Lovely actress Heather Graham stars a Jade, a Vegas stripper looking for love in Warner Bros.’ “The Hangover,” an outrageous comedy about a bachelor party that unravels as a tour of shame and chaos.

Now the all-time biggest-grossing R-Rated comedy in the U.S., “The Hangover” also stars Bradley Cooper, Justin Bartha, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis.

Graham describes her character as “a stripper/escort with a sweet disposition and a relaxed point of view on true love.” She also offers an interesting conversation she had with a Las Vegas cab driver during production.  “He asked me about the movie and I told him it’s about these three guys who get wasted and can’t remember what they did the night before.  He said, ‘Yeah, I’ve had many nights like that.’  So I guess a lot of people are going to relate.”

Question:  You’re so funny in the movie.  Were you daunted by the idea of playing a stripper?

Heather Graham:  I actually thought it was fun to play such a colorful character and not just the sidekick to the guys.  I got to be this quirky character on my own and I made up a whole back story where I was a spiritual New Age stripper that was just trying to share my sexuality with the world for the greater goal of spirituality.  (Laughs)  So I made up a whole back story that I liked.

Q:  What kind of research do you do?  Did you find a New Age stripper?

Graham: No.  I had taken this female empowerment class and I had actually taken the pole dancing classes because my friend taught one of them.

Q:  Have you visited any Las Vegas strip clubs?

Graham: I did.  I went to the Spearmint Rhino.  That’s the only one I went to.  [Director] Todd [Phillips] and I went there.  Actually, that’s where we shot, too, where we shot all those pictures at the end credits.

Q:  In the film, you’re surrounded by people who know comedy so well.

Graham: It’s a little intimidating.  It’s funny to be with all these comedians and I have no idea what I’m doing.  Basically, I feel like when I don’t try to be funny, I think I am funny, and when I’m really trying to be funny, I think it’s not funny.

Q:  Todd’s advice that if you think it looks stupid, just do it.  Is that something you have to learn about acting, or is it particular to comedy?

Graham: Even if you’re an actor, you have to be willing to look stupid because you never really know if the thing you’re in is going to turn out good.  You might end up looking like a complete idiot.  So, I guess you have to be willing to be an idiot.  (Laughs)

Q: By being the female presence in the movie, did you get a sense of ‘boys will be boys and look what they are when they are being boys?’

Graham: To be honest, I didn’t think of it as much like that as it’s something that makes you laugh.  I think it’s an art to be funny, and I think if someone makes you laugh, that’s an art.  I’m not thinking as much as, oh, this is bad what they’re doing, because obviously it’s not good.  But I thought of it as comedy that was funny.  I wouldn’t want to be married to a guy that went on a bachelor party.

Opening across the Philippines on Aug. 12, “The Hangover” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Best known as Riley Poole, partner to Nicolas Cage’s character Ben Gates from the worldwide successes “National Treasure” and “National Treasure: Book of Secrets,” Justin Bartha now stars as Doug, the mysteriously missing groom in Warner Bros.’ bachelor-party comedy “The Hangover.”

In the film, two days before his wedding, Doug drives to Las Vegas with his best buddies Phil and Stu (Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms) and his future brother-in-law Alan (Zach Galifianakis), for a blow-out bachelor party they vow they’ll never forget. But when the three groomsmen wake up the next morning with pounding headaches, they can’t remember a thing.  Their luxury hotel suite is beyond trashed and the groom is nowhere to be found.

With no clue about what happened and little time to spare, the trio must attempt to retrace their bad decisions from the night before in order to figure out where things went wrong in the hopes of finding Doug and getting him back to L.A. in time for his wedding.

“Doug is the voice of reason in the group,” explains Bartha.  “I wanted to make him the guy who tied the other personalities together.  He’s the common denominator and when he’s lost, all hell breaks loose.”

