Faking Love for Money with Melissa Joan Hart of 'My Fake Fiancé' by Troy Rogers
Most of us have heard of someone who has jumped into a relationship with an agenda that doesn't include love. Well, at least there are people out there who have done it. Oftentimes it's more of a business relationship than that of a loving couple, but sometimes love accidentally finds its way into the fake pairing while other times things just get worse. On Sunday, April 19 at 8pm on ABC Family, Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence team up for the original movie, My Fake Fiancé, which sees their characters, Jennifer and Vince, take an immediate disliking to each other when sitting together at a wedding.
Both strapped for cash, they soon realize that despite their obvious joint loathing for each other, a mutually beneficial "fake" marriage can pay off and stabilize their individual futures after an eventual divorce. The only catch and seemingly insurmountable challenge the newly married My Fake Fiancé couple faces is the fact that they need to make it look real enough so Jennifer gets the house and Vince gets the cash. Directed by Greek series helmer Gil Junger and also starring Steve Schirripa of The Sopranos and hilarious Jay Leno "Man on the Street" segments, My Fake Fiancé follows in line with the entrepreneurial spirit of both husband and wife business partners without the warm and fuzzy affection for one another.
Leading up the April 19 ABC Family premiere, we caught up actress Melissa Joan Hart who plays Jennifer, one half of the My Fake Fiancé couple, alongside co-star Joey Lawrence in the seemingly real oil and water but fake relationship.
THE DEADBOLT: If Jennifer and Vince are only together to get free wedding gifts, what else happens along the course of the story to keep it going?
HART: I think what’s funny about it [is that] it reminds me of the movie House Sitter, which was one of my favorite movies, with Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn, and how they pretend to be in love, and it just gets them deeper and deeper in these lies. Of course they start off thinking to themselves that they’re buying gifts for all these other people and - When does it pay off for them? And they’re never going to get married, so why would they? When are they going to get this money back to them? So they decide to pretend to get married so they can get what they want.
They’re just disenchanted with the whole idea of weddings and love and all that. It’s just two people that are feeling like they’re trying to get in there where they’re over the whole romantic idea of it. So they decide to do it for practical purposes. In the course of the movie, they actually grow ... At first they have stereotypes about each other, and they stand by those, and then they slowly grow to learn about each other.
I think anyone, when you develop a relationship, you either love or hate the person. And they grow to respect each other and they understand each other when they see the backgrounds - where they came from, what they like and don’t like, that sort of thing - and the kind of person that they really are. When they see each other for who they really are, they actually respect each other. So they become more than just business partners.
THE DEADBOLT: What’s it like to work with Steve Schirripa? Were there any fears of getting whacked?
HART: [laughs] No, I love the Italian men. They make me feel right at home because I feel like I’m back in New York. Working with him was kind of like - it felt warm and cozy.
THE DEADBOLT: Since Gil Junger has experience working with ABC Family, what was he like as a director?
HART: Gil is a guy who really knows funny, and he’ll let you know it. He’s a real. He likes the collaboration and he loves rehearsal. So between Gil, myself, and Joey [Lawrence], we were in a lot of rehearsals, and we worked stuff out, and we worked on jokes and we worked on scenes. We worked on blocking and dialog. There’s a shorthand to people that work in television that’s really warm and refreshing, and we got to really explore that. I love the shorthand. I have as a professional from television. It’s just so different than other acting types, and we were able to kind of just work through it and make it funny, and make it really warm and endearing at the same time.
THE DEADBOLT: What’s it like to star and be an executive producer on the same project?
HART: That’s what I’ve been doing most of my life, so it would be kind of hard for me to do it another way. When I work on other people’s movies and I’m just the actor, it’s kind of difficult not knowing where you can put in your two cents. But when you’re the producer they have to listen to you, so it’s nice.
THE DEADBOLT: In real life, what would you pick - gifts or cash as a wedding gift?
HART: I’d go with cash. You can use it for more practical purposes than just a toaster.
Most of us have heard of someone who has jumped into a relationship with an agenda that doesn't include love. Well, at least there are people out there who have done it. Oftentimes it's more of a business relationship than that of a loving couple, but sometimes love accidentally finds its way into the fake pairing while other times things just get worse. On Sunday, April 19 at 8pm on ABC Family, Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence team up for the original movie, My Fake Fiancé, which sees their characters, Jennifer and Vince, take an immediate disliking to each other when sitting together at a wedding.
HART: I think what’s funny about it [is that] it reminds me of the movie House Sitter, which was one of my favorite movies, with Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn, and how they pretend to be in love, and it just gets them deeper and deeper in these lies. Of course they start off thinking to themselves that they’re buying gifts for all these other people and - When does it pay off for them? And they’re never going to get married, so why would they? When are they going to get this money back to them? So they decide to pretend to get married so they can get what they want.
HART: [laughs] No, I love the Italian men. They make me feel right at home because I feel like I’m back in New York. Working with him was kind of like - it felt warm and cozy.
HART: That’s what I’ve been doing most of my life, so it would be kind of hard for me to do it another way. When I work on other people’s movies and I’m just the actor, it’s kind of difficult not knowing where you can put in your two cents. But when you’re the producer they have to listen to you, so it’s nice.
