A little bit? "Okay," he relents with a grin, "I guess I could say a major womanizer."
Rounding out the remainder of the ensemble is Horatio Sanz as Steve, a fellow Tomcat whose marriage to the luscious Tricia, portrayed by Jaime Pressly, provides another of the film’s funnier sub plots.
Sanz’s particular brand of hilarious physical comedy repeatedly amazed the filmmakers—so much so that they expanded several scenes to further showcase the talented actor. Producer Paul Kurta was not only knocked out by Sanz’s physical presence but also his ability to convey so much with a look with the flair of Jackie Gleason. "He has a wonderful talent for physical humor… but beyond that he’s got such strength in his face. He’ll give you a simple look and it’s funny."
Elizabeth credits Poirier with establishing a very collaborative environment by openly encouraging improvisation from his actors, a rarity among some screenwriters who are particular about their writing. Poirier was energized by the keen response of the actors. "The cast is incredible… they’ve taken these two-dimensional characters that I had on the page, and they’ve just sprung to life!" Crew members were also getting in on the action by throwing out their own suggestions for added one-liners.
Poirier embraced his role as director on the film. "It wasn’t difficult at all," he says of separating the writer from the director. "As soon as I became director, I fired the writer!"
An integral component to the filmmakers’ casting choices was to sprinkle the Tomcats’ landscape with a bevy of beautiful women, which included former Playboy playmates Julia Schultz (1998) and Amber Smith (1996), among others. Says the 27-year old O’Connell of the experience, "I have to admit it’s one of the massive perks of doing this film. Beside the fact that I get to work with Shannon Elizabeth, in almost every scene I do there’s another gorgeous woman. It’s astonishing—I don’t think I’ve ever been surrounded by so many attractive women in my life."
The filmmakers also worked closely with MediaTrip.com, an innovative online entertainment company, to cast several featured extra roles via the Internet. MediaTrip.com users were invited to submit their photos to the site for consideration by the film’s casting director as well as vote for their favorite actress among 30 young women featured on the site. Online users embraced this new interactive venue by tallying a whopping three million hits on the site. Four young actress-hopefuls from Delaware, Texas, Massachusetts and Ohio were selected to appear in the film.
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