In both The Housemaid book by Freida McFadden and the movie, which is still doing great at the box office a month into its release, there’s a notable tie to Family Feud. So, it was a stroke of genius marketing for Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried, Brandon Sklenar and director Paul Feig to turn up on an episode of Celebrity Family Feud recently. But how did they make that happen?
The Housemaid’s key talent competed in a game of Celebrity Family Feud on December 4 against a slew of stars from The Real Housewives. Director Paul Feig told Variety that when they were filming the Family Feud scene on set, this happened:
Syd goes, ‘We’ve got to go on ‘Family Feud.’ And I was like, ‘That’s a hilarious idea.’ And I called Lionsgate and said, Syd wants to do ‘Family Feud’ and they’re like, ‘We’ll make it happen.’
There are quite a few changes between The Housemaid book and movie, not unlike most book adaptations, but the Family Feud of it all remained the same. One night, Millie (played by Sweeney) can’t sleep at the residence where she’s a live-in housemaid, and she heads downstairs to watch the game show to relax, and the wife of her employer, Andrew (Sklenar), ends up sitting down and watching it with her. It’s a moment of great tension since she’s scantily dressed, and worried about what Nina might think if she’s caught.
The cast being on Family Feud is such a nod to the film I’m not getting over anytime soon. They did that!
It’s not surprising that Sweeney might have the idea, given how many brand deals and such she’s been part of. The actress knows how to market something! The appearance was reportedly a smashing success, too, given it earned 1.5 million video views within the linear window. Lionsgate film group chair Adam Fogelson also said this about The Housemaid cast ending up on Celebrity Family Feud:
Sydney understands her brand as well as anyone I’ve ever met, and her willingness to go on ‘Celebrity Family Feud’ should not be treated lightly. You could imagine somebody with that level of star power sort of saying, ‘I’m not sure I want to do that.’ And Sydney not only did it, she did it with joy, as did Amanda, Brandon and Paul, all coming together to make it happen.
In the episode, The Housemaid crew even made a killing against The Real Housewives. Check out this clip from the episode:
While usual Family Feud episodes have the team members winning cash, the celebrity version has each team competing to give to the charity of their choice, which, in The Housemaid’s case, was for Shriners Hospitals for Children. The team ended up winning $50,000 for the nonprofit healthcare system and had fun doing so.
The Housemaid movie has made $135.8 million worldwide as well, and we get why, given how fun it is to see the thriller with an audience. It was reported this week that Lionsgate has already greenlit a sequel after those involved shared they were “ready” to make it happen. I love that The Housemaid did this bit because not only is it a blast to watch, it’s for a great cause.