Bachelorette (2012)

A comedy about good friends making bad choices

Isla plays Katie

Director: Leslye Headland
Writer(s): Leslye Headland
Genre: Comedy
Filming: Filmed in New York City from August – September 2012.
Budget: $3m
Box Office: Made over half a million dollars in video-on-demand and online rental formats upon it’s release that way in August 2012. This made it #1 on the download charts – the first movie to ever do this prior to its theatrical release. Upon theatrical release in the US it made $181,494 on opening weekend from 47 cinemas. Total worldwide gross was $11,947,954 – $447,954 in the US and $11,500,000 internationally. Did particularly well in Australia, taking $2,713,930 total.
Runtime: 91 minutes
Rating: R

 

Regan is used to being first at everything. Imagine her horror and chagrin when she finds out the girl everyone called Pig Face in high school is going to tie the knot before she does! But Regan sucks it up and takes on bridesmaid duties along with her childhood pals: substance-abusing, promiscuous Gena and ditzy Katie. The single ladies are determined to put their bitterness aside and have an awesomely hedonistic bachelorette party. Armed with acerbic wit and seemingly endless supplies of coke and booze, the foul-mouthed femmes embark on one very long and emotional night filled with major wedding-dress panic, various bodily fluids, and cute ex-boyfriends.

 

Co-Starring

Kirsten Dunst … as Regan
Lizzy Caplan … as Gena
Rebel Wilson … as Becky
Kyle Bornheimer … as Joe
James Marsden … as Trevor
Adam Scott … as Clyde

 

International Release Dates

US (Video On Demand) – August 10th 2012
Russia – September 6th 2012
US – September 7th 2012 (limited)
Denmark – September 13th 2012
Sweden – September 28th 2012
Netherlands – October 4th 2012
France – October 17th 2012
Italy – October 18th 2012
Germany – October 25th 2012
Argentina – December 6th 2012

 

Character Information

Isla plays Katie, who is ditzy, dim and addicted to cocaine. Katie is enthusiastic and ready (thanks to substance help) to party and have fun – she knows how to have a good time, and gets very excited at the thought of throwing a bachelorette party for Becky. However, she may also be depressed and suicidal. Isla describes her as “well-meaning”.

 

Media

Bachelorette Bachelorette Bachelorette Bachelorette Bachelorette

Photos: Gallery at Isla Fisher Web
Videos: Videos at Isla Fisher Web

 

Trivia

• Adapted from Leslye Headland’s play of the same name.

• The screenplay made The Black List in 2008, which is the list of best unproduced screenplays.

• Isla describes co-star Kirsten Dunst as “cool, funny, sexy, fun-loving, insightful, kind, easygoing, chilled, sweet, gregarious.”

• The film is co-produced by Will Ferrell.

• Isla enjoyed working with a female director and cast on this movie, and thinks the chemistry between the cast is really strong.

• Isla says this is definitely an anti-drugs movie, and there is no glamourising of them in the film!

• Dolce & Gabbana dressed Isla for this movie.

• How does she play drunk? Isla says that Kirsten Dunst taught her and Lizzy Caplan how to, right before the take, stand on a spot and spin round 20 times, so when they say action you are totally disorientented. It actually works, Isla says – “It puts you off balance and you’re feeling sort of nauseous. It was just hilarious because you’d look around the set and it would be the three of us just spinning on the spot.”

• Isla said being part of an ensemble movie like this was “awesome”, because you get a later call time, shorter hours, days off, and you get paid the same!

• When asked about the constant comparisons of this movie to Bridesmaids, Isla said that they are “thrilled” at it, and that “there’s room in the playpen for all the kids.”

• Writer/director Leslye Headland let Isla help her develop the character of Katie in the movie.

• Isla thinks that her family will love this movie as it is such a contrast to the real her. She says her biggest excess in real-life is having a glass of wine with dinner!

• Isla’s husband loves the movie.

• While she says that she doesn’t relate to her character Katie, Isla does say that the thing she likes about her most is that she is always trying to have fun.

• Isla praised Kirsten Dunst’s performance in this movie for not getting “shrieky” but instead playing it in a very real, emotional way. She called her performance “utterly brilliant” … Kirsten responded to this compliment by telling Isla she’d pay her later!

• Lizzy Caplan was first to sign on to this movie. Isla was 2nd, and was asked whether she wanted to play Katie or Regan, and said that she knew she had to play Katie. Kirsten Dunst signed on last.

• Isla took this role because it fit in well with her family life – her husband was shooting The Dictator in New York City at the same time, plus this film shot at night so she could be with her kids during the day. The female writer/director also appealed to her, as did working with her co-stars Kirsten Dunst and Lizzy Caplan.

