The Bridesmaids Effect Turns On The Heat

Grossing about $300 million worldwide and nominated for two Oscars, 2011’s Bridesmaids was so successful that suddenly major studios were clamoring to make their own rowdy, R-rated female comedies.

Paul Feig was the director of Bridesmaids, and he teamed up with Parks and Recreation screenwriter Katie Dippold to make this summer’s The Heat. It’s a classic buddy cop comedy starring Sandra Bullock as an accomplished but high-strung FBI agent partnered with a trash-talking Boston cop played by Melissa McCarthy.

“Bridesmaids helped a lot,” Dippold tells Kurt Andersen. “Before, when you would talk about ideas you had to star females, the thing you’d hear back was, ‘Well, let’s wait and see how Bridesmaids does.’”

Feig notes that Hollywood remains deeply cautious about movies centered on women, assuming that young men just won’t see them. “Of studio releases, we’re the only movie this summer to star women.” That puts added pressure on the box-office returns of The Heat. “If we underperform, [executives] will say ‘You can’t open a movie with women in the summer.’ Then you’ll just keep getting all these guy movies.”

Bonus Track: Paul Feig and Katie Dippold's 3 for 360