SYNOPSIS
Rebel Wilson and Anne Hathaway have winning chemistry as a pair of con artists plying their trade in a stunning seaside town in the south of France. Josephine Chesterfield (Hathaway) is a glamorous, seductive Brit with a sprawling home in Beaumont-sur-Mer and a penchant for defrauding gullible wealthy men from all corners of the world. Into her well-ordered, meticulously moneyed world bursts Penny Rust (Wilson), an Aussie who is as free-form and fun-loving as Josephine is calculated and cunning. Where Penny amasses wads of cash by ripping off her marks in neighborhood bars, Josephine fills her safe with massive diamonds after ensnaring her prey in glitzy casinos. Despite their different methods, both are masters of the art of the fleece so they con the men that have wronged women. Wilson’s talent for physicality and Hathaway’s withering wit are a combustible combination as the pair of scammers pull out all the stops to swindle a naïve tech billionaire (Alex Sharp).
FEMME CON-FAB
“I’ve never conned anyone in real life—I just want to make that clear,” says Wilson about her role as earthy swindler Penny Rust. “The Hustle is about a high-class con woman played by Anne Hathaway meeting a low-rent con woman played by myself, and their hijinks in the south of France.”
In The Hustle, femme con artists bring their own distinctive skills to the art of the con. “My character is a ruthless con woman, but she also has a heart,” says Wilson, who is also a producer of The Hustle. Inspired by Bedtime Story (1964), written by Stanley Shapiro & Paul Henning, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), written by Stanley Shapiro & Paul Henning and Dale Launer, screenwriter Jac Schaeffer joins the mix with director Chris Addison in his big screen directorial debut for this modern twist on these two comedies.
But this is no simple gender-swap comedy. “I wasn’t happy with just switching genders. That’s not enough of a reason to remake a movie,” Wilson says. “I pitched a re-imagined, updated version of the film with two female con artists as the leads and all new scenarios.” The key players had already been in each other’s orbit. Addison, Schaeffer and Hathaway had been working on another project for about year, and Addison and Wilson had originally met for another movie project. Addison refers to the collaborative trio of women—the two actresses and screenwriter—“as three really good creative partners.”
As always, it all starts with the words on the page and the challenge was figuring out how best to execute the gender switch. “There was an opportunity for a lot of different characters and a lot of different types of conning. We thought lots of costumes and wigs and characters would elevate the movie and make it more fun, both for the audience and for Annie and Rebel to play,” Schaeffer says.
Addison, a former stand-up comic and actor, had been honing his craft directing episodes of the award- winning satirical series Veep. “The reason you want to do a movie is because the script is good and Jac wrote a fabulously zingy, wonderful script for this movie,” Addison says. “It’s not an easy thing to do—if
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you’re adapting a beloved classic—to take it and make it feel fresh and put a whole other spin on it. And she’s done it really brilliantly.”
Given his television background, Addison is a firm advocate of collaboration. “I believe that you have to have the best ideas from all the best people, and that’s how you get something good,” he says. “You need someone at the center of it who’s the keeper of the vision and making the decisions, but you should have all the smartest people around you.” On all the phases of the project, from script development through to the finished product, Addison worked particularly closely with Schaeffer, who was on the set for most of the shoot.
“Jac’s the smartest person you could ask for,” says Addison. “She’s so funny and quick and is such a great writer. It’s unusual in films to have a writer on set the whole time. But Jac and I have a very good working relationship and I believe in that kind of collaboration. It’s been a boon to have her around on the set. She and I work very well together.”
Schaeffer relished their similar sensibilities. “My voice is very much in line with Chris. On set, it was even more fun because he brought everything we talked about to life in ways that are far better than I could have imagined. Like the car scene with Penny arriving in Beaumont-sur-Mer. It shows Penny has upgraded her usual mode of travel. I’d imagined the car as neon green in the script, but it showed up on the set and Chris had it wrapped in solid gold. I was like ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’ Chris would take my idea for a garish car and then crank it up to an eleven.”
Schaeffer appreciated being welcomed on to the set by the cast and crew during production: “It’s very unusual for a writer to be on set, especially in a comedy because a lot of movies are written and rewritten by different people,” Schaeffer says. “I was there to support everyone. With a comedy unit, you’re always collaborating, always trying out alternative jokes and seeing whether a different way would make the scene funnier. Chris and I got very specific on the page with the rhythm, with the structure. It’s a tight script, compared to a lot of comedies, because of the nature of the con and how these characters interact with each other. Chris and Anne and Rebel just nailed that right down.”
Wilson’s dual role as actress and producer was a bonus for the filmmakers. “I was a fan of Rebel’s,” says producer Roger Birnbaum. “I’ve seen her in a lot of her films and she’s genuinely hysterical. Then you meet her, and you find she is a very bright woman who’s not just funny, she’s got a lot to say. She was a real rock for this film, and it was also tremendous fun producing this movie with her.”
Addison seconds that emotion. “What’s great about working with Rebel is that she’s focused on every aspect of it, and yet she can also be completely free when it comes to filming and improvising. She drove the project through Roger Birnbaum and MGM and it’s such a good kind of passion project. Penny’s a perfect part for her. She’s funny and she’s kind of chaotic. She’s the outsider. And Rebel has a really good facility for just giving you different versions of each line and lot of different reactions, and it’s great. You get this wealth of material with Rebel.”
