Hugh Dancy, Kristin Scott Thomas, Director PJ Hogan and Author Sophie Kinsella Press Conference
Sophie, when you first learned they wanted to change the venue, what was your reaction? Did it upset you? Or did you say, why not?Sophie Kinsella: "Well, you know what? I write books, I don’t make movies. This is a big collaboration. There are all kinds of factors that go into making a movie and my concern was to have just a fun movie that worked, that spoke to people, that kept the essence of the book. For me, it was far more important to protect Becky’s qualities – her humor, her endearing qualities, her foibles – and the fact that she is American or British is to me of lesser importance. So, you know, I just think it’s a great, fun movie."
Was the wonderful effect in the movie of the mannequins talking to her in the books or was that something PJ Hogan came up with?
PJ Hogan: "No, Tim Firth, the screenwriter, came up with that and I thought it was such a clever idea because if you know the books, you know they’re written in the first person. They’re written in Rebecca Bloomwood’s voice and it’s very difficult to adapt a book that’s written in the first person. In a film, unless you do an Alfie, you can’t really have the character turn and talk into the camera. It’s a particularly hard thing to pull off. And yet we wanted to dramatize the temptation that Rebecca faces when she walks into these consumer paradises. Tim Firth said, 'What if the mannequins were sirens, like the sirens that used to be in the rocks in old legends luring the sailors to their doom? What if it’s the mannequin, but it’s really Rebecca’s inner voice talking herself into buying the green scarf?' And so we went with it. And, again, that was going back to an earlier question. That was one of the things that I had not seen in a movie before, in a romantic comedy. I liked it when we broke the rules and I loved the fantasy element of that. Not many people know, but the title in England of the first book was The Secret Dream World of the Shopaholic. So I thought, 'You know what? I mustn’t forget that there’s a fantasy element to Rebecca Bloomwood.'"
Kristin, you have a delightful scene with John Goodman and Joan Cusack asking for a tiny slice of cake. What was it like working with those two? Was it fast and furious or did you get to spend some time?
Kristin Scott Thomas: "No, it was pretty fast and furious. For some reason it always is fast and furious. I’m such an admirer of Goodman and Cusack so I was thrilled to be involved in the scene where they were. That scene was actually quite fun to shoot, wasn’t it?"
PJ Hogan: "It was. I remember having a good time."
Kristin Scott Thomas: "The thing about working with PJ is that he allows you to be quite brave. You can go completely over the top and no one’s afraid of making a complete idiot of themselves, which is really refreshing. I enjoyed that a lot."
Hugh, you had great chemistry with Isla. Can you talk about that? There’s a great line at the beginning where she says, “Finding a man is better than shopping.” Can you talk about that?
Hugh Dancy: "Does she say that?"
PJ Hogan: [Laughing] "Several times."
Hugh Dancy: "It’s my favorite line, actually. [Laughing] I think that all good chemistry, for want of a better word and I don’t actually like the word very much, but all good chemistry on screen is there as a result of the work that you do. And it actually relies upon all the other people as well, and if you get on with that person, you have a good time with that person, that's just a bonus, which in this case was true. The weird thing about the relationship between the two of us in the film is that, obviously, it veers from very I suppose formal, kind of more romantic scenes to really kind of knock about comedy. And at first we just had to kind of keep reminding ourselves which one we're in because you don't want to be doing the wrong thing at the wrong time. And, as Kristin just said, I think Isla has this ability and kind of fearlessness to really take the plunge and make herself look like a complete idiot in the security that P.J. is then going to shape that and use it appropriately. I suppose I felt that my job was just to kind of keep the ball in the air."
Hugh, is there anything more passionate than shopping?
Hugh Dancy: [Laughing] "Almost anything."
If a woman is passionate about shopping, is there anything that you are equally passionate about?
Hugh Dancy: "Oh, any number of things. No, I don’t mean any number of things. I'm not obsessive about gadgets like some guys, and I'm not particularly into sports. I mean, I can be totally distracted by either of those things in any moment. I can wander into a bookstore and get lost for an afternoon. But rather than an attractive girl, that’s the question? No. Honestly, no."
