'Wedding Crashers' at 15: Jane Seymour put the hiss into Kitty Kat, but almost passed on R-rated role
Jane Seymour almost talked herself out of starring in "Wedding Crashers."
Seymour, the star of the wholesome "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman," admits it was a quick conversation before she joined Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, who play nuptial-crashing friends Jeremy Grey and John Beckwith in the 2005 R-rated comedy.
Her Kathleen Cleary channeled a modern-day Mrs. Robinson for a topless seduction scene with Beckwith in which she purred, "Call Me Kitty Kat" with a feline hiss.
"I thought the fans would die if they saw it," Seymour, now 69, admits of her "Crashers" reservations. As the David Dobkin-directed comedy turns 15, Seymour says her favorite memory is, "My decision to ignore these thoughts about my audience."
Here are Seymour's "Wedding Crashers" takeways:
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Seymour came up with the Kitty Kat hiss
The former Bond girl Seymour says that once she decided to go for the Cleary role, she had to earn the part through auditions, not her strongest suit. But in her Kitty Kat delivery, she added the perfect cat reaction.
"The line was written, but I added the little (hiss) at the end and the facial expression," Seymour says. "That was 100 percent mine. And they offered me the role."
Shooting the scene, she recalls Wilson was the far more nervous of the two. But he still had the wits to come up with Kitty Kat's exiting line. "Owen said, 'This time when you leave, why don't you turn around and just say 'PERVERT!' So that was Owen and it was brilliant," Seymour says.
Bradley Cooper brought the Sack rage
Cooper's career breakout role came playing jerky Sack Lodge, intent on marry Cleary's daughter, Claire (Rachel McAdams). The actor went full throttle playing the manic bully, which bowled over the cast.
"Everybody brought their A-game, but Bradley's was on steroids. Or crack. It was like, he was like insane," Seymour says. "There was no question in any of our minds that Bradley was going to become a major star from this."
Cooper was also the life of the party at the Inn at Perry Cabin Resort, the film location where the entire cast stayed during the shoot.
"My room was next to Bradley Cooper. So everybody came past my room," Seymour says. "Somebody should have made a movie about making this movie is all I'm saying."
Vince Vaughn would motorboat through the script
Vaughn could not be contained in his "Wedding Crashers" improv.
"I don't think he even read what was in the script, to be perfectly honest," says Seymour, alluding to Vaughn's bawdy "motorboat" line from the movie. "I mean, he motorboated through every scene."
Shooting the elaborate family dinner, a painstaking process which could have been "tedious," Seymour says Vaughn kept the energy going at the big table by feeding off-color lines to Ellen Albertini Dow, who played Grandma Mary Cleary.
"He got her to repeat everything he said, and just wanted to see what bad stuff he could make her say," Seymour says. "We were all dying, trying not to ruin the take by laughing. Most of this stuff didn't end up in the movie. But my gosh, that was hilarious."
Seymour's audience loved the part
Besides being one of her favorite roles, Seymour's gamble paid off, as "Wedding Crashers" opened the door for new comedic roles. "It turned my career around, and showed the world I am a comedian," Seymour says.
There were added benefits, such as the increased attention of "30-something-year-old" admirers.
"Literall,y, I'd walk down the street and I'd go, 'You must be kidding. I'm twice your age. I have children your age.' " Seymour says. "But it was very flattering."
If there is a "Wedding Crashers" sequel, which has been discussed around the anniversary, Seymour is all in.
"I consider 'Wedding Crashers' one of my career highlights," Seymour says. "I would be sad if they didn't ask me back."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Wedding Crashers' at 15: Jane Seymour put hiss in R-rated Kitty Kat