Though necessarily absent from a portion of the proceedings, “Doug is vital to the story.  He’s the glue that holds these guys together and when he goes missing they suddenly seem less like friends and more like a three-way odd couple,” observes Jon Lucas, who, with partner Scott Moore, wrote the screenplay.  “He becomes the Holy Grail—that one thing the heroes desperately need to find and that we desperately want them to find.”

“Luckily,” says Moore, “they care enough about Doug that they’re willing to endure everything that comes next, and they stick together to find him no matter how much they might piss each other off.”

Director Todd Phillips concurs.  “The best humor comes from the heart.  You need to believe that these guys are really concerned about each other and have a genuine connection, and that elevates things beyond just the telling of jokes.  It’s about exploring the natural humor and awkwardness of male friendships and the kind of things that bond them.

“Comedy is 70% casting,” he continues.  “Certainly, you need a great story, but beyond that it’s about pacing, putting great comic actors into a situation and letting them respond to it and to each other.  The script was a blueprint for Bradley, Ed, Zach and Justin, and they took it and ran with it.  The same was true for each of the actors we cast in supporting roles.  When you populate a film with genuinely funny people it helps to keep that momentum going.”

Opening soon across the Philippines, “The Hangover” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Actor-on-the-rise Bradley Cooper, who appeared in contemporary comedies including “Wedding Crashers,” ”Yes Man” and “He’s Just Not That Into You” now lands one of the four leads in Warner Bros.’ new male-bonding comedy “The Hangover,” a recent No. 1 blockbuster in the U.S.

In the film, two days before his wedding, Doug (Justin Bartha) drives to Las Vegas with his best buddies Phil and Stu (Cooper and Ed Helms) and his future brother-in-law Alan (Zach Galifianakis), for a blow-out bachelor party they vow they’ll never forget.  But when the three groomsmen wake up the next morning with pounding headaches, they can’t remember a thing.  Their luxury hotel suite is beyond trashed and the groom is nowhere to be found.

With no clue about what happened and little time to spare, the trio must attempt to retrace their bad decisions from the night before in order to figure out where things went wrong in the hopes of finding Doug and getting him back to L.A. in time for his wedding. But the more they begin to uncover, the more they realize just how much trouble they’re really in.

Cooper plays Phil, the leader of this dysfunctional quartet of partiers.  “Phil is the guy with the plan, the fast-talker,” says producer Dan Goldberg.  The only one of the group who has experienced marriage and fatherhood, Phil feels a bit restricted by his life as a family man and high school English teacher and was looking forward to this trip as a rare opportunity to cut loose with his old college gang.  He’s not about to let this little setback ruin his weekend.

“Phil thinks, ‘Let’s just get some aspirin and take this one step at a time.  No need to panic,’” says Cooper.  “No matter how uncontrollable the situation becomes, he keeps thinking he can manage it.  And he keeps trying, right up to the point where it absolutely gets away from him.

Adds Cooper, “I liked the synergy between the guys because even though each one is so unique, together they have great chemistry. I also loved how fast the story moved. Once the movie starts, you are on a jet plane until it ends, and it’s weird that you find a comedy with that kind of engine. Each scene propels to the next one, as we have to get our man back to the wedding on time, or else we fail. I would challenge anybody to rival the night these guys have had!”

“Bradley is very funny, both on and off the screen, but I think of him more as a leading man, and in this story he takes on the role of the de facto leader,” says director Todd Phillips.  “He’s the one who emerges from this morning-after mess and tries to get the other two to focus so they can figure out what happened.  Phil is the facilitator who makes stuff happen.  And I was lucky to have Bradley because he is on the cusp of his career now.”

Opening soon across the Philippines, “The Hangover” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ smash hit comedy “The Hangover” has crossed the $200 million mark, it was announced by Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.  The film earned $11,268,413 over the July 4th holiday weekend, bringing its current box office total to $205,038,233, and still climbing.  In only its first month of release, “The Hangover” has already become the third highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time.

