Here are photos of Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Bell at the premiere of their film The Boss, which opens in theaters April 8th. I said this before but it looked meh to me until I saw the red band trailer, which made me laugh a few times. It really needed that extra kick of raunchiness, so I’ll have to see how it does on Rotten Tomatoes before I make a decision whether to see it. Bell plays an exec in McCarthy’s company who helps her pick up the pieces after her character is convicted of fraud. The two start a Girl Scout-like empire and hilariousness ensues. McCarthy and her husband, Ben Falcone (the film’s director and screenwriter), are parents to two daughters aged 8 and 6. You can imagine where they got the inspiration for this film.

In a new interview with Refinery29, McCarthy said that her daughters are the bosses at home though, which is the case for so many of us. (She told People a cute story about her daughters cracking jokes to get out of being punished.) She also talked about how she thought up her character, and how much fun she had learning dancing for this role. I love to dance so that part made me happy to read. She said so many great things that I had to cut some parts that I agreed with and which resonated with me.

On how she came up with her character
I had a very strange thing when I first had her pop into my head. It was immediate. I was like, Yep, I know what she looks like. She’s a redhead. She wears turtlenecks. French-tipped nails. I know how she stands, how she uses her hands, how she runs a business… All these years, I couldn’t let her go. It’s fun to play someone who kicks in a door and takes no prisoners, because it’s not how I live my life. My kids control me. I have no power at home.

On if there’s a feminist message in this film
I hope so. That’s the grand plan. Like I said before, women should not apologize for getting in there and taking what they want. They should not apologize for wanting equal pay or equal rights. They should not apologize for wanting it all, but they should be willing to work for it. I remember calling my parents at 20 and being like, ‘I’m not going back to school. I tried stand-up last night. I’m going to be an actress.’ And they were like, ‘All right. Well, work your butt off. It’s going to be hard, but you can do it.’ And I think I buy that. If you work hard enough, you can achieve, and I hope that message is in there.

On if she considers herself a role model in an industry dominated by thin women
I know I am not the ‘norm.’ It never occurs to me in terms of being a role model, though, because I don’t know any perfect women. If I, off the top of my head, name 20 of the most amazing women in my life, it’s all shapes, sizes, ages, colors, jobs. I can only go off my reality. What people pass off as ‘normal,’ I just have to keep in my head that it’s bullshit. It’s all fictitious, made-up stuff. I know some of those women in those magazines who get called perfect or whose butt is supposedly better, and often they don’t even look like that in person. And they would die — they don’t want you to compare who wore it better. They would be more horrified than anybody else that you’re pitting them against each other and judging. You don’t do that with guys. You don’t see two guys next to each other and somebody going, ‘Who’s got the better knees? Who’s got old knees? Who’s got weird feet?’ I want to get rid of constantly categorizing. Lists give somebody a way to shove and tear down women. Those women that are always shown, that we’re all supposed to be like, is like .000009% of human beings. That’s crazy. That’s like saying, ‘We’re all going to get a perm and get green hair, right?’ You’d be like, ‘All of us?’ No, knock yourself out with your perm, but if we all did it, that would be bizarre.

On her weight loss
I have, but I’ll be back again. I’ll be up, I’ll be down, probably for the rest of my life. The thing is, if that is the most interesting thing about me, I need to go have a lavender farm in Minnesota and give this up. There has to be something more. There are so many more intriguing things about women than their butt or their this or their that. It can’t be the first question every time, or a question at all. It’s like, ‘Can you imagine them asking some of these guys I work with, ‘How do you keep your butt looking so good?’ It would be like, ‘What the f*ck are you talking about? Why are you asking about the shape of my butt?’

[From Refinery 29]

In terms of women not apologizing for wanting equal rights and equal pay. Right on. This should not even have to be a conversation in 2016, but it still is and we still don’t have an Equal Rights Amendment. I want to mention that Melissa has consistently been outspoken about feminist issues and that she recently told Redbook that it “sounds so dumb” when women refuse to identify as feminists. I wholly agree.

Plus I could relate so much to what she said about weight loss. I’m not blowing smoke, I just really related to her. I have yo-yoed and I wish people would stop talking about it when they see me. It must be hard to deal with that kind of scrutiny as a celebrity, but she’s not complaining, she’s just telling it like it is. We put this on women, not on men. (Although we don’t mind objectifying men and try to do it equally.)

Here she is at the premiere. I am assuming Melissa is wearing her own design, but I don’t have confirmation on that. Kristen Bell is in Reem Acra.

photos credit: WENN and FameFlynet