MELISSA MCCARTHY’S FULL-ACTION MODE IN “SPY”

Press release

Paul Feig and Melissa McCarthy have already collaborated in the smash hit comedies: “Bridesmaids” and “The Heat.” In “Spy,” which Feig wrote and directed, the gifted actress plays the brilliant, intuitive and relatable Susan Cooper, who has worked in the dreary basement at CIA headquarters for years. Her colleague is the charming, sophisticated and self-absorbed super spy Bradley Fine, played by Jude Law. An unsung hero, Cooper is the one who guides her partner via a computer and an earpiece, when he is out on perilous assignments, steering him through sticky situations around the globe. Fine gets the credit for all the successes, but it is actually Cooper doing most of the complicated work. She is also secretly besotted with the charismatic Fine, but it’s a case of unrequited love.

                When Fine goes off the grid while trying to locate a nuclear bomb, Susan Cooper volunteers to go out into the field herself, becoming a bona fide spy, infiltrating the world of international espionage in Europe. She has to confront the villainous, rich and ultra-glamorous Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne) who is the daughter of a notorious arms dealer, with access to a nuclear weapon. It is up to the intrepid Agent Cooper to stop her before she wreaks global havoc! 

                Cooper has another challenge to deal with in the form of Rick Ford (a hilarious performance from Jason Statham) a supposedly ace operative. Ford turns out to be bumbling, intense and supremely arrogant. He completely underestimates Cooper, who surprises everyone with her all-round excellence. Out of her element at the start, Susan Cooper rapidly learns all the skills required for her new job. We see her dangling from a helicopter, racing around on a scooter and engaging in a kitchen fight with a deadly assassin. Side-splittingly funny, the film is riveting and action-packed. Also starring are Bobby Cannavale and 50 Cent.

                A much more unorthodox confrontation and action in the movie takes place later in the week, at a Budapest restaurant kitchen, where Susan and an assassin (Nargis Fakhri) engage in a fight to the finish with fruits, vegetables, turkey legs and cooking utensils. Perry and his stunt team spent weeks choreographing and rehearsing, and “pre-visioning” the fight on computer. Food, pots and pans go flying, as the bruises mount on both McCarthy and Fakhri with each take.

                “Who knew salad could be a weapon?” says Fakhri, a Queens, New York, daughter of Czech and Pakistani parents. “Melissa got me good with some potatoes but I returned the favor with some breadsticks. It’s hard to do this kind of scene, but when it’s Paul Feig, you take one for the team.”

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox

                Says Perry: “The kitchen fight took two days to complete and demonstrated Paul’s commitment to ramping up the action. He’s an enthusiast of 1980s Jackie Chan movies, as am I, so I had a good idea what he wanted: low, wide-angle impact shots coming into the lens. It’s funny, kinetic and violent.”

                “Spy “opens May 21 in cinemas from 20^th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

Spy movie review

When you hear the word spy, you associate it with James Bond because he is the longest running franchise in the action genre. There had been a few spy comedies but nothing came as funny and hilarious like this. Here are the reasons why you should watch Spy:

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox

#It is not the first action comedy Melissa McCarthy did. She was in The Identity Thief as a the title role and The Heat were she was a cop. If you enjoyed Melissa McCarthy in The Heat, you will like Spy better.

#She combined both slapstick and witty dialogues.

#Melissa McCarthy is reunited with her Bridesmaid co-actor Rose Byrne who plays her frenemy in the movie. It just shows that Rose Byrne is also funny in her own way.

#Jason Statham is a revelation in comedy. Jude Law also done comedy and Allison Janney is famours for in Britain for her comedy. The British has their own kind of humor. But all the actors are funny regardless of which country they originate. It just shows that the actors compliment each other in the comedy aspect. 

#You can expect that it is adult humor.There is a reason why is it R-13 in the Philippines.

#If you laughed so easily, get ready for lots of it. Expect also lots of reaction from slapstick sequences and the stunts.

#My expectations were not high when I saw the trailer but after watching the movie, it really blew me away. This maybe the best comedy movie after Get Hard this month.

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ROSE BYRNE IN “SPY”

Press release

Rose Byrne struts her way into a global chase against a group of undercover agents in “Spy” starring alongside Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham and Jude Law. 

                Byrne takes on the role of Rayna, a beautiful and privileged Oxford-educated daughter of a recently deceased arms dealer who becomes frenemies with Susan Cooper, a novice spy who gears up for action after Fine (Law) suddenly goes off the grid during a dangerous assignment. Agent Cooper leaves her dreary desk job behind, entering the world of international espionage in Europe.  Soon, Rayna and Susan butt heads when Rayna has come into possession of an unusual inheritance, a small tactical nuclear weapon enough to give the world a total meltdown. 

                Rose Byrne says her character is all about status. Rayna wears garish outfits for grand entrances into the finest hotels. Perpetually bored and unimpressed, she lacks a sense of humor and has a brutally direct manner of speaking.    “I liken her to royalty, or a member of a corrupt dynasty. She’s posh and talks as if she’s from another era, an effort to compensate for her poor Bulgarian roots.” Despite her coldness, Rayna feels slightly sympathetic and curious about Susan, who reminds her of a “sad Bulgarian clown.”

                Of Byrne, who also co-starred with her in “Bridesmaids,” McCarthy says, “I would work with Rose 300 million times. She manages to play a character that’s dastardly yet likeable, which is a tricky thing to pull off. You don’t see the work behind her performance. You just see a remarkable character who turns on a dime.”

                While filming and on the run, Rayna’s adventures transitions to a far more luxurious form of air transport, McCarthy and Rose Byrne shoot a flight sequence onboard Rayna’s private jet, which is replete with her unmistakable style – that is to say, gaudy leopard skin upholstery and Versace red and gold wallpaper. Having grown interminably bored in Rome, Rayna is whisking her newfound “sad Bulgarian clown” companion to Budapest for drinks. Chaos breaks out during the flight, and the plane’s occupants find themselves in a nosedive, experiencing the zero gravity effect of weightlessness.

                To overcome the challenges of filming this sequence, SFX supervisor Yves De Bono had the plane mounted on a 20-degree gimbal, allowing it to tilt and swivel in any direction. Movement was hydraulically controlled from the ground, and both cast and stunt team were harnessed to cables to simulate floating. Rose Byrne spent time in a swimming pool practicing controlling her physical motions to prepare for the sequence, which required a week to complete.

                Director Paul Feig says Byrne’s role as Rayna is his favourite, “Rose is one of the most talented comedic actresses out there and nobody knew for years that she was a comedic actress. She plays Rayna Boyanov, the daughter of a black market arms dealer, a spoiled rich girl who grew up in Bulgaria but went to school in London and has completely got rid of her accent. Now she's got a very posh English accent, composed and classy, but she is swearing all the time and she is so funny.”

                “Spy” opens this May 21 from 20^th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

Movie Trailer Reveal: SPY starring Jenny McCarthy. From 20th Century FOX

From the director who brought you Bridesmaids and The Heat, Paul Feig returns with Spy starring Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham and Jude Law. From 20th Century Fox. See newly released movie trailers first in this blog and like L.E.N.S. blogs