Serving Sara is a 2002 romantic comedy film which stars Matthew Perry, Elizabeth Hurley and Bruce Campbell. Joe Tyler (Perry) is a process server who is given the assignment to serve Sara Moore (Hurley) with divorce papers.

Plot[link]

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The movie opens with Joe Tyler (Matthew Perry), a process server, a week late, serving a Mafia kingpin known as Fat Charlie (Joe Viterelli) with a summons to appear as a witness in court, and his abrasive boss Ray (Cedric the Entertainer) ridiculing him for such while complimenting his rival server Tony (Vincent Pastore) for serving multiple targets in record time. Willing to give him one last shot, Ray gives Joe the assignment to serve British socialite Sara Moore (Elizabeth Hurley) with divorce papers from her husband, Gordon (Bruce Campbell), who is at his ranch in Texas with a mistress, Kate (Amy Adams), while Sara vacations in upstate New York.

While attempting to serve her, Sara is tipped off by Tony, thus revealing that the reason Joe has been failing is because Tony has been sabotaging his efforts. Eventually Joe does serve her, but is mugged by Fat Charlie's goons (who have been trailing him), leading to them taking his car. The two are forced to take the same bus, they enter a conversation where Joe tells her that, because her husband had the papers filled out due to Texas law, she stands to gain nothing from the divorce. After finding out that the typical "half of everything" law would apply if the papers had been served under New York law, Sara offers Joe a million dollars to serve her husband and rip up her papers. Although he'll lose his job, Joe agrees and the two set off to serve Gordon.

When Ray hears of this, he tells Gordon and sends Tony off to re-serve Sara. Gordon in turn hires a bodyguard (Terry Crews) to protect himself, and Joe, expecting Tony to tail him, leaves a set of bogus clues that lead him to Miami, Florida; Bangor, Maine; and then Amarillo, Texas; where he's shot in the back as he attempts to get on the grounds of the wrong ranch to try to serve the papers. Sara and Joe trail Gordon to his ranch, but Gordon evades them. Eventually they stay at a hotel where Gordon's mistress makes a new deal to Joe for one million dollars ($1,000,000) of the divorce settlement in return for Gordon's location. Joe agrees, but the entire deal is a set-up to get Tony into their apartment to serve Sara. Furious, Sara kicks Joe out.

While Joe contemplates his lost fortune and budding love for Sara, he sees Tony's watch in the picture he took of him serving Sara, and calls Ray to inform him that Tony forgot to set his watch to the correct time zone, and thus the papers do not take effect until 7:04. With mere minutes until they both lose a fortune, Joe and Sara trail Gordon to a rodeo, where they evade Gordon's bodyguard and Tony in a motorbike competition. With seconds to spare before 7:04, Gordon is knocked out by a pack of beer dropped on his head by Sara, and Joe serves him under New York law which Gordon, finally accepting the loss, takes the serve as he's being photographed. Tony and Gordon's bodyguard are seen carried out of the stadium, who Joe refers to as, "Guy who got ran over," (bodyguard) and "Guy who RAN you over," (Tony). The film ends with Joe and Sara at Joe's dream vineyard, where they taste-test Joe's first bottle before going inside to have sex.

Cast[link]

• Matthew Perry as Joe Tyler
• Elizabeth Hurley as Sara Moore
• Bruce Campbell as Gordon Moore
• Vincent Pastore as Tony
• Cedric the Entertainer as Ray Harris
• Amy Adams as Kate
• Terry Crews as Vernon
• Jerry Stiller as Milton the Cop
• Marshall Bell as Warren Cebron
• Joe Viterelli as Fat Charlie

Production[link]

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In early 1996, Ivan Reitman was planning to produce, but not direct, a movie on Sara's began he wrote a script for the movie, called "Road to Texas." In August 1997 director Ron Howard and Reginald Hudlin was signed with Universal Pictures to direct the biopic with actor Jim Carrey in the lead role. By May 1998 Howard and Hudlin parted ways with the studio, citing creative differences. Other actors considered for Joe Tyler at time were John Goodman Tim Allen and Dennis Quaid. In June 2000, the director sought to direct the biopic based on a script by Frank Oz while at the same time, director Francis Ford Coppola was developing Flipping the Mark which had been in development hell. Filming began in December 2000 from New York to Dallas in early working title Servicing Sara on June 23, 2001.

