The cast of 'Queenpins' on playing criminals and couponing: 'Smart people use coupons'
Kristen Bell and the cast of Queenpins share their couponing stories and talk about playing relatable criminals.
Video Transcript
GREG: Total is $138.55.
CONNIE KAMINSKI: Is it?
GREG: It's like 1,000 coupons.
[BEEPS]
KEVIN POLOWY: This is one of those stranger than fiction stories that's actually based on real events, crazy as it is, a multimillion dollar coupon scheme these women in Arizona pulled off. How do you guys look at these ladies? Like, both your characters and the actual women who-- who pulled off this scheme and inspired the whole film?
KRISTEN BELL: I have the utmost amount of respect for them, oddly. And I don't say that about many criminals.
KIRBY HOWELL-BAPTISTE: [LAUGHS]
KRISTEN BELL: Um, but, yeah, they're a reality. And I think what we certainly tried to expand upon in the movie is-- is how discounted these women felt, and how undervalued they felt, and what that can do to your spirit.
CONNIE KAMINSKI: The system has set us up to fail.
KRISTEN BELL: But if you have a really close friend, and they provide you with some self-esteem, you two could decide to take on the world and start making your own rules. And it takes a lot of smarts. And so, you know, like serious couponers, I think we don't give enough credit to what a high level of math they're doing and how smart they actually are.
KIRBY HOWELL-BAPTISTE: Yeah, it's rare that you can kind of relate to a group for a criminal. I think the fact that they are doing something that does feel slightly Robin Hood like. It feels like they are trying to better themselves and better the lives of the people around them without hurting any other human being, you know? And so, for me, I think what's nice is that they operate in this gray area, which is, I think, something that we all are talking about a little bit more, which is people who commit crimes.
Like, what is deemed a crime? Is it that some people are being watched more? Is it that-- you know, like the way we judge these things isn't black and white. And I think that's nice about this-- these characters are real and the ones that we've recreated in this, that they frame the gray area.
BEBE REXHA: I had no idea about what anything that happened until it read the script.
KEVIN POLOWY: Mm-hmm.
BEBE REXHA: And then I did some research on it, and I was honestly blown away. But I thought it was pretty gangster. Um, and I-- and yeah, I thought it was pretty cool. I would never-- because, personally, I would never think to, you know, make millions and millions of dollars off of couponing. I think it's really funny. [LAUGHS]
KEVIN POLOWY: Yeah.
BEBE REXHA: But I thought I was pretty badass.
KEVIN POLOWY: What specifically about this sort of ripped from the headlines story made you guys go in the writing process? Like, this-- oh, this-- this needs to be a crime caper /
ARON GAUDET: I mean, I think it was, you know, the extreme couponing, the postal inspectors, all of these things that just seems so absurd. It was like, oh, this should be funny. This should be a comedy. And the more we researched them, the more we're like, yeah, this has to be a comedy.
GITA PULLAPILLY: And we're not known for comedy. We're known for hard dramatic work and our documentaries. So most people think we're the last people to ever tell a comedy.
KEVIN POLOWY: Well, I mean, as-- as documentary filmmakers, I mean, did you-- did you guys-- how thorough was your research? I mean, did you guys talk to the actual women involved in real life at all?
ARON GAUDET: We didn't talk with them, because we really wanted to create our own characters, but we did talk with this Phoenix detective who had been involved in the case. And he walked us through everything and showed us photos from the investigation, showed us actual counterfeit coupons the real women had used. And then we did a deep dive into the world of coupons, the psychology of using coupons.
KEVIN POLOWY: This is probably the couponiest movie, I think, Hollywood has ever made. I've never seen a movie with so many coupons. What is your own relationship with couponing? Do you-- do you use them?
BEBE REXHA: I like when I get a really good deal. Like, when I-- like, if I go to the store, I have all my cards, you know, my numbers. As for coupons I've actually tried. I was-- I was telling somebody. I actually tried couponing. . . And it's a lot harder-- I don't know if you have-- but it's actually a lot harder than you think. I tried for like a split second. I really did. I tried. I got those little packets that were sent to the house just to see, you know?
And then I just-- like every-- a lot of my projects that I do, I just kind of stopped doing and gave up on them.
PAUL WALTER HAUSER: Day to day, I don't really keep coupons or caught them. But my mom did when I was a kid. I mean, coupons were a very big deal. They were a huge part of our family growing up. And every Sunday, my mom would be sitting at the dining room table with a scissor and-- and just cutting the crap out of a "Parade Magazine" or whatever was in the mail.
KEVIN POLOWY: What are your own relationships with couponing? Do you use them, Kristen?
KRISTEN BELL: 100%. I hunt-- I think that they're-- you know, if you're smart, you use a coupon. And I don't like labels or groups, but I'm going to go to the grave with that one. Smart people use coupons. It is-- there is a high that comes along with getting a discount or having an exclusive offer. There's definitely something emotional attached to it. It also feels really good to-- to save money.
And I will say like, I'll use them when I get them. I'm not an extreme couponer, but my grandmother actually was and was-- was quite extreme and would save all the UPCs and the bar codes. And when she had 100, send it into the company, and then they'd say, thanks for being a loyal customer. Here's $5 as a rebate. And with all those tiny checks, she started, um, her grandchildren's college funds.
KIRBY HOWELL-BAPTISTE: Yeah, I mean, I think that-- yeah, I love coupons. I mean, we don't really have this idea about extreme couponing in the UK. I think it's definitely like a very culturally American thing. But I think that-- that I don't know. I think we have to kind of stop having this idea that only certain people use coupons unless those were smart people. Then why wouldn't you? I mean, when you're talking about like big corporations offering coupons, you absolutely should take it, because they rely on the fact that loads of people don't.
And they still make money for people who don't. So yeah, use coupons. Coupons are for everyone.
