s not forget Byrne was another star of the brilliant Bridesmaids, too).
“These guys have been great friends to me and great supporters and the truth is I don’t really get asked to play those kinds of roles that much, so that was a nice surprise to me — even though I’m probably closer to that guy than I am to most of the other parts I play,” notes 50-year-old Cannavale, whose other memorable roles include TV shows Will & Grace and Boardwalk Empire.
“So that’s nice — it takes friends sometimes to shine a light on that, so I’m very grateful for that. And I had a great time, it was a lot of fun, and what a sweet guy I got to play.”
Superintelligence explores the idea of artificial intelligence becoming sentient. There are many ways that the audience can see the Super Intelligence interact with Carol — Corden’s voice comes to her through the TV, a radio, a coffeemaker.
“We all know we are totally being listened to and it’s being calibrated,” muses Mccarthy, who was nominated for an Oscar in 2019 for crime drama Can You Ever Forgive Me?
“And they’re watching you through your camera...” follows Falcone. “It’s just if anybody cares enough, or if it’s just somebody can take the time to get through all your stuff to find the stuff that’s interesting or dicey — or whatever they want to find.
“So, I think just assume you’re always on camera, and always on a microphone.”