Why Anna Kendrick And Olivia Wilde Were 'Hammered' For An Entire Movie
Although it's nearly been a decade since "Drinking Buddies" premiered, we're still not over the simple but stellar romantic-comedy. Directed by Joe Swanson, the indie film revolves around a quartet of characters played by A-list actors Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick, and Ron Livingston. Set primarily in a craft brewery in Chicago, "Drinking Buddies" explores the platonic but sexually charged relationship between two co-workers and best friends, Kate (Wilde) and Luke (Johnson), and their two significant others, Jill (Kendrick) and Chris (Livingston). It's all fun and games until the foursome go on a weekend getaway, and the lines between the couples begin to blur (via IMDb). This realistic and relatable comedy received positive reviews, and was even listed as one of Quentin Tarantino's favorite movies of 2013 (via Indie Wire).
As the movie title suggests, "Drinking Buddies" consists of, well, a lot of drinking. From drinking in bars after work, to a glass of wine on the side of a hiking trail, the "Drinking Buddies" characters are constantly knocking back alcoholic beverages. While this all adds up, one surprising tidbit that many people don't know is that the actors were genuinely drunk in most scenes while filming this boozy rom-com.
The movie was called Drinking Buddies for good reason
While this may seem shocking to some, drinking alcohol on set is not that uncommon. In films such as "Arizona Dream," and "Apocalypse Now," actors Johnny Deep and Martin Sheen were genuinely inebriated during drinking scenes (via Thrillist). In an interview with Popsugar, Wilde and Johnson explained how "Drinking Buddies" was no different, estimating they drank approximately beer beers a day while filming.
It may be tricky to act drunk on camera, however, the "Drinking Buddies" actors weren't consuming alcohol to better their acting performances. "The reason we wanted to drink the beer wasn't to loosen up, it was because we were working within this very specific world in the film—the craft-beer world of Chicago—so we wanted to be able to improvise accordingly," Wilde shared in an interview with the Daily Beast.
All of the actors had their fair share of interesting experiences while filming, including Kendrick. During the "Pitch Perfect" actress's first day on set, nobody told her that the beer she was drinking was real. "(Kendrick) sat down to do the first scene and took a huge gulp of beer, not realizing it was real, and was like instantly hammered," Wilde recalled to USA Today. "She was like, 'What's happening? What are you guys doing?' and we were like, 'Oh, we forgot to tell you — the beer's all real and everyone's drunk. It's 10 a.m., welcome to 'Drinking Buddies.”"