 

Quotes: Isla, Cast & Crew

Isla Fisher: “I play a character called Katie, and she’s not very bright. But I spend most of the movie looking at other people for their reactions and then mirroring them – she’s not somebody who has an independent thought. So as a comedic tool it’s extraordinarily funny to be able to say anything you want – your character is stupid and naive – and then also just to copy people’s faces.”

Isla Fisher: “What I really like about this is that we’re these flawed women and we do these abhorent things to each other, but then we support each other through all the drama and we’re still best friends, so I think it’s sweet in a way.”

Isla Fisher: “There’s more honesty in this movie than is portrayed in a lot of these [movies], particularly this genre of film.”

Isla Fisher: “If people think going into this movie that they’re seeing Bridesmaids, they’ll either walk out or they may vomit.”

Isla Fisher: “I’m not gonna lie, when I read the material I was pretty shocked. I don’t speak to my friends like that; I’ve had many friends for many years and I’ve never had a fight with my friends, so I was like what is happening in this movie? I didn’t understand the drug use because I’ve never been into drugs — I didn’t understand any of it. It was a bit like reading a story about the end of the world. The most horrible pre-dependent generation who haven’t grown up, don’t take responsibility, are entitled. You feel like they just party all the time and treat other people like they mean nothing. It was such ugliness that I sort of was drawn to the fact that it was such a stretch for me to do. The fact I didn’t relate to anyone in the material.”

Isla Fisher: “At our first rehearsal, Lizzy and Kiki were all smoking and drinking at 9 a.m. I was like, ‘Oh, god. I just put my 17-month down for a nap and my 4-year-old is off to preschool!’ I felt like the uncool mom.”

Isla Fisher: “These are horrible girls doing horrible things. You can’t ask yourself why. You just got to commit to it and enjoy it and just try to make it as funny as you can.”

Isla Fisher: “I don’t really relate to Katie, and I think that’s what was such a challenge and so rewarding about inhabiting the emotional landscape of somebody whose lifestyle and personality traits are very different than my own.”

Isla Fisher: “She’s an over confident dumb dumb, but she’s innocent, too, which is sweet and she gets the opportunity to do a lot of great one-liners, which I love to improvise. It’s my favorite thing in a movie, so I knew I’d get that opportunity and Leslye was very collaborative with me on the character. It was kind of a no brainer.” (on her character)

Isla Fisher: “Katie is very trashy. She wears the shortest, tightest, trashiest thing that I could wear. They [Dolce & Gabbana] kindly dressed me for the movie — even down to my underwear. Those guys know how to make a woman look great. After wearing that dress for a month and a half I [never] wanted to see it again.”

Isla Fisher: “I was still breast-feeding when I shot this movie. I’d be home with the kids all day. We’d go to ballet class, learn the alphabet, go to Gymboree … then I’d cook dinner, put everyone to bed and two hours later I’d be spinning around on set pretending to vomit. That’s what’s great about acting. That’s why I love it. You get to do something completely opposite from who you are in your life.”

Isla Fisher: “That scene where [Katie] can’t remember the guy’s name? I wrote that in my trailer in the morning.”

Isla Fisher: “I cannot tell you how much I love that lady, she is so funny, and she brings such emotion to that character and really without us caring about her character and her dress, we wouldn’t really have been able to ground the story in the way that we did.” (on Rebel Wilson)

Isla Fisher: “It was so much fun – no acting necessary, I just spoke from the heart! It is so funny, I could say anything I wanted in this character, I could think of any dumb thing, improvise anything.” (on playing such a dumb character)

Isla Fisher: “We get to do all the silly, purile, infantile stuff that guys get to do, and we get to do it all in a push-up bra!”

Isla Fisher: “A woman director and female cast — that was my reason for getting involved in the first place. I think audiences have always wanted to see women in the movies, but every time a movie like ‘Bridesmaids’ comes out, everyone says, ‘Oh how funny, people do want to see women in the movies.'”

Isla Fisher: “We are so thrilled, we never expected to have this reaction, this is a little indie movie and we’ve been compared to Bridesmaids which is a big studio picture, so that’s very high to come up against, and we’re very excited.”

Isla Fisher: “There is no redemption in this movie, no huge moment of learning. We don’t have it. You know we’re just going to be doing the same thing the next night.”

Isla Fisher: “What’s great about the three of us working together is it’s very non-competitive. We basically played very different characters, we come from a different place comedicaly, so we’re all able to shine in our own specific ways.”

