One scene in Spa Weekend shows just how far Isla Fisher is willing to go to lift a film.
In the comedy, co-starring Leslie Mann, Anna Faris and Michelle Buteau, Isla’s chaotic character is about to meet a yoga instructor played by Adam Demos. Because the scene’s dialogue is mainly with Isla, she was encouraged to improvise her lines. Isla plays Mel, who turns up uninvited to a spa weekend with her high school friends.
The result? Total and utter chaos.
Isla on her “anarchic” character
“I knew Adam couldn’t respond [in the scene] because it was all on me, so I was tearing into him, saying anything I could think of,” Isla, 50, tells TV WEEK of the hilarious moment. “He was such a good sport. I called him Prince on set, because he was.”
Adam, 41, laughs, recalling how difficult it was to keep his composure. “It was the hardest job because the way she improvised, it was near impossible. You can see in some of the scenes that I’m genuinely laughing.”
Spa Weekend was filmed on the Gold Coast in Queensland, allowing the Aussie actors to come back for an extended period of time. Adam says it was a “gift’ to come home and to introduce the cast to Australian landscapes and wildlife.
“We both live overseas, so you get to see people you haven’t seen for a while,” the Sex/Life star says of the homecoming. “There’s also a sense of pride when people from overseas come to film here and they enjoy it so much.”
Isla adds the American crew were cautious of snakes and spiders, so they hammed it up for laughs: “It was entertaining, making it appear as if it was going to happen!”
Wild weather causes shutdown: ‘It was scary!’
While their encounters with Aussie wildlife may have been reasonably tame, the cast didn’t anticipate the arrival of a tropical storm. Filming was put on hold while the cast and crew bunkered down in a nearby hotel.
“We had to shut down, and it was quite scary because we all had responsibilities and could only be there for a certain number of days,” Isla says. “It was concerning, but we did it.”
They soon discovered multiple productions were in the same predicament – “three other movies were shooting at the same time, in the same location,” Isla says. “We couldn’t order food in either, so we all had to eat together in a restaurant.
A star-studded shelter
Joining them included Hollywood stars Jack Black and Paul Rudd, who were filming Anaconda.
“It was surreal; we’d be eating a meal with Jack Black and Paul Rudd or hanging out and playing cards while this building – all jokes aside – was swaying!” Isla explains. “But it gave us a great sense of camaraderie and we all became close. I was timing Jack Black swimming in the pool – that’s how bored we got in there!”
Back on set, Adam says the cast felt rejuvenated, “like we were celebrating again.”
As a result, the chemistry was instantly recognizable between the four leading ladies.
“It was all real,” Isla says of the tight group dynamic. “You can feel we all have different styles of comedy that we bring to the mix and there’s a beautiful story of female friendship at the heart of it.
“It’s such an important thing to talk about because female friendships are underrated and they are so beneficial for our health and spirituality. As women, we really need them.”
Spa Weekend is in cinemas now.
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