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Brendan Fraser as Elliot Richards, who never finds time to read the small print in the enormous contract he signs with the Devil, played by Liz Hurley (below) in a variety of guises, most of them scantily clad.
“In Elliot’s first wish,” says Ramis, “Alison is a Latina spitfire. And you could believe that Frances is a Latin American actress, because not only is she speaking perfect Spanish and doing the accent: she seems to have a real Latin temperament. Then she’s a hippie girl to his sensitive guy. She has henna tattoos and is a sort of Northern California space cadet. In another guise, she’s the girlfriend to Brendan’s rock ‘n’ roll star and she plays it just like something out of Sid and Nancy or the Doors movie. She becomes this slutty, Cockney tart. Then she becomes a very aggressive sports reporter and later, for our elegant penthouse party, she turns into a very sophisticated, intelligent Grace Kelly type, all silky and creamy but with a kind of innocence. And, in every fantasy, she remains completely appealing.”
It all goes desperately wrong for Elliot, of course, which is what makes the movie funny. And funny is the key: Hurley’s Devil is not out to do serious damage so much as to create a bit of mischief and have some fun along the way.
“I’d never seen the original film but I caught up with it after being offered this one,” admits Hurley. “I thought it was fantastic. I’d always adored Peter Cook and thought he was fabulous. It is quite frightening to think that you have to step into one of the greatest comedian ever’s shoes. But luckily our Devils are chalk and cheese. His was a laconic cynic whereas mine is an exuberant, badly behaved tormentor.”
As for Ramis himself, once he had the thing set up, he kind of sat back and let it happen, allowing his cast and crew to bring fresh nuances but never letting them lose sight of the through-line.
“It’s like being back on MAD-TV,” says Orlando Jones, who plays Elliot’s co-worker, Dan. “You get a chance to play all this different material. And because Harold comes out of the world of sketch comedy and has done it so often and in so many different ways, you completely trust him. The framework is pretty straightforward. You know what it is, so it gives you a little bit more room to play and improvise. Of course, sometimes we do things and Harold will say, ‘That was good. Now this time say the words’.”
“For me,” concludes Ramis, “it’s all conception. Both as a writer and as a director, all the work I do is in my head, visualising things. Peter Tolan and I had a lot of laughs thinking up what Elliot’s wishes could be. But when I imagine these things, I don’t worry about how difficult it is to do them. Hollywood is full of really talented professional people. And, if you can think of it, they will find a way to make it happen.”
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