ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ

Director Andy Tennant made his name in Hollywood with romantic yarns of questionable merit. They include Drew Barrymore vehicle Ever After, Matthew Perry comedy Fools Rush In, Jodie Foster's Anna And The King and Reese Witherspoon rom-com Sweet ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Alabama. Finally, with Hitch, he has hit upon a winning formula. Will Smith stars in the story of a dating doctor faltering in his efforts to woo Eva Mendes, which has already gone down a storm in the States.

How did this script come into your hands?

I actually received a phone call from Will Smith and I know the exact day because it changed my whole year. It was 5th November 2003 and it was, "Dad! Will Smith's on the phone!" Now you have to realise, I didn't even know Will Smith, so I just told my son to shut up. But it was - it was Will Smith asking me if I wanted to do a romantic comedy from the guy's point of view.

Romantic comedies are so difficult to get right. Why do you think this one has been so hugely successful in the States?

Because I think both Will and I were terrified of making a bad one, you know? At least in our country... do you guys have Blockbuster Video? Well, you go to Blockbuster Video at night and the shelves are filled with awful romantic comedies, and I think to try and not be one of those movies and join those ranks was something that kept us really pushing. Every time we thought we were going too soft, or romantic, we tried to go funny and I guess we've succeeded.

When it came to casting the female lead opposite Will Smith, how big of an issue was race?

I don't think it was an issue. What we needed - which became ridiculously simple for us - was someone sexy and funny because that's who Will is. Will is really charming and really good-looking and really funny. So with Eva [Mendes] what we got is sexy and funny. Fortunately for me, she had just done a movie with Neil Moritz who was the producer of my last film [Sweet ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Alabama], so to call him up and say, "We're thinking about Eva Mendes," and for him to say "Great! She's wonderful!" it just didn't become an issue. I think the whole thing about he's an African-American and she's a Latina doesn't matter. The whole movie is colour-blind.

But do you think it might have been a problem for the studio if you wanted to cast an Anglo-Saxon actress opposite Will Smith?

Listen I think it could have been anybody. In this day and age I would hope that it wouldn't have been an issue, but uh, you know... And it would have been unfortunate because the movie would have been overshadowed by that because it's a romantic comedy so it's supposed to be funny and just a good time for a couple of hours.

What about the casting of Kevin James? You could have hired someone who was maybe a bigger name in the movie business...

We could have but the idea about Kevin is that he is really a wonderful physical comedian and I thought that people would want to discover a new star. They want to find the next great comedian and I think with Kevin we have him. I often call him the secret weapon of the movie because he and Will's chemistry is as strong, if not stronger than, Will's chemistry with Eva.

Did you allow them room to improvise?

No. I think as a director you are pretty much a control freak. That's the nature of the job and to let them run wild wasn't... it doesn't help production, but I do know that in the dancing scene they did go wild because we had two cameras going and neither of them knew what the other was going to do. And with regard to the dialogue that went on, that was a good, fun day.

This is one of those New York films that was actually shot in New York as opposed to Toronto. How tricky were the logistics of that?

It is complicated and I think the reason so much of it is on the streets of New York is that we wanted to justify the cost of actually shooting in New York. The thing is if you are going to shoot in office buildings and you're not going to see the city then it does make sense to go to Toronto and save some money. But we literally changed the script to put scenes out on the street so that we would see New York.

What about the jet-skiing sequence on the Hudson?

That was difficult and in fact it was in the movie and then we took it out of the movie and we were going to shoot it and then we weren't... It was logistically very difficult and it also cost a lot of money and so at first it was rejected primarily because of the cost. But when we started talking about the comedy of the scene then the studio jumped on board.

Do you wish you'd had someone like Hitch to give you dating advice in your single days?

Well I could have and should have had one 12 years ago when I got married. My first date with my wife went fairly well considering it was me, but my second date with her wasn't for another three years! I think in those three years between the first and second dates I evolved as a man and I was finally able to land the woman of my dreams.

So what was your worst dating experience?

Oh-oh! I did have a date once where it was so bad that when I walked her to the door - she lived on the second floor of an apartment building - I turned to leave and tripped and fell down about 25 steps. I should have died, I should have broken my neck, but the date was bad that she didn't even leave the doorway. She just sort of called down to me, "You okay?" And I was this crumpled mess at the bottom of the stairs and like, "Yeah, no, no, good. I'm fine." That was the worst. Really bad. Really, really bad.

You've made your name with romantic comedies, but do you have the urge now to do something different?

Yeah, I think I've done a lot of romance. I did Anna And The King and lived in Malaysia for seven months and I don't think there was anything funny about that movie! But yeah, I would like to do that. I think there are love stories to be done in all kinds of genres so I'd love to do a thriller. In fact I've got one with Julia Roberts right now. It's called The Alameda but God knows what it'll be named when we finally make it. But anyway it's a thriller to be shot in Spain between a mother and daughter. It'll be really good when we finally make it.

Hitch is released in London's West End on 4th March and in UK cinemas nationwide on 11th March 2005.