Directors of romantic comedies have to be part alchemist in order to find the right mix of actors to create film gold. Mark Steven Johnson used a pinch of Kristen Bell and a dash of Josh Duhamel to create the chemistry for his When in Rome.
Bell plays Beth, a workaholic who decides there's no such thing as true love.
When she takes five coins from a magic fountain in Rome, the previous owners of the coins fall madly in love with her. Soon, she's hounded by the suitors, who include Nick (Duhamel), a former professional football player.
Their efforts to woo Beth lead to both comic moments and romance.
"We hired them [Bell and Duhamel] because they are such great actors, they look so great together and they are so likeable," Johnson said.
"They are both so funny; so physically funny."
Johnson knew Bell had the looks to pull off the role. He was pleasantly surprised to discover how well she handled physical comedy.
Bell says it was easy because she was just playing herself.
"Lucky for me, the character was written as kind of a klutz. That's what makes her likeable and leaves room for a lot of funnies," Bell said.
"I'm very klutzy in real life to begin with, so we just captured that on film. There were times when I would just trip while the camera was rolling."
Although Bell has appeared in comedies, such as the musical version of Reefer Madness and the feature film Couples Retreat, she is better known for serious work in the TV series Veronica Mars and Heroes.
When Johnson found Duhamel to be equally as deft in handling comedy, more pratfalls were added to the script in an effort to make it more like the traditional screwball romantic comedies of the 1930s.
Bell didn't get as many pratfalls because, as she put it, "I bruise like a peach."
