I’m freaked out by guns: Melissa McCarthy

The female-driven mob drama The Kitchen will hit the screens on August 23 across India. The movie is based on the comic book series by Ollie Masters and Ming Doyle. Starring Oscar nominee Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids), Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip) and Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale), it recounts the story of three mob wives who take over the Irish gang that runs their neighbourhood, after their husbands are sent to prison. Oscar-nominated screenwriter Andrea Berloff marks her directorial debut with this project. 

Andrea did not want to give the leading ladies any kind of weapons training so that they’d look like people who were not accustomed to handling guns. Melissa says, “I’ve had gun training for other films. I did believe that my character Kathy had been around guns and knew how to load one, but I didn’t want to make it seem like it’s something she did every day. I at least wanted to make sure it looked like this is not her first time with it, like, when she was loading it, she wasn’t thinking, “Where does this thing go?” 

A still from The Kitchen

Having worked with the assumption that Kathy’s mobster husband would’ve initiated her into the world of guns while he was alive making her familiar with the basics, Melissa says, “I mean, I’m freaked out by guns. But I think for somebody who’s always been kind of around them, it’s just not a big deal.”