When you write, how do you prioritize things? Is it based on whatever strikes you that day?

JA: I tend to only work on one project at a time, because...it'd be nice to have the luxury of, "Oh, I don't feel like writing that today." I tend to have to write on the thing that I'm writing on. But I will write out of sequence, so if I really don't feel like writing that action sequence, I'll go ahead and do that funnier moment that's happening at the end of the second act. And I know I'll get back to the action sequence when I need to. So I feel free to skip around. That's the luxury of being a writer.

You talked about how, in the second segment, Ryan is really a stand-in for you. Melissa, was there ever a moment where Ryan was so much like John, or so different from John, that it got a little weird?

MM: I think he definitely changed his speech pattern. John's got a very quick pacing to him. So there was something very kind of funny that would happen, like working with Ryan and then notes would come in from John. Every once in a while it was like, ok, there's kind of like two Johns, so to speak, because Ryan was now rapid-fire at me and John speaks very quickly. So that kind of overlapped, but there was always kind of an otherworldly sense about that whole second part. I'm playing myself, we're talking about personal things in my life, things that have happened between John and I; here's Ryan playing John, who's standing over there. It really was kind of like, "What's going on?"

JA: And I'm the off-screen producer who's asking questions, so you hear my voice in that section, redirecting stuff in cases. So I was constantly trying to sort of smudge the line between what's real and what's fiction throughout that section.

So what's it like to have yourself played by Ryan Reynolds?

JA: It was fine. Just like Melissa was playing a version of herself who's named Melissa McCarthy, he's playing a version of me named Gavin Taylor. And if I was going to ask him to do that, I had to give him permission to take anything he wanted to take. And so he took a lot of my mannerisms that annoy me to death when I'm doing them, but he was accurate. And so I wasn't afraid of that. It's honestly my favorite section of the movie in that when you're writing, you create a character and sort of hand it off to the actor. You don't get to change it around again. In doing that section, there would be things that would come up, or he would be talking about something -- a lot of that section is improvised -- I'd hear him talking and it would be like, "Oh, I remember this thing." And we would discuss it and he would sort of echo back what I was saying. To be able to do that in real time was a unique opportunity.

Could you talk about Shazam? What's the status? Are you writing it with any sort of budget in mind?

JA: The last question is easy. I'm writing it for the budget that's capable of making it, which is probably a pretty substantial budget, because it's a big superhero movie and those aren't cheap. So I don't know what the budget's going to be, but ample. To me, what's so appealing about Shazam as a movie is that it's a superhero movie where the characters in it would actually read the comic book that they're based on. It had that ability to be meta without being incredibly annoyingly knowing. These are characters who are not only excited to be superheroes, but sort of really understand the rules of being a superhero. And they take the responsibility of being a superhero a little differently than other people would. And it's actually a movie that's inherently funny. The underlying premise is funny. So it's not just Spider-Man plus jokes. There's something inherently funny about a 13-year-old boy who gets to become a big, studly superhero, and sort of what's a priority to him wouldn't be a priority to a normal person who gets those powers.

How is it coming up with these crazy big action sequences?

JA: I've written a lot of set pieces, and I really enjoy them because I'm the kind of person, if I'm sitting around, waiting for a meeting to start, I'll be like, where could I land a helicopter? And that's just the sort of daydreaming that a screenwriter gets to do, is thinking about what's almost impossible but kind of believable in a movie. With Shazam it's been exciting to figure out things like, "How does flying work? If you were suddenly able to fly, how would you describe what it's like to another character?" So figuring that out was really interesting. The bases of Shazam's powers are different than Superman's. They're not based on the yellow sun; they're magical. And that's unique opportunity.

Would you say that this is more of a PG kid's movie?

JA: I don't know what it will ultimately be. It's not rated R. The thirteen-year-olds who are reflected in the movie will really love the movie, and I think other people will too. At this budget, it's gotta be one of those classic four quadrants, where everybody and their brother goes to see it.

Which incarnation of the character are you basing it on?

