Melissa McCarthy signed on to The Happytime Murders after reading two pages of the script.
The Bridesmaids actress is starring as Detective Connie Edwards in the crime-comedy flick, which tells the story of puppet private investigator, Phil Phillips (Bill Barretta), as he looks to find the serial killer who murdered his brother. Directed by Brian Henson from a screenplay by Tom Berger, Melissa has shared that she was immediately intrigued by the unconventional concept.
“By page two, when I read this – and I’m not exaggerating – Ben (Falcone, husband) was outside and I walked out and was like, ‘I think I’m in.’ He was like, ‘You’ve been gone 13 seconds. What do you mean?’ I was like, ‘I know, but there’s a big street scene of gritty L.A. and they’re playing I’m Your Puppet,” she recalled during a recent roundtable interview about the film, according to Collider.com. “He was like, ‘Why don’t you go read it?’ And then, I came back out on page four and was like, ‘I’m just saying, I really think I’m already in.’ I never say that.”
Melissa went on to explain that her reaction was one of the “strangest” she’s ever had to a script. And while the film features a cast of humans, including Maya Rudolph, Joel McHale and Elizabeth Hanks, as well as puppeteers, she emphasised that the flick isn’t for children and her daughters Vivian, 11, and Georgette, eight, won’t be seeing it.
“It’s definitely a grown-up movie. My kids are like, ‘We can’t wait to see this!’ And I’m like, ‘I can’t wait to show you, when you’re 40! It will be so wonderful, when you’re 110 and you can see this!’ I think it’s part of the fun of it,” the 47-year-old smiled.
During the interview, Melissa also shared that she found it a little odd to be working with puppets at first. But after a few scenes, she was totally captivated by the characters.
“What happened about 15 minutes in was that I bumped into Phil and I was like, ‘Oh, I’m sorry, Phil.’ And then, I was like, ‘Oh, okay, I’m nuts!’ We’ve had emotional scenes,” she added.
