How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days is 20 years old. Yikes

The frothy story of a journalist on a gonzo task and an advert govt attempting to land a diamond account, Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey’s on-screen chemistry sparked and sparkled.

Their comedic rhythms and playful power recalled the likes of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy or Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell.

And it nearly wasn’t to be.

Vanity Fair’s oral historical past of How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days revealed Hudson wasn’t the primary alternative for the function of Andie Anderson.

Producer Lynda Obst advised VF Gwyneth Paltrow was meant for the function, earlier than there was even a script.

Writer Burr Steers stated: “Initially Gwyneth was attached to it, and then at some point, she must have had a conflict and had to pull out.”

With Paltrow unable to do it, Obst after which Paramount president Sherry Lansing had one other concept.

“[We] were both madly in love with Kate Hudson]. It’s clearly after Almost Famous. I just remember, we turned to each other like, ‘This has to be Kate, she’s hilarious.’ And so Kate got attached.”

Hudson stated she fought for McConaughey to play her on-screen love curiosity.

“We were looking at guys and kept going back and forth about who would be the right guy. The guy for me was really important. Matthew came up in a meeting and I thought that was a great idea. I loved his energy. We immediately just got along.”

But it took some divine intervention for McConaughey to enroll.

“I remember considering whether I was going to do it or not one night while on a walk down Sunset Boulevard when suddenly, this guy comes up out of nowhere to me – he was a fortune teller guru and goes, ‘Can I tell your fortune real quick?’

“I was like, ‘Yeah, man, sure.’ He immediately goes, ‘There’s a movie you’re considering right now, it’s a romantic comedy. You have to do this or it will be one of the biggest regrets of your life. It’s going to be a blast, it’s going to be an incredible experience and it is going to make a bunch of money.’

“I remember thinking, ‘Did the studio hire this guy?’ I laughed at the thought, but I also remember taking a more serious consideration. I think I even accepted the offer the next day.”

How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days would go on to gross $US177 million from a finances of $US50 million.

The Vanity Fair piece went on to element the logistics behind Andie’s well-known yellow gown, which was worn within the movie’s gala scenes and graced the film’s immediately recognisable poster.

Costume designer Karen Patch selected the color to enhance the diamond necklace, which featured yellow diamonds round a white diamond on the centre.

Hudson stated Patch labored with the group at designer Caroline Herrera to create the gown. “I love that dress. I think that colour was one of those statement colours and was great on camera.”

McConaughey added, “[Kate] in that dress was 100 out of 100 knockout. It completely worked.”

He went on to say that he observed that many rom-coms which got here after How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, together with ones he’d been in, imitated the film’s poster and that pose which featured the 2 of them back-to-back.

And whereas the gown was seamless (however not actually), the diamond, referred to as the Isadora, was one thing of a nightmare.

“Taking care of that diamond was a real pain for production because we needed security people and an armoured car and all of this stuff all the time,” Obst stated.

Director Donald Petrie stated the safety guards you see within the movie, who had been tailing Andie, had been the true safety guards from jeweller Harry Winston.

“If I said, ‘OK, cut,’ all the cast had to line up and turn in the jewels. They couldn’t go to the bathroom with the jewels on. If you had to leave the set for any reason, you had to turn in your jewellery.”

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