Interview: Will Ferrell, Reese Witherspoon and director Nicholas Stoller on You’re Cordially Invited; “For a movie to be funny, it needs to be honest.”

For the first time in their careers (bar a Saturday Night Live appearance), Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon have joined forces for some wedding hijinks in the new comedy You’re Cordially Invited.

When two weddings are accidentally booked on the same day at the same venue, chaos ensues as the father of the bride (Ferrell) and sister of the other bride (Witherspoon) chaotically go head-to-head as they stop at nothing to uphold an unforgettable celebration for their loved ones.

Directed by Nicholas Stoller, You’re Cordially Invited is now available to stream on Prime Video (you can read our review here), and to celebrate, Peter Gray was invited to the global press conference to hear Ferrell, Witherspoon and Stoller discuss the making of their comedy, surprising cast additions, and why the funniest movies are often the most truthful.

Nicholas, where did the idea of this story come from?

Nicholas Stoller: I thought of this idea a number of years ago.  I was like, “Oh, a double booked destination wedding would be a really funny concept.” And then it took me a while to figure out the characters, just because the concept didn’t bring the characters. (But) I always wanted to work with Reese…

Will Ferrell: Not so much me (laughs)

Nicholas Stoller: (Laughs) She was my first call.  And only call.  I don’t want to get into how the sausage is made, but in Hollywood there was a lot of pressure for me to talk Will about this film.  I’ve been dying to work with both Will and Reese for years, and when I started thinking about this movie and concept, I started to build the characters around them.  I pitched the movie to both of them, and I was very lucky they both said yes.  Then we were off to the races.

Apart from when Reese hosted Saturday Night Live, the two of you haven’t worked together, but it feels like you have.  There’s an amazing chemistry between the two of you.

Reese Witherspoon: Even from the very first day we were on film.  We did a camera test, (and) I literally looked over and thought, “This is a bucket list (moment), working with Will Ferrell.” I am so lucky.

Will Ferrell: And I was getting to work with Tracy Flick, one of the greatest characters of all time.  There wasn’t anything to get over.  We just clicked right away.  And I think a lot of that is in the writing that Nick had with these characters, and the dynamic that was set up between the two families.  I think Reese and I approach the work the same way.  Even though it’s comedy, it’s still about the characters, and that’s supported by Nick as well by giving us some very funny improvised lines to say.  Yeah, it was a perfect match.

Speaking of improvisation, how much of the script was improvised?

Nicholas Stoller: There is improv, but it’s pretty scripted.  I honestly tend to use improv to loosen up the scene and to make you feel more real.  You get real reactions when someone says something that you don’t expect them to say.  But it was pretty scripted.  I wrote a lot of jokes and stuff beforehand, too.

Reese Witherspoon: I just wanted to say, Nick, you are so good at casting great, funny people, because every single person that came on added so much to their part.  And it’s a really big cast.  There were times I would ask, “Why did you pick that person?” And then we’d get to set, and they would just nail it and make it so much better.

Nicholas Stoller: My favourite reaction of yours (Reese) was the first day of shooting, when I’d cast Vinny Thomas to be your assistant.  He’s this up-and-coming comedy actor who I’m just obsessed with.  I remember him saying his first lines, and you just looked at him, like, “Who is this guy?” It was an interesting energy.

Reese Witherspoon: Right? Yeah, I was a doubter about Vinny, and then after a day I was like, “Oh, this guy’s really funny.”

Nicholas Stoller: So funny and weird, yeah.

Reese Witherspoon: Yeah, he’s just weird.

Will Ferrell: This rarely happens when you do a read through of the script, (but) we were lucky enough to get many of those actors who ended up in the movie for that first table read.  And from that table read, and you never know how it’s going to go, and it’s never a signal whether the movie’s going to be good or not, but this one was so much fun.  I think we were all like, “Well, we have to have Leanne Morgan.  We have to have this person and that person.” Half the movie got cast from just the people we invited.

Reese Witherspoon: Leanne was somebody I found online when I was in lockdown during COVID.  She’s this super country girl from East Tennessee, and she’s just so funny.  She ended up playing my sister.  She came to the read through, and she did not know what was a read through was.  She’s like, “(In a Southern drawl) They just told me if I did good, I might get the part.” (Laughs).  Then she says, “Little Reese Witherspoon, I got the part!” Then she got to set and she didn’t know what to do (laughs). “What am I supposed to do? Sweetheart, where do I stand?” It was so fun.

What do you think it is about the film itself that sets it apart from modern romantic comedies?

Will Ferrell: I think it’s hard to build to the level of chaos that this film gets to in a way that just is so funny and so organic, and Nick did such a great job with that.  And I also think the way Reese and I’s characters are at each other’s throats, but then find some common ground and have an understanding of how their lives are changing, is surprising.  It’s a sweet ending, but not a schmaltzy ending.

Reese Witherspoon: There’s a lot of heart in the movie.  I think Nick did a great job of making sure the characters feel grounded in their family dynamics as well.  I think you can recognise people who are the black sheep of their family, which is my characters, and just feel like they’re the sibling that’s never doing right and just don’t fit in.  I think all of that really helps make the movie more resonant and really meaningful for people watching it with their families.

Reese, you have a reputation for playing strong characters.  What excited you about this role, and do you feel it stands out from previous roles?

Reese Witherspoon: I think this character is very regimented and very rooted in her belief system.  I think everything that happens and transpires during, it’s like that delicious thing of watching somebody who’s a super Type A and over-planned just completely disintegrate into the chaos and learn to lean into the idea that life isn’t perfect and doesn’t always work out exactly how you want it to.  There’s something so nice about watching that unravel in a comedic way.  I love playing this character.  I also love that she was a reality television producer, because the shows she produces are so funny.  Is It Dead? should be a real show, I think.

You have these two characters that have very different views on what constitutes a perfect wedding.  Nicholas, how did you approach developing the contrasting perspectives in the story? And how did you ensure their relationship evolved in a way that felt both authentic and comedic?

Nicholas Stoller: From the beginning I knew the two weddings needed to be really different for them to contrast.  It was funny to me if Will’s daughter was just too young to get married.  That’s the funny kind of wedding.  I always remember the first wedding I went to when I was like 22.  It was a friend of mine, and they had about 20 bridesmaids.  I thought the too young wedding would be the out-of-control party with the DJ and all that.

And then the other wedding, Meredith Hagner’s character, is the one that should be getting married.  It’s the idea of that family, the slightly fancy Southern family, having a wedding with the centerpieces and it looks a certain way with the tent and all that stuff.  It was contrasting the two, and making it a nightmare when they crash into each other.  Like when it starts raining and Will’s wedding has to go interrupt Reese’s wedding indoors.  That was the start of the idea.

You want for a movie to be funny, it needs to be honest.  And so the core of almost every movie I’ve done, there’s some emotional experience that I’ve had.  By no means is it autobiographical.  It gets filtered through so many layers by the end, but there’s certainly elements of Reese’s character’s relationship with her family and her mom that I’ve certainly experienced.  I have three daughters, so everything that Will’s character is going through, I have had those feelings.  I can’t watch the montage at the end without crying.  There’s this core of emotional truth.  This is something I can speak to personally, I try to be as collaborative as possible, and both Will and Reese are not just brilliant performers, but they also brought a million ideas to it and talked about their own experiences.  We all brought that kind of biographical (nature) to it.

You’re Cordially Invited is available to stream on Prime Video from January 30th, 2025.

Peter Gray

Seasoned film critic. Gives a great interview. Penchant for horror. Unashamed fan of Michelle Pfeiffer and Jason Momoa.