‘Most great decisions are illogical ones’

Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher get chatty exclusively with Mastii-Kustii about their recollections of the What Happens In Vegas experience

The popular expression, ‘What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’ conjures up a veritable jackpot of shed inhibitions, insane indulgence, and gleeful debauchery. And if you can remember any of it, you probably weren’t there.

For charismatic party guy Jack Fuller (Ashton Kutcher) and buttoned-up commodities trader Joy McNally (Cameron Diaz), a rowdy weekend coincidentally shared in Las Vegas should have, by all rights, ended up being little more than a random blur. That is, if these two vacationing characters didn’t have a signed marriage license staring them in the face to shockingly remind them of the giant misstep they took while feeling no pain, Vegasstyle. Here, the two chew the fat about their reflections about the film, and the city...

Cameron Diaz thinks the film’s title evokes quite a vivid scenario. “Vegas is a 24-hour city,” she says, “you can’t tell what time it is, you don’t know how much money you’ve spent, how much you’ve drunk, how much you’ve slept, and so on. There’s kind of a built in safety net, though —because anything is possible in Vegas, you’re given the permission to basically do anything there that you’d probably never do anyplace else at any other time in your life.” Ashton declares, “It’s really like a free pass to be your wildest, craziest, funniest self, because no one’s supposed to ever find out what you do there.” Diaz and Kutcher were both excited by the chance to bring the film’s kicky “what if” scenario to life. “I loved the script’s ‘grass is always greener’ theme,” confirms Diaz. “People in relationships often think their single friends are the lucky ones, while the singles just want to be in a relationship. In life, it’s ultimately about finding your own happiness. It’s not enough to be happy just because you’re in a relationship; first you need to be happy with yourself. That’s something I think my character Joy learns the hard way.”

“Jack and Joy are kind of flip sides of the same coin,” Kutcher asserts. “They’re both ‘relationship challenged’, even though Jack’s pretty relaxed about it all while Joy’s more uptight. Romantically, they’ve both been looking for the wrong thing, which is probably what draws them to each other to begin with — even if they are really, really hammered at the time.”

The lead casting was a bit tricky in one sense, though, since, for most of the movie, their characters have to hate each other. But apparently, as Cameron said, she couldn’t have asked for a better leading man in this case, than Ashton. “The movie was filled with so much amazing comedic talent, it brought everybody’s game up that much higher,” confirms Cameron Diaz, continuing, “It was a totally electric work environment. There was so much spontaneity...” “But that’s the cool thing about life,” offers Ashton Kutcher, “you can never predict who you’ll end up with or why. But when it happens, you have to pay attention. Like they say, there are no accidents.” Adds Cameron Diaz: “Most of the great decisions that will ever be made are the illogical ones. And sometimes those are the choices that work out the best for us.”