In The Boss, comedienne Melissa McCarthy got the chance to bring a character she first introduced to the world as a member of the world famous improv troupe The Groundlings over 15 years ago. “I could never let her go,” McCarthy said of Michelle Darnell to The Movie Mensch at the film’s recent press day. “I took that as a sign I wasn’t done with her.”
After toiling on TV (in shows like The Gilmore Girls) and stealing scenes in films (who could forget her breakout role in Bridesmaids), McCarthy was more than in a position to create a big screen world for Darnell, a hybrid of Suze Orman and a slew of other highly successful female money managers that were more than ripe for parody/tribute. “Since I loved her so much — for all of her flaws and for all of her good and bad points — she was worth exploring,” McCarthy admitted.
She sat down with her husband Ben Falcone (who directed her in the recent Tammy) and the pair expanded on the character’s world and before they knew it, they had a movie. “I would be talking about something completely random (with Ben) and I just went, ‘I think Michelle is an orphan. I think she just had no one who ever really love her.’”
One can see why it is a character that the superstar couldn’t let go of and why she would make a great titular character for a big screen comedy. “I love that kind of unbridled confidence, with that ‘I’m going to wear what I want, do what I want, and say what I want’ attitude. We don’t get to see that a lot with female characters,” McCarthy said.
The Boss tells the story of Darnell and how she is ruling the world one day and down on her luck the next. She is a behemoth of the business community, who relies immensely on her assistant Claire (Kristen Bell) and lives for bringing down her former lover/current business world rival Renault (Peter Dinklage). When she crosses Renault one too many times, he sends the SEC after her and she winds up in jail for insider trading and broke. She turns to Claire for help when she gets out of jail and finds the most of unique ways to get back on top of the world — selling Girl Scout-type cookies!
The comedic chemistry between both Bell and McCarthy and Dinklage and McCarthy are priceless. McCarthy was beyond thrilled that both dream actors were available and wanted to do the film (that would also be directed by her husband, Falcone).
“I met Kristen in passing years ago. She is married to Dax Shepard, who Ben and I have known for eight billion years — going all the way back to Groundlings. I’ve heard nothing but good things, but I never actually got to work with her until this. It took about 13 seconds for us to click and we were off to the races,” McCarthy said. “I don’t know that anyone doesn’t click with Kristin. I mean it’s kind of hard not to. We were just silly as can be, and other than ruining a lot of takes by making each other laugh, we just had a great time.”
When it came to Dinklage, she was actually quite nervous to meet him. “There’s something very imposing about Peter Dinklage. The voice. He radiates some kind of magic. I was like, (whispers) ‘he’s such a good actor,’” McCarthy said and chuckled.
Dinklage surprised the creator of this world and thinks that many who see him in The Boss will be quite shocked as well. “I knew he would be great in the role. I didn’t know he was that funny. I know a lot of funny people — my friends are very funny, but that guy is one of the funniest human beings on the planet. He just does things that you can’t get your head around, which I found a little irritating. I was like, ‘Just be good at one thing. Don’t keep branching out. You’ll shame all of us.’”
When it comes to what’s next, we all know McCarthy has Ghostbusters coming, but after that… she will surely keep us laughing on the big screen. Although, she admitted, that she will miss performing in front of a live audience — as her show Mike & Molly has just been cancelled.
“It’s strange because since I was about 20, I have always performed in front of some type of live audience. I don’t know what I’m going to do to fill that,” McCarthy said.
“But, I think because we improvise so much in our movies, I can still keep myself nervous enough. It does keep a little bit of the energy that you get from a live audience, because when we’re shooting, Ben doesn’t know what I’m going to say. Heck, I don’t know what I’m going to say! It keeps that little spark going.”