Adored by critics and viewers alike, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is the ideal movie for people who crave a fun and light atmosphere. The film's bold pastel colors and silly music numbers can’t help but brighten anyone's mood.
Beyond the film's cheerful patina and outrageous comedy is an even wilder and more hilarious behind-the-scenes story involving thalassophobia, Barbra Streisand, and The Golden Girls. The film's production proves to be just as entertaining as the film itself.
No Scenes Were Actually Filmed In Vista Del Mar
Because of the film's title, viewers would expect the film to be shot in the actual Florida town of Vista Del Mar. However, this proved to not be the case. As reported by the Albuquerque Journal, the film was first planned to be made in Georgia until the Heartbeat Bill was passed. The filming locations were changed in response and the movie was shot in different locations in Mexico for the Vista Del Mar scenes and in Albuquerque, New Mexico for the Nebraska scenes where Barb and Star live.
Jamie Dornan Does His Own Singing
While Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is by no means a musical, there are two memorable music numbers in the film that are both sung by Fifty Shades of Grey's Jamie Dornan. With a surprisingly good voice, Dornan does a fantastic job as lovelorn Edgar, who can only reveal his true feelings by singing. It helped that Jamie Dornan has prior singing experience by singing a cover of Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed" on the Fifty Shades Freed soundtrack. Some viewers could argue that Dornan's musical numbers make Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar better than Bridesmaids.
How You Know Barb's Annie Mumolo
Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig's professional partner, has been an entertainment mainstay for many years. She is an accomplished writer, with writing credits that include the critically acclaimed Joy starring Jennifer Lawerence and Robert De Niro and the 2017 biographical film Megan Leavey. Mumolo was also a co-writer along with Wiig on Bridesmaids, which was nominated for a Best Original Screenplay Oscar in 2011.
In front of the camera, Mumolo was a regular on the series About a Boy and appeared in Transparent and Lady Dynamite. In film, Mumolo has appeared in the comedies Bad Moms and The Boss. She's perhaps best known for her scene-stealing cameo as the anxious airplane passenger who sits next to Kristen Wiig's character, Annie, in Bridesmaids.
The Stars Of The Film Wrote "Edgar's Prayer"
When Jamie Dornan's Edgar performs the song and dance number "Edgar's Prayer" in one of Barb and Star's funniest moments, the lyrics are as silly as the movie itself. With phrases like " I’m going up a palm tree like a cat up a palm tree who’s decided to go up a palm tree," the song is incredibly ludicrous and hilarious. The two stars of the film, Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, who play Barb and Star respectively, wrote the lyrics to the comical tune. As revealed in Uproxx, "Edgar’s Prayer" was inspired by Kevin Bacon's emotional warehouse dance scene in Footloose. The musical segment lets the audience know who Edgar is as a person; all he wants is to be loved by the object of his affection, Star.
The Film Is An Ode To Middle-Aged Women Everywhere
The two writers felt that middle age is a development stage that often gets overlooked and ignored for women. Wiig and Mumolo strove to create two female characters of a certain age that would be the heroes of the story. In an interview on Late Night with Seth Myers, the filmmakers felt having both the characters middle-aged was a chance to provide a platform to a group who are underrepresented in popular culture. The film was written with the purpose of giving older women a voice and showing women who embrace their age and find joy in all aspects of being in the middle-aged bracket.
The Movie Was Appealing For Jamie Dornan For A "Golden" Reason
In an interview on The Late Late Show, Annie Mumolo related how Dornan revealed to her at a photo shoot for the film that he was actually in a Golden Girls fan club when he was younger. Dornan then elaborated to Mumolo that he had a special affinity for Estelle Getty, who played the foul-mouthed spitfire Sophia on The Golden Girls. Dornan's love of Golden Girls was a perfect fit for Barb and Star as it is also a project that showcases women of a certain age who are physically active and spiritually carefree.
Kristen Wiig Is Terrified Of Water
For a movie that takes place in a tropical setting, there are bound to be scenes set in the water. In Barb and Star, there are quite a few scenes set in pools and the ocean. This proved to be a bit of an issue for Kristen Wiig as she suffers from thalassophobia (a fear of open water and water predators), making the water scenes troublesome to shoot for the comedy star.
In the banana boat scene, the titular duo is tasked with jumping off the boat and into the ocean. As soon as Wiig plunged into the water, the film's stunt coordinator, who was aware of Wiig's phobia, rushed over to her and comforted her so she would not be immersed in the water. Wiig's fear doesn't translate on the silver screen as she convincingly portrays Star having the time of her life swimming and skiing in the ocean.
The Opening Scene
The decision to use Barbara Streisand and Barry Gibb's 1980 classic song "Guilty" was intended to be part of the opening scene from day one of the film's conception. Reyn Doi, the child actor who portrays Yoyo, had to lip-sync the ballad as part of his audition.
Another interesting fact about Doi was that before he shot the opening scene, he had never ridden a bike before. People at the studio had to teach him how to ride a bike before shooting the scene. The resulting scene is a hilarious opener similar to Zoolander, another quirky comedy that fans of Barb and Star should see, that sets the silly tone for the rest of the film and lets the audience know what to expect from the beginning.
Talking Club
The idea for the Talking Club came from wanting to have the two title characters belong to "...something that seemed like, the most boring, like, if there was any other club they went to it would actually be like a thing they were doing so I think we were like, 'Well, what if they just talk'" as Wiig recounted in a Q & A, wanting the duo to be involved in the most mundane version of a club ever to contrast the bright adventure they embark on when they travel to Vista Del Mar.
The Talking Club was also meant to evolve to be more adventurous to correlate with Barb and Star's awakening. A scene that didn't make the movie would have shown the club kidnapping someone that had been consistently rude to them, and accidentally killing the victim in the process. It was probably better that scene didn't make the cut as it seems more Tarantino-esque than that of Barb and Star's lighthearted comedy.
Barb and Star's Wardrobe Influences
The clothes of Barb and Star had a number of influences. The primary inspiration for the characters' wardrobe was Kristen Wiig's mother, whose love of pastels and skirts would be reflected in the women's beach attire. Also, the similar yet not identical personalities of the two title characters were factored into the silhouettes and color palettes of the costumes. It was deemed that the costumes should be similar in style but differ slightly in areas like color.
Barb and Star's sunny disposition played a key role in the development of the costumes as well. The two women are so cheerful and sunny, even in their midwestern town, so their costumes lean towards bright colors. Once the women are in vacation mode, their outfits reflect the tropical surroundings like shell friendship bracelets and pineapple earrings.