"What’s interesting about Harry," Dolman says, "is that he was not planned when I was writing the script...I thought, maybe if I have Suzette stop and get gas, something will happen. And this character really stepped off the bus into my story, and then I didn’t know what to do with him. And the next thing I knew, he had a gun inside a typewriter case... "I was just trying to keep up with what the story was telling me."
For Hawn, working with Rush conjured up memories of her day’s with another comedy great: Peter Sellers. "Peter left an indelible print on my mind. His comedic genius was really unmatched until I worked with Geoffrey...I laughed the way I laughed at Peter." Dolman, who worked with countless comedic talents during his stint as a writer for SCTV and sitcoms like "WKRP in Cincinnati" says "Geoffrey may be the most gifted. physical comedian I’ve ever seen.
Rounding out the cast are Robin Thomas, who plays Raymond, Lavinia’s straight-laced husband, their two teenage daughters - Hannah and Ginger. played by Erika Christensen and Eva Amurri respectively, and Matthew Carey, who plays Hannah’s boyfriend. Christensen says of her character, "Hannah is a very smart girl who is being raised in a family where the cards are played close to the chest. Nobody has any confrontations, all the emotions are kept in check, and they’re not very honest with each other. To the outside everything looks like they have a perfect family, but everybody’s bubbling up inside...She’s trying to break out and be more herself and be more honest with her family and be more honest with everybody."
Sarandon provides another perspective on Hannah, "She doesn’t see her mom, doesn’t even bother trying to figure out - like most kids - who her parents are...She’s the one who’s closest to making the same mistakes that I did in the movie. She’s the closest to giving away a part of who she is in order to make a deal for her future."
In casting Christensen for the part. Dolman says, "Erika is a really gifted actress. She brought more depth to the part than was even on the page. She plays a character who is a little down on herself, who seems to be hurting and frustrated that nobody’s listening. Yet Erika is very positive, straightforward and honest and what emerges is that she lets that positive part of herself overcome all the rest." One scene that Dolman found particularly moving was when Hannah delivers her graduation speech. "I was bawling when I watched her do it, because it was a recreation of my son’s graduation...it just killed me...Goldie and Susan weren’t there the morning it was shot. When we showed it to them, they were crying just looking at the monitors."
Amurri, who is Sarandon’s real life daughter, describes her role as Ginger, Lavinia’s youngest daughter, "She is a brat...just awful. She takes her mother for granted and is always throwing fits and screaming and crying and being obnoxious. ..She’s very fun to play." Sarandon, whose first on-screen appearance with her daughter was in BOB ROBERTS, takes great pride in her daughter’s abilities. "She had just turned 16 when she did the part. That’s not an age where you’re really ready to make fun of yourself. She really is a character actor...she’s so beautiful and has this incredible body and way of holding herself and she threw it all away and became this kind of gangly, whining, hysterical comic relief. Every time she came into a scene, she just threw herself there in a major way, and I thought that was so brave."
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