IT’S his biggest role to date, but Jack Whitehall didn’t find appearing in a Hollywood movie alongside Julia Roberts and Jennifer Aniston anything to worry about.
Jack is in Mother’s Day, an ensemble comedy with a series of interwoven stories all revolving around mums.
The League Of Their Own panellist plays the long-term partner of an adopted girl (played by Tomorrowland’s Britt Robertson) about to meet her birth mother for the first time.
While Jack’s experience of such matters is limited, he was on a much-more-familiar footing when it came to his character’s back story.
“He’s a stand-up comedian from England and that’s exactly what I am,” laughs the 27-year-old performer.
“After reading the script, I really wanted to be in the film and being able to do some stand-up in my first major film was an added bonus.”
The film is the third of its type, following on from Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve, from the creative mind of Pretty Woman director Garry Marshall.
Julia Roberts, making her fourth appearance in a Marshall film, plays the impeccably-turned-out presenter on a home shopping channel whose flawlessly- manicured veneer hides a dirty secret from her past.
Jennifer Aniston takes on the role of a divorcee with two kids whose amicable relationship with her ex-husband sours suddenly when he announces he has remarried a much younger woman.
And Kate Hudson plays a happily- married mum who’s estranged from her bigoted parents after they voiced their disapproval at her relationship with a man of Indian descent.
In Jack’s story strand, he plays Zack, who lives with his girlfriend Kristin and their one-year-old daughter.
The doting dad wants to get married, but Kristin is nervous about making commitments, having been abandoned by her mother at birth.
Although at home playing a stand-up comedian, Whitehall says the shoot was a big change from his previous film experience playing Alfie Wickers in the movie spin-off of his TV series Bad Education.
“It was like no set I’ve ever been on before,” he says.
“In England, everyone is so uptight and so repressed, whereas on a Garry Marshall set, it’s chaos. It’s like being in a frat house.
“He’s playing pranks every five minutes, just keeping everyone in high spirits.
“It’s an incredibly nice and enjoyable environment to be.”
In fact, Whitehall became the butt of one of Marshall’s infamous practical jokes.
During a crucial scene between Zack and Kristin, the director secretly spirited Whitehall’s real-life girlfriend, actress Gemma Chan, into Atlanta and convinced her to interrupt the proceedings in a most-embarrassing way.
“My jaw just dropped,” the actor remembers. “I was quite shocked that this was happening on set.
“And then, from behind the camera, I hear: ‘Welcome to my movie, kid.’”
Mother’s Day is at cinemas now.
READ MORE
Jack O’Connell was hand-picked by Jodie Foster for role in Money Monster
Gilly Gilchrist on his whirlwind filming schedule for Versailles, Fortitude and 10 Rillington Place
Enjoy the convenience of having The Sunday Post delivered as a digital ePaper straight to your smartphone, tablet or computer.
Subscribe for only £5.49 a month and enjoy all the benefits of the printed paper as a digital replica.
Subscribe