“The Wedding Ringer,” produced by Will Packer and directed by first-time director Jeremy Garelick, tells the story of Doug Harris (Josh Gad) a lovable but socially awkward groom-to-be with a problem — he has no best man.
With less than two weeks to go until he marries the girl of his dreams (Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting), Doug is referred to Jimmy Callahan (Kevin Hart), owner and CEO of Best Man, Inc., a company that provides best men for socially challenged guys in need.
What ensues is a hilarious wedding charade as they try to pull off a big con, and an unexpected budding bromance between Doug and his fake best man, Jimmy.
In a recent interview with the cast, Kevin Hart spoke on how this is not just your typical wedding comedy.
“This movie is so much more than what I think people will expect it to be,” he said. “Sometimes when you see ‘wedding’ in the title, I think people automatically expect one thing. This movie goes above and beyond those expectations.”
The film was a labor of love for writers Jeremy Garelick and Jay Lavender. Garelick expressed the painstaking process of the last 14 years to bring the film to completion, even admitting that there was another leading man in mind at the time.
“We went through hundreds of drafts and people asked how the script has changed from 14 years ago,” he explained. “One of the major changes was we originally wrote the script with Vince Vaughn in mind. However, everything happens for a reason and with the project complete, it was meant for Kevin.”
One of the favored scenes by the cast is a football scene where Doug takes on his soon- to-be father-in-law in a game with Jimmy by his side.
“The conditions were already bad out there that day, very bad,” Gad said. “We really should have not have been out there, someone should have known that.”
Cuoco-Sweeting added, “They sent me pictures, everyone from the crew was covered from head to toe,” but clarifying, “Everyone with the exception of Kevin.”
“The Wedding Ringer” project has caused Hart to reflect on his career and he’s very clear on what direction it’s headed.
“The next level is becoming international. I don’t want to appeal to one particular audience, I want to be broad, I want to be multicultural,” he said. “I want everybody to understand my products, my content and want to jump to go see it. It’s one of the main reasons I took on ‘The Wedding Ringer.’ This was the first film that I had been in to be promoted internationally.”
With Harts upcoming nuptials and his role of playing a best man, he had great advice on what the role of a best man should be.
“A best man’s job is to take whatever pressures on the groom to be off. It’s his job to get the groom to the alter so he can step into the role of matrimony free and clear, in the most positive mindset possible.”
“The Wedding Ringer,” R-rated comedy, in theaters Jan. 16.
www.TheWeddingRinger.com
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