During filming Mathew Perry had to stop and take time to go to rehab.^[1]

Reception[link]

Critics[link]

As of August 2007, the film had score of 18 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 26 reviews, indicating "extreme dislike or disgust."^[2] On Rotten Tomatoes, 5% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 103 reviews (5 "fresh", 98 "rotten").^[3]

Box office[link]

The film opened at #6 at the U.S. box office and earned $5.7 million in its opening weekend. The film had a budget of $29 million and the film's total gross in the United States was $16.9 million.^[4] The film grossed only $20,146,150 at the international box office, although Serving Sara has since been more successful within DVD sales and airing on television world-wide.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Serving Sara at the Internet Movie Database
• Serving Sara at AllRovi
• Serving Sara at Box Office Mojo
• Serving Sara at Rotten Tomatoes
• Serving Sara at Metacritic
• Matthew Perry interview for Serving Sara

Matthew Perry
Perry at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards in 2010.
Born	Matthew Langford Perry (1969-08-19) August 19, 1969 (age 42) Williamstown, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, director, writer, producer
Years active	1988–present

Matthew Langford Perry (born August 19, 1969) is a Canadian-American actor and comedian, best known for his Emmy-nominated role as Chandler Bing on the popular, long-running NBC television sitcom Friends. He also received acclaim for his portrayal of Ron Clark in the television movie The Ron Clark Story, accompanied by another Emmy nomination as well as a Golden Globe nomination.^[1][2] Perry also starred in the short-lived series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and has appeared in a number of films, including Fools Rush In (1997), The Whole Nine Yards (2000), and 17 Again (2009).^[3] In 2010 he expanded his resume to include both video games and voiceover work when he voiced Benny in the role-playing game Fallout: New Vegas.^[4]

Perry was the co-creator, co-writer, executive producer and star of the short-lived ABC sitcom Mr. Sunshine, which ran from February to April 2011.^[5]

Early life[link]

Perry was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. His mother, Suzanne Jane Louise Morrison (née Langford), is a Canadian journalist and former press secretary to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and his father, John Bennett Perry, is an American actor and former model.^[6][7] His parents divorced before his first birthday and his mother subsequently married Keith Morrison, a broadcast journalist.^[7] Perry was raised by his mother in Ottawa, Ontario, and was enrolled at Rockcliffe Park Public School and Ashbury College.^[7] While growing up, he took a keen interest in tennis and became a top-ranked junior player.^[7]

Career[link]

1980s[link]

Matthew Perry moved from Ottawa to Los Angeles to pursue acting. For high school, he attended The Buckley School in Sherman Oaks. While at Buckley, Perry was featured as George Gibbs in Our Town and appeared as a junior in a production of The Miracle Worker. Patty Duke attended and praised the young Perry's convincing role as Helen's brother Jimmy. He was also featured in The Sound of Music as a junior. In his senior year, director Tim Hillman had planned a production of "The Elephant Man" specifically to feature Perry as John Merrick along with Vanessa Smith, and future Les Misérables star Lisa Capps. He then got his professional break at age 18. On being cast in A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon with River Phoenix, Perry withdrew from Elephant Man and ended his high school acting career. Perry also pursued improv comedy at the LA Connection in Sherman Oaks while still in high school, quickly becoming a featured performer.^[8]

After some guest appearances in late 1980s television, it was his intention to enroll at the University of Southern California, but when he was offered the lead role of Chazz Russell in Second Chance he became noticed on the acting scene. Perry originally starred alongside Kiel Martin when the series premiered in 1987, but after 13 episodes the format changed: Second Chance became Boys Will Be Boys, Perry was elevated to top-billing status, and the plots re-focused on the adventures of Chazz and his teenage friends. Despite the shift, the show ran for only one season. When it concluded, Perry stayed in Los Angeles and made guest appearance on the television program Growing Pains in which he portrayed Carol's boyfriend who dies from injuries in the hospital sustained in a drunk driving accident.^[8]

1990s[link]

Perry departing rehearsal for the 1995 Emmy Awards.

