20. The classic “perfect date” line has special meaning.
Every April 25th, a meme celebrates the movie’s beloved Miss Rhode Island quote about “the perfect date.” Miss Rhode Island mistakenly interprets this date as her favorite day on the calendar instead of her ideal romantic outing. As it turns out, screenwriter Mark Lawrence wrote the line, but Donald tweaked it by changing the date to his wife’s birthday.
“I just said, ‘Maybe April 25th? That’s my wife’s birthday,'” the director revealed. “That’s why I’m so happy to see these memes popping up every year on her birthday.”
21. Get the last laugh
Donald stated that he intentionally included extra scenes in early cuts of his films in preparation for unexpected audience reactions, so critics were never invited. However, the director recalled that movie blogger Harry Knowles snuck into the preview and gave “the most scathing and worst criticism of the film to date, including accusing me of personally ruining Sandy Bullock’s career.”
Fortunately, the studio seemed unfazed by the early negative buzz, and in the end the film was still a hit, grossing $212 million worldwide against a budget of $45 million. “The only thing I can say is that I’m happy that this movie was a huge success and became some kind of classic comedy and made a lot of money so that I could flip my finger on those reviews and say, ‘Hey, hey!'” Donald said.
