In the wake of Trainwreck’s success last year, star and writer Amy Schumer was no doubt inundated with offers from Hollywood. Indeed, she remained busy with her Comedy Central series Inside Amy Schumer, but she also began looking for her next film project, eventually settling on a screenplay by The Heat and Ghostbusters co-writer Katie Dippold described as a mother/daughter action-comedy. The project quickly gained steam as Warm Bodies and 50/50 director Jonathan Levine settled into the director’s chair, and then scored a huge get when Goldie Hawn signed on to play Schumer’s mother in the 20th Century Fox film, marking her first feature film role in nearly 15 years.

Plot details for the as-yet-untitled movie have been kept under wraps, but during the press day for Ghostbusters, Collider’s own Christina Radish spoke with Dippold about the movie, at which time she gave a rundown of the inspiration behind the film and its core story. Dippold also discussed working with Schumer, who did some work on the screenplay herself, and how Schumer’s persistence resulted in Hawn’s casting. See what all she had to say below, and look for Christina’s full interview closer to the release of Ghostbusters on July 15th.


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Image via Universal Pictures

Collider:  You also wrote the new Jonathan Levine movie. Does that have a title yet? 

KATIE DIPPOLD:  No. Please give me one, I beg you. I don’t know why it’s so hard.

What is that film about? 

DIPPOLD:  That is based off my mom. When I was younger, my mom was always very adventurous. Her and my dad divorced when I was in college, and she’s gotten more concerned about safety. She wants to make sure the doors are locked. I feel like there used to be a more adventurous spirit in her. She’s still lovely and awesome. She’s like, “I’m 66 years old, just leave me alone right now.” So, we got her to sign up for a dating profile on eHarmony, and it was the most phoned-in profile I’ve ever seen in my life. She complained it didn’t work, so I looked and she had no photo and she had a typo in the first sentence, but she’s a very smart woman. And then, she got mad in one of her answers and used all caps. I was like, “What were you doing? You were purposely phoning this in!” In all fairness to her, she’s like, “I’m happy, let me be.” But I started daydreaming about, what if I took her on a crazy vacation somewhere, and then I took us off the beaten path, just to shake things up. So then, I started thinking about a movie version of that. So, the movie is that. She gets taken off the beaten path, but then everything the mother feared is correct. So, it’s then basically trying to get to an American embassy through the Amazon rainforest and whatnot. I still need to take my mom on this trip, and I swear I’m going to do it, this year. At the end of production, I will take my mom on vacation and not just mock her through this movie.

Is she aware of this movie? 

DIPPOLD:  Yeah.

This is Goldie Hawn’s first feature in like 14 years. 

DIPPOLD:  Thank god, it’s Goldie Hawn, so my mom can be excited.

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Image via Fox Searchlight

How did it feel to get her back in a movie? 

DIPPOLD:  Oh, man, I was the biggest Goldie Hawn fan, my entire life. It’s really, really exciting. And seeing her back in action again, she’s so amazing and so funny. I’m really excited for people to see this.

When you write something for Amy Schumer, do you also write it with Amy Schumer? How much does she contribute to the writing and development, being a writer herself? 


DIPPOLD:  Amy is a really, really hilarious writer and did passes on the script. She’s super funny, and I feel like the core of our senses of humor is really similar. It’s actually been really fun. She’s hilarious, and also a great actor. There are moments in the movie where I’m like, “Oh, damn, look at you!” She’s really great. And seeing them together, they’re really awesome together. From the beginning, Amy always pushed for going after Goldie to play the mom ‘cause she was a big fan. So, them together is really special.