By Gill Pringle
Currently one of the biggest comedy stars on the planet, Melissa McCarthy’s success is even sweeter given that it’s been a long, tough slog to the top. While honing her skills as a standup comedian at New York’s The Improv, she languished as nameless characters – think “paramedic” or “waitress” – in TV and film, earning her first break in 2000 on TV’s popular Gilmore Girls as Sookie St. James, a series regular. When that show was cancelled after seven years (it’s still uncertain whether or not she’ll appear in the upcoming Gilmore Girls reunion series), McCarthy became a regular on Christine Applegate’s Samantha Who, before landing her own TV comedy series in 2010 as one half of Mike & Molly. At the same time, the film offers started to pile in, and McCarthy featured in The Back-Up Plan and Life As We Know It, before the riotous smash, Bridesmaids, sent her hurtling up the comedy tree, with lead roles – in films such as Identity Thief, The Heat, Tammy, and Spy – finally coming her way.
Melissa McCarthy now takes charge with The Boss, which she co-wrote with her real life husband and fellow actor, Ben Falcone, who also directs (the pair previously teamed on 2014’s little seen Tammy). In the characteristically broad comedy that is The Boss, McCarthy plays the shallow, insensitive, self-absorbed, bullying, and brash business world titan, Michelle Darnell, who is sent to prison when she’s busted for insider trading. When she gets out of the big house, this big, bad boss attempts an image overhaul in order to re-establish her brand in a more positive manner, with the help of one of her hapless but decent hearted underlings (Kristen Bell).
While The Boss might be a new movie for Melissa McCarthy, the character of Michelle Darnell stretches way, way back to the earliest points on the actress’ career timeline. “I did this character about 14 or 15 years ago at The Groundlings Theatre,” says McCarthy of one of LA’s most important improv comedy venues. “She looked very similar to how she looks now. She wore a turtleneck to the jawline, and I remember someone saying, ‘Why is her turtleneck so high?’ and I said, ‘Because that’s how she wears it.’ I don’t know why, but the second that I saw her, I thought, ‘I know exactly how she wears her turtleneck.’ I had a $35 wig for her at the time, which I still have, and I brought it in when we started doing the film. I said, ‘Make me one that looks just like this.’ I wanted her to have short red hair, with a turtleneck, and very elaborate makeup. I love the kind of person that gets a look that they feel good in, and then they just lock into it. At some point, they said, ‘I look good, I feel good.’ It might have been way back in their twenties. I love those people that stick with it, and they don’t care what other people say. They don’t care if it’s a little too dramatic. You see that in all walks of life. They think that they’re doing their own thing, and you can tell that they love it. I’ve always had a fascination for that, and those women who are SO done. I always think, ‘I wish I had the time.’”
The vintage of the character of Michelle Darnell, however, doesn’t mean that she hasn’t changed over the years. “Her humanity came in,” McCarthy says of the more nuanced big screen version. “When I did it at Groundlings, it was like a Van Halen song. She kicked the door in, came in, and just barked questions at people. She ran a seminar and threw candy at them, and it was all about her tough side. You only saw the bravado, and nothing else. When it came time for the film, we asked ourselves, ‘How do we make a whole world about her?’ Our friend, Steve Mallory, who wrote the screenplay with us, asked me a lot of questions, and he made fun of me. I knew all the answers, and he’d say, ‘Did she come from money?’ and I’d say ‘No, she didn’t have any money. She didn’t even have parents!’ The more that he was talking about it, he’d say, ‘Is that what was floating around in your head?’ I’d say, ‘Yes, kind of.’ If I really like a character, I usually know a weird amount about them. It’s what a kid does. You just think of things.”
The biggest development when it came to Michelle Darnell, however, was the introduction of Kristen Bell as her unlikely benefactor. “I love Kristen,” says McCarthy. “She’s just amazing, and she’s really funny. She’s a great woman. Getting to watch that friendship between those two women grow, and become like a family, was something really new and great. I didn’t get to do that at Groundlings. I just came in and barked at people and threw candy at them.”
While McCarthy’s success has allowed her the luxury of creating her own characters and headlining her own movies, the creative freedom has ironically dovetailed into a kind of low security personal prison. “You lose your anonymity,” says McCarthy matter-of-factly, not getting too caught up in the negatives. “I’m a big people watcher, so one of my favourite things has always been to just sit and watch people. I love to watch people when they don’t know they’re being watched. I find them fascinating. People look their prettiest or their most interesting when they are in a grocery store or they’re doing something where they don’t even know all their quirks and tics. My favourite place to eat used to be Big Lots [a major discount retail chain in the US]. I’d walk around Big Lots for a couple of hours. It was like my therapy. It was so calming. I’d always leave with some kind of weird wrench or a big hose. I love Big Lots like you can’t believe! It’s harder to do that now. If I’m watching someone – and really, it’s out of love – I find it really fascinating. Before I was actually working as an actor, I would say, ‘I watched someone for 30 minutes today!’ Maybe it’s why I like characters so much…I find people’s quirks and tics really fascinating. They’re things that nobody else does, and I find that really cool.”
She’s now a fully minted Hollywood star, and she plays a financial high flyer in The Boss, but did Melissa McCarthy herself ever dream of being rich when she was younger? “Yes, who doesn’t? I grew up on a farm, way outside of town, and I thought ‘Someday I’ll live in a castle”, as I was running around the barns by myself. Everyone daydreams for some kind of extravagant life. I love what I do, and I get to make my living this way. I get to make movies and play make believe, and get paid for it, which is still blowing my mind. And I get to make clothing [McCarthy has her own clothing line, Seven7], which I’ve wanted to do since grade school. All those things happen, but when you get to a certain age, the main thing that you think is, ‘I’ve married the nicest fella on the planet.’ Truly, I did. My kids are okay, and my dog is creaky, but she’s doing okay. I’m trying bone broth. I don’t know…maybe it’ll help her hips. I think that I could basically go and do anything.”
The Boss is released in cinemas on April 14. For more on Melissa McCarthy, keep watching www.filmink.com.au.