In making the announcement, Fellman said, “This is extraordinary for an R-rated comedy.  We are thrilled by the response of audiences, who have kept ‘The Hangover’ at or near the top of the box office through both strong word-of-mouth and repeat business.  People are still flocking to catch ‘The Hangover,’ and we expect it to continue throughout the summer.”

Jeff Robinov, President of Warner Bros. Pictures Group, stated, “From its opening weekend, ‘The Hangover’ has caught fire with moviegoers, who have made it a surprise summer blockbuster.  We believed we had a hit on our hands when we saw it, but the response has been overwhelming.  Congratulations to Todd Phillips, who has once again proven his ability to make audiences laugh and keep them coming back for more.”

Legendary Pictures’ Thomas Tull, who served as an executive producer on the film, added, “We are delighted with the success of ‘The Hangover’ for all involved, especially our partners at Warner Bros., who have done a spectacular job on the film.  We congratulate and thank our hilarious cast and the incredibly talented Todd Phillips, whose singular comedic vision is the reason the movie works so perfectly.”

From director Todd Phillips, “The Hangover” is a new comedy about a bachelor party gone horribly wrong.  Two days before his wedding, Doug (Justin Bartha) and his three buddies (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis) drive to Las Vegas for a blow-out night they’ll never forget.  But when the three groomsmen wake up the next morning with pounding headaches, they can’t remember a thing.  Their posh hotel suite is beyond trashed and the groom is nowhere to be found.  With no clue about what happened and little time to spare, the trio must attempt to retrace their bad decisions from the night before in order to figure out where things went wrong and hopefully get Doug back to L.A. in time for his wedding.  However, the more they begin to uncover, the more they realize just how much trouble they’re really in.

(Opening soon across the Philippines, “The Hangover” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.)

The bachelor party is a time-honored tradition.  Every weekend across America, countless men on the brink of their wedding dates are taken out by a select few of their best buddies for a symbolic last hurrah.  “Just a few friends getting together,” says Todd Phillips, director of Warner Bros.’ new raunchy comedy “The Hangover.”

“It’s such a typical thing to do, they don’t even want to call it a bachelor party because they see it more as a guys’ night out,” he adds. “A nice dinner, some laughs, and a toast to the new groom.”  You know, “Harmless.”

Granted, this night out in “The Hangover” is awfully close to the day of groom Doug’s (Justin Bartha) actual ceremony… And sure, Stu (Ed Helms) has to lie to his girlfriend about where they’re going…

And yes, they’re taking along Doug’s new brother-in-law Alan (Zach Galifianakis) who’s socially awkward and somewhat of a loose cannon…But other than that, what do they have to worry about?

When the foursome checks in to Caesars Palace they’re feeling good and relaxed.  Stepping out onto Caesars’ rooftop to start their evening with a toast amidst the wraparound glow of Vegas lights under the desert sky, they raise their glasses to Doug’s upcoming new life and “to a night the four of us will never forget.”

And that’s the last thing any of them can remember.

The next thing that Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu and Alan know it’s morning and they’re sprawled out with their faces on the marble floor.  Sunshine streams in through the windows, revealing a palatial suite that is totally trashed.

But that’s not so unusual, as bachelor parties go, Phillips grants. “Getting drunk and waking up next to a pile of empty bottles is pretty much par for the course. For a movie about a hangover to end all hangovers, we had to take things a gigantic step beyond.  We thought, ‘What would be the craziest night you could possibly have and still live to talk about it.’”

“How about, there’s a baby in their room, that they’ve never seen before, and a tiger in the bathroom?,” adds producer Dan Goldberg.  Party dolls bob atop the Jacuzzi bubbles, a chair still smolders from what appears to have been a fire and an ottoman dangles from the ceiling.

Oh, and one more little thing… the groom is missing.

