“People sometimes misconstrue the amount of time that’s gone by that I haven’t done a romantic comedy as my not wanting to do one,” Julia said. “If I had read something that I thought was that Notting Hill level of writing or My Best Friend’s Wedding level of madcap fun, I would do it. They didn’t exist until [Ticket to Paradise].” “Literally, [Julia’s] character’s called Georgia in the movie, and [George’s character] used to be called Julius. [Laughs],” Ol said. “So, we’d just swapped their names. But then, it seemed a bit obvious when we sent it to them. So, he’s now called David, but the first three drafts, they were literally called Julius and Georgia rather than George and Julia. That’s how nakedly it was written for them.” " … My oldest daughter is 21 now, so she’s making her own decisions in life. And so [the movie] came from that idea, like, what do we do about our children making decisions?" Ol said to Moviefone in October 2022. “I couldn’t really sleep,” Lucas explained to E! News in October 2022. “I surely used a lot of mints and Listerine for the scene. You don’t want to mess this one up.” Shooting the scene went smoothly, he added, as Julia “really made it very comfortable for [him]” and “broke the ice.” “It was funny because when we got to the set, everyone was like, ‘Okay, we’re going to talk about the scene,’” George said to Entertainment Weekly. “Julia and I were like, ‘Let’s just shoot it, man. Don’t worry. We know what to do. We’ve been down this road a few times.’” Ol used the first take that was filmed, and George stated that “there was a real shock” among his costars when he landed a ping-pong ball in a cup on the first try. “I think people thought we might warm up,” Julia added. “They thought we’d start off a little slow, and we just came in going 100 percent from the beginning — and we left some people speechless.” “‘Jump Around’ is George’s closer at parties,” Ol said to Entertainment Weekly. “When I’d chosen the tracks and I sent them to them, George wrote back going, ‘Nice — ‘Jump Around’ is my go-to dance song for the end of parties.’ I was like, ‘Cool, so that’s going to be fine.’” “At the end of the meeting, we said, ‘Would you mind coming out to my office?’ He came up, and I was like, ‘Could you just read that speech?’” Ol said. “He started reading, and I was like, ‘You’re hired!’ He was like, ‘What? What’s going on here? What’s happening?’ I was like, ‘Do you want to be in the movies? Okay!’” Another newcomer in the movie is Ifa Barry, who plays Maxime’s onscreen mother, Suli. Ol stated that she is a Brisbane passport officer before emphasizing the value in pairing George and Julia with costars who aren’t trained actors. “None of them are actors, so it’s really good for George and Julia to work with people that aren’t [actors]. It was just great,” Ol said. “In pre-production, they were already having a consultation about that. My [onscreen] dad, actually, was consulting a lot about Bali culture,” Maxime said. “We were talking a lot about that. I think everything was portrayed correctly, and it’s subtle as well.” He added, “… [Agung] helped a lot. I think it was really well portrayed, and the Balinese people loved it. We were just very proud of it. It’s just a really feel-good movie, to really show Bali to the world.” “That was also written for [Kaitlyn]. I had met her before, and we were friends already,” Ol said. “She’s obviously a once-in-a-generation actress, and also the nicest person. I remember meeting her at a party and saying, ‘I’m writing something for you,’ and she’s like, ‘Yeah, right.’ Because that’s, like, a chat-up line — which it wasn’t, obviously. So, it was really nice to send it to her and go, ‘You know that thing? I wasn’t kidding.’” “I’d never done a rom-com before, and I’m always looking to do something different and work a different part of my brain,” Kaitlyn said to STACK Magazine. “I think this script is immediately such a good time, and I knew that would mean a really good time on set, making the movie, and Ol is just so talented, so it was great.” “Kaitlyn is one of my closest friends in real life, so to get to play her best friend on screen is just an absolute dream,” Billie said at the Ticket to Paradise world premiere. “I am obsessed with her, and we got even closer on this movie. I’m obsessed with her family, I’m obsessed with her, I’m obsessed with her dog. I just love everything about that girl. She is heavenly.” “It is when my wife and kids come by to visit,” George said. Julia explained that the filming of the kiss took place on “the first day they came to visit.” “It’s like, ‘Papa, oh, Auntie Juju.’ It’s like — ‘Get ’em out, get ’em out!’” Julia said. “It’s really bad,” George said. “‘What are you doing, Papa? What is that?’” George then stated that his kids left the set while the kiss was being filmed. George had previously spoken to Deadline in January 2022 about not having done a rom-com in over 25 years. Before saying yes to Ticket to Paradise, he made sure that Julia was all in as well. " … In this one, Julia and I just get to be mean to each other in the funniest way, and the minute I read it, I called Julia, and I said, ‘Did you get this?’ and she said, ‘Yeah,’" George said. “And I said, ‘Are you going to do it?’ and she goes, ‘Are you going to do it?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, if you do it.’ So, it was just one of those very lucky things.” “There was this whole infestation of these tiny jellyfish, so we had to wear those hysterical suits,” George said. “Yeah. They’re the size of your pinky nail, and you don’t feel it when they sting you, but you have a cardiac arrest 30 to 40 minutes after,” Julia added. “Terrifying. Nothing but terrifying,” Ol said of the situation. “Then, you realize, luckily, they’re really lovely as well as really good. But I couldn’t get out of bed on the first day. I was just terrified lying there, but then you think, ‘This is what my 21-year-old self dreamt of.’ … Pressure’s a privilege. So, yeah, all right in the end.”
