Miranda Cosgrove and Brooke Shields in “Mother of the Bride”.Photo:Sasidis Sasisakulporn/Netflix
Sasidis Sasisakulporn/Netflix
Brooke Shieldsis treading new water inMother of the Bride.
The actress stars inNetflix’s upcoming romantic comedy as Lana, who gets the surprise of her life at the destination wedding of her daughter Emma (Miranda Cosgrove).
Aside from starring in the movie, Shields, 58, is also a producer — and gives a lot of credit to directorMark Waters, Netflix and the company’s Director of Original Film, Christina Rogers.
“[Christina has] been the champion of really pushing and standing behind these stories for women over 40to be in a rom-comthat’s not just all … yes, we’ve got the focus on the young, beautiful, fresh love, and we want that, but she’s not overlooking my demographic. And to have that wish fulfillment of another chance at love and all that,” Shields tells PEOPLE.
Read on for PEOPLE’s exclusive first look atMother of the Bride,streaming May 9 on Netflix, in time for Mother’s Day.
01of 10A Bond Like No OtherBrooke Shields and Miranda Cosgrove in Netflix’sMother of the Bride(2024).Sasidis Sasisakulporn/NetflixCosgrove, 30, tells PEOPLE that her “really strong relationship” with her own mother “definitely played into” how she approached her character Emma’s dynamic with Shields' character Lana, as she “had a lot to work with.““But also Brooke’s just really warm and loving, and she’s kind of the type of person that, even if you’ve only talked to her for an hour, you feel like you’ve known her a long time,” theiCarlyactress says. “She’s just really warm.”
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A Bond Like No Other
Brooke Shields and Miranda Cosgrove in Netflix’sMother of the Bride(2024).Sasidis Sasisakulporn/Netflix
Cosgrove, 30, tells PEOPLE that her “really strong relationship” with her own mother “definitely played into” how she approached her character Emma’s dynamic with Shields' character Lana, as she “had a lot to work with.”
“But also Brooke’s just really warm and loving, and she’s kind of the type of person that, even if you’ve only talked to her for an hour, you feel like you’ve known her a long time,” theiCarlyactress says. “She’s just really warm.”
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A Leading Man(’s Man)
Benjamin Bratt in Netflix’sMother of the Bride(2024).Sasidis Sasisakulporn/Netflix
For director Waters (Mean Girls,He’s All That), 59, part of the reason Bratt, 60, fit the role of leading man Will is his wide appeal.
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Breaking Barriers
Chad Michael Murray and Brooke Shields in Netflix’sMother of the Bride(2024).Sasidis Sasisakulporn/Netflix
“They weren’t so scared of the concept that then they had to overstate it or make me the extreme menopausal woman,” she tells PEOPLE. “Or the extremely-too-emotional woman, or whatever the clichés are.”
04of 10Connecting AbroadRachael Harris in Netflix’sMother of the Bride(2024).Sasidis Sasisakulporn/NetflixCosgrove says that the cast — which also includesChad Michael Murray,Rachael Harris,Wilson Cruz, Michael McDonald, Tasneem Roc and Dalip Sondhi — got to “spend pretty much every day together for the six weeks we were in Thailand.““And one of the special things about making the movie was — since we were so far away from home, all of us, and in a new place — I really feel like we all got to know each other pretty fast,” she adds.
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Connecting Abroad
Rachael Harris in Netflix’sMother of the Bride(2024).Sasidis Sasisakulporn/Netflix
Cosgrove says that the cast — which also includesChad Michael Murray,Rachael Harris,Wilson Cruz, Michael McDonald, Tasneem Roc and Dalip Sondhi — got to “spend pretty much every day together for the six weeks we were in Thailand.”
“And one of the special things about making the movie was — since we were so far away from home, all of us, and in a new place — I really feel like we all got to know each other pretty fast,” she adds.
