Production Companies RV Camping Productions Ltd., Red Wagon Productions, IMF Internationale Medien und Film GmbH & Co. 3. Produktions KG, Intermedia Films, Relativity Media
And Daniels’ agent wasn’t bluffing either. Once the actor had been cast, he hopped into his own RV and drove it from Michigan to Vancouver, British Columbia, for the start of principal photography. “I wanted to make a point to Barry and the whole movie crew,” Daniels explains. “I wanted to them to think, ‘He’s what? No! He’s flying a private jet out, right? You mean he’s really driving his RV from Michigan to Vancouver?’ Along the way they’d call me for updates. My cell-phone would ring — when it worked — and they would ask, ‘Where are you now?’ ‘Are you still alive?’ It was a lot of fun. I’ve been a fan of recreational vehicles forever. I really like the idea of driving them. I’ve owned several and I keep upgrading them every couple of years.”
Cheryl Hines is cast opposite Williams as Jamie Munro, the matriarch of the disgruntled Munro family who, as Williams puts it, “put the ‘funk’ in dysfunctional.” “When we chose Robin, we set the bar very high,” says Wick, “so everyone we chose had to be up to his level. When we were talked about who could play his wife, we knew we needed someone who possessed the quickness and intelligence to keep up with him. Week after week, Cheryl is subjected to Larry David’s onslaught of comedy on ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm.’ She is always up to his level and always firing back. She seemed like a great choice.”
“I also know Cheryl’s work mainly from ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm,’” says Sonnenfeld, “and I’m very proud to say that she told me I am more neurotic than Larry David. I was thrilled to hear that.”
Hines has a great deal of experience in improvisation, even prior to her work on “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” For years, she worked regularly with the noted Los Angeles improvisational group The Groundlings. “Even though we have a real script on RV,” says Sonnenfeld, “her improv experience came in handy. We could always cut to Cheryl for a wonderful reaction, which was always flat and understated — perfect for playing off of Robin’s big comedic moments. It was very George Burns and Gracie Allen. They made a great comedy team, like the one I had on the Men in Black™ movies with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, which is another example of having one guy who is goofy and the other who is very deadpan.”
That is one way to explain why at the end of some takes on RV, Sonnenfeld would shout, “Do it again — faster and flatter”
“I had some hats made for the movie with instructions to the crew,” Sonnenfeld explains, “one of which actually read ‘Flatter, Faster.’ The great thing about Cheryl was that her performance was both flat and fast, which for me, is the secret to comedy. Don’t milk it, say it fast and move on.”
Daniels elaborates: “You see, sometimes the joke isn’t the joke; it’s the reaction to the joke – and that’s what ‘flatter’ means. When Barry said ‘flatter’ it was just like saying, ‘take it in and audience will laugh.’”
Much of Hines’ humor in the film, says Williams, emanates from her reactions to him, though he also acknowledges her other considerable comedic gifts. “Oh man, she is kick-ass funny,” he says. “She can do it with or without a tight script. This was kind of like a holiday for her. There were lines, but then we also had fun. She can riff like crazy, which is great.”
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