Marshall Roped Family Into Valentine’s Day
By WENNThursday, February 18, 2010
Moviemaker GARRY MARSHALL was so worried extras would be starstruck on the set of VALENTINE’S DAY, he asked his family to appear in the movie.
The director landed a stellar cast, including Ashton Kutcher, Julia Roberts, Bradley Cooper, Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Garner, for the romantic comedy which topped the U.S. box office over the weekend (12-14Feb10).
He was wary of employing actors for crowd scenes who might have been overwhelmed by the starry cast - so he hit upon a novel solution.
Marshall says, “I’ve had a lot of relatives who were involved. Part of my thing is when you work with these stars, you have to make them comfortable. You surround them with people you can rely on.
“Bradley and Julia sat on that plane and seated next to them was my grandchild who won’t say a word. She won’t grab Julia and say, ‘Give me an autograph.’ She’ll sit quietly. So we put family members, besides Diane, who is my assistant, and her husband sat behind them and didn’t say a word. And with Ashton, my daughter was the other clerk with him, so he’s comfortable.”
