I was invited by Disney/DreamWorks to visit the New York City set of the movie Delivery Man while actors Vince Vaughn and Cobie Smulders were filming last December. While travel and accommodations were covered for me, no other compensation was received. All thoughts (and excitement) are my own.
It’s not everyday that I get the chance to sit in a chair on a New York City street as two incredible actors film a scene from an upcoming DreamWorks movie. But that’s exactly what I got to do last December. Yes, I’ve been keeping this under wraps since December 2012, and I finally get to share the three interviews that we got to do along with all of the background information that chatting with actors on set inevitably leads to.
I’m just thrilled that I got to meet Cobie Smulders.
Despite the fact the Cobie was suffering from a nasty winter cold the week that we were on the set of Delivery Man, she was a trooper and not only filmed an energetic scene for the movie, but had the energy to chat with our group of bloggers as well.
In Delivery Man, Cobie plays Emma, a New York City police officer who is in an off-again, on-again relationship with Vince Vaughn’s character, David. Emma has recently discovered that she’s pregnant and is a little apprehensive about raising a child with David. Cobie says that she did a little research to get into the character of Emma.
“I met this guy when I was doing press for another movie and he works at the 34th Street Precinct. He said you know what, just come in and look around and talk to some people. He was super sweet. Took me around and then I also met a woman who is single mom. And that was really interesting because it’s possibly like the hardest job to be a single mom.
“Because your hours are…you never know when you’re coming home really. She worked from twelve to twelve, or she had a shift where she was able to sometime pick her kid up from school. But if she booked somebody she’d have to stay and file all that paperwork, and that takes hours. So that was really interesting and kind of having that in the back of my head going I don’t have a partner in this, then I’m screwed. So I have to kind of make it work.”
Our group was definitely interested to hear how filming a movie differed from her long-standing gig on the TV show How I Met Your Mother. She commented, “I’m lucky enough to work on a sitcom which is a job unto itself where it’s the best schedule you could ask for. It’s really as normal a job as you can get. It’s a nine to five kind of a job. You have four cameras, so there’s not a lot of coverage, not a lot of down time where you do lighting, which is what’s happening right now. So we’re really fast….How I Met Your Mother is like home to me.”
Contrasting the quick and predictable nature of making a TV show, Cobie said, “The thing that I like about films, though is you have a set amount of time that you get to play this part and be part of a story, and then it’s over and you get to move onto a different story.”
I love what Cobie had to say about filming Delivery Man in New York City, with New Yorkers walking heading to work. “New York’s a character unto itself. It always provides such a beautiful backdrop and it also gives energy to the movie as well.”
The view from my on-set seat. The scene was filmed just below the lighted blue sign on the right. That’s how close we were to the action!
When asked about the transition between working on Avengers to Delivery Man, Cobie said, “Well I do get to play a cop in this movie, so that is sort of a nice halfway point. I am going to be in uniform for the next scene. You know, they’re both very strong women (Delivery man’s Emma and Avenger’s Maria Hill). They’re both very strong, independent women so that’s a similarity.
I feel like Avengers is different because so much of it was not real….Delivery man is also more relationship based, where the Avengers….It was one way.”
Speaking of the Avengers, the gag reel at the end of the DVD is one of my favorite parts of the whole Avenger’s experience, and Cobie has one of my favorite gag reel scenes. I actually mentioned to Cobie about my family’s love of her gag reel scene, and she explained that she would regularly be silly on the set and scream, “We’re all gonna die!” The scene that made it on the bloopers is one of many “We’re gonna die!” pranks that she pulled.
We were curious if Delivery Man had resulted in any good bloopers, and she reminded us of the Blogger Song that had occurred spontaneously in the scene just minutes before. If THAT scene makes it to the gag reel, I will be beyond excited.
Tune back in on Thursday for my interview with Vince Vaughn!
About Delivery Man
In Delivery Man, Vince Vaughn plays an underachiever who is not content with what he’s been able to accomplish in his 40-ish years of life. He finds out, very unexpectedly, that an anonymous donation to a fertility clinic 20 years ago resulted in 533 children.
DELIVERY MAN, rated PG-13, stars Vince Vaughn, Cobie Smulders and Chris Pratt and opens in theaters everywhere November 22.
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DELIVERY MAN releases in theaters on November 22nd!
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You know what’s funny? I practically only knew her from the Avengers, but after I met her and saw how funny she was (I loved her REAL personality!) I went home and watched every single episode of How I Met Your Mother. lol
Don’t you love how you notice typos right AFTER hitting submit. ;) It happens to me all the time!
I meant “NEAT” Lol
thats really need Lori. I love seeing “on the set acting”. It really brings a whole new respect for actors.
That is so exciting!! We’re big fans of Cobie, I’d probably faint if I got to meet her!