Isla Fisher: “Being a mother of two and not really relating to the characters or the world, I had to sort of work extra hard to make sure that I was playing a Katie that everybody knew, that girl that people are like, ‘I know, I’ve got a friend…’ or ‘I know somebody who’s just like that.’”

Isla Fisher: “Kirsten I’ve always been a fan of and I knew what she was doing was sort of different from anything that I’ve seen her do, and she felt the same about me. Then Lizzy, I didn’t really know her stuff, but she just has this wonderful ability to be equal parts tough and vulnerable. I found that kind of beguiling to see.”

Leslye Headland (director): “I was particularly interested in the shifting morality of people in their late 20s because it is a time when people are dealing with so many different competing standards of behavior.”

Leslye Headland: “Kirsten, Isla and Lizzy never thought they should tone down their characters. They even improved stuff where where even I didn’t know if we could use some of the things they did. When you watch it, you can see that they’re having fun. I think they were excited to play women they had never met before.”

Leslye Headland: “A huge amount. They’re perfect, aren’t they? As far as depth of the character, I think the best actor you can work with is somebody who does their work, but who challenges you. Directors can get frustrated or intimidated if someone isn’t doing their work, but they’re challenging you. But when people are that well prepared, and they know their characters inside and out, like all of our rehearsals were about the script, they were not about creating performances. It was, “What can I do to bring this character to life for you? What do you need? What do you think should happen at the end of this?” I’ve always worked that way.” (on the depth Isla, Kirsten and Lizzy bought to the film)

Kirsten Dunst: “I love her (Isla), she’s amazing. We had the best time. Also Lizzy Caplan was in the film and us three girls got along so well. We had a great time together.”

 

Quotes: Character

Gena: “Okay what we need right now is an epically brilliant plan, you know? That’s what we need. So are you ready? 1-2-3 GO!”
Katie: “Leave the country!”

[After Regan telling them Becky is getting married]
Katie: “That’s insane!”
Regan: “You know we’re all gonna have to be in this wedding?!”
Katie: “Silver lining! We’re gonna get to throw a bachelorette party, we’re gonna get to dress up and be cool, it’s gonna be just like prom!”

Katie: “What do you call a bachelorette party without a bride?”
Gena: “Friday?”

[Katie’s phone rings whilst she’s at work; it’s Gena]
Katie: “Hello?”
Gena: “Katie!”
Katie: “Ohh!” [to Manny] “I gotta take this, it’s work.”
Manny: “You’re at work.”
Katie: [to Gena on the phone] “Hey, what’s up?”
Gena: “I don’t know, it’s like some drama with Becky.”
Katie: “Tell me everything!”

Katie: “I think I might be stupid.”
Joe: “Why would you say that about yourself?”
Katie: “I don’t understand anything anyone is talking about most of the time.”
Joe: “That has nothing to do with intelligence. It’s like this, there’s lots of different kinds of smart, and you just have to discover which smart you are.”
Katie: “See, I don’t understand what you just said!”

Regan: “How are we gonna get through the next twelve hours?!”
Katie: [shouting] “Gena brought cocaine!!”
Regan: “Oh my god.”
Gena: “Let’s use our indoor voices though, about it.”

Katie: “Magic’s not real, right?”

Katie: “You guys? I know I’m on drugs, but I swear, that room you just pushed me into? It was moving.”

Katie: “This must be what it feels like to go to the Oscars!”

 

Reviews

Hollywood Reporter: “On stage, the characters’ insensitivity carried an underlying pathos about the deep dissatisfactions of their lives. That dimension is fully realized here only by Fisher. Katie’s insecurities about her superficiality and intellectual limitations are both funny and touching. Fisher also is the most comedically gifted of the key performers. She goes off the rails after too many Cosmos (which she drinks “not ironically,” as Gena points out) and too much cocaine.”

Salon.com: “Isla Fisher gets special points for bravery in portraying Katie, who at first seems almost offensively blithe, idiotic and slutty. (She insists on pronouncing her latest retail employer as ‘Club Mo-NAH-co.’)”

FilmSchoolRejects.com: “Isla Fisher is particularly funny for the first twenty or so minutes of Bachelorette, playing a dumb bunny to perfection (Katie is the sort of girl who can’t even pronounce the name of her workplace). Headland’s first outing as a director is filmed with a quick energy and briskness that keeps things moving around. A playwright by trade, Headland doesn’t seem afraid to move the camera or locations. But that proves detrimental over time, as Headland seems intent on shucking the theatrical tendency to tell rather than show, which is one of the main reasons why her characters never feel more than just one-dimensional, because they don’t tell us anything.”