In the midst of his many continuing guest roles on TV, Perry was cast as a regular on the 1990 CBS sitcom Sydney, playing the younger brother of Valerie Bertinelli's title character. In 1991, he made a guest appearance on Beverly Hills, 90210 as Roger Azarian. Perry landed his next TV starring role on the ABC sitcom Home Free, which aired only 11 episodes in the spring 1993. By then, Perry was making his mark, and was instantly cast in a new dramatic pilot titled LAX 2194. The project was slow to take off, so as a backup option, he attempted to secure an audition for the pilot Six of One, later to be known as Friends, by Marta Kauffman and David Crane, both of whom he had worked with on Dream On. However, due to previous commitments to the pilot LAX 2194, he was not initially considered for an audition. When he did eventually get a reading, he landed the part he is best known for, the role of Chandler Bing.^[8]

The program was hugely successful and Perry, along with his co-stars, gained wide renown among television viewers. The program also earned him Emmy^[9] nominations in 2002 for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series along with Matt LeBlanc, but he lost to Ray Romano. As well as his successful career on Friends, Perry has appeared in films such as Fools Rush In (alongside father John Bennett Perry and Salma Hayek), Almost Heroes, Three to Tango, The Whole Nine Yards (alongside Bruce Willis) and its sequel The Whole Ten Yards, and Serving Sara.^[8]

2000s[link]

While known primarily for his comic roles, Perry has carved out a career in drama as well, particularly in his portrayal of Associate White House Counsel Joe Quincy in Aaron Sorkin's The West Wing. His three appearances in that series (twice in the fourth season and once in the fifth) earned him two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2003 and 2004. Perry is referred to in the show prior to his guest appearance - Donna Moss seeks him out (off screen) in the episode "20 Hours in LA." He also appeared as attorney Todd Merrick in two episodes near the end of Ally McBeals five season run, including a 2-hour special intended to revive the legal comedy-drama.^[8]

After Friends wrapped up, Perry made his directorial debut in an episode of the 4th season of the American comedy-drama Scrubs, in which he also guest starred as "Murray Marks", an operator of a small airport's traffic control team. Murray is asked to donate a kidney to his father Gregory (played by Perry's real father).^[8]

He starred in the TNT movie, The Ron Clark Story which premiered August 13, 2006. Perry played small town teacher Ron Clark who relocates to the toughest class in the country. Perry received a Golden Globe nomination as well as an Emmy nomination for his performance.

Perry at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.

In 2006-2007, Perry appeared in Aaron Sorkin's drama Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Perry played Matt Albie alongside Bradley Whitford's Danny Tripp, a writer-director duo brought in to help save a failing sketch show. Perry's character was considered to be substantially based on Sorkin's own personal experiences, particularly in television.^[10]

In 2006 he began filming Numb, a film based on a man suffering from depersonalization disorder. The film's tentative release date was pushed back several times, but was finally released to DVD on May 13, 2008. He also appeared in David Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago in London.^[11] In 2009 he starred in the film 17 Again playing the older Mike O'Donnell.

In 2008, Perry starred in the offbeat film Birds of America as Morrie Tanager, an uptight man who has to deal with his siblings.

