If someone made your life hell in high school, seeing him or her again could be uncomfortable, but not as nightmarish having that person marrying into your family. In the comedy film "You Again," that’s what happens to a successful publicist named Marni (played by Kristen Bell), who finds out that her brother’s fiancée is none other than a woman named Joanna (played by Odette Yustman), who just happens to be the person who tormented Marni the most in high school, where Marni was a nerd.
As family members gather for the upcoming wedding, Marni finds out that Joanna’s visiting Aunt Ramona (played by Sigourney Weaver) was the high-school rival of Marni’s mother, Gail (played by Jamie Lee Curtis). Emotional wounds from high school are re-opened, and the four women get caught up in a catty competition. Here’s what Bell, Weaver, Yustman, Curtis and Betty White (who has a supporting role as Grandma Bunny) had to say about "You Again."
"You Again" has a lot of slapstick comedy. What makes the movie relatable to people in the real world?
Bell: I think it’s a very relatable story, because everybody has that one person, whether intentional or unintentional, who hurt your feelings really bad[ly], and you’ll carry that resentment with you for the rest of your life. Hopefully, we’ll all work though it and forgive. It’s funny how so many people on set keep bringing up stories like, "Oh, I know that mean girl. Oh, I knew that bully." That’s kind of what it’s all about, but it looks at it from the bully’s perspective or the mean girl’s perspective to sort of dig a little bit deeper, because it isn’t always as it seems.
How would you describe "You Again" director Andy Fickman?
Weaver: Well, I have to say I’ve never worked with someone like Andy. He’s such a showman. And he’s so smart about creating an ensemble. We’ve had to work so fast doing this job. He made sure that before we started that we had two weeks of rehearsals, mostly dance practice, parties and dinners — just situations that we were thrown into together, so that by the time we started, we were kind of an ensemble. He’s so supportive, he just lets us try different things. He loves improvisation. He loves these characters.
Bell: Andy was the one who convinced me to move to Los Angeles, and I don’t think I would have, had I not known him, so I owe him a lot.
Curtis: Andy Fickman is the director, and nobody has more fun than this guy; therefore, we all have fun. There’s never a suggestion he’s taken where he hasn’t gone, "Yeah, let’s try that. Whatever." He’s very special. And really, the success of the whole movie is all about him. He cast the whole movie. He knew exactly what he was doing. He knew exactly what all of these people were going to bring.
What can you say about the "You Again" story?
Bell: You meet Marni when she’s in high school, and she was a typical nerdy girl. She didn’t have a ton of friends. [She] tried really hard, but none of the popular girls wanted to be friends with her. She was tormented by one girl in particular. And once she graduates, she moves to Los Angeles, get a job in PR, loves what she’s doing, is very hesitant to come home, so she doesn’t do it that often — come home to her small hometown, because of what she went through in high school. She comes home for her brother’s wedding and meets his bride, only to find out it’s the mean girl from high school — the girl that tormented her. So the rest of the movie is her trying to break up the wedding or trying to out Joanna and who she really is.
Can you describe the relationships in "You Again"?
Bell: I think it’s multi-generational because everyone has that one person who hurt your feelings. Everyone can relate to that. Once Joanna comes back into Marni’s life, Marni gets very uptight. And then you realize that Joanna’s aunt and Marni’s mother also had a similar relationship. The roles were kind of reversed, but there’s animosity there as well. And so everyone’s holding on to these secret resentments and trying to put on a happy face — and chaos ensues.
What can you say about your character in "You Again"?
Yustman: She was your quintessential "mean girl." And now she’s changed. She truly has changed. She’s become a nurse. Her parents have passed away, and she’s really taken a look at her life, and she’s really changed for the better, but she couldn’t bear to tell Marni the truth or apologize to Marni. So it’s so tough to pretend like everything’s OK, but you know that you’re just lying, and you know you have to tell somebody and sort of apologize to somebody. It’s really difficult to play that and just be really nice. It’s a complex character. It’s really great that I’m able to play it and to portray it because know some people in the past. I’m able to live vicariously through my character.
