Enter Rachel McAdams. The lovely McAdams plays the engaged daughter of a very influential politician who captures the heart of one of the wedding crashers. John (Wilson) throws out all the rules the two have established for crashing weddings in his pursuit of the perfect woman.
Rachel McAdams on the Character Development in “Wedding Crashers:” “I know Owen [Wilson] and Vince [Vaughn] did a lot of development on the script with David [Dobkin] in the beginning, a couple of weeks before we started shooting. I think they added a lot of heart in there. But when I read it Claire was really the center and grounded among this crazy, wacky family. I think she was always supposed to bring a little bit of heart to the film and to find Owen, who he really was and strip away all the fun stuff and the lies.”
Rachel McAdams on the Age Difference Between Her Character and Owen Wilson’s: “I think it’s kind of funny. Owen has a really young spirit. They both do so that’s part of it. Women mature faster and are usually with older guys. He obviously suits Claire better than Sack [Bradley Cooper] so the age seems a little less of an issue.”
On Developing the Father/Daughter Relationship with Christopher Walken: “We kind of got thrown into it from the get-go. We had to Polka our first day of shooting. He’s quite a dancer. I was so intimidated. I had been practicing my Polka. It went great. He actually just likes to play and have a lot of fun. He’s really quite a sweet, lovely man. It takes you five minutes to get over the intimidation.”
Improv on the Set of “Wedding Crashers:” “The guys were constantly improv’ing. The scene just inevitably changes and you kind of have to go for it. Rarely do you do exactly what is on the page.”
Her Own Wedding Crashing Experiences: “I’ve never crashed a wedding. We thought about it when we were shooting. We were in Maryland staying at this beautiful hotel and there was a wedding on the grounds. We were kind of jealous and thought, ‘You know, we could say it was research,’ but we chickened out.”
Rachel McAdams on Her Family’s Influence: When asked if she’d ever been pushed toward a certain guy, like her character is in “Wedding Crashers,” McAdams laughed and said she hadn’t, although her mom was impressed by Paul Walker.
McAdams recalls, “She said to me the other night, after the MTV Movie Awards, she saw it [and] she said when Ryan [Gosling] and I won for Best Kiss, Paul Walker introduced [us] and she said, ‘Who was that handsome young man who introduced the award? Do you know him? What’s he like? Does he have a girlfriend? Oh, he’s handsome don’t you think?’ ‘Mom, he’s the ‘Fast and Furious’ guy! What are you talking about? Come on!’ Most of the time they kind of stay out of it. Every so often she’ll find a real hunk. She just can’t resist.”
On Who She’d Like to Star Opposite in a Romantic Movie: “…There so many. I would love to work with Daniel Day-Lewis. James Franco. I just saw Sam Rockwell in ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide’ and I did not recognize him for the first 30 minutes. I think he’s such an incredible actor. Such a chameleon. There’s so many. We’re so blessed with some great talent out there. I couldn’t pick.”
Rachel McAdams on Where She Keeps Her MTV Award: “On my friend’s bookshelf. I got a Young Hollywood Award a year ago I think it was, and I was staying at her place so it just wound up there. Now she uses it as her bookends and she’s like, ‘Get another award. I’m sick of this one.’ So I’ve had all of my awards sent to her in boxes just as a joke now. She keeps them safe and polished up on the shelf.”
Rachel McAdams on Which Film Had a Bigger Impact on Her Career – “The Notebook” or “Mean Girls:” “For me personally it would be ‘The Notebook.’ That was something I was dying to do when I read the script. I worked with so many amazing people and people responded so well to that film, and continue to. In terms of an impact on my career, that was significant. ‘Mean Girls’ speaks to a really large audience, which is the kids and they eat that stuff up. I don’t know. It’s hard to choose.”
