Great fun with Goldie
> Comedienne Amy Schuler is ecstatic over starring with the revered screen legend on her new action-comedy Snatched
AMY SCHUMER and Goldie Hawn shine in Snatched ( top). The action-fuelled comedy seems tailor-made for the two – they have fantastic chemistry and are hilarious together.
In fact, as soon as Schumer ( below, left) read the script, she wanted Hawn ( below, right) to star as her mother, and was thrilled that the revered actress took the role, marking her return to the big screen after 15 years.
Snatched begins when Emily (Schumer) is ditched by her boyfriend, just when they were about to set off for a dream holiday in Ecuador.
Rather than abandoning the trip, Emily asks her mother, Linda (Hawn), to come along, even though the two have very different personalities.
The party-loving Emily is freespirited and impetuous, while Linda is very cautious and has no desire to have a wild South American adventure.
But Emily is persuasive and soon mother and daughter are on the plane to Ecuador.
Unfortunately, the trip rapidly goes awry, leading mother and daughter on a dangerous chase through the jungle.
Schumer wrote and starred in the 2015 hit comedy Trainwreck, which was honoured by the British Academy of Film and Television (Bafta) with The Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for excellence in comedy.
In an interview transcript provided by 20th Century Fox, the actress talked about the movie over coffee in Los Angeles.
Is it true that you persuaded Goldie to join you in “Yes, it’s true. I was on a plane from New York to LA. Goldie was sitting a couple of rows ahead of me. I was so excited and completely star-struck.
“I had already read the script at that time and I went up to Goldie and said: ‘Hi, I am Amy, I am a comedian. There is a movie I’m doing and I really want you to play my mum in it.’ And she said: ‘Okay honey, sure!’
“And then, a couple of months later we were at an event in London, (Glamour Women of the Year Awards) and Goldie was there with (her daughter) Kate Hudson.
“I went over to her again. It didn’t take that much persuasion to get her involved, Goldie was very enthusiastic and we started plotting together.
“When I read the script for Snatched, I had actually pictured Goldie as my mother the whole time. It is a comedy with action, and I don’t think there is any funnier actress for the role.”
Have you always been a big fan of Goldie’s work? “I do not think anyone has made me laugh more on the big screen than Goldie.
“I have always loved Private Benjamin (1980) and Overboard (1987). That film was huge in our house when I was growing up. I love Seems Like Old Times (1980) and I would watch clips of her on Laugh In (the 60s and 70s TV show).”
What is the premise of
“I am supposed to go on a vacation with my boyfriend to South America and then he breaks up with me. “I literally ask everyone else I know, friends, even acquaintances and friends of friends on Facebook, and nobody will come with me. “So I decide to take my mum on the trip, really just for selfish reasons, because I don’t want to be alone. “But Linda is frightened of everything. She is afraid of the world and she lives at home with her adult son. “But she agrees, and we go off on the trip and everything that she is afraid is going to happen does happen. We are kidnapped, ‘takened’, like Liam Neeson in Taken.”
There is a romance too, isn’t there? “Yes, with Tom Bateman, a great actor from the UK who is now a good friend of mine. He is the love interest.
“You know, it’s the dream as a single girl to go on vacation and meet a gorgeous, smart, interesting man who is going to sweep you off your feet.
“That kind of happens … but it leads to a lot of trouble.”
Do you and Goldie share a similar approach to comedy? “Our instincts are very similar. On camera, we both feel it is important to really live out everything in the scene and actually be in that moment. So we would say our lines but then for the most part, something different would happen in every take.
“I learned so much from Goldie, more than I could have imagined. I learned a lot just from observing her behaviour on set, seeing how respectful she is of everyone, and how willing she is to do what is needed.”
What kind of mother does Goldie play? “In the film, the character, Linda, is very different from how Goldie is as a real mum. Linda is controlling, and I think all mums are controlling to some extent, when their kids break away from them ….
“But in her own life, Goldie is the most loving mother, she is so proud of her kids and they are so proud of her.
“I hung out with her and Kate (Hudson) a lot and they love spending time together. They have a beautiful relationship and they don’t take it for granted.”