47 Fun Facts About The Proposal

What nationality is Margaret Tate, which puts her at risk of deportation?

Canadian by birth, Margaret faces being sent home over a visa violation, so she strong-arms her assistant into a green-card marriage.

In The Proposal, what is Margaret Tate's job?

Editor-in-chief at a book publisher, Margaret is so disliked that her bosses plan to hand the job to Bob Spaulding, the editor she has just fired, if she is deported.

Who directed The Proposal?

Anne Fletcher signed on in January 2008, the very week her 27 Dresses opened, by which time both stars were already attached.

In The Proposal, what does Andrew demand in return for agreeing to marry Margaret?

A promotion to editor is his price: once he grasps how badly she needs him, the long-suffering assistant turns the blackmail around on his boss.

What does Andrew make Margaret do outside the immigration office before he accepts her deal?

Kneel and ask him nicely: the boss who barks orders all day has to get down on one knee in the street, and he still makes her say it again like she means it.

Besides a $250,000 fine, what does agent Gilbertson warn Andrew he risks for marriage fraud?

Five years in prison, on top of the fine, 'changes things', Andrew tells Margaret outside, and he starts naming his price for going along.

What family occasion takes Andrew and Margaret to Alaska for the weekend?

His grandmother's 90th birthday was already in his diary for that weekend, so the fake fiancée has to come along and face the whole family.

What surprises Margaret about Andrew's family when she arrives?

They are wealthy, and Margaret is thrown that her assistant never said so; Andrew's answer is that he isn't rich, his parents are.

Who plays Andrew's grandmother Annie, known as Gammy?

Betty White's Gammy arrived just ahead of her late-career revival: within a year a Super Bowl ad and a fan campaign had put her on Saturday Night Live as host, and the episode won her an Emmy.

Who plays Andrew's father, Joe Paxton?

Craig T. Nelson plays a father still sore that his son turned down the family business and left home, though he does try to apologise after they argue.

Who plays Andrew's mother, Grace?

Mary Steenburgen's Grace welcomes Margaret warmly, then rounds on her husband Joe over his feud with their son, an argument Margaret overhears.

What does an eagle snatch from Margaret right after she rescues the family's puppy from it?

Her cell phone is what the eagle takes, so the frantic editor holds the puppy back up toward the sky, offering the bird a trade.

Which sitcom made The Proposal's Oscar Nuñez famous?

The Office cast Nuñez as Dunder Mifflin accountant Oscar Martinez after the Cuban-born comic moved to Los Angeles and joined the Groundlings improv company.

Who plays Andrew's ex-girlfriend Gertrude?

Malin Åkerman, seen that same year in Watchmen, plays Gertrude, the hometown sweetheart Andrew left behind when he moved to the big city.

What does Gertrude tell Margaret at the bachelorette party?

Andrew once proposed to her and she refused, Gertrude admits, because she never wanted to leave home for New York; she adds that she is glad he found Margaret.

How do Grace and Annie celebrate Margaret's bachelorette?

A trip to a bar with an exotic dancer puts a mortified Margaret at the center of the act, and it is there that Gertrude opens up to her.

What does Margaret confess to Andrew about her past?

Her parents died when she was 16, she confides one night, and admitting she is not as tough as she acts is what starts drawing the two closer.

How does Andrew respond when Gilbertson turns up in Alaska offering him a way out?

He insists the wedding is on, even with his father urging him to take the deal; it is Margaret who later pleads with him to reconsider.

Who officiates Andrew and Margaret's wedding in The Proposal?

Ramone, already seen waiting tables and minding the Paxton store, turns out to be the minister too, until Margaret halts the vows to confess.

What does Gilbertson give Margaret after she confesses at the altar?

A day to leave is all Gilbertson gives her: 24 hours to pack and go, and her plane takes off before Andrew can stop it.

What does Gammy Annie fake to force Andrew and Joe to reconcile?

A heart attack is the ruse: once father and son promise to bury the hatchet aboard the rescue plane, Gammy sits up and orders the pilot to the airport.

Where does Andrew finally tell Margaret he loves her?

At their New York office, in front of the whole staff, Andrew asks her to marry him for real, because he would like to date her.

What happens during The Proposal's end credits?

Gilbertson interviews the whole family, firing off ever sillier questions in the immigration grilling the film kept promising.

The Proposal's Alaskan hometown was actually filmed mostly in which US state?

Massachusetts doubled for Alaska: the harbor town of Rockport was dressed as Sitka, and its famous red fishing shack, Motif No. 1, can be spotted on screen.

