Sometimes, it’s a good night for delivery – something Hollywood learned at the Delivery Man world premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles.
DreamWorks Pictures and Walt Disney Pictures rolled out the red carpet for Vince Vaughn, Cobie Smulders, Chris Pratt, Bobby Moynihan and director Ken Scott. I spotted a number of other famous faces, including Pratt’s wife Anna Faris, Molly Sims, Britt Robertson and Peter Billingsley (he looks good for not being in his A Christmas Story pink bunny suit). I was also on site to take in the surreal red-carpet experience, plus screen the movie for a second time. And it was brilliant. Truly. Seeing it just two times wasn’t enough.
Delivery Man tells the story of affable underachiever David Wozniak (Vaughn), a meat-truck driver whose anonymous (and seemingly endless) donations to a fertility clinic more than 20 years ago resulted in 533 children.
Now, 142 of them have filed a class action suit to try to determine the true identity of the biological father they know only as Starbuck – the name he used in conjunction with the “manual labor.” As Wozniak embarks on a journey of heartbreakingly beautiful self-discovery, he comes to realize that no one is ever quite ready for what life delivers. That being said, it’s also the unexpected that makes it so worth living in the first place.
Based on writer-director Ken Scott’s 2011 French-Canadian film Starbuck, audience reaction (including several members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association) is rumored to have both DreamWorks and Disney thinking a Golden Globe could be in Vaughn’s near future. Not disagreeing.
With that, here are five memorable moments captured on the red carpet and during the after party at the Hard Rock. (We’ll count the part when Vaughn kissed me on the cheek as a definite added bonus.)
ALL IN THE FAMILY
Not only did Vaughn act alongside Chris Pratt and Cobie Smulders, but a number of additional talent who played his 533 children. So was there a favorite moment during filming?
“There are so many moments,” Vaughn said. “I mean all the kids were just terrific. I had different unique experiences with them, and that was great. And it was fun to go be with Chris, because he was so funny. And the stuff with Cobie was really fun. They were all so unique.”
TEAM EARMUFFS
While audiences have come to expect Vaughn’s adults-only humor in his films, what they haven’t seen in a long while is his take on dramatic fare. Delivery Man explores both, not only showing his grounded paternal side, but also his endearingly protective one.
“The director is a very passionate storyteller, and I think what he is doing with this story is really unique and inspiring, because it’s not an overly obvious way in to some very sentimental and universal feelings,” Vaughn said. “I think it’s about parenthood and also about life… In a way, it’s like all the things that you go through as a parent, and it cracks you open.”
OH CANADA
Leading lady Smulders, a scene stealer in Marvel’s The Avengers, plays Vaughn’s girlfriend, Emma, in the film, a character she felt drawn to mainly because she serves as the catalyst that inspires Wozniak to change and become the man he always hoped he could be.
“I was really moved by the story,” she said. “I really loved the characters, and I really loved that it was Canadian because I'm Canadian as well. I was also excited that Ken Scott had such a strong vision, and just knew it was going be a good movie. And then I heard Vince was attached, and so I just went in and auditioned and met with all the guys and convinced them to give me the role.”
WEIGHT AND SEE
Pratt, who plays an overwhelmed single father and befuddled lawyer named Brett, packed on the pounds for his role, tipping the scales at an unbelievable 300 pounds. So how did he do it?
“Well, I really applied all of the principles of losing weight and just reversed them,” he quips. “I had just come off from Zero Dark Thirty where I had gotten in good shape. So by the time I was done with that movie, my body was really ready to gain weight rapidly. My wife was in the last third of her pregnancy, so a good 20 pounds of that was probably just sympathy weight.”
Shedding the weight rather dramatically, the crazy tall actor “starved himself skinny” to snatch up the starring role of Peter Quill (Star-Lord) in Marvel/Disney’s Guardians of the Galaxy, releasing next summer.
BABY LOVE
Pratt, Smulders and Vaughn each have children of their own (Vaughn’s son Vernon was conceived during the filming of Delivery Man), which allowed them to tap into the personal experiences and emotions only parenthood can bring.
As for having more children, all three are open to the idea in their personal lives, though perhaps Pratt sums it up best, saying, “I want to have a bunch of kids. I’ll have as many as I can, but probably not 500.”
Delivery Man opens nationwide in theaters November 22, 2013. Until then, join the conversation at #DeliveryManEvent on Twitter.
Photo credits: DreamWorks Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures
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