It was fun getting to be mean to a guy like Dave
GChloe Coleman may be small, but she still proves a match for hulking star Dave Bautista in My Spy. chatted to the little and large duo and the film’s director Peter Segal to find out more OING toe-to-toe with Dave Bautista might be a daunting task for some - but for 11-year-old Chloe Coleman, it became just another day at the GEMMA DUNN office.
The young actress stars opposite the retired wrestler in brand-new family action comedy, My Spy.
The film – directed by Hollywood veteran Peter Segal – follows the unlikely union between a hardened covert operative (Dave), who finds himself out-manoeuvred by a precocious youngster.
In short, when CIA field agent Jason ‘JJ’ Jones is demoted to a light surveillance detail on the sister-in-law of a terrorist, her resourceful nine-yearold daughter Sophie (Chloe) blows his cover and blackmails him into training her as a spy. The girl also engineers a date between JJ and her mother.
“My Spy is really about heart; you have an emotional investment in these characters and their story,” says its American star and producer Dave, 51.
“The Guardians films are about family, but are disguised as superhero films,” he adds, comparing the format to that of the Guardians Of The Galaxy and Avengers, in which he plays fan favourite Drax. “Just as this one is a heartfelt relationship story, disguised as an action-comedy.”
“I was drawn to the story of two lost souls coming together and healing each other,” agrees Peter, 57. “Obviously the movie is being sold as a straight up comedy, which yes, it’s very funny, but this is a girl whose lost her father and the wish fulfilment of starting a friendship.
“And he’s coming from his own sense of loss; he’s lost his wife, he’s lost his comrades in the military, so it’s a very unexpected friendship,” he reasons.
The on-screen bond meant the casting had to be just right.
“We did a chemistry read – a sort of screen test – with Chloe and Dave, and we literally started crying,” recalls Peter, who has directed such comedy hits as Get Smart and 50 First Dates.
“Chloe is the real deal,” he continues. “You can tell by who she’s working with lately: Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lopez, Nicole Kidman, and she’s just constantly working because she’s so good.”
“It was fun getting to be mean to a guy like Dave,” Chloe interjects.
“I love how my character makes him so angry and how he takes it out on everything. He has the physical part of it, I have the brains.”
One thing she could take from movie veteran Dave, however, was his penchant for action.
“This was the first time I got to do my own stunts, including jumping out of a [grounded] plane, and it was a lot of fun,” she remarks. She lists her high points during filming as the explosions and running during the film’s climax – “Definitely my favourite scenes to film.”
“I like to do a lot of my own fighting, but I don’t actually have the desire to do stunts,” Dave says.
“I paid my dues professional wrestling and got more than beat up, so I don’t have anything to prove to anybody. I’ve a qualified stunt double that I’ve actually had since the first Guardians, and if there’s some