15 Situations That Happened Behind the Scenes in Some of the Best Romantic Comedies

Making a film involves a series of details and situations that often go unnoticed by someone who doesn’t work with cinema. Furthermore, things happen behind the scenes that the public is not always aware of, but which end up determining how the final version of the film arrives in theaters. Unforeseen events and twists happen in many projects, including our favorite romantic comedies.

Thinking about it, the awesome.club separated some curious data from romantic comedies that will change the way you look at them.

1. In Suddenly 30, Mark Ruffalo didn’t want to dance Thriller at all

One of the most memorable scenes in the movie Suddenly 30 is when Jenna and Matt dance to Michael Jackson’s Thriller. However, this scene was almost not recorded because the actor who played the protagonist’s best friend, Mark Ruffalo, simply refused to dance. “The dancing was horrible and I didn’t want to be in the movie. I read the script and thought, ‘I can’t do this movie. I can’t do those scenes,'” the actor revealed in an interview. In the end, actress Jennifer Garner managed to drag him onto the dance floor.

The presence of Keanu Reeves in the movie Eternal Maybe was a big surprise for many of us. The actor was so excited about this small role that after the script was read he asked to meet with the crew to rethink his participation. The film’s director, Nahnatchka Khan, made the following comment in an interview: “We talked about the character and he had so many fun ideas and proposals that we decided to revise the script and include some of his suggestions”.

3. The Big Fat Greek Wedding could have been about an Italian family (and would have been renamed, of course)

Greek Wedding is a romantic comedy that had a low budget and surprised both critics and audiences and ended up being very successful. The screenwriter and protagonist, Nia Vardalos, spent years looking for someone to produce the film and even received an offer accompanied by a nice check. “We’re going to do an Italian version and we’re going to put Marisa Tomei in the lead role”. The actress said no and found it absurd how they wanted to transform her story.

It would be hard to imagine a more emblematic title than 10 Things I Hate About You for this film, wouldn’t it? But the most curious thing is that it was taken from the diary of one of the screenwriters, Karen McCullah. “I had a boyfriend named Anthony and I made a list called ‘Things I Hate About Anthony.’ When Kirsten and I decided to write the film, I went through all my school diaries; when I told him about this list, he said to me, ‘This is our title,’” commented Karen.

My Best Friend’s Wedding is one of the greatest icons of romantic comedies and is always mentioned in conversations about this cinematographic genre. However, few people know that for very little it was not released. Yes, that’s right. Before the premiere, the team decided to hold a test presentation to gauge how the film would be received, and the reviews were terrible. “It was just awful,” mentioned Hogan, director of the feature. “I felt that my career had come to an end.”

However, Jerry Zucker, producer of the film, did not give up hope; he felt the film had potential and decided to shoot another ending. In the end, the story was very well received and the film turned into a real success.

The movie Jerry Maguire — The Great Turning Point, starring Tom Cruise and Renée Zellweger, gave the world two great phrases from the history of cinema: “Show me the money” and “You convinced me when you said hello’”. The most curious thing, however, was the actress’s difficulty in understanding the second sentence. She said that when she read the script the sentence didn’t make sense in her head, and she even thought it was a mistake.

During the recordings she had to say the phrase more than once and in different ways until she got the right key. “Is there a better way to say it? Am I not understanding something? I don’t know what to do,” the actress repeated. It’s a good thing the line wasn’t changed, because the line was definitely responsible for the tears of a large part of the audience.

In that film, the character played by Lara Jean cannot decide between her two loves: her neighbor, Josh, or the most popular boy in school, Peter. But don’t think that Lara was the only undecided one in this story. The film’s director, Susan Johnson, was also in doubt: she didn’t know which actor should play which role. She saw Noah as a cute guy and that’s why she wanted to give him the role of Josh, but after several script readings, everything changed.

The director said the following in an interview: “At first, I thought of Noah for the role of Josh; he seemed to me the most suitable”. But she added: “However, when I saw the chemistry that was between Lana and Noah I knew we had to go in that direction. Israel was a great match for Janel. I thought that way things fit together more”.

Many movies create sets that look real, but that wasn’t the case with How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. In the film, Andie, played by Kate Hudson, works for a large publisher and the scenes were actually recorded in the Conde Nast building in New York, where Vogue is produced and magazine.

But the realism does not end there. Kate accompanied editor Anna Wintour for a few days to prepare even more realistically for the role.

9. Michael Vartan Wasn’t Prepared For Drew Barrymore’s Kiss In Never Been Kissed

The big kiss scene that melted the hearts of much of the audience was not easy for the actor who played Drew Barrymore’s love interest. In an interview he gave alongside the actress, he said: “There’s a story behind the famous kiss that not many people know, and I’m not sure they should know…”

But the actor continued: “As soon as we hugged, we started kissing, and you really kissed me. I mean, he kissed me seriously. I was very young at that time and had some…feelings.” Yes, the actor was really touched by all that and said he needed to stop for a while to relax. After some time, filming resumed and the rest of the scene happened naturally. But we can’t blame him, can we? After all, it’s not often that we get to kiss Drew Barrymore.

At the beginning of the recordings of Amor a Toda Prova, the team was working with a very peculiar film name; they just called it the “Untitled Dan Fogelman Project”. Nobody could think of a name that matched the plot, so they even offered an iPad as a prize to whoever had the best idea.

In the end, many options were considered, but the final title came out of a conversation with actor Jonah Bobo, who at the time was just 14 years old. He just said the words “love all the way”, in the most casual way possible, the team liked it and the title ended up being chosen. But the big unanswered question is: did anyone get an iPad?

Everyone knows how important it is to have good chemistry between actors in romantic scenes, but Cary Elwes and Robin Wright took it to the next level. In fact, one was so attracted to the other that in the final kiss scene, the two were making excuses to replay the recording several times.

12. The opening scenes of Simply Love are of real people and were recorded with a hidden camera

The movie Simply Love starts with a montage of very cute scenes of people hugging in an airport. The images are so beautiful that it’s natural to think that these are people who were paid to fake it all, but that didn’t happen.

The team decided to place a hidden camera next to the arrival door at Aeropuerto de Los Angeles and record some reactions. The scenes were recorded for a week, and each time they liked one, they ran to the person to ask permission to use their image in the film. Most likely the scenes would not have turned out the same if they had been filmed differently.

13. Love Sick was inspired by the story of Emily Gordon, who had a real illness that left her in a coma

Kumail Nanjiani’s first film touched many people’s hearts because it really rings true. The story is based on the experience he lived with his wife, Emily V. Gordon, with whom he wrote the film. At that time, Emily was facing a very serious illness and had to be induced into a coma. Luckily, she recovered.

We know that many film scripts stay with the production company for some time before someone actually decides to produce them. Drew Barrymore read the material for First Time Four years before its release and was enthralled by the story. When she found out that Adam Sandler had taken over the project, she typed a letter to the actor saying that she would love to work with him again on a film, and it worked!

15. She’s All That Actress Didn’t Like The Kiss Scene And Tried To Ruin It

Actress Rachael Leigh Cook was not very fond of her own character in the kiss scene with Freddie Prinze Jr. in the movie She’s All That. As she didn’t want the scene to be used, she decided to blink the whole time, just to spoil the scene. However, her trick didn’t work and the scene ended up being included in the final version.

Have you ever experienced a scene worthy of a romantic comedy movie? We’d love to read your story in the comments.