What does Margaret stumble on Gammy doing alone in the woods?

Chanting thanks to Mother Earth beside a campfire, Gammy pulls Margaret into the ritual, and the buttoned-up editor ends up dancing along.

How does Margaret end up needing Andrew to rescue her on the water?

She falls out of their speedboat, and Margaret has already admitted she cannot swim, so she flounders until Andrew comes to the rescue.

How do Margaret and Andrew first end up naked in each other's arms?

They collide by accident, she hunting for a towel after her shower and he heading in for his, and tumble to the floor in a tangle of limbs.

Reviewers said Margaret's reign of terror over her office borrowed from which earlier film?

The Devil Wears Prada was the comparison several critics reached for, though one added that Bullock's office witch could not touch Meryl Streep's.

Before The Proposal, Sandra Bullock's biggest opening weekend belonged to which 2007 thriller?

Premonition had opened to $17.6 million; The Proposal nearly doubled that, giving Bullock by far the best debut of her career.

What makes Andrew blurt out the engagement at his welcome-home party?

A public jab from his father does it: Joe accuses him, in front of the guests, of using his boss to get ahead, and Andrew fires back with the news.

What did critics praise most in The Proposal?

The chemistry carried the reviews: even critics who found the situations formulaic said Bullock and Reynolds brought them to sparkling life.

Which critic said he began by hating The Proposal, then liked it?

Roger Ebert noted that his own evening followed the plot: a film about two people who start out hating each other and end up liking each other won him over the same way.

Which awards body nominated Sandra Bullock for her performance in The Proposal?

The Golden Globes nominated her in both actress categories that night: she lost the comedy prize for this role but won the drama award for another film.

Which other 2009 film won Sandra Bullock the Academy Award for Best Actress?

The Blind Side turned her year around: months after this comedy, the sports drama won her both the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for best actress.

The Proposal was remade in India's Malayalam-language cinema under which title?

My Boss (2012) moved the sham engagement to a Mumbai IT firm, where an Australian citizen with visa trouble ropes in her assistant; one reviewer called it a loud copy.

Where do Andrew's parents ask the couple to marry, in keeping with Paxton tradition?

In the family barn, a Paxton tradition; the family wants it done the very next day, which turns a fake engagement into a real deadline.

What was The Proposal's director known as before she began directing?

A choreographer and dancer: she devised the cheerleading moves in Bring It On, and said she wanted to build physical comedy around her star here.

Which city is The Proposal's Ryan Reynolds from?

Vancouver gives the casting a twist: the actor born abroad plays the American fiancé, while Virginia-born Bullock plays the boss facing deportation.

What does Gammy press on Margaret while fitting her for the wedding dress?

An heirloom necklace from Gammy's own mother comes with the gown; Margaret tries to refuse it, and one critic called the fitting the scene where her resistance caves.

Sitka, the film's setting, was under the rule of which country until 1867?

Russians named it New Archangel. It sits on Baranof Island and is the largest US city by total area.

The Proposal's writer, Peter Chiarelli, later co-wrote which 2018 romantic comedy?

Crazy Rich Asians started from his adaptation of the novel; Adele Lim was then brought in to sharpen the script's cultural detail, and the two share the screenplay credit.

What was added digitally behind The Proposal's Alaskan town?

Mountains were painted in afterwards, because the harbor town that stood in for Sitka has no snow-capped peaks behind it at all.

Which club anthem does Margaret end up rapping in the Alaskan woods?

Get Low, the Lil Jon club hit, is what the prim editor starts rapping when Gammy urges her to let go, hip thrusts and all.

What scare did Sandra Bullock walk away from during The Proposal's shoot?

A drunk driver hit her car head-on one Friday night in April 2008; she and her husband were unhurt, and she was back filming on schedule after the weekend.

Margaret halting her own wedding echoes which earlier Sandra Bullock romantic comedy?

While You Were Sleeping (1995) has Bullock's Lucy blurt out 'I object' at her own wedding and confess a lie to the groom's family, just as Margaret does.

The Los Angeles Times called The Proposal a cheeky update of which Shakespeare play?

The Taming of the Shrew, wrote critic Betsy Sharkey, who admitted that its wives-submit conceit should not work in a modern romance and yet found herself won over.

How do Margaret's staff warn each other that she has arrived?

An instant message does it: 'It's here' pops up on every screen as Margaret strides in, and the whole floor scrambles to look busy.