Actor Paul Rudd had his scenes cut from Bridesmaids. Photo / Getty
Actor Paul Rudd had his scenes cut from Bridesmaids. Photo / Getty
Loveable actor Paul Rudd has brought joy to millions of viewers in a variety of rom-com love interest characters, and yet, when he was cast - and extensively filmed - for such a part in smash 2011 hit Bridesmaids, it never made the big screen.
Rudd was cast as ablind date for Kristen Wiig's character Annie, the happily single maid of honour who must decide between two men to take to her friend's wedding.
Director Paul Feig told Entertainment Weekly that he wrote a very specific role for Rudd, that of "blind date-turned-crazy man".
The scene saw Rudd and Wiig visit an ice-skating rink under a cloud of movie romance, only for it to transpire that Rudd's character was bad at ice skating and a sore loser about it, to boot.
Melissa Mc Carthy and Kristen Wiig both star in Bridesmaids. Photo / Getty
He was particularly incensed when an overweight child skated over his finger.
Producer Judd Apatow convinced Rudd to spent an entire filming day "throwing his body down on an ice-skating rink, running around the set like a deranged fool and tossing expletives at small children". It was to everyone's dismay that his efforts were left on the cutting room floor.
Feig explains that it was an example of "that terrible moment when you have to kill your babies", especially as the scene was "one of the funniest things I've ever been a witness to".
Chris O'Dowd plays the love interest in Bridesmaids. Photo / Getty
He had to cut it because Feig that Wiig would not be dating more men than the two (played by Jon Hamm and Chris O'Dowd) already in the plot:
"It just didn't ring true that in addition to Jon and Chris, she'd be also going out on other dates to try and find more love. It made more sense that she'd be caught between these two guys. Very sadly, we cut all the blind date sequences out of the movie."
Feig then made producer Apatow deliver the news, saying he "felt so bad about it."
Alas, the footage doesn't exist for public consumption.
We can only hope that somebody follows in the footsteps of the Reddit user who uploaded Rudd's incredible yearbook photo to the internet a few years ago, and it emerges online for the benefit of all mankind.
