Cynthia Addai-Robinson On Family Dynamics In The People We Hate At The Wedding

Watching the film, it really feels like you and Kristen Bell and Ben Platt are siblings, and you're all this dysfunctional family that loves each other deep down. What was it like playing that and having those family dynamics come across and feel real?

Some of my favorite scenes are those moments when we are all together because there's so much to play there. There are so many looks across the table amongst our main cast, but we also have a lot of incredibly funny supporting cast and different characters and cameos that fill this world. We have fun with it. 

There's that opportunity with comedy for people to improv a little bit, throw in some one-liners. I basically had to try and keep up with these amazing comedic actors and try not to laugh, because in the moment for Eloise, it's quite serious and, in a lot of ways, quite embarrassing. She has that discomfort of these American family members who are loud and brash, and she loves them, but it's also cringe.

Your character is definitely playing it straight while they're doing all their shenanigans. Was that a difficult part of filming, to not break that character?

Definitely. But I also think there's a lot of humor. Sometimes [in] British culture, there's the humor that comes from discomfort, embarrassment, and British people trying to pretend as if nothing is happening or nothing's wrong. There are a lot of those moments, too, where it's trying to gloss over the crazy things that are happening. As I said, that group of Kristen, Ben, Karan Soni, who plays Ben's partner, and Allison Janney — [in] some of our scenes, [I was] literally watching these folks do their thing, and it's magic. I got to try and keep up with them.