As the three revelers struggle to regain consciousness, each reacts to the scene in his own way.  Leader-of-the-pack Phil surveys the damage with a confident but blurry eye, assumes they had a good time and that Doug will turn up soon.  Stu, the worrier, and the one whose credit card is on file with the front desk, launches into a panic that escalates with each new offense he uncovers in the wreckage of their $4,000-a-night suite. And Alan kind of takes it all in with a crazy sense of wonder—that is, once he gets over the fact that he was just standing, half naked, within pouncing distance of a real, live, full-grown tiger.

Opening soon across the Philippines, “The Hangover” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ new comedy “The Hangover” took the top spot at the U.S. box office in its opening weekend, surprising industry analysts.  On the heels of critical and audience raves and a multi-targeted marketing campaign, “The Hangover” earned an impressive $44,979,000 in its opening weekend, making it the third-highest opening of an R-rated comedy ever.  For Warner Bros., it is also the sixth film to open at number one in 2009 to date.

Jeff Robinov, President of Warner Bros. Pictures Group, stated, “Coming into this weekend, we knew we had across-the-board great reviews, extremely strong word of mouth, and a marketing campaign that I would simply call amazing.  As importantly, we had a movie that delivered.  Congratulations to everyone involved in the making of ‘The Hangover,’ including the entire cast and crew and the producers.  And special congratulations to Todd Phillips, who has been a great collaborative partner and an important member of the Warner Bros. family.”

Sue Kroll, President of Worldwide Marketing, Warner Bros. Pictures, added, “From our earliest screenings, we knew ‘The Hangover’ was something special.  Todd made a brilliantly funny movie and we wanted to craft a very strategic and creative marketing campaign to match.  Aggressively utilizing both the mainstream media and the internet, we set out to make this an all-audience film.  We found unique ways to introduce the concept and the characters, leaving no chicken or tiger unturned.  The wealth of material—not to mention a director and cast who worked tirelessly to support the film—gave us so many avenues to explore in putting together an all-encompassing and pervasive campaign.  By the time we opened, we had not only created awareness but a definite must-see vibe surrounding the film.  Jeff, Dan and I are also proud that ‘The Hangover’—added to such comedy hits as ‘Get Smart,’ ‘Yes Man,’ ‘Four Christmases,’ ‘He’s Just Not That Into You,’ ‘Sex and the City’ and ‘17 Again’—once again emphasizes our growing success in the comedy arena.”

Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. Pictures President of Domestic Distribution, added, “We are obviously thrilled with the box office results for ‘The Hangover,’ which came into this weekend against some very strong competition.  The film did not have the benefit of instantly recognizable star names and it was not in the category of a big action blockbuster.  But Todd Phillips does comedy like no one else and we knew ‘The Hangover’ was that rare gem of a comedy that plays to audiences of virtually every demographic.  And it did.  Based on this weekend’s overwhelmingly positive audience response, we anticipate that the excitement will continue to build through the summer as moviegoers turn out to get ‘The Hangover.’”

From director Todd Phillips comes a new comedy about a bachelor party gone horribly wrong.  Two days before his wedding, Doug (Justin Bartha) and his three buddies (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis) drive to Las Vegas for a blow-out night they’ll never forget.  But when the three groomsmen wake up the next morning with pounding headaches, they can’t remember a thing.  Their posh hotel suite is beyond trashed and the groom is nowhere to be found.  With no clue about what happened and little time to spare, the trio must attempt to retrace their bad decisions from the night before in order to figure out where things went wrong and hopefully get Doug back to L.A. in time for his wedding.  However, the more they begin to uncover, the more they realize just how much trouble they’re really in.

Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Legendary Pictures, a Green Hat Films Production of a Todd Phillips Movie: “The Hangover,” starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Heather Graham, Justin Bartha and Jeffrey Tambor.  The film is directed by Phillips from a screenplay by Jon Lucas & Scott Moore.  Todd Phillips and Dan Goldberg produced, with Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, William Fay, Scott Budnick, Chris Bender and J.C. Spink serving as executive producers.