05of 10Theater CampMichael McDonald and Wilson Cruz in Netflix’sMother of the Bride(2024).Sasidis Sasisakulporn/NetflixFilming with her castmates, for Shields, “felt like theater, from my experience of theater, because we were all thrown together in such a foreign environment … we were together all the time,” she recalls.“We just all stayed together, which was really nice. And we all lived right near each other [on location],” explains the actress and mother of two.
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Theater Camp
Michael McDonald and Wilson Cruz in Netflix’sMother of the Bride(2024).Sasidis Sasisakulporn/Netflix
Filming with her castmates, for Shields, “felt like theater, from my experience of theater, because we were all thrown together in such a foreign environment … we were together all the time,” she recalls.
“We just all stayed together, which was really nice. And we all lived right near each other [on location],” explains the actress and mother of two.
06of 10Home Away from HomeChad Michael Murray in Netflix’sMother of the Bride(2024).Sasidis Sasisakulporn/NetflixWaters — who previously worked with Murray, 42, onFreaky Friday(2003) — tells PEOPLE he was so happy to reunite with theOne Tree Hillactor forMother of the Bride, and that much of the cast and crew were basically like one big family.“If you’re shooting in Los Angeles or New York, you finish [working] and go home to your family and you don’t see [your coworkers] on the weekends. And here, it’s like, “Oh, what are we doing this weekend? What are we doing for dinner tonight? Are we gonnaget some tequila shots?' " he says.“That made for ease and comfortability, because they literally are people who are getting used to hanging out with each other a lot,” Waters adds. “And that’s a wonderful thing that comes about from being on destination location shoots.”
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Home Away from Home
Chad Michael Murray in Netflix’sMother of the Bride(2024).Sasidis Sasisakulporn/Netflix
Waters — who previously worked with Murray, 42, onFreaky Friday(2003) — tells PEOPLE he was so happy to reunite with theOne Tree Hillactor forMother of the Bride, and that much of the cast and crew were basically like one big family.
“If you’re shooting in Los Angeles or New York, you finish [working] and go home to your family and you don’t see [your coworkers] on the weekends. And here, it’s like, “Oh, what are we doing this weekend? What are we doing for dinner tonight? Are we gonnaget some tequila shots?' " he says.
“That made for ease and comfortability, because they literally are people who are getting used to hanging out with each other a lot,” Waters adds. “And that’s a wonderful thing that comes about from being on destination location shoots.”
07of 10Real-Life Wedding InspoSean Teale and Miranda Cosgrove in Netflix’sMother of the Bride(2024).Sasidis Sasisakulporn/NetflixCosgrove says there are some aspects of Emma and RJ’s (Teale, 31) wedding that she’d be totally into snagging for her own potential future nuptials.“I love the wedding dress that I got to wear,” says theSchool of Rockactress, who plays a social-media influencer inMother of the Bride. “It’s not super extravagant and crazy, but it was just really comfortable and beautiful, and that was really fun getting to try different wedding dresses. I would definitely copy that dress.“She also appreciated the smaller size of the event. “I feel like if I were to get married, I’d want it just to be my family and really close friends, and I like it when people have smaller, intimate weddings like that,” Cosgrove tells PEOPLE.
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Real-Life Wedding Inspo
Sean Teale and Miranda Cosgrove in Netflix’sMother of the Bride(2024).Sasidis Sasisakulporn/Netflix
Cosgrove says there are some aspects of Emma and RJ’s (Teale, 31) wedding that she’d be totally into snagging for her own potential future nuptials.
“I love the wedding dress that I got to wear,” says theSchool of Rockactress, who plays a social-media influencer inMother of the Bride. “It’s not super extravagant and crazy, but it was just really comfortable and beautiful, and that was really fun getting to try different wedding dresses. I would definitely copy that dress.”
She also appreciated the smaller size of the event. “I feel like if I were to get married, I’d want it just to be my family and really close friends, and I like it when people have smaller, intimate weddings like that,” Cosgrove tells PEOPLE.
