AUSTIN, Texas — Call it an un-buddy comedy. Or maybe a tale of how enemies become frenemies. Regardless, the new film “Spy” is largely rooted in the unusual chemistry of actresses Melissa McCarthy and Rose Byrne.
In the film, McCarthy plays Susan Cooper, a CIA analyst who is typically deskbound behind a bank of computers guiding far-flung field agents through dangerous missions via radio earpiece. When her favorite colleague (Jude Law) goes missing, she finds herself sent on a European sojourn that brings her face to face with Byrne’s character of Rayna Boyanov, haughty and dangerous Oxford-educated daughter of a notorious Eastern European arms dealer. Also in the cast are Bobby Cannavale, Jason Statham, Allison Janney and Miranda Hart.
The freewheeling espionage comedy is written and directed by Paul Feig, who also directed McCarthy in the hit comedies “Bridesmaids” and “The Heat.” (McCarthy earned an Oscar nomination for “Bridesmaids,” a rare acknowledgment for a comedic performance.) It was “Bridesmaids” that also first brought together McCarthy and Byrne.
Yet when Feig was writing “Spy” he assumed McCarthy’s busy schedule between her film career and TV’s “Mike and Molly” would make her unavailable. So he hadn’t written the story with either actress in mind.