Movies

Melisssa McCarthy, Ben Falcone talk love, films and wig mishaps

When Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone shared the screen for a hilarious airplane scene in the 2011 hit “Bridesmaids” — she was the overly confident sister of the groom; he was the air marshal she set her swaggering sights on — the chemistry was instantly palpable.

And for good reason: The dynamic duo have been married since 2005 and have two daughters, ages 4 and 7.

Since that film, which earned McCarthy an Oscar nod, Falcone has appeared in brief roles in several of his wife’s movies, including “The Heat.”

But this Wednesday sees the couple’s biggest team-up to date.

In the road-trip comedy “Tammy,” McCarthy stars as a woman who, after losing her fast-food job and her husband in the same day, decides to leave town.

Falcone directed, stars as the manager who fires her, and wrote and produced the film alongside McCarthy.

The Post caught up with Hollywood’s funniest couple to talk work, married life and wig snafus.

Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone.Startraksphoto.com

How do you go about writing together? Do you, like, sit down in the living room?

Ben Falcone: That’s actually exactly how it works. We pull out a laptop, usually, and kind of…somebody holds it for a while, and then we trade.

Melissa McCarthy: It’s very low-tech [laughs]. We don’t get a lot of time alone. There is no writing in a room where there’s a 4- and a 7-year-old. So a lot of times, [after] we drop the kids off at school, in the car, is really when stuff happens.

What was the most difficult part of working together so closely on this?

BF: I had such a good time.

MM: I wish I could say the same, Ben [laughs].

BF: What if [I answered this question with] just a long pause and then we just both…

MM: You just hear me quietly crying? No, we met writing and performing all this stuff together. That’s kind of why we became such good friends and fell in love.

So who wears the pants?

MM: We both enjoy slacks.

Who cooks?

MM: We used to cook a lot together, but Ben’s really been on kind of a tear lately.

BF: I like to grill, like a standard guy. I like to grill steaks and fish.

MM: And I’ll do the sides, like the veggies. Kind of splitsies. If someone does most of the cooking, the other one has to clean. Until our kids are old enough, and then, my god, they will clean.

McCarthy in a scene from “Bridesmaids.”Universal Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

What was the craziest thing that happened on the “Tammy” set?

MM: I was trying to learn how to drive the Jet Ski, and I misinterpreted what our stunt coordinator said.

He said, “Give it some more gas so you can see how comfortable you feel with going faster, and then at the end, when you make your turn, really dig into it.”

I heard, “Go faster and dig in and turn.” I somehow abridged all of his words, and so I cranked it up to about 45 miles per hour.

BF: This is her safety ride: Forty-five miles an hour immediately, because she’s a maniac in that way.

MM: I thought the cameras were rolling, [and] “I’m in costume…” I didn’t even know I was underwater until I was way under. I reached for my wig — we didn’t have a huge budget, so a six- or seven-thousand-dollar wig was massive. I had 45 pins in that thing.

I couldn’t pull it off with my hand, but I hit the water with such impact that the second I reached for my head, the wig was gone. It’s still at the bottom of a lake in Wilmington.

How do you feel about being the new Brangelina?

MM: Oh my God. We’re like if Brad and Angelina had weird cousins from Illinois.

BF: If they were having a barbecue, we’d be the people [where] they’re like, “Oh boy. You’re here.”