Sugar Lyn Beard knew exactly how to make her butt look good during that massage scene in “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates,” but she found a personal butt coach in costar Aubrey Plaza.
The hilarious clip of a massage therapist (Kumail Nanjiani) giving bride Jeanie (Beard) a massage she’ll never forget has been something of a sensation since the movie’s red-band trailer debuted.
“I was on set that day,” Plaza told TheWrap. “I wasn’t shooting, but I was doing some behind the scenes stuff. And I kept running over and messing with Sug when she was naked on the table, and I kept telling her, ‘Your butt looks good.’ And ‘Elevate it.’”
According to Plaza, Beard put a little pillow underneath her buttocks to get the perfect arch.
The comedy features Plaza and Anna Kendrick as Tatiana and Alice, two best friends who travel to a destination wedding as the dates of the bride’s brothers, Mike (Adam Devine) and Dave (Zac Efron). Mike and Dave think they have found the perfect good girls to take with them to the function, but Alice and Tatiana are actually hot messes who turn the wedding completely upside down.
“[My] character is totally insane and so fun and is totally f—ing s— up,” Plaza said. “But it’s all in the name of friendship, and she has a heart of gold.”
Plaza’s character also does a lot of crazy stunts throughout the movie. In one scene, she gets hit by a moving car, and in another, she does a crazy flip on top of an ATV when it’s airborne. But the former “Parks and Recreation” star only did one of the stunts herself — and it’s one that she is particularly proud of.
“I did not get hit by the car, although I asked them if I could, and they said no,” she said. “There’s only one really stupid stunt that I did myself that was my idea.”
Near the end of the movie, the gang sets out to save the wedding, and all of them run off to complete the mission — but Tatiana jumps over a hedge and falls on her face. “I’m really proud of that one,” Plaza said.
“Mike and Dave Needing Wedding Dates” hits theaters on July 8. Watch Plaza spill the beans on her costars biggest secrets here.
Watch the whole interview above.