White: I play Grandma Bunny. I’m always "Grandma Somebody," but this time I’m Grandma Bunny. And she’s not a crazy grandma or a mean grandma or a mad grandma. She’s a nice lady, and she got kind of an eye for men. She can’t help it. She forgets how old she is. They kind of fascinate her a little. But she’s a nice character. She’s fun to play.
Curtis: I play Gail Byers, who was a high-school friend of Sigourney Weaver [as Ramona]. I was the class president. I was the head cheerleader. I was the prom queen. And it established a little bit of rivalry between my character and Sigourney’s [character], who appears in my life on the eve of my son’s wedding.
How would you describe what people usually go through in high school?
Curtis: My character Gail has a line the movie that says, "No one gets out of high school unscathed." And it’s really the truth. There’s not a human being I’ve ever met that had a good time in high school, that didn’t have a rough patch there. I think we all devolve. I think we all return to our most painful selves at some point in our adulthood. And [Gail’s] daughter is thrust back, emotionally and physically, into her high-school self.
Betty, can you talk about your scene in "You Again" with the silk swing?
White: We come down on the silk swing, back and forth. It was fun. Who’d ever think that at my age that I’d be doing stuff like that? As long as they keep asking me, I’m not going to say no.
What do you think about Kristen Bell’s physical comedy?
White: Poor Kristen, K. Bell, being the leading lady. At one point, she’s covered with lard. At another point, she’s fallen in mud, and she’s covered in mud, throughout the whole day, shooting that way. And other times, she’s got ant bites all over her. I never saw anybody go through all the stuff she had to go through that she had, but you never heard a word of complaint out of her.
What else can you say about your co-stars?
Weaver: Jamie Lee Curtis is just a force. I’ve always been a fan of her work, both in action movies and in comedy. And I’m delighted to be working with her. She’s just so there and she’s so versatile, she’s so funny, and she’s just so versatile. And it’s rare that I get to work with her, frankly.
Kristen Bell is just this fabulous natural comedienne. She’s just so talented and always makes me laugh. She always comes up with a different thing in each take.
[Betty White] is just like sunshine. She’s here with us through all these long hours. She’s so sharp, she’s so funny, she’s so kind of bawdy. She brings so much to the character of Grandma Bunny. This ain’t a normal grandma. She’s the most charming performer in the whole ensemble, I think.
Curtis: The treat for me on this movie is to work with Betty White, to watch her work, to just see her life force in action. And by the way, I can’t tell a joke to save my life. You give me a funny line, I’ll ruin it for you. This woman [Betty White]? Home runs every time she opens her mouth. She is an absolute master at what she does. We’ve all learned. It’s been really exciting working with her.
Yustman: I’m working with some of the best. You have Victor Garber and Sigourney Weaver, Jamie Lee Curtis, Betty White. Kristen Bell is fantastic. Kristen Bell is so warm and welcoming and so talented. It’s rare that you find [that]. Andy Fickman, our director, put together a great cast, and we sort of meshed really well together. We had about two weeks of rehearsals, and we learned all of our dances together. And that really set up a great thing for us to start shooting.
I’m so impressed with Kristen Bell. I think she’s a great actress. She’s funny. She’s really got it all. She made me feel welcome right form the start. Kristen and Andy [Fickman] had already worked together before, so they already knew each other, so they really took me under their wing. It’s been a really great experience working with Kristen. And it sort of made it easier for our characters.
Even though we’re not exactly supposed to like each other throughout the movie, toward the end, you see Ramona apologize. But it helps so much because you have that team between Kristen and [me.] You can always ask for advice, and she’ll always give it to me. She’ll always be honest with me. So it’s been really wonderful.
What can you say about the big dance scene in "You Again"?
Yustman: There’s a dance-off between Marni and Joanna. At the same time, there’s a big dance-off between Gail and Ramona. So you see Gail and Ramona doing their old dance moves, their old cheer moves, maybe some disco hear and there. And then you see Marni and Joanna just going on the Cabbage Patch and the Running Man. I’m doing sort of the "sexy" dance — I don’t know it’s going to turn out, but I try. And Marni’s trying to one-up me. We’re all trying to one-up each other, and it just becomes a huge disaster, and comedy ensues.
For more info: "You Again" website
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