Team ‘Tammy’ Tells It True: What You Need to Know about Summer’s Most Subversive Comedy

By Jorge Carreon.

In that best Hollywood tradition, it really does just start with a dream. One day, actor-turned-director Ben Falcone shared an idea with wife Melissa McCarthy that involved a road trip with her and her grandmother.
“And she drinks and she sleeps around,” McCarthy recalled.

Fast forward six years, McCarthy and Falcone are primed to become comedy’s coolest couple if that dream now called “Tammy” unleashes some box office fireworks this July 4th weekend.

McCarthy has built a powerful brand as our most bankable and relatable clown on film and television today. Yet it is Falcone’s shrewd instincts that are preventing his Oscar-nominated wife from becoming a one-note joke. With “Tammy,” which they also co-wrote, they’ve upped the stakes in creating her riskiest character piece yet. The story of an unlovable loser, Tammy awkwardly finds her true potential during an outrageous road trip with her sauced up, sexy grandmother (Susan Sarandon) and other acts of empowerment.

“Tammy” may surprise McCarthy’s core audience, but the darker shades of McCarthy and Falcone’s original script attracted quite a colorful ensemble of film icons (Sarandon, Kathy Bates) and comedy guerillas (Mark Duplass, Gary Cole, Sandra Oh, Nat Faxon, Toni Collette, Allison Janney) to support their vision. Who knew declaring one’s independence would make for such a subversive comedy during the popcorn days of summer? It’s is a risky move for the couple, who could just continue offering variations of the “Bridesmaids” dynamic that turned proved their breakout moment. But McCarthy is resolute on placing her infinite trust in her husband.

“He says things and I just say, ‘Great!’ McCarthy laughed. “I agree with him and it all works out.”
Here’s what else you need to know about “Tammy” as revealed at the recent press conference at the Beverly Hilton Hotel with McCarthy, Falcone, Sarandon and more.

Tammy is based on someone you know, probably from Illinois.

MELISSA McCARTHY: We had been working on it for years. It all came in stages. We based it on real people we know and what it’s like if you feel stuck. I think that there’s people that love the comfort of their small town. And there’s other people that feel stuck by it. That was our jumping off place. If you’re really stuck in this rut and this teeny world of stuff you don’t like, how hard do you have to get hit to bump you out of your vicious cycle? More eccentric characters can push pretty far, but if you stay on the side of reality, I think it’s always funnier.

BEN FALCONE: It’s a love letter to Illinois. Though it is a little ironic that the whole love letter involves someone who is desperate to leave. [Laughs]

FACT: Susan Sarandon succumbed to peer pressure to play a horny, drunk granny with cankles.

SUSAN SARANDON: Ben and Melissa called me. I was so excited by the way they work. Peer pressure got to me. I was a little worried. There wasn’t much time between the other film I was doing. I did three in a row. All alcoholic, pill popping characters. So, I was prepared in that sense. We texted little pictures of possible looks and figured out the age thing. Actually, she wasn’t much older than I am. She doesn’t have my make-up and hair people. [Laughs] You either make the leap or you don’t.

MELISSA McCARTHY: One of the very first questions when we first meeting on the phone, you said, “Are you seeing like a little old granny with glasses and a crocheted sweater and an up-do bun?” And we’re like, “Oh God no! She has raging problems with alcohol and she sleeps around.” And she was like, “Okay! We’ll be fine. We’re in the real realm here.”

Melissa McCarthy is not really good in a road trip situation.

BEN FALCONE: She falls asleep immediately in the car.

MELISSA McCARTHY: One time, I did have to pull over. I was like, “I’m driving this time! That’ll keep me awake.” It’s like if I’m caged, I like immediately go out. Before the 405 (Freeway), I remember Ben going, “Oh my God! You’re swerving!” And we did not make it. We’re talking 15 minutes from the house. I had to pull over and we switched. I’m super helpful! [Laughs] After we shot this, we drove back from Niagara Falls with our kids all the way to Los Angeles. So that was a doozy.

BEN FALCONE: It was six or seven long days. I thought they would enjoy looking out the window at the country. [Pause] They really didn’t. [Laughs]

Kathy Bates likes to blow things up and possesses the driest wit on the planet. How does she do it?

KATHY BATES: [Pause] I don’t know.

MARK DUPLASS: But you just did it right there. Just so you know. It just happened. I’ve said those words many times and they never sound like that.

KATHY BATES: It was so much fun. That happened then and it’s not happening now. [Laughs] I’ll treasure those moments.

Tammy sees herself as a Cheetos. Does Melissa McCarthy see herself that way?

MELISSA McCARTHY: Don’t we all? [Laughs] One of the things I loved about the character of Tammy was the kind of confidence, right or wrong, in her world. She believes it. I always loved playing that. I don’t think someone has to be justified. You do see a little shift. Maybe she becomes the Cheetos she always thought she could be. That’s a lot of Cheetos references. There’ll be bags on your way out.

“Tammy” is now playing nationwide.