If you comb the history of Hollywood well enough, you start to find a lot of roles that are famous for being left in the editing room. Believe it or not, Paul Rudd was supposed to have a small role in Bridesmaids, playing half of a blind date gone wrong for Kristen Wiig's Annie. But unfortunately, after a day of shooting and the usual Rudd magic, the scene was eventually cut by director Paul Feig. Though, in all honesty, his reason for cutting the moment from the film was a valid one: he felt it sabotaged the romantic plot-line already represented by Jon Hamm and Chris O'Dowd.
EW picked up on this lost treasure of a fact as they spoke with Feig as part of their "Untold Stories" series. Originally, the scene would have shown Rudd as a random date that Annie was courting, in addition to her dalliances with Hamm's Ted and O'Dowd's Rhodes. But while a scene of ice-skating and swearing at children would have been perfect between Paul Rudd and Kristen Wiig, it didn't fit into Bridesmaids' overarching plot. Specifically, Paul Feig's reasoning was the following:
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.
Crucial to the plot of Bridesmaids, Kristen Wiig's Annie was in love with commitment-phobe Ted, but being pursued by and ultimately won over by local cop Rhodes during the course of the film's wedding. Part of her character's emotional journey through the film is being able to accept the love of a steady, honest man who wants a relationship, rather than a handsome, but damaged philanderer. Typically those types of stories only really work with two men in the mix, unless your film is focusing on the quest for said relationship. Since the focus of Bridesmaids wasn't the romantic conquest, but more the hijinks of the ladies in the wedding party, some fat had to be trimmed.
Speaking of trimming the fat, Paul Feig also mentioned the film's running time as a factor, as that cut of Bridesmaids was running around two and a half hours in length. So obviously the inclusion of Paul Rudd's ice-skating anger fountain made even less sense, as it breaks one of the cardinal rules of comedy: keep it short and to the point. It's a shame that this scene was cut, but if you're interested in seeing Paul Rudd go off on a kid for skating over his finger, the scene is out there for your enjoyment.
Bridesmaids is available on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD, in case you want to give the film another watch while thinking of what might have been. Though if you're looking for more Paul Rudd, you'll get your shot with this year's Fun Mom Dinner, as well as Duncan Jones' Netflix Original, Mute.
