When high-powered New York book editor Margaret (SANDRA BULLOCK) faces deportation to her native Canada, the quick-thinking exec declares that she's actually engaged to her unsuspecting put-upon assistant Andrew (RYAN REYNOLDS), whom she's tormented for years. He agrees to participate in the charade, but with a few conditions of his own. The unlikely couple heads to Alaska to meet his quirky family (MARY STEENBURGEN, CRAIG T. NELSON, BETTY WHITE) and the always-in-control city girl finds herself in one comedic fish-out-of-water situation after another. With an impromptu wedding in the works and an immigration official on their tails, Margaret and Andrew reluctantly vow to stick to the plan despite the precarious consequences.
Anne Fletcher ("Step Up," "27 Dresses") directs from an original screenplay by Peter Chiarelli. David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman of Mandeville Films ("Beverly Hills Chihuahua," "Traitor") produce.

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE COMEDY: Filmmakers Find Lots to Laugh About in "The Proposal"
There was one element above all others that attracted director Anne Fletcher to "THE PROPOSAL"--the comedy.
"I love comedy so much and it's always been in my fiber," says Fletcher. "I was in improv and sketch comedy troops. Comedy makes me the happiest. After directing 'Step Up,' my goal was to do a comedy. But you can't just jump into it. You have to prove yourself a little bit."
Fletcher proved herself with 2008's romantic comedy "27 Dresses." "I got to exercise my comedy a bit. And then this came along, 'The Proposal,' and it had so much comedy in it," says the director. "Sandra Bullock is a female comic genius. There really isn't anybody on her level. I've been completely and utterly spoiled by her professionalism, her talent, her mind, her sense of humor, her sense of being. And Ryan Reynolds is one of a kind--Jack Lemmon and Chevy Chase combined."
  Producer Todd Lieberman was drawn to the film's premise. "What I really responded to was the concept of an older woman, younger man relationship. The dynamic between the two characters is really funny," says Lieberman. "There's a guy assistant who's been dreaming of being in publishing his whole life. He moves to New York and starts working for this hideous boss."
Margaret Tate, a.k.a. the 'hideous boss,' intrigued Fletcher. "Margaret starts off being a hard-nosed business woman who only focuses on work and wants to get to the top, and that's really the only goal that she has in life," says the director. "When you really dig deep into this person, you realize that she's got a lot of flaws. Margaret starts out really hard, but during the course of the film, she becomes herself again."
Writer Peter Chiarelli sees Margaret as a very competent executive. "But as a woman she's had to keep up this front of control all of the time, so that she's never seen as weak," says Chiarelli. "It gets to her. She's sacrificed a lot to be this successful. The closest relationship she has in her life is with her assistant.
"I came up with the idea for the film from working in Hollywood with these very successful executives and their assistants," continues Chiarelli: "They shared a kind of intimate relationship--though the bosses knew absolutely nothing about their assistants. My priority was to always go for the comedy."
So, says Chiarelli, he based the story around what would happen if one of those bosses had to actually get real. Margaret Tate is that boss.
"Margaret was written the way they usually write the male roles, which are usually the juiciest," says Sandra Bullock, who plays Margaret. "They're allowed to be complex, unattractive, crabby, difficult, fun and funny, which is not how female characters are usually written."
Co-star Ryan Reynolds agrees: "Typically, comedies are male driven. I love it when it's the other way around. Here, Sandy's character is the oppressor."
But Reynolds, who plays Andrew the assistant, says he enjoyed the idea of the oppressor being taken out of her comfort zone. "This woman, who is so Type A, is being taken to the wilds of Alaska with her assistant. She has spent three years with this guy but knows absolutely nothing about him, including where he's from. It's really fun when she comes to this small community and becomes as much a fish out of water as a human being can be."
"You soon find out that the person you think is dominant really isn't-- Andrew is the one in control," says Bullock. "It even surprises Margaret. She's relied on him so heavily over the past years that without him, she can't do her job-- that's why she doesn't want to let him progress in his career. The man that's capable of taming the shrew does not have to carry the big stick or speak loudly. He's the one who knows exactly why she's the way she is."
"I see Andrew as a really noble guy," says Chiarelli. "He could have taken the easy way out and stayed in Alaska and done what was expected of him and work in the family business, but instead he's chosen to make his own way. He's not asking for favors from anybody; in fact, he's taking the toughest job because he knows it's going to get him the best experience.
"At the beginning of the movie, Margaret doesn't know any of this about him," continues Chiarelli. "So for her, there's a lot of discovery. She comes to realize that this is somebody who's made the tough decision to pull himself up by the bootstraps, which is similar to the way that Margaret went about her career."
"The film reminds me of the really well-constructed comedies that happened to be about a relationship failing, working and failing again--and they don't write 'em like this anymore," says Bullock, "From the way Anne Fletcher sets up the scene, Oliver Stapleton lights it and the landscape is used in the comedy, you realize that we're not making a light, superficial romantic comedy. I think screwball--rather than romantic--comedy is a better way to describe this film."
Fletcher's direction and Chiarelli's script find a deft balance between the film's sophisticated and physical comedy. "Everybody on this film plays the comedy straight," says White. "They don't pounce, 'Hey, this is a funny line, did you get it?' They just say it like it's real and that's what makes it funny."
"It's like 'I Love Lucy,'" adds Akerman. "The actors are not trying to be funny, but it is really funny, witty and sharp."
The filmmakers were inspired by some of the ageless comedies of the past. "It's a movie that just clips along, which is what those great '40s, '50s comedies with Cary Grant and Jack Lemmon did," says producer Hoberman. "While dialogue-heavy, they moved really fast. One of the things we wanted to do was have Sandy and Ryan finish each other's sentences. It's a love-hate relationship that keeps you going along for the ride."

