There are two female leads in the movie: Kristy, played by Keri Lynn Pratt, and Lara, played by Denise Quinones. I'll start with Denise:
I don't have much to say about her, other than what's obvious from seeing her: She's beautiful. And we think she can really act. You see, I have never talked to Denise or hung out with her at all, so that's really all I can say.
We auditioned her in NYC, and though we liked her a lot, in the room Nils and I thought she was too sweet and nice to play the role of Lara, and at the time we had another actress back in LA who was our pick. And we were going to go with the other actress, but things didn't work out with the deal, so we had to go back and watch all the tape of all the actresses who auditioned for Lara. On tape, Denise really jumped out at us. Her eyes read differently on tape than in person; they were much more alive, much more passionate than I had seen in the room. That tape had something on it that I had missed in person; it had star quality.
I have to be honest: Denise wasn't our first pick. Not because she did anything wrong or wasn't good enough, but rather because we were a bit lazy and didn't look at the tape, instead relying on our eyes. Lesson learned--watch the tapes, because your eyes miss stuff, and we almost missed a star. It seems like all great movies have that "almost didn't cast them but got them at the last minute" with one of the stars, and Denise is that story with us. The role she is playing has the potential to be an amazing breakout role for her, and I am excited to see her make it come alive.
Keri is a different story. We had Keri read twice, and Nils and I hung out with Keri for a night, so I feel like I know her well enough to talk at length about her. But she shares something in common with Denise: I have to admit I was wrong about her.
Keri was the first girl to audition for the part of Kristy (Dan's wife), and she NAILED it right off the bat. One of the sides was Kristy kinda dressing down the Tucker character about something; I read the side with her, and I'll be goddamned if I didn't come out of an AUDITION feeling kinda bad about myself. She was that good in the reading (when the movie comes out I'll post that audition tape, you'll see what I mean). Every girl who came after her to audition for Kristy, Nils and I would look at each and one of us would say, "She's pretty good...but she's no Keri Lynn Pratt." Should have been an obvious pick, right?
Well, it's not that simple. I did a lot of background research on Keri as person to find out what she's like to work with. Not just Keri actually, I did it with all the major actors, but she was the only one who I heard things that sent up a red flag. It was nothing overt, no one had anything specifically bad to say about her, it was more of a feeling I got. Then, in the chemistry read she did with Stults, she said something that I just took a certain way, and I kinda ran with it in my head and got afraid that she was going to be poison on the set.
Make no mistake about it: Max Wong and Nils and Bob did not share my train of thought. Max and Bob both talked to people they knew who had worked with her, and were convinced she'd be great. I expressed my concerns to Joseph, and instead of trying to convince me I was wrong, he brought his producer friend Mickey Liddell into the office. Mickey was the producer of Jack and Bobby, one of Keri's big TV shows to date.
To say that Mickey was effusive in his praise of her would be an understatement. In fact, Mickey was almost personally offended that I had negative thoughts about Keri. He gushed about her, not just as an actress but as a person. He named a couple other actresses we read who he said were nightmares, but Keri was, according to him, the opposite.
Something still bothered me. I couldn't put my finger on it, and I was alone, but I was worried. Long story short, Nils, Bob and I ended up meeting Keri out for drinks one night, and to her credit, Keri was straight with me about my concerns, so I was honest with her and I put my cards on the table, and we talked about it.
To sum up the night: I was wrong about Keri. Completely wrong. Everything everyone else said was right, and my underlying fears are best summed up by Nils (I'm paraphrasing based on what he said that night to Keri and Bob):
"Tucker has spent so much time over the past five years around this self-selected group of women, most of whom have severe emotional issues or are broken in some form or another, that he is hyper sensitive to manipulative or destructive female behavior. As a result, when he gets around a good woman, he can misinterpret otherwise normal behavior as something nefarious, and then runs with it. He has some great women in his life, but they are either already vetted by his male friends, or have been through so much with him he trusts them."
Turns out he's right, as painful as it is for me to admit. Keri is such a good girl, I didn't recognize it when I saw it because I am so used to fucked-up woman, ESPECIALLY actresses, I just assumed the worst. After that realization, it was all sunshine and kittens.
Keri and Denise are both great actresses, both perfect for their parts, and will add something to this movie that is going to move it from "really funny comedy" to "really great movie": Authentic and meaningful female characters. If you thought this movie was going to only be a crass guys' movie...you are in for a surprise. Just like if you think it's going to be a sappy, sellout romantic comedy...you don't know me at all.
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