Faizon Love and Kali Hawk as Shane and Trudy in "Couples Retreat," a comedy about four Midwestern couples who embark on a journey to a tropical island resort. They soon discover that participation in the resort?s couples therapy is not optional. (Photo by John Johnson)
Maybe from now on, relative newcomer Kali Hawk should try to blow all her major Hollywood auditions.
The rising comedic actress and native New Yorker gets her big break in “Couples Retreat,” an ensemble comedy about four couples who mix therapy and hi-jinks on vacation to the French Polynesian paradise of Bora Bora.
Leading funnymen Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman and Jon Favreau play the husbands, and Malin Akerman, Kristen Bell and Kristin Davis play their respective wives.
Meanwhile, Faizon Love is Shane, a good friend of the guys who takes his young and not-very-bright girlfriend Trudy (Hawk) along for the ride.
In real life, Hawk gained a place at the prestigious New York arts university SUNY Purchase before she was 16 years old.
A former model and also recording artist, she had several auditions for the “Couples Retreat” role, but the final and clinching performance was a comic episode all its own.
“The final time I was in the room with Vince and decided to go all out,” recalled Hawk in a telephone interview recently before she flew off to the island for a television press junket. “I was chewing some gum to help me get into the character, which he asked me to remove. Trying not to look nervous, I started the scene [sitting] down at one point.”
She continued: “When I got up to finish the scene, I took all the stuff off the desk, everything just went flying. I was so embarrassed and felt something was kind of dangling from my outfit. It was a legal pad where I’d placed the gum and it’s now hanging from the top sheaf.”
Vaughn thanked her for the scene, remarking that she did a great job and didn’t let the mishap bother her. However, Hawk left the offices in tears, running into Love in the parking lot.
“I told him about it and he said, ‘Are you kidding me? that was brilliant!’ and about an hour later I got a message that I’d got the part,” added Hawk.
Not surprisingly, it was now Hawk’s turn to start floating on air, but she soon had to return to earth and squelch some nerves as she soon joined up with the cast.
“Those guys are some of the best in comedy, so it was a little intimidating at first,” said Hawk. “But luckily Vince and Jon are so in touch with their beginner actor, they remember how it was for them coming up. Everyone was aware that I was kinda the new person and it was a very encouraging environment.”
Hawk, who credits her mother’s love of film and classic comedians like Lucille Ball and Gilda Radner for inspiring her career, seems well on the way to perhaps emulating her heroines.
She has already wrapped two upcoming films produced by Judd Apatow and Will Ferrell.
“Yeah,” Hawk joked, “I’m trying to get in with all the big muckers of showbiz.”
This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled.
Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.
RSS Feeds 
