Two actors who are no strangers to the romantic comedy genre – Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz – team up for the very first time in What Happens in Vegas, directed by Starter for 10’s Tom Vaughan. Kutcher and Diaz play a couple of strangers who are total opposites in most respects who meet, marry, and win $3 million in Vegas all over the course of one wild night.
Diaz’ father passed away shortly before the film’s Los Angeles press junket, and the loss she and her family suffered was on the minds of all in attendance, journalists and actors alike. Kutcher, joined by Rob Corddry who plays his best friend in the film, carried on with promotional duties without his co-star and onscreen love/hate interest.
Ashton Kutcher and Rob Corddry Press Conference
Why do opposites attract?
Ashton Kutcher: “I don't think opposites attract. I think like attracts like. So I don't think that they do attract, opposites. Only when you're talking about magnetic poles.”
Rob Corddry: “I agree. Whoever said that anyway? Who started that? That's a factoid, meaning not necessarily a fact.”
Ashton Kutcher: “I think Paula Abdul started it.”
Rob Corddry: “If it's wrong, she started it.”
Ashton Kutcher: “I think so. No, I think in order to create affinity with something, you have to be like it. There's actually a whole lot of neurolinguistic programming stuff that has actually proved that as well, so I would say that that's the key.”
And working with Cameron Diaz:
Ashton Kutcher: “Horrible. I mean, to show up to work and have to look at a good-looking woman who's funny and happy to be alive and joyous and nice to people, that's a nightmare. We had to deal with it every single day. You know, I don't think that there's anybody like her. I think she's maybe the only, I would say, true comedic leading lady in our business right now, that has really honed that craft. And she's worked with Jim Carrey, she's worked with Adam Sandler, she's worked with Mike Myers. She's worked with every great comedic actor I can think of, so she's got a one up on all of us.”
Rob Corddry: “I can't answer that question because I'm not allowed within 50 feet of Cameron Diaz.”
What was your preparation for the drunken spiral?
Ashton Kutcher: “I got drunk and spiraled. I've had my entire 20s, my early 20s to really prepare for that scene. I have a lot of life experience to draw on for that kind of wild night.”
Was it all plotted out or did you come up with things?
Ashton Kutcher: “You know, the first act of the script - and the first act of the movie as it turned out - are really close to one another. Most of it was actually directly scripted events of, ‘This takes place, then this takes place, then this takes place.’ I'd say the moments in between are kind of organic or original But really from roll the dice to talk at the dance floor, to the dialogue that it was, the fire and fall off the bar, make out, in bed, wake up, the only thing they cut out was there was a three-way with a maid that got cut out of the film. But that was in the script.”
Rob Corddry: editor on that scene too. That scene is edited…in this kind of movie I've never seen editing like that. Really innovative and cool to watch. You're shot like a rocket into that movie.”
Ashton Kutcher: “When you watch it, you start to feel like you're drunk in that moment, the way that it's cut. I second that. I like the editing.”
Were there any injuries sustained in the chase across town?
Ashton Kutcher: “There were no permanent injuries. You know what I was shocked about is Cameron's the fastest woman on planet earth. I trained for two months before this movie because I didn't want my leading lady to be in better shape than I was, and she still was. Like, she's Superwoman. So all of the fighting stuff, she's so strong and kind of gung ho to go for it, I really could have been injured. But whenever I was about to fall and hurt myself, Cameron would save me. She was literally my little savior person.”
Your character fears marriage. Do you?
Ashton Kutcher: “Is that a loaded question?”
Rob Corddry: “Are you married?”
Ashton Kutcher: “Yeah.”
Rob Corddry: “That should be interesting.”
Ashton Kutcher: “Yeah, I never thought in my life, I never really thought I would get married. I watched my parents go through a divorce and I thought like this is just not something people are supposed to do. On top of that, I sort of thought, ‘Why am I going to put a legal document on top of a really great relationship? It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.’ I don't do legal documents with my friends. I don't go out and do a contract, ‘Let's go down to the courthouse, Rob, because now that we're friends, we need to verify our friendship.’"
Rob Corddry: “I would sign that in front of a notary.”
Ashton Kutcher: “’Now we need to verify it and we need to get a license to watch the game together from here on out.’ So I never really understood the whole idea of marriage until I met my wife and just knew that that was going to be the person I was going to be with for the rest of my life. I knew that I had that desire and kind of took the time to understand a little bit more of what it was about and what it meant. I love it. I might be the most happilyest married - I don't know, is happilyest a word? I just made up a word. I am the happilyest married guy on the planet.”
Rob Corddry: “I'm the second happilyest.”
Ashton Kutcher: “We're a couple of monogamous sons of guns.”
Rob Corddry: “We're really happily.”
Page 2: On What Really Happens in Vegas