Showtime passed on a pilot called The End of Steve, a dark comedy starring, written and produced by Perry and Peter Tolan.^[12]

2010s[link]

Perry's new comedy pilot ended up in the hands of ABC, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The deal for the untitled comedy is said to include penalties if the pilot doesn't make it to series, almost guaranteeing that the project will get a green light, THR reports. It is based on an original idea by Perry, and will be written by Perry as well as Alex Barnow and Marc Firek, who have both signed as executive producers. Thomas Schlamme is in talks to direct.^[13] The new pilot is called Mr. Sunshine.^[14] In January 2010, it was announced that ABC has greenlit Mr. Sunshine. It was also revealed that the project is a single-camera sitcom starring Perry as a man who has a minor identity crisis on his 40th birthday. The venture comes from Sony TV and Jamie Tarses' Fanfare Productions.^[15] The series was canceled by ABC after nine episodes.^[16][17]

In March 2012, it was announced that Perry had been cast in the lead role in NBC’s single-camera-style pilot Go On, written and produced by former Friends producer Scott Silveri. Perry will play a charming sportscaster who tries to move on after a personal tragedy, through the help of mandatory therapy sessions. The series will premiere in fall 2012.^[18]

Personal life[link]

Perry reportedly dated Julia Roberts and Yasmine Bleeth.^[19][20] He has been in a relationship with Lizzy Caplan since 2006.^[21][22]

Perry holds dual Canadian-American citizenship.^[23] He is a fan of the Ottawa Senators, the New England Patriots and the Boston Red Sox.^[24][25]

Perry did a 28-day program in 1997 for a Vicodin addiction. Matthew Perry's weight fluctuated drastically over the next few years and once dropped down to 145 pounds (66 kg). He lost 20 pounds in 2000 due to pancreatitis.^[26] Perry again entered rehab in February 2001 to treat an addiction to opioids (specifically vicodin and methadone), amphetamines and alcohol.^[27][28][29] Perry was in Dallas filming Serving Sara with Elizabeth Hurley when he had such severe stomach pains that he called a local doctor, who advised rehab. Perry flew to Los Angeles and checked into Marina del Rey's Daniel Freeman Hospital. Perry's publicist Lisa Kasteler confirmed his rehab stay.^[27]

Filmography[link]

Film[link]

Television[link]

Video games[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Matthew Perry at the Internet Movie Database
• Matthew Perry on Twitter

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Matthew Perry

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Matthew Perry

Elizabeth Hurley
Liz Hurley campaigning for Breast Cancer Awareness, London October 2010
Born	Elizabeth Jane Hurley (1965-06-10) 10 June 1965 (age 47) Basingstoke, Hampshire, England
Nationality	English
Other names	Liz Hurley
Occupation	Actress, model
Years active	1987–present
Spouse	Arun Nayar (m. 2007–2011)
Partner	Hugh Grant (1987–2000) Shane Warne (2010–present; engaged)
Children	Damian Charles Hurley (born 2002)
Website
www.elizabethhurley.com

Elizabeth Jane Hurley (born 10 June 1965) is an English model and actress. In the 1990s, Hurley became known as a girlfriend of Hugh Grant.^[1] In 1994, as Grant became the focus of worldwide media attention due to the global box office success of his film Four Weddings and a Funeral,^[2] Hurley accompanied him to the film's Los Angeles premiere in a plunging black Versace dress held together with gold safety pins, which gained her instant media attention.^[3]

Hurley has been associated with the cosmetics company Estée Lauder for over 15 years since the company awarded Hurley her first modelling job at the age of 29.^[4] It has featured her as a representative and model for its products, especially perfumes such as Sensuous, Intuition, and Pleasures, since 1995.^[5] As an actress, her best known cinematic works to date have been as Vanessa Kensington in Mike Myers' hit spy comedy, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) and as the Devil in Bedazzled (2000).^[6] Hurley currently owns an eponymous beachwear line.^[7]

Early life[link]

Hurley was born in Basingstoke, Hampshire, the younger daughter of Angela Mary (née Titt) and Roy Leonard Hurley.^[8] Her father was a Major in the British Army; her Anglican^{[citation needed]} mother was a teacher at Kempshott Infant School.^[8] She has an older sister, Kate, and a younger brother, Michael James Hurley.^[9]

Aspiring to be a dancer as a young girl, she took ballet classes and later briefly studied dance and theatre at the London Studio Centre.^[10] While in her teens, she became involved with punk fashion, dyeing her hair pink and piercing her nose.^[6] "When I was 16 – this was about 1981, 1982 – the thing to be in Basingstoke, the suburb I grew up in, was punk," she explained.^[11] She also reportedly associated with the New Age Travellers in her youth.^[12]

