I love doing my own stunts, says 'Mike and Molly' actress, Melissa McCarthy

Melissa McCarthy. Naam toh suna hi hoga! The actress with brilliant comic timing - and the star of everything from TV series Mike and Molly to the upcoming comic thriller (the film releases June 19) Spy, she plays a behind-the-scenes CIA analyst who becomes a superwoman field agent because of circumstance.
She's polite to a fault in real life. Don't let her acerbic tongue, as seen in most of her films and some parts of Spy, fool you. She spoke to us over the phone from LA and fielded questions on working with director Paul Feig on almost all his films, including the Ghostbusters reboot he's directing, on her character - the mild mannered Susan Cooper, her co-star Nargis Fakhri and their fight scenes together, and doing her own stunts...

What do love most about working with Paul Feig?
Paul is incredibly positive and collaborative. No idea gets turned down. I can suggest the craziest thing in the world and he always says "Sure, let's try it".

Did you model Susan Cooper on anyone familiar or someone you know?
I think Susan represents so many people that feel unvalued or underestimated. I loved that I got to show this timid woman grow into an amazing, confident spy.

That fight sequence between you and Nargis was something else. How many good shots did you get in with that pan? We hear you left her head a bit bruised.
Nargis was amazing. That scene was the first thing we shot. I did bang up her hands a bit - I felt terrible, but it's what happens in action scenes.

You've played a cop before, and an analyst turned agent here. Are we ever going to see you turn evil?
Oh, I sure hope so. I'd love to play an evil villain.

Actors these days prefer to do their own stunt scenes. How many of the fight/stunt scenes in Spy did you personally get to do?
I love doing my own stunts. Maybe I'm crazy but I really felt that because Susan had not been in the field before, she shouldn't be too amazing or comfortable with fights. I thought, 'I can do that!'

Sometimes actors pick up skills training for a movie like this. What about you? Did you pick anything up? Flying a plane, hand-to-hand combat, driving around a city on a two-wheeler?
Well, this was the first time I got to train in martial arts. Although I was new to it, I loved the discipline and have thought of keeping that up as a practice.

A RIDE TO REMEMBER
Melissa says about this fun scooter ride sequence in the film, where she chases a suspect: "It was a trickier thing to ride than I expected. I remember laughing out loud when I read that Susan falls over, gets back up, shoves somebody else off of another scooter, and charges off again in pursuit. I love it for the bigger picture too, showing that you may fall down but you can always get back up again."