Melissa McCarthy's 'Boss' Character Not Based on Who You Think She Is

You don’t even have to sit through The Boss to hypothesize about who Melissa McCarthy’s larger-than-life Mama Warbucks, Michelle Darnell, might be based on. Just watch the trailer. She has the hair (and baking credo) of Paula Deen, the insider trading connection to Martha Stewart, and the braggadocio of Donald Trump. All are fair guesses, and all are wrong.

“I actually started Michelle Darnell about 15 years ago, I played her at the Groundlings,” McCarthy explained (watch above) at the film’s recent Los Angeles press day, shouting out the legendary Los Angeles improv collective that also counts Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, Jack Black, Paul Reubens, Maya Rudolph, and McCarthy’s husband/Boss co-writer-director Ben Falcone as alumni. “It was a character I developed there and I just always loved that kind of energy and someone who’s like, ‘It’s me, and only me, and I don’t need any of you.’”

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As The Boss kicks off, Darnell is on top of the world, making a grand entrance down to her speaking engagement on a golden phoenix. That world comes crashing down when she’s indicted for shady bookkeeping. After a stint in the white-collar slammer, she’s forced to crash on the faulty foldout of her ex-assistant, single mother Claire (Kristen Bell). Inspired by Claire’s daughter’s Girl Scout fundraising activities, the pair ultimately hatch a plan to launch a brownie business.

McCarthy isn’t surprised by people assuming the character is based on recent newsmakers. “That’s what people are saying,” she says of the Deen, Stewart, and Trump comparisons, “but you have to remember… she looked the same, and had the same energy and backstory 15 years ago. So it’s kind of a coincidence that it’s moving into people currently.” Still, McCarthy concedes there may have been some real-world influences. "Certainly, a little [personal finance guru] Suze Orman in there [as well]. There’s bits and pieces of people.“

The Boss opens Friday.