Career[link]

Fashion[link]

Hurley with fashion designer Valentino Garavani at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival

In 1995, with no prior modelling experience, Hurley was introduced as an Estée Lauder spokesmodel.^[4][6] She later recounted, "I was far from an ingénue, having had my first modelling job at 29."^[4] Hurley has since featured in ads for Lauder's 'Pleasures', 'Beautiful', 'Dazzling', 'Tuscany per Donna', and 'Sensuous' fragrances as well as participated in campaigns for the company's other cosmetics.^[13] She was replaced as the face of Estée Lauder by Carolyn Murphy in 2001. However, she continues to work with the company non-exclusively, signing a contract for the 16th year with Lauder in 2010.^[5] In 2005, she modelled for Saloni, Liverpool Department Stores of Mexico, and Lancel.^{[citation needed]} She was part of the seasonal advertising campaigns for Jordache, Shiatzy Chen, Got Milk?, Patrick Cox, MQ Clothiers of Sweden, and Lancel in 2006^{[citation needed]} and Monsoon in 2007.^{[citation needed]} In 2008, Hurley was unveiled as the seasonal campaign face for Blackglama mink.^{[citation needed]}

In April 2005, Elizabeth Hurley Beach, her beachwear line that she also models every summer, was launched at Harrods in the UK. It debuted later that year in select Saks Fifth Avenue stores in the United States and other European countries.^[14] She told Tatler magazine, "I was on Necker Island for a fashion shoot and even as [Richard Branson] was lying back in a hammock, he was on the phone, doing deals, managing his empire. But then I thought I am never going to have even a holiday home, let alone an island, unless I start a business that I can do without disrupting Damian's school days."^[15] In May 2008, Hurley designed and modelled a capsule collection of 12 swimsuits for the Spanish clothes brand MANGO.^[16] Hurley has appeared three times on the cover of British Vogue.^[17] She is signed to TESS Management in London.^[18]

Film[link]

Hurley made her first film appearance in Aria (1987).^[8] She has since appeared in the movies Passenger 57, EDtv, Bedazzled, and Serving Sara. In 1997, she received her first and only acting award, the ShoWest Supporting Actress of the Year, for her performance in the spy spoof Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.^[6] When Hugh Grant founded and became the director of Simian Films in 1994, Hurley was credited as one of the producers for the company's two Grant vehicles, Extreme Measures (1996) and Mickey Blue Eyes (1999).^[19] In 2000, she was publicly criticised for breaking a five-month acting strike to film an Estée Lauder advertisement, for which she was fined $100,000 (£70,000 in 2000) by the Screen Actors Guild and labelled "Elizabeth Scably" by protesters.^[20][21]

Television[link]

Hurley at the launch of Estee Lauder's new fragrance, Sensuous, in July 2008

In the late 1980s, Hurley portrayed the title character in a five-part television drama, Christabel. After appearing in John Cleese's The Human Face (2001), she hosted the inaugural season of the British reality series Project Catwalk on Sky1 in 2006. The show drew tepid ratings with only 1% of its target audience tuning into the first few episodes.^[22] Hurley was almost universally criticised as a presenter. Marcelle D'Argy Smith, a former editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, called her "witheringly boring" and added: "Liz Hurley has no fashion experience whatsoever. She wore a dress and has appeared at premieres."^[22] GQ 's Dylan Jones defended her as someone "immersed in the fashion world as a celebrity."^[22] Hurley was ridiculed by critics for her "aspirational Basingstoke-gone-jetset accent and dead fish stare,"^[22] while also being described as "the not-nice-but-dim host."^[22]