08of 10The Cast That Works Out Together…Chad Michael Murray, Wilson Cruz, Michael McDonald, Rachael Harris, Brooke Shields and Benjamin Bratt in Netflix’sMother of the Bride(2024).Sasidis Sasisakulporn/Netflix"We had so much dance rehearsal on our days off, and we ended up just working out together,” Shields says of how the cast stayed in shape. “Then we had so muchpickleballpractice, so all our free time was spent either going to dance rehearsal or learning pickleball or practicing pickleball.““It was like we were able to do all of it together and laugh with each other throughout the whole process,” she adds.
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The Cast That Works Out Together…
Chad Michael Murray, Wilson Cruz, Michael McDonald, Rachael Harris, Brooke Shields and Benjamin Bratt in Netflix’sMother of the Bride(2024).Sasidis Sasisakulporn/Netflix
“We had so much dance rehearsal on our days off, and we ended up just working out together,” Shields says of how the cast stayed in shape. “Then we had so muchpickleballpractice, so all our free time was spent either going to dance rehearsal or learning pickleball or practicing pickleball.”
“It was like we were able to do all of it together and laugh with each other throughout the whole process,” she adds.
09of 10Feeling the LoveTasneem Roc, Brooke Shields and Miranda Cosgrove in Netflix’sMother of the Bride(2024).Sasidis Sasisakulporn/NetflixWaters tells PEOPLE that while “there’s obviously a lot of comedic tension between Benjamin and Brooke’s characters” and romantic storylines to follow, “the real emotional heart of the movie is between the mother and the daughter.““Frankly, the scene where Emma goes to visit Lana in her bedroom the night before the wedding is the most emotional scene in the movie for me,” he says.
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Feeling the Love
Tasneem Roc, Brooke Shields and Miranda Cosgrove in Netflix’sMother of the Bride(2024).Sasidis Sasisakulporn/Netflix
Waters tells PEOPLE that while “there’s obviously a lot of comedic tension between Benjamin and Brooke’s characters” and romantic storylines to follow, “the real emotional heart of the movie is between the mother and the daughter.”
“Frankly, the scene where Emma goes to visit Lana in her bedroom the night before the wedding is the most emotional scene in the movie for me,” he says.
10of 10Instant ChemistryBrooke Shields and Benjamin Bratt in Netflix’sMother of the Bride(2024).Sasidis Sasisakulporn/Netflix"Brooke looked over to me and went, ‘This is going to work,’ " Waters recalls of casting Bratt. “We took him out to dinner and had some drinks and immediately we were clicking and having fun together. And she was thrilled knowing, ‘Yeah, this movie’s going to work, because I like this guy so much already.’ “Shields tells PEOPLE that Bratt is “pretty easy to be a love interest” — and that she was also thrilled that hiswife of over 20 years, Talisa Soto, came to Thailand for part of the shoot.“She’s such a refined, beautiful woman,” Shields says. “She epitomizes that, and I was so happy she wanted to come and spend the first portion of [filming] with us.”
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Instant Chemistry
Brooke Shields and Benjamin Bratt in Netflix’sMother of the Bride(2024).Sasidis Sasisakulporn/Netflix
“Brooke looked over to me and went, ‘This is going to work,’ " Waters recalls of casting Bratt. “We took him out to dinner and had some drinks and immediately we were clicking and having fun together. And she was thrilled knowing, ‘Yeah, this movie’s going to work, because I like this guy so much already.’ "
Shields tells PEOPLE that Bratt is “pretty easy to be a love interest” — and that she was also thrilled that hiswife of over 20 years, Talisa Soto, came to Thailand for part of the shoot.
“She’s such a refined, beautiful woman,” Shields says. “She epitomizes that, and I was so happy she wanted to come and spend the first portion of [filming] with us.”
Mother of the Brideisstreaming May 9 on Netflix.
source: people.com
