Confessions of a Shopaholic, a comedy starring Isla Fisher and Hugh Dancy, is adapted from the insanely popular series written by Sophie Kinsella. Director P.J. Hogan, Kinsella and Dancy all talked about the message of the film in the context of today’s dire economic state and how important on-screen chemistry is to the success of the film. (Click here to read the interview with Isla Fisher and producer Jerry Bruckheimer)

Q: What gave you the idea for the series of Shopaholic books?

Kinsella: Well, shops did. I was actually in a shop when the idea came to me and the initial inspiration was the Visa bill scene, which appears in the movie and is the beginning of her character. I could see the comedy of shopping. That was really the idea and this character came into my head of a girl who shops too much and all the situations she could get into. And I just had so much fun with it that I couldn’t stop.

Q: Do you have any one item in your wardrobe that you can’t live without?

Kinsella: I do, and it changes every month. No, I do. Where is it, my gorgeous bag? Exhibit A [holding up her Prada bag]. I saw it in the Prada store. It was actually very strangely similar to one of the scenes in one of the Shopaholic books. It even kind of looks like the bag from the book. I was like, ‘God, I have to have it!’ And they very sweetly moved me up the waiting list a bit. It’s by Prada so how cool is that? Prada is my favorite label.

Q: Right now we’re in the middle of a terrible economic crisis; do you have an overall take on what’s been happening and how your book and the movie, which were intended to entertain, actually have some social significance in terms of what’s going on right now?

Kinsella: Well, I agree. It is an issue, and it’s being going on. I think when you write anything, you kind of tap into the zeitgeist, and this is something that has not happened overnight. This is a culture which has been around for years and years. That’s kind of what I picked up on. But, it’s a positive book. This is fun; this is kind of the escapist side. I don’t write books to bang home a message. I write to entertain and if a message comes out as well, then that’s really great, and she does learn. I’ve had responses from readers who have said, ‘You know, this has made me think twice. This has maybe made me change my ways.’ So, I think it can help people too.

Hogan: I loved the books. I’ve read all five, and I identified totally with Rebecca because when I was young, I’d gotten in big trouble with credit cards, and I actually had a humiliating experience which happens to Rebecca in one of the books. Somebody cut my credit card in half in front of me, and I felt so ashamed. So, that was important to me. I have a son who is now the proud possessor of his first credit card, and I just know this; they can get you into big, big trouble. That was an element that was important to the story to me, and I know it’s there in every book. I know Sophie takes it very seriously, and it was always there. And what I loved about the books is that nevertheless, you’re laughing. You can identify with the trouble that Becky gets into because you’ve been there.

Q: Do you have any more Shopaholic books planned or in the works?

Kinsella: I do. Yes. Not in the works yet. I’ve just been writing a book which is a non-Shopaholic book, a stand alone, and I’m going to kind of wait for the dust to settle. I’m not done with her.

Q: Did you have a special connection with Isla because of your common Australian heritage?

Hogan: To be totally honest, when I first met Isla, I didn’t know she was an Australian. I had seen her only in Wedding Crashers, and when I met with her, I was expecting an American. That’s how clueless I am. And then she said, ‘Hello, mate’ and I thought she was sending me up. Then, I realized that she had spent years on Home and Away, a show that I had written a script for once. It was great working with Isla, I think, more than because we were Australians; I just really got on with her. We had a really good time.

Q: Hugh, the Latin dance was a lot of fun, and it looked like she might have actually hit you once or twice with the fan?

Dancy: Oh no, many more times.

Q: She (Isla Fisher) says you’re the better dancer. Do you think that's true?

Dancy: Do I think it's true? Yeah. Correct me if I’m wrong about this, but the way I remember it is the scene was written fairly straight originally. This is the end of the sequence where the two characters kind of see something in each other that they like, and they go out to the streets of Miami, and they end up dancing, and that was pretty much it. It was not designed to be a kind of comic set piece. Because the way I remember it, maybe there was something in there, but there was a choreographer who came, there was me and Isla, and PJ was there for a bit, and we just kind of came up with half of that stuff in the moment. And I think what happened was we just kept on rehearsing. We were laughing at the appalling nature of our dancing first of all. And then we thought, well, maybe this would work as well if not better with some comic moments.

Hogan: Well, you know where it began is Sophie discovered the Danzón (the fan dance) on the Internet. And when I saw the fan, I thought Isla could have a field day with that. She could even hit you with it and stuff like that.

Q: Hugh, what’s your take on workplace romance?

Dancy: Workplace romance? As long as it's legal, I think it's okay, but it's obviously rife with difficulties. We've all had our own share of workplace romance I expect. But does one have to have an opinion about it? I think as long as there's actually some romance in it; as long as that's not just a euphemism for something else entirely, it’s probably a good thing.

Hogan: I say thank God for them in my line of work! That's why people fall in love with you, I think. They're forced to spend time with you, at least in my case.

Q: Hugh, you had great chemistry with Isla. Can you talk about that? There’s a great line at the beginning where she says, “Finding a man is better than shopping.” What do you think about that?

Dancy: Does she say that?

Hogan: Several times.

Dancy: It’s my favorite line actually. I think that all good chemistry, for lack of a better word – and I don’t actually like the word very much – but all good chemistry on screen is there as a result of the work that you do, and it actually relies upon all the other people as well. And if you get on with that person, and you have a good time with that person, that's just a bonus, which in this case was true. The weird thing about the relationship between the two of us in the film is that, obviously, it veers from a very supposed formal, more romantic scene to a really kind of knock-about comedy, and at first we just had to kind of keep reminding ourselves which one we're in, because you don't want to be doing the wrong thing at the wrong time. I think Isla has this ability and [was] kind of fearlessness to really take the plunge and make herself look like a complete idiot in the security that P.J. is then going to shape that and use it appropriately. And I suppose I felt that my job was just to keep the ball in the air.

Q: If a woman is passionate about shopping, is there anything that you are equally passionate about? 

Dancy: Oh, any number of things. No, I don’t mean any number of things. I'm not obsessive about gadgets like some guys, and I'm not particularly into sports. I mean, I can be totally distracted by either of those things in any moment. I can wander into a bookstore and get lost for an afternoon. But [other] than an attractive girl? That’s the question? No. Honestly, no.