She was dropped after one season because her bosses reportedly believed she was too wooden.^[23] It was later revealed that Hurley had asked contestants to send her free clothes off the record.^[24] In 2011 Hurley filmed a guest star role in the series pilot of NBC's Wonder Woman as the villain Veronica Cale, potentially recurring.^[25] The network decided not to pick up the series. However, in July 2011, it was announced that Hurley would join the cast of Gossip Girl for a guest-arc. She will portray Diana Payne in the fifth series, who producers describe as "a sexy, smart, self-made media mogul and all-around force to be reckoned with" and that "Diana’s entrance on the Upper East Side will change the lives of all our characters – including, and especially Gossip Girl herself."^[26]

Charity[link]

Hurley has been active in Estée Lauder's Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign, as part of which the company created an "Elizabeth Pink" lipstick whose sales benefit The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.^[27] Hurley, whose grandmother died of breast cancer,^[28] was the mistress of ceremonies at "The Hot Pink Party" that marked the tenth anniversary of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.^{[citation needed]}

Hurley supported The Prince's Trust by co-presenting the 2003 Fashion Rocks event in its aid^[29] and helping launch the Get Into Cooking youth initiative in 2004.^[30] She has also helped raise funds for End Hunger Network,^[31] ARK children's charity,^[32] and the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre.^[33]

Personal life[link]

Hurley was a struggling actress in 1987, when she met Hugh Grant while working on a Spanish production called Remando Al Viento. While dating Hurley,^[6] Grant gained international notoriety for soliciting the services of a female prostitute in 1995. Hurley stood by him and accompanied Grant to the premiere of his movie Nine Months.^[6] After 13 years together, Hurley and Grant announced an "amicable" split in May 2000.^[34] According to The Guardian,^[1] Hurley was "then known as 'Hugh Grant's girlfriend,' now known as 'Hugh Grant's former girlfriend,'" due to the high-profile nature of their relationship.^[35]

Hurley with her then husband Arun Nayar at the Ampney Crucis Village Fete in 2008

On 4 April 2002, Hurley gave birth to a son, Damian Charles Hurley.^[36] The baby's father, Steve Bing, denied paternity by alleging that he and Hurley had a brief, non-exclusive relationship in 2001.^[37] A DNA test, however, established Bing as the child's father.^[38] Hugh Grant is his godfather.^[39] Hurley is godmother to Patsy Kensit and Liam Gallagher's son Lennon and two of David and Victoria Beckham's sons (Brooklyn and Romeo).^[40]

In late 2002, Hurley started dating Indian textile heir Arun Nayar, who has run a small software company since 1998.^[41] On 2 March 2007, Hurley and Nayar married at Sudeley Castle and then had a second traditional Hindu wedding at Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur.^[42] The Indian celebrations included a sangeet at Nagaur Fort^[43][44] and a reception at Mehrangarh Fort.^[45] The wedding ceremonies, photos of which were sold to Hello! magazine for a reported £2 million,^[46] were attended by numerous celebrities, including Elton John, who gave Hurley away.^[47] Hurley, whose net worth was estimated at £13 million in 2003,^[48] resided on a 400-acre (1.6 km²) organic farm in Barnsley, Gloucestershire, with her son and husband.^[49][50]

On 12 December 2010, following press reports linking her romantically with Australian cricketer Shane Warne,^[51][52] Hurley announced via her Twitter account that she and her husband Arun had separated several months earlier.^[53] Hurley filed for divorce on 2 April 2011, citing Nayar's "unreasonable behaviour" as the cause;^[54] this is a conventional ground for divorce under English law. The divorce was granted on 15 June 2011.^[55] On 30 September 2011, three months after her divorce, it was reported that Hurley and Warne were engaged and she was spotted wearing a large sapphire ring,^[56] with their engagement confirmed via Twitter shortly thereafter.^[57]

Filmography[link]

Theatre

• The Cherry Orchard – A Jubilee (Russian & Soviet Arts Festival)
• The Man Most Likely To (Middle East tour)

Documentary film

• Signé Chanel (2005) ... Herself
• Valentino: The Last Emperor (2008) ... Herself

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Elizabeth Hurley

• Official website
• Elizabeth Hurley at the Internet Movie Database
• Elizabeth Hurley at the Fashion Model Directory