Entertainment Weekly: “There’s a kind of rush in seeing actresses as charming and accomplished as Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, and the saucy Lizzy Caplan take on characters who are this essentially dislikable.”

USA Today: “Fisher is sublime as the ditzy, beautiful friend with a self-destructive streak. If they could give an Oscar for acting drunk, she should just walk right up and accept it. It is, after all, the state of mind she’s in through most of the movie.”

TheFilmStage.com: “Bachelorette doesn’t pander to its audience and that’s it’s biggest strength, it shows people in a rawness that is rare for this type of film. The dialogue is sharp and witty with great one-liners scattered throughout.”

Collider.com: “Caplan and especially Fisher are brilliant in their comic delivery and timing. Caplan brings a dry humor to her vulgar dialogue (she kills in a scene where she’s talking to a stranger about how much effort women put into blowjobs) and Fisher perfectly blends the sweet, ditzy, and slightly mean aspects of her character. Unfortunately, Dunst is stuck as the straight-woman and doesn’t get to deliver as many jokes as her co-stars.”

Moviehole.net: “But those [jokes] that do work, work really well, and it’s to the credit of not only Headland but the two actresses that get to deliver the lion’s share of the fab funnies – Caplan and Fisher. Fisher, in a role not unlike the one she played in fellow nuptials-centric rib tickler “Wedding Crashers”, also seems to be one of the few of the actors involved that’s seen the play, if her performance is anything to go by.”

Houston Press: “Isla Fisher is a wildly funny actress…”

Broadway.com: “Fisher is a masterful physical comedian, stumbling around as her eyes roll to the back of her head…”

Hollywood And Fine: “If Regan is the control freak, Katie and Gena are her opposites. Katie is the one with the hilarious substance-abuse problem (and, to her credit, Fisher manages to make it both funny and poignant), while Gena is the slutty one. I know people who hated “Bridesmaids” who loved “Bachelorette.” Probably the opposite will be true as well. While it amuses, it does so intermittently – and never takes it much farther than that.”

Canberra Times: “The most noteworthy point one can make about Bachelorette is that it features two Australian stars at radically different stages in their careers: the effervescent Fisher, on something of a comeback trail, and the bubbly Wilson, tearing up the rule book as she takes on Hollywood.”

 

Fisher Fantastic

Bachelorette scores a fairly high Fisher Fantastic rating, as it is another role where Isla is able to let loose and play a completely wild character! Her dumb one-liners are hilarious, but there are also a few touching moments where we see Katie’s vulnerable side. The cast have good chemistry and the pace of the movie keeps you interested. My only complaint is that it seems to flit between all the characters too much and I felt I didn’t get enough of each of them. Isla probably has the least screentime of the three bachelorettes. While the film has received mixed reviews, most seem to agree on Isla being a highlight, and it’s a definite must-see for Fisher fans.

 

Promotion

Isla and her co-stars and director premiered and promoted the film at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2012, with Isla taking part in portrait photoshoots and giving interviews to various online publications. For an unknown reason, she did not attend the screening of the film at the festival, though. Closer to the film’s release date, Isla, Kirsten and Lizzy were featured in the September issue of US Elle magazine, with a new photoshoot and a brief interview with them. On August 23rd, all the cast attended the Los Angeles premiere for the film, with Isla wowing on the red carpet in a pretty red lace dress by Reem Acra. A press conference and junkets for the film were held in Beverley Hills earlier that day, too.
Promotion for the film continued throughout the end of August and early September too – Isla appeared on US talk shows Conan and Chelsea Lately, and she her co-stars re-united on Good Morning America and The View. Another premiere for the movie was held in New York in early September.

Isla Fisher Web‘s Press page (related: 2012 interviews)
Isla Fisher Web‘s 2012 Appearances Gallery
Isla Fisher Web‘s 2012 Magazine Scans Gallery
Isla Fisher Web‘s 2012 video interviews
Isla Fisher Web‘s 2012 talk show video interviews



 

Related Links

• News & Updates for Bachelorette at Isla Fisher Web

Official Facebook
Official Twitter
Official YouTube

IMDB
Wikipedia
Kirsten Dunst – fansite

Amazon.com – purchase on Amazon Video
Amazon.com – purchase the Blu-ray
Amazon.com – purchase the DVD
Amazon.co.uk – purchase the Blu-ray
Amazon.co.uk – purchase the DVD
EzyDVD.com.au – purchase the Blu-ray
EzyDVD.com.au – purchase the DVD

 

Last Updated: July 25th 2016