Melissa McCarthy and husband Ben Falcone are such pros that they didn’t let a little awkward love scene involving someone outside their marriage affect them — or their anniversary!
The happy couple attended the premiere of Life of the Party — a comedy starring McCarthy and produced by Falcone — in Auburn, Alabama, on Monday, April 30, where Falcone told Us Weekly what it was like directing his wife of almost 13 years in a love scene.
“That’s a tricky one, because I’m like, ‘Hey, will you touch his butt?’ And I’m literally doing my job, saying that, so I don’t really know how I did it, I just knew it was for the movie,” Falcone, 44, revealed. “And Luke [Benward, who plays McCarthy’s love interest] is such a sweet guy, he would like go in and be like, ‘Happy Anniversary!’ And he is such a sweetheart that it was alright, but tricky! Tricky!”
Benward himself expressed his discomfort with making out with a woman whose husband was mere feet away, telling Us, “I would be lying if I said there wasn’t a couple of moments where I wasn’t like, ‘Oh man, I’m kissing a woman in front of her husband’ – on her anniversary.”
But according to the actor, Falcone helped ease the awkwardness in his own way. “He was yelling out direction from behind the camera like, ‘Grab his ass!’, ‘Kiss him again!’ so it was great!” Benward said. “And the funny thing is, it was actually improvised … so going in to it, I didn’t have the nerves of like, ‘Oh wow, we’re going to be kissing today.’
According to the film’s other stars, working with the husband-and-wife duo was, what Stephen Root called, “heavenly.” “I’ve been a fan of hers well before she was famous, because I think she’s a wonderful actress and even better person, and so is Ben,” the Office Space alum explained. “And they were able to create, from the top done, a really beautiful place to work.”
Actor Matt Walsh shared the same sentiment, describing the couple as “very social .. very collaborative,” while Gillian Jacobs revealed the pair work together so well that they “have almost this shorthand with each other.”
“It’s so fun to have that kind of rapport between your lead actor and director and just their enthusiasm for their work,” the former Community actress added. “It’s just so infectious.”
Life of the Party isn’t the first time The Boss star, 47, and Falcone — who have been married since October 2005 and share daughters Georgette and Vivian — have appeared in a film together. The couple previously worked together on Bridesmaids, Identity Thief and The Heat.
With reporting by Emily L. Foley
