http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3ugHP-yZXw
Melissa McCarthy: ‘I love a woman who doesn't play by the rules’
Bridesmaids made her one of the world’s most highly paid actresses. Now she’s taking over from the men in Ghostbusters
Guardian - By Hadley Freeman - May 28, 2016
There are a couple of rules Hollywood studios have when it comes to making blockbuster movies these days, rules that are as absurd as they are well-established:
1. Audiences don’t want to see a comedy with a female lead.
2. A woman can star in a movie only up to the age of 35.
3. No woman in a movie can be over a UK size 10.
When I mention these rules to Melissa McCarthy – who made her film breakthrough at 41, is a US size 14 (UK 18) and now the most bankable comedy star in the world – she rolls her eyes and gives a what-century-are-we-in shake of her head. “I mean, you just have to think, why not?” she says....
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The truth is, McCarthy has been at the centre of the spotlight for a few years now, breaking those Hollywood rules over and over. After a successful TV career (Gilmore Girls, Mike & Molly), she moved into movies in 2011, playing the deliciously weird Megan in Kristen Wiig’s Bridesmaids and getting promptly nominated for an Oscar (another Hollywood rule broken: comedies rarely get nominated for Oscars).
Since then, McCarthy has proved herself not just the most bankable comedy star but also the best value: her movies make (a lot) more and cost (a lot) less than those starring, say, Will Ferrell or Jack Black. In three years, films such as The Heat and Identity Thief have made $792m, with an average film budget of $33m. Her position as queen of comedy (in what has been largely a boys’ club) will be consolidated this summer with the release of Ghostbusters.
New York magazine recently wrote that McCarthy is “in the middle of one of the all-time great comedy rolls, akin to ones we’ve seen in past decades from the likes of Eddie Murphy, Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Jack Black and Ben Stiller” (their inability to find a female comparison was both telling and, sadly, understandable). She has excellent comic delivery but she’s also a critically underrated actor, one who immerses herself in character without a lick of vanity.
As bridesmaid Megan, her absurd and sustained seduction of an air marshal (played by her real-life husband, Ben Falcone) made for the funniest scenes in the movie (“Hey, wanna get back in that rest room and not rest?”). In The Heat, a striking comparison can be made between her and co-star Sandra Bullock who, in a scene in which the two women dance drunkenly in a bar, moves stiffly and maintains her perfect hair; the closest she comes to physical comedy is unbuttoning her blouse. McCarthy, on the other hand, throws herself into dorky dancing and waggles her bottom. I can’t think of another actress working today who has so little concern for her onscreen appearance...
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It would be an egregious wrong to say that Melissa McCarthy got where she is today thanks to any man, but there are two men she credits in particular for helping her. The first is her father, Michael, a retired railroad arbitrator (her mother is a former secretary). When she was growing up in the small town of Plainfield, Illinois, the youngest of two daughters, her father would stand on the sidelines at school sports events, bellowing at her that she could win. Even if she was competing against a 6ft 2in athlete, he’d tell her, “You have an advantage, your centre of gravity is lower!”
“My dad’s attitude made me always like, ‘Why not you?’ So it just never occurred to me that being a woman, or from a small town, or not being some other being, made me not in the running. What’s better to give somebody than a sturdy work ethic and reasonable confidence? I hope to pass that on to my kids. Not that they’re perfect in every way, but they’ve got a shot at it, right?” she says.
She is part of a big Catholic family, and grew up with “tons of cousins”. One of those cousins is Jenny McCarthy, the actor now best known for her long-running and very public contention that vaccinations cause autism. Does McCarthy share her cousin’s views? “No, my kids have been vaccinated. But, um, whatever your stand is, you can’t say that she hasn’t put autism in the forefront of everyone’s minds,” she replies, with considered tact.
The second man is Paul Feig, who has directed McCarthy in Bridesmaids, The Heat, Spy and the forthcoming Ghostbusters, two of which he co-wrote, creating a part for her in each script. I tell McCarthy I interviewed Feig the day Bridesmaids came out and he said, “I want to make Melissa McCarthy a star. That’s where my focus is now.”
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After 11 years of marriage, McCarthy still smiles every time she mentions his name. The few magazine covers that hang on the walls mostly feature the two of them. She tells me she is glad she didn’t become famous until her 40s, as that “kept me steady”, but I suggest that having Falcone by her side has probably been a bigger factor. “For sure,” she nods. “The calmest, most reasonable, funniest man in the world.” (Falcone clearly feels similarly content: his Twitter biography is “Ben is a happy dad and husband” and then, as an afterthought, “He’s an occasional actor, and directed Tammy and The Boss.”)
One of the rewards McCarthy has given herself, now that she has celebrity clout, is the production company she and Falcone run. The other is her longed-for fashion line, Melissa McCarthy Seven7, which goes up to size 24 and launched last summer. “You know, I’ve been every size in the world, from a six to a 22 [UK 10 to 26] and it was mind-blowing how, at a certain size, clothes just became tarp with a hole in it. If I had to do [the red carpet], everything was so mother-of-the-bride. I couldn’t ever put anything on and be like, ‘I love this!’ All I could say was, ‘Well, it’s on and it’s not a garbage bag.’ I was like, ‘I feel bad. I feel bad about myself’ and it just wasn’t me,” she says...
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/28/melissa-mccarthy-love-woman-doesnt-play-rules-ghostbusters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9We2XsVZfcWith husband Ben Falcone. Photograph: Jenny Anderson/WireImage
Melissa Ann McCarthy (born August 26, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, fashion designer, and producer. McCarthy first gained recognition for her role as Sookie St. James on the television series Gilmore Girls from 2000 to 2007. From 2007 to 2009, she appeared as Dena on the ABC sitcom Samantha Who?.
McCarthy was then cast as Molly Flynn on the CBS sitcom Mike & Molly, on which she starred from 2010 to 2016 and has earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series as well as two other nominations during subsequent seasons. She has also been nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her work as host on Saturday Night Live three years consecutively.
McCarthy achieved success and fame for her breakthrough film role as Megan Price in the comedy film Bridesmaids (2011), which garnered her award nominations including an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, a BAFTA nomination and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In 2013, she co-starred in the comedy films Identity Thief and The Heat.
She has also appeared in supporting roles in The Nines (2007), The Back-up Plan (2010), Life as We Know It (2010), This Is 40 (2013) and The Hangover Part III (2013). In 2014, McCarthy starred in the comedy Tammy and the comedy-drama film St. Vincent. In 2015, she headlined the action comedy film Spy, for which she received Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical nomination, followed by the comedy film The Boss the following year. McCarthy is also set to co-star in the Ghostbusters reboot.
McCarthy is the founder of the production company On the Day Productions with her husband Ben Falcone. In 2015, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and released women's plus size clothing collection, Melissa McCarthy Seven7. Also in 2015, Forbes named McCarthy the third highest-paid actress in the world that year.
Early Life
McCarthy was born in Plainfield, Illinois, the daughter of Sandra and Michael McCarthy. She is the cousin of actress and model Jenny McCarthy and professional basketball player Joanne McCarthy. McCarthy was raised on a farm in a "big Irish Catholic family". Some of her ancestors were from County Cork, Ireland. She graduated from St. Francis Academy (now Joliet Catholic Academy) in Joliet, Illinois. Her career started with stand-up comedy. McCarthy is an alumna of The Groundlings, an improvisational and sketch comedy troupe based in Los Angeles, California.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melissa_McCarthyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMfUjDnpfRY
