‘SNL’ Alum Kristen Wiig ‘Didn’t Love’ the Iconic ‘Bridesmaids’ Diarrhea Scene
Some women dream about their wedding day their whole life, and Hollywood loves to portray it in a wide range of ways. From the lonely bridesmaid for many weddings in Always a Bridesmaid to classics like My Best Friend’s Wedding and Father of the Bride. Not to mention 50 others that have given viewers an inside look into the wildly high expectations of weddings and the days leading up to them.
The 2009 year introduced Doug and his groomsmen in The Hangover, and viewers got a kick out of it. It was only a matter of time before we would see a group of bridesmaids getting into trouble.
In 2011, Paul Feig directed our fan-favorite wedding comedy, Bridesmaids, written by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo. What many fans don’t know is not only did Wiig dislike the film’s iconic diarrhea scene, but it also was not her idea.
‘Bridesmaids’ is a cult-favorite comedy
Bridesmaids is a hilarious comedy about Annie, a maid of honor struggling financially and in her love life. As she seems to hit rock bottom, her best friend Lillian is making new friends and marrying the love of her life.
Not only does Annie struggle with her own demons, but now she’s pushed to face-off with another bridesmaid for the title of Lillian’s ‘best friend.’ This fierce competition, along with many bad decisions, makes for a wild journey to the big day. Essentially, Annie tries to make things perfect, but they’re far from it.
Movie critic, Roger Ebert, compares Bridesmaids to another popular movie hit, saying that it “is about a group of women friends who are as ‘unbehaved’ as the guys in The Hangover [and that] Wiig is rather brilliant in her physical comedy as she flies to Vegas as part of her BFF’s bachelorette party; if it were not the wedding of her BFF, this trip would get her thrown out of the wedding. Her motto: ‘What happens in Vegas, starts on the plane.'”
The infamous diarrhea scene
If you haven’t seen the scene yet, be warned it’s one you’ll never forget when you do. The infamous scene finds the bridesmaids hit with severe diarrhea while dress shopping for Lillian’s wedding due to food-poisoning from some bad meat.
And while many viewers have found it hilariously gross, some lead actors don’t feel the same way about the scene.
Wiig has shared her concerns with the scene in recent years, voicing her annoyance with the famous food poisoning scene. Other Bridesmaids stars give their insights too.
Maya Rudolf revealed on The Ellen Show that she will “always be the lady who took a shit in the street” after her character Lillian goes to the bathroom in the middle of the street, wearing a wedding dress.
Co-star Melissa McCarthy adds that she still gets asked every now and then, “Did you really do that in that sink?” Of course not!
The scene was Judd Apatow’s idea
Despite co-writing the Bridesmaids script, Wiig admits that she (and Mumolo) had nothing to do with the famous diarrhea scene that has followed some of the cast around in their careers. Wiig, who reportedly not like to rewatch the hit comedy movie, revealed the truth behind the scene — the Evening Standard says “sexism is to blame.”
In fact, she told The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast: ““When people say, ‘Oh, we’re gonna give more female-centred movies a chance,’ you’re not reading the fine print, which is, ‘Oh, but, they have to be like this.’ They want to see women acting like guys. The scene in Bridesmaids was not our idea and it was not in the original script, and we didn’t love it.”
Not only did they not love it, but Judd Apatow and the studio “strongly suggested for us to put that in there” so the characters would be acting more like men. She continued: “I didn’t want to see people shitting and puking.”