CASTING CHEMISTRY: Filmmakers Assemble a Perfect "Proposal"
Filmmakers tapped Sandra Bullock early on for the role of Margaret. "She's really fun to play, because she's in all of us," says Bullock. "Margaret doesn't try and rectify any of the wrongs. She doesn't apologize. She doesn't feel like she has to make the world like her. She has a job to do, and she's gonna get it done. And there's a large part of me in that."
"I feel really lucky that we got her," says producer Todd Lieberman of Bullock. "She's a phenomenal actress and she can do any role, but she's so good and naturally gifted at comedy. People love her even when she's playing someone who's as hard edged as the character Margaret."
Producer David Hoberman adds: "Sandy gets to play a really fun character--there's a lot of physical comedy in this movie, so she gets to do everything her fans want to see. She's really smart and had really good instincts about her character, the script and the comedy."
Fletcher was equally impressed by Bullock. "She's a movie star," says the director. "She comes to work, she knows why she's there, she gets the job done. And her chemistry with Ryan is bar none."
Ryan Reynolds portrays the put-upon assistant who ultimately turns the tables on his boss. And with the majority of his scenes opposite Bullock, chemistry was imperative.
"They have a rhythm, they have a friendship, they have a way of communicating with each other--a sort of banter, a give and take," says Hoberman of Bullock and Reynolds. "They found a groove in these two characters that really came to life."
"Sandy and I've been friends for years--it's great working with your friend," says Reynolds. "My experience in a comedy is that you shoot the film and then halfway through you start to understand what your chemistry is with your costar and you wish you could go back and re-shoot all that you've already done. When you step on a set the first day and you already have that chemistry built in as Sandy and I did, you never experience that."
Lieberman says both actors have "complete command of what it means to be funny. We have scenes with the camera on Ryan's face. He doesn't say a word, but he expresses 100 different funny things. It's unbelievable."
Supporting Bullock and Reynolds is a stellar group of actors. "It's a testament to the great script and our two strong leads that we were able to put together such a great group of people," says Lieberman.
Nearly stealing the show is Betty White as Andrew's grandmother "Gammy" Annie. "She's turning 90 and has spent most of her life in Sitka, Alaska," says Chiarelli of White's character. "She's a tough woman who recognizes the toughness in Margaret, and she likes what she sees. So even though on the surface she and Margaret share little, they actually have everything in common."
"Audiences are so in love with Betty White," says Fletcher. "She is so comfortable on screen--a television icon. She just has a quality about her that you love as a person and on screen."
"I'm so lucky to work all the time," says White. "It's been 60 years that I've been working."
Oscar Nuñez steps in as Ramone, a Sitka local who seems to have a myriad of different professions, including male stripper. "Oscar's level of commitment is outrageous," says Fletcher. "You can't take your eyes off of him and you fall madly in love with him."
Tony Award® winner Denis O'Hare plays Gilbertson, the immigration official who is determined to prove the impromptu engagement a charade. "We read lots and lots of Gilbertsons," says Lieberman. "Denis was the one guy who really got it. He gave a perfect blend of government officious and vulnerability so that you could laugh at the guy. The scenes in the INS building were great fun between him and Ryan and Sandy."
In an effort to convince Gilbertson that their engagement is real, Margaret and Andrew travel to Sitka, Alaska to spend the weekend with Andrew's family.
"All families are screwed up," says Bullock. "I don't care how good they look on the outside, there's always a dynamic that is strained. Fathers and sons will battle, as will mothers and daughters, and this film is very much about that. This family is so complex, but so loving and open, that Margaret is overwhelmed by it. The minute you see these people on screen, you realize that something's going on here. They'll fight it out, but they'll still remain family."
Filmmakers cast veteran actors Craig T. Nelson and Mary Steenburgen as Andrew's parents.
"Ryan said that as a kid he always knew that Craig would play his father in a movie someday," says Lieberman. "And he's a perfect dad for Ryan Reynolds, in both size and sensibility."
For Bullock, "Mary Steenburgen can balance the drama with the comedy. With just the smallest word she can tear up a scene or make you cry. Mary seems delicate, but she's not. Behind the fragility she's so mischievous and so aware of what she's doing. To be able to do that in comedies, and make it real, is very difficult."
Fletcher turned to a familiar face when it came to casting Gertrude, the effervescent young woman Andrew left behind when he went to New York. Malin Akerman, who starred in Fletcher's "27 Dresses," plays what just may be a serious romantic threat to Margaret.
"Gertrude has come to realize that Andrew was the best thing that ever happened to her," says Akerman. "It's one of those things--you let someone go and then you realize it was a mistake. Now it's hard watching him with this new woman.
"I've played a lot of crazy, wacky characters in the past," continues Akerman, "so it's nice just to be a sweet, lovely kind of girl."
Rounding out the cast is Aasif Mandvi as Bob Spaulding, Margaret's contentious colleague, and Michael Nouri and Gregg Edelman as Margaret's employers who deliver the deportation news.

