The pair’s characters, Alice (Bell) and Paul (Platt), along with their mother Donna (Allison Janney), travel across the pond to the UK for the wedding of their estranged half-sister Eloise (Cynthia Addai-Robinson). The hilarity that ensues had Bell thinking of “how lame” her family is in comparison. “Cause my family’s never gotten in like knockdown drag out fistfights, peed on someone at a wedding, like thrown the cake,” she explained to Parade.com in an exclusive interview with her co-star Platt. “It’s a movie with an amazingly sharp wit and tone that just shows the dysfunction of these interpersonal relationships and it made me actually feel that my family was kind of lame,” Bell—who shares daughters Delta, 7, and Lincoln, 9, with her husband Dax Shepard—added. The People We Hate at the Wedding, based on the book of the same name by Grant Ginder, premieres Nov. 18 on Prime Video. Continue reading to find out what both Ben Platt and Kristen Bell told Parade.com about playing siblings, how they like to cope with family tension and more.
What was it like working together and playing siblings?
Bell: Easy, it was very easy. I tried to come in not too hot, to be honest, because I’m the No. 1 Ben Platt fan in existence. There are a lot of people competing for that title, but I’m taking it, and I’ve consumed everything Ben has been a part of, from his theater to his TV and film and albums—which are soul-baring, so I did feel like I knew him fairly well. I’m trying not to make this sound weird! But I felt like I knew him on a soul level and I was very excited to play his sibling in this film. Platt: As was I. Kristen is someone who I feel like I identified with just as an actor and a person in the business from the moment I saw her in a million wonderful things for many years. I could just tell we were cut from a very similar cloth—not just because we’re both musical theater people, but obviously also because we’re both musical theater people. And I just always got the sense that we would connect and were waiting for the universe to tell us the right time to do so, and it did, and it was just wonderful. It was a treat and it was too short. I hope that we get to do it more times.
There were many relatable family moments throughout the film. Were there any that hit close to home or made you think of your own family dynamics?
Bell: I kept thinking how lame my family was, ‘cause my family’s never gotten in like, knockdown drag-out fistfights, peed on someone at a wedding, thrown the cake … It’s a movie with an amazingly sharp wit and tone that just shows the dysfunction of these interpersonal relationships and it made me actually feel that my family was kind of lame. Platt: Particularly my relationship with Kristen, with the Alice and Paul relationship. You know, I have different, wonderful relationships. I have many siblings, but particularly my younger brother Henry—we’re both queer and we’re both very similar, and we both share a real sense of humor. We both really line up in terms of what we find funny. And so just that shared language that I feel like Alice and Paul have really made me think of my brother.
How do you like to cope with family stress or tension?
Bell: Oh, deep breathing. Deep, deep breathing. Also, something I’ve recognized after having kids is that you will be at your most loving and you can be your cruelest to your family, but that is because your family is your safest landing pad. I know when my girls come home from elementary school, they’ve had to be, you know, little people all day and that’s not normal for kids that are 6, 7, 8 years old. So when they come home sometimes they just like let loose, and something I hear is “the worst thing a mom could do,” and “I hate this house” and “I hate this dinner,” but I realize all those hurled insults are actually because I’m their safest spot. And there’s something beautiful about recognizing that. Because you couldn’t say that to someone you thought would actually go, “OK, bye. Peace out.” So there’s something about the dysfunction of a family that’s still really beautiful to me. Platt: My family, we’re in different places and there’s a lot of us, and so I feel like I’ve learned a lot about like taking space when you need to take the space. To have a moment and have your own orbit and feel your own life, and maybe get a better handle on what it is that is making the tension or whatever it might be—the distance or the fighting—and then go in with like a little bit of a better head screwed on. I sometimes find if you go in when you’re too mired in it, in the day-to-day, you can kind of get lost in things that are not as important. And I find that having a moment to be in my own space—because my family is large and wonderful, but very crowded—to screw my head on and realize what it is that I want to really say or that I’m really feeling. I can go in and the time can be more qualitative and we can get to the heart of it quicker. Next, find out Kristen Bell’s net worth.
