Academy Award winner Sandra Bullock stars in “The Heat” and tries on improv comedy for the first time under director Paul Feig.
Bullock stars as Sarah Ashburn, an FBI agent hoping for a promotion and high-tails it from her home base in New York City to Boston, to help solve the mystery behind several murders. Standing in Ashburn’s way is a hard-hitting Boston police officer, Shannon Mullins played by Melissa McCarthy, who’s not happy that the FBI – especially the stuck-up Ashburn -- is treading on her turf. Ashburn is determined to wrestle the case away from Mullins, but the disheveled, foul-mouthed, in-your-face cop is a formidable adversary. They’ll soon discover they have more in common than they ever thought possible, including their misfit status and complementary skillsets. “Ashburn’s effectiveness as an FBI agent comes from her meticulousness, stubbornness and thoroughness,” says Bullock. “But she’s completely inept when it comes to any kind of social interaction. She’s trying so hard to make up for that particular weakness that she becomes insufferably arrogant on the job. Ashburn is respected but not liked because she isn’t a team player. Every time she opens her mouth, people cringe.”
The improvisational nature fueled the fun and on- and off-screen bonding. “It is great working with Melissa,” enthuses Bullock. “She comes through the door and improv is the way that she does things. Then we had a director who comes from that world too and nearly everyone in the cast was also from that world. The world of comedy that I had been familiar with was always very controlled. There was the script and you had to go through 27 people and the studio before you could change a line. I always wanted to do this kind of comedy that we have in THE HEAT (which I have done in real life, sort of free form,) but I was never really allowed to experience what it was like before on a film.
Walking onto the set of THE HEAT it took me a couple of days to realize: ‘I’m allowed to do it.’ It was very liberating. When you are around that, you take it in and you want to improve your game. It is a muscle that you have to exercise and if you haven’t had much time exercising that muscle, it gets stale. Watching these people work is exciting and inspiring, but daunting sometimes too.” “Melissa has great moves,” says Bullock,”discussing McCarthy’s comedic skills. “When I saw her dance, I knew we were going to be fast friends.We did the dancing with no practice whatsoever,” she continues. “We said: ‘let’s not rehearse anything,’ ”interjects her co-star. “Let’s just be as terrible as we’re capable of being. Poor Paul turns around and we both have our faces taped,” laughs McCarthy, “and he’s like, ‘What’s happening?’ It was a weird descent into controlled madness. It was really fun. There was a lot of ruined tape,” she says. McCarthy adds: “Yeah, I got the moves, but I don’t have the sense to stop whatever’s going on.” “We really hit it off, she is like my sister,’’ adds Bullock. “I’d say it’s rare that actors get together and have the kind of chemistry and connection we have together. It somehow just works and it’s something inexplicable that is bigger than what is on the page.” “The Heat” now showing in theaters from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.
Budding comedy scribe Katie Dippold loved cop movies growing up. Now a grown up, her love for cop movies continues and had successfully penned the latest Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy starrer “The Heat” directed by Paul Feig. The estrogen-filled comedy features Sandra Bullock as the uptight FBI agent Sarah Ashburn and Melissa McCarthy as the unorthodox Boston police officer paired together to hunt down a ruthless drug lord.
“The Heat” is the first produced screenplay by Katie Dippold, who has written for television shows like Parks and Recreation and MadTV. The film was born from Dippold’s love of buddy-cop movies. She has many favorites, but singles out the 1986 comedy-action film Running Scared, starring Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines as wisecracking Chicago street cops. “I’ve always enjoyed those kinds of movies,” says Dippold, who recently signed a deal to write another comedy for director Paul Feig. “The characters and actors always seemed like they were having so much fun.” Dippold’s love of buddy-cop films provided the foundation for a script that ultimately transcended the genre with outrageous humor and heart. Feig sparked to the script, calling it “one of the funniest I’ve ever read.”
Director Paul Feig reinvigorates the buddy cop genre by pairing Oscar-winner Sandra Bullock and breakout star Melissa McCarthy as law enforcers with wildly different styles in “The Heat.”
Set in Boston, the movie follows Sarah Ashburn (Bullock), a rigid FBI agent forced to team up with Shannon Mullins (McCarthy), a brash undercover Boston street cop to track a ruthless drug lord. Ashburn is a straight-laced, patient, methodical investigator known for her excellence, while Mullins is very short fused and none has ever had a partner or a long time friend. This wildly dysfunctional duo must try to catch this high-powered criminal without killing one another in the process. Director Feig enthused on Bullock’s and McCarthy’s pairing, “I’m excited about doing a female buddy cop comedy because I can only think of a couple that have come along in the last 20 years and I don’t think they were particularly great. To me, though, I’m not looking at it as two women - it’s just two of the funniest people I know. Melissa, who I’ve worked with and is hilarious, and then Sandy who I’ve always been a fan of who is also hilarious. What I like is they have two different senses of humor and two different styles of comedy and the two complement each other.”
Oscar®-nominated actress MELISSA MCCARTHY starred in the smash-hit comedy Bridesmaids as Megan, the confident sister of the groom, opposite Kristen Wiig. The film was directed by Paul Feig and produced by Judd Apatow. For her role in the film, McCarthy was nominated for a BAFTA, a Critics’ Choice Movie Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She won a 2012 MTV Movie Award for Comedic Performance of the Year. Last year, McCarthy won an Emmy Award, and she recently received her second Emmy nomination for starring as Molly on the top-rated CBS comedy Mike & Molly, which is currently airing in its second season. She also received a nomination for guest-hosting Saturday Night Live. McCarthy was last seen in Universal Pictures’ This Is 40, for director Judd Apatow.
Now the 42 year-old plays Diana in the comedy Identity Thief. Her character steals the identity of Sandy Bigelow Patterson, played by Jason Bateman. What appealed to you about this project? I was excited to get a call from Jason Bateman and was looking forward to meeting him because I love the movies he has been involved with over the years. I thought we would get along and be friends, which is the goofy thing every fan thinks.
Box-office actress and producer Sandra Bullock stars in her latest action-comedy in “The Heat” alongside comedic talent Melissa McCarthy as cops and buddies tasked to solve a high profile crime.
20th Century Fox presents the international trailer of "The Heat" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF5FjuSYU_0&list=UU-JrjBL_iZAn5wjEsw9nRYA&index=1) where Sandra Bullock stars as Shannon Mullins, a by-the-book FBI agent forced to team up with McCarthy’s Sarah Ashburn. Assigned to Boston to track a ruthless drug lord, the two mismatched partners find something that works for each of them.
“The Heat” opens April 5 in theaters from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.