THE DIRECTOR'S CHAIR: Anne Fletcher Takes the Lead
At the helm of "THE PROPOSAL" is Anne Fletcher, the former dancer and choreographer whose first directorial effort was the 2006 hit "Step Up." Fletcher solidified her reputation as an inspired and confident director with the international box-office success "27 Dresses," starring Katherine Heigl, James Marsden, Ed Burns and "THE PROPOSAL's" Malin Akerman.
Known and appreciated by cast and crew for her great spirit, irreverence and the way she would literally dance onto a set, Fletcher is as meticulous as she is energetic. Fletcher sees her work as a choreographer as preparing her for her role as a director. "Choreographers for film choreograph for the camera, not the stage," she says. "We're thinking about all the different angles. I used to break down the characters, read the whole script to figure out why are these people dancing? Where do they come from and where are they going that they have to dance? Does the dance further the story? So you're kind of doing the leg work that a director does. You're understanding where the camera needs to go, what helps to make the scene look dynamic or small. I think it helps having that eye and understanding that things need to move to be interesting."
"Anne's energy is physical," says veteran director of photography Oliver Stapleton. "Her background is choreography and dance, so her intuition and sensibility are based on something extremely earthy, which isn't very common in directors. Most directors are very intellectual people who tend to exist from the neck up while some others exist all in the heart. I've never worked with a director who springboards from her physicality. Anne has a very unique way of choreographing the actors, and I don't just mean the physical movement of 'you walk from A to B,' but rather having an incredibly clear sense of how a scene works."
"Her energy is endless," Bullock says. "But that's only surpassed by how great she is at her job as a director. It's been a long time since I've worked with someone who was as thorough, as thought-out and as good at her job as Anne is. I'm so happy to come to set, because I know that if I do my work, she will have done it a thousand times better. She knows the ins and outs of everyone's role and doesn't allow anyone to go too far. If you're stuck, she knows exactly what it takes to bring you out of it. As a director, she's the real thing."

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

ANNE FLETCHER (Director) was one of the film industry's sought-after choreographers when she was tapped to direct "Step Up." The film and its sequel have grossed more than $262 million worldwide. Fletcher served as executive producer on "Step Up 2," and will executive produce "Step Up 3D." In January 2008, Fletcher released "27 Dresses" starring Katherine Heigl, Ed Burns and James Marsden. The film, which grossed more than $160 million worldwide, established Fletcher as one of the most in-demand female directors working today.
On Fletcher's slate is "The Matadors," which she will direct for Offspring Entertainment. The movie follows two men who take their baseball fanaticism to another level when they form an all-male cheerleading team.
She also served as associate producer on "The Wedding Planner" directed by Adam Shankman.
Born in Detroit, Fletcher began dancing at age 12, was teaching at 13, and dancing professionally at 15. She moved to Los Angeles at 18 to pursue a career in dance after graduating from high school. She subsequently traveled all over the world, dancing in industrials and appeared on such television shows as "The Tracy Ullman Show," "The Smothers Brothers" and the mini-series "War and Remembrance."
After making a music video with Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks for "Dragnet," she began dancing in film, making her debut in "The Mask," which was followed by "The Flintstones," the first two features of many as a dancer and then as assistant choreographer to Adam Shankman.
She choreographed two successful films for Disney, "Ice Princess" and "The Pacifier," and also worked as choreographer on "The 40 Year Old Virgin." She provided choreography for "Along Came Polly" and "Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed." Her work can also be seen "The Longest Yard," "Down with Love," "Boogie Nights," and "Bring It On." Among her television credits are "Six Feet Under," "Judging Amy" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

PETER CHIARELLI (Writer) earned a master's degree from the Peter Stark producing program at USC. When he graduated he began his film career at DreamWorks. During that time, Chiarelli produced the short film "Terry Tate Office Linebacker," which was developed into one of the most popular Super Bowl commercials of all time. In 2001, he became an executive at Red Wagon Entertainment, where he worked on the films "Memoirs of a Geisha," "Win a Date with Ted Hamilton" and "RV." He later moved to MGM to work as a director of development, where he supervised production of "The Pink Panther" and "The Amityville Horror."
In 2005, he moved to DreamWorks to run Kurtzman/Orci Productions, where he was most recently co-producer on the company's first production, "Eagle Eye." In addition, he served as executive producer on the 2008 Sundance film "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh." "The Proposal" is his second script.

READ MORE ABOUT THE CAST, FILMING AND DESIGNING THE PROPOSAL

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