JA: I think it will take a fair amount from the current mythology and a lot of sort of the classic mythology, in terms of that wish fulfillment. Like, it's hard to say what decade Spider-Man takes place in. It's sort of like a perfect, utopian kind of...this is what a big city looks like. Our story has all of the classic qualities but is also set in a modern age. It's like, kids can have cell phones. There's been a lot of questions about, "Oh, is he really Billy Batson when he converts or is he really Shazam?" That I really can't get into.

Can you talk about Hancock?

JA: Hancock used to be called Tonight, He Comes. I came on to do a couple weeks of work shortly before they went into production and it was just an amazing script. I passed on it four times because it was like, "I can't. This is great. Ok, maybe there are a few little things I could work on." So I just stayed on for a few weeks and helped out. But it's not my movie at all.

Can you tell us a little about the story? Not much is known about it.

JA: Honestly -- it's not The Sixth Sense, but there's a big secret that's sort of at the heart of it, and I don't want to ruin it for people. It's a revisionist superhero movie in the way that Shazam is a revisionist superhero movie, but just 180 degrees different.

Upcoming projects?

MM: I've actually already started shooting a new show, Samantha Who? for ABC. So that's been really fun. It's a nice change from Gilmore and I think it's really funny and smart. Don Todd's the writer and it's been great to do something kinda new but still...I like TV. I like working a lot, so it makes it possibly to go in every week and work. I have two movies coming out but I'm not sure when they're being released. One is...what's it called now? Just Add Water. And then another one's Pretty Ugly People.

Nice.

MM: I know; I love that title. So those'll be fun. I should have a fun year coming up.

JA: After Shazam, I signed a deal at Fox owing them my next original script, so I'll be writing that for Fox.

When will you be directing again?

JA: I would love to direct again. Honestly, I'm kind of stacked up for a while, but I do intend to direct again.

Would you direct someone else's script?

JA: No, I wouldn't. People ask me that a lot. It takes so long to direct that I just can't imagine spending two years of my life doing something that I just didn't have to direct. And this was a movie I had to direct. So I can't imagine doing someone else's script at this point. Ask me again in six months.

For your original script, have you thought about the genre that you want to tackle?

JA: Yeah. A couple different genres. The movie I write for Fox is gonna be one of those big movies, and there's nothing wrong with a big movie. But I don't know if it's gonna be a thriller or action or…

Can you talk about your experiences at Sundance?

MM: Well, I was five months pregnant, so I was just kind of concentrating on getting up those hills. So it was a lot of like, "Oh God, why can't these all be in the same place?" But I really loved it. I didn't get to see any movies, so I had a very strange Sundance experience, because basically when we got done with press, I took me and my belly home and passed out. Did you see anything?

JA: I saw nothing. I skied, I did press and I just enjoyed myself. It was just weird, because my very first movie, Go, premiered at Sundance, and was comparatively big to what we were. So there was a lot more happening for that. But it was still a great experience.

It's supposed to be the best time to ski.

JA: It was actually great. No one was skiing, so we were like the only people on the slopes.

Where did the line about the koalas come from?

JA: I'd always had a secret...there's something going on with koalas. There's no way...they're thinking about something while they're doing all that stuff. I just thought it was too boastful to say that humans are just one step away from being the creators of this universe, so I they were good in between. Dolphins, they get way too much credit. Koalas are where it's at.

What was your casting process like for this film?

JA: We never had a casting director. There were so few roles that we just made direct offers to the people who we really wanted in the movie. So Melissa I called up. Ryan -- we just had a really short list and I said, "I'd like to meet with him," and we met and he was great and he wanted to do it. Hope -- it was just a hard time finding the right actress who would fit all three roles. We just finally made a direct offer to her agent and she said yes. It was tough because she lives in New York, so getting her to come out for this schedule was rough but she was great. People like David Denman I knew from Big Fish. Octavia I new from Melissa. And there's people who I always kind of wanted to work with.

Did you pick Ryan because you guys had a similar physique?

JA: Yeah. When I look in the mirror I'm hugely delusional, so I was like, "Yeah, that's me."