Polish actress Izabella Miko plays the ever-flirtatious Cammie. "Coyote Ugly" was the first American script she read. "I think I came in on four auditions, which were all a lot of fun because we had to dance. Even though I love to dance, I think what we do in the bar is a bit exaggerated. But since it’s such a crazy place, we’re trying to shock people and give them a reason to go there, a reason to pick this bar over hundreds of others out there, and we don’t even mix drinks! We just sell beers and straight shots. My character isn’t really thinking about the future. She’s just having fun, making a lot of money and falling in love constantly."
In order to make the bar scenes appear realistic, the actresses spent weeks before production as well as hours during shooting, studying the art of the fast pour, finessing the bottle twirl and learning other essential bartending techniques. Jennifer Curran, a respected bartender, was tapped as the film’s technical consultant and acted as an extra barmaid when the bigger dance sequences were being filmed.
"We always try to draw the audience in with authentic portrayals of life," says Bruckheimer. "We hire experts no matter if we’re making a film about astronauts, NSA agents or bartenders. A picture about a bar sounds simple, but the girls had to know how to pour drinks, how to flip bottles, how to deal with overzealous customers. They had to know what it felt like to have this job."
"Bartending at Coyote Ugly is an interactive sport," says Curran. "It’s all about making tips, and no one gets away with not tipping. It’s a huge mistake if you don’t and the girls ‘attack’ the customer. That’s part of the atmosphere," she laughs. "So a lot of the training was about how to be aggressive and athletic. I wanted to make them sweat – if they had to fill up ice buckets and haul them to the other end of the bar, then that’s what they were going to do, nothing half way. It was like boot camp."
The filmmakers also hired choreographer Travis Payne to train the coyotes. His job was to create dance numbers and coach the girls without making them look like professional dancers.
"The first step was to rehearse with each woman individually to find out what her strengths and weaknesses were," he says. "Then my assistant Stacy [Walker] and I put together a combination for each woman and once Jerry, David and music supervisor Kathy Nelson selected the music, we took the choreography they already knew, rearranged it and made individual numbers for each of them."
Despite the limitations dancing on a bar imposed, Payne was not daunted. "Any limitations were in our minds. We were able to design great shots and make the women feel confident – so they wouldn’t fall – and just went at it. They hang from the ceilings, dive out and surf into the crowd, it was crazy, but we paid a lot of attention to detail. It’s supposed to be more about fun than eroticism."
"There’s a fine line and we were vigilant in protecting it for those PG-13 audiences," says Bruckheimer about the sensuality of the film. "In costuming, we were going for a look that flattered each woman," he notes "Obviously we wanted the girls to look good but we wanted each of them to be comfortable. We wanted a contemporary wardrobe but not anything that was too trendy because trends these days change so fast."
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