Isla Fisher Talks About Her Role in the Romantic Comedy “Wedding Crashers”
Isla Fisher on Getting the Role of ‘Gloria’ in “Wedding Crashers:” “I think that I went through three or four [auditions]. I can’t quite remember. It was definitely nerve-racking because obviously you go into the room with an American accent and then you pray that they don’t start talking to you because you prepared the lines in the accent. But then when it comes to something about your personal life or what the weather was like or where you came from today, then it’s a little more difficult. But it went really well and I did the scene and got out.
Actually the first scene that I had to do was the scene where Gloria tells Jeremy that she loves him and that she’s a virgin and I chose to kind of cry in it. And I remember thinking that that was a strong choice and let’s hope that the director doesn’t think that it’s too much because that could’ve cost me the job. But luckily he laughed when I did it. But I didn’t end up doing it in the film, actually.”
Isla Fisher on Working with Vince Vaughn: “It’s hard to have a repartee with Vince when you’re looking at his bellybutton. I mean, the man is a circus freak and I’m very short. So together it was an unusual pairing, but we had a great time and he was very supportive.
He’s a veteran of this genre of comedy and I’m not so every time that I did something, whether it was improvising a baby voice or improvise [how] a magical friend speaks, he was very supportive and laughed and said, ‘That’s really funny.’ He encouraged me to feel confident enough in my character to explore different options and that was huge for me. It meant a lot that he thought I was funny.”
On the Inspiration for Her ‘Crazy Eyes’: “My crazy eyes? She’s actually here in the hotel. I’ve got a friend and I’m not going to name her, and when I started thinking about Gloria, just before the audition, I started watching like ‘Fatal Attraction’ and ‘The Hand That Rocks The Cradle,’ and I just thought a bit about how I could make someone really psycho and funny and aggressive and sexual, but also make her sweet enough that you still like her and think that she’s endearing in some way – and not that she just needs to be institutionalized. So this friend of mine, who shall remain unnamed, has this shtick where she has a bit of a crazy eye and I just thought that would be funny. And if I added that with a really bad laugh, that combination, that it might work.”
Isla Fisher on Having Christopher Walken Play Her Dad in “Wedding Crashers: “I was so excited and pleased and just so happy. Yeah, he was great. He’s an amazing guy and so funny. He’s so down to earth, sitting on set reading a book and talking to the rest of us with no star treatment like, ‘I’m Christopher Walken the movie legend.’ He wasn’t intimidating or anything. He was just a great, great guy I thought.”
Isla Fisher’s Take on Her Character: “She is crazy. She’s on mood enhancers and Jeremy is crazy, too. I mean, she’s crazy in the sense that she’s eccentric. And that’s why they’re the perfect match.”
On Playing the Love Scene: “It’s hard. It’s always hard. You have a moment where you feel slightly prudish and even though you have a body double and it’s playing and pretend. But you know, it’s a comedy. It’s not even like it’s a drama. It’s not like you’re doing something really heavy, but it’s definitely hard. It’s a tough thing to do because it’s your sexuality. Even though it’s a character, it’s still a little bit hard. But I enjoyed it and I had fun.”
Her Craziest Wedding Story: “Personally? Oh, when my mom remarried after my father, she somehow put my brother, Daniel, in charge of the music and he thought that it was so amusing to play Guns-n-Roses. I think that it was ‘Paradise City.’ He played that really loudly when she walked down the aisle and she had organized it all herself on a string and it was really embarrassing.”
Isla Fisher’s About to Say “I Do:” Isla Fisher’s engaged to comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and says she hasn’t gotten very far planning the wedding. “I’m not making a joke at all when I say that it’s not something that I look forward to. And I hear that it’s quite hard work,” admits Fisher. She’s not sure even what size the wedding will be, but she has definitely decided on one very important thing. “All I know is that I’ve ruled out wearing fairy wings. When I was nine I wanted to get married in fairy wings, and now I realize that’s not cool anymore.”
Isla Fisher Shares a Very Personal ‘Crashing’ Experience: “I crashed my boyfriend’s birthday when I was 12 years old. He didn’t invite me and so I showed up. His mother turned me away. Brutal. I carry the wound of that around with me today. I’m joking.”
After going to all the trouble to crash his party, the romance didn’t even last. “That was it. And the worst thing is that I wore my Metallica T-Shirt and had my little black plaid jeans on and my Doc Marten boots. I thought that I was so pretty.”