“It’s funny because it’s true”: The Farrelly brothers decipher the cult scenes of Mary at all costs

Cameron Diaz admits to having hesitated to shoot the “gel” scene in the hair.

Mary at all costs returns Friday on TFX. The comedy starring Cameron Diaz was released on July 15, 1998 in the United States, and to properly celebrate its twentieth anniversary, Variety contacted directors Bobby and Peter Farrelly to talk about creating the unforgettable scenes for their crazy comedy. They also called on a few actors to talk about their best memories from filming. We are republishing their comments before rebroadcasting the film.

Why Cameron Diaz came out of retirement

The fly accident: “It’s funny because it’s true”

“Homer summed it up perfectly,” laughs Bobby Farrelly, remembering the famous sequence where Ted (Ben Stiller) finds himself at his in-laws’ house with his penis stuck in his fly.

“‘It’s funny because it’s true’ (a reference to a famous line from the Simpson). What is taken from reality always seems more hilarious to us. With Peter, we wondered ‘What’s the most embarrassing thing that could happen to this kid?’“

The duo then recounts that in their childhood, their little sister had invited school friends over and that one of them had the same accident while going to the toilet:

“He went up to the toilet and ‘zipped’ sex. He stayed in there for a long time. Our father, who was a doctor, had to go up to ask him: ‘Hey kid, are you okay in there?'” The parents decided to keep it a secret for years so that the children would not make fun of their classmate. The day they told us, we were laughing so hard! We remembered that (when preparing Mary) and we said to ourselves that it would work well in our story.”

THE “freeze” in the hair: “I wondered if it wouldn’t harm my career”

This is certainly the most famous sequence of Mary at all costs : when Ted invites Mary to dinner and she borrows some “freeze” for the hair, which turns out to be sperm (it’s a long story). She doesn’t realize anything, but he finds himself destabilized by the strange hair that she keeps on her head during the evening. The directors claim that this idea “is loosely inspired by a real event“, but they do not detail (“I remembered the kid’s story, but I can’t tell you all my secrets!”replies Bobby, laughing). On the other hand, they say they hesitated to keep this scene:

“We wondered if it wasn’t going to cross the line. If it wasn’t triggering bursts of laughter (during the first screenings) we planned to remove it. The goal is not to shock people. On the contrary, we want to make them laugh. (Cameron) told us she was ready to do it, but on the big day, she had a second of hesitation.”

The actress confirms.

“I wondered if it was going to harm my career. You can’t know how something will be received when it’s never been done before… I trusted Bobby and Peter, because they’re hilarious, and when I saw how it looked visually, I knew they were right. They know how to put heart into their stories. No matter how shocking it might be, there’s always something intrinsically good in what they do: in the plot and also in the way their characters are close to real people. All this makes it easier to forgive their jokes.”

On this subject, Bobby remembers that this sequence became the favorite of Cindy, a long-time friend of their mother: “When she told us that, I knew it was going to be a success.”

Their first meeting with Mary

“Cameron was at the top of our list and when we met her, she climbed even higher!exclaims Bobby. We both left that first date saying, ‘I love this girl.’ That’s exactly what we were looking for (…) It works because she’s adorable. We immediately understand why all these guys (Ben Stiller, Matt Dillon, Lee Evans) fall for her and make themselves ridiculous by trying to win her affections.”

Keith David, the perfect stepfather

Bobby then talks about some supporting roles he loves in Mary at all costsstarting with the girl’s stepfather, played by African-American actor Keith David.

“We had several auditions, and when he arrived, he blew us away.” The director adds that he wanted to raise the subject of blended families in a positive way and that the fact that the stepfather is black “changed the dynamic.” “I love their relationship. Sometimes a father-in-law comes into your life at just the right time. It’s not a question of biological paternity, it’s a question of upbringing: who took care of you? My father-in-law was a lovely man, and I took inspiration from him for several characters. He loved his wife and when your wife comes with her children, you love children too.”

Warren, a crucial role: “We were surrounded by disabled people, it was natural to include them in our film”

Peter Farrelly details why Mary’s brother Darren is mentally retarded. Relatives of a disabled neighbor (“The one who asks Mary for a kiss, in the film, is a great guy”), the two brothers wanted to talk about it without taboo.

“One of our friends had broken his neck in high school and was paraplegic, too. We were surrounded by disabled people, it was natural to put them in our film. But the studio told us: ‘No, no no! It makes people uncomfortable.’ So, I insisted: ‘It’s not true, it’s bullshit. In life, some people have disabilities, and we have to show them.’“

The duo stood their ground and 20th Century Fox relented.

W. Earl Brown, who plays Darren, explains that it was never a question of making his character funny or ridiculous.

“I felt it instinctively. From the audition, I was playing it seriously. If you try to be funny with a role like that, it’s going to fail. The audience is going to hate you because you’re making fun of a disabled person.”

He then recounts an unforgettable compliment received for this film some time after its release, that of a woman whose brother, suffering from Down syndrome, recognized himself in Darren’s character upon discovering Mary at all costs with family.

“She said to me, ‘In the first scene where you arrive at school looking for the baseball, he got up from the couch. He wasn’t saying anything, walked over to the TV, looked at us and said, ‘He’s special, like me.’ Then he went back to his seat and we laughed a lot for the rest of the movie. All together.'”

Magda kept her fake breasts!

Lin Shaye, already in Dumb and Dumber (2014) and Kingpin (1996), reunited with the Farrelly brothers for the memorable role of Magda, Mary’s eccentric neighbor, obsessed with tanning (which required 4 hours of makeup a day), men and her dog. She reveals that while someone stole the wig she wore on set, she kept her fake breasts:

“I told myself I had to keep them for fun. I actually hung them in my window (to recall the famous sequence in the film where the viewer thinks he is going to see Mary topless but ultimately comes across Magda’s sagging chest). And I wrote underneath: ‘Magda’s breasts. Mary at all costs. 1998.'”

She also relates that during her “kiss” with his dog Puffy, Cameron Diaz couldn’t hold back a laugh, which really pleased the directors. On the other hand, when the same dog passes through the window, Bobby found that the actors were not surprised enough. To capture a genuine expression of shock, he literally showed them his ass: “He loves doing that!”laughs again Shaye, who recognizes that their reaction filmed at that moment, which was kept in the final cut, is much more natural.

We recognize the Farrelly touch in Green Book (review)