Julie Bowen thought she'd be replaced in 'Happy Gilmore 2' by 'hottie'

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There was no one more surprised than Julie Bowen when Netflix invited her to reprise her role as Virginia Venit for a Happy Gilmore sequel.

During a recent interview on the Inside of You podcast, Bowen, 55, said she assumed that her character would be replaced in the follow-up with producers opting to give Adam Sandler’s titular golfer a younger love interest this time around.

“I didn’t think they’d bring me back at all,” the Modern Family star said. “I mean, who am I supposed to be? He’s got to have a younger woman in this one, Happy Gilmore 2.”

In the 1996 original, Bowen played a PR rep who helped Happy navigate life on the links before the two fell for one another. Bowen returns for the new instalment alongside Sandler, Ben Stiller and Christopher McDonald.

Bowen said that she didn’t even think she would be cast in the first film, saying that she presumed that producers would go with a “hot girl.”

“I read and they were relieved,” she told host Michael Rosenbaum. “They were visibly relieved. I go, ‘What’s going on?’ They’re like, ‘Yeah, some of these girls are just so aggressively sexy.’ And I was like, ‘That’s a bad thing?’”

Although she has a smaller role in the upcoming movie, Bowen said that Sandler says she’s an important part of the continuation.

“Adam’s like, ‘Stop saying that. You’re the heart of the movie,’” she said.

Bowen’s comments echoed remarks she made last month at Netflix’s TUDUM event in Los Angeles when she told The Hollywood Reporter that she didn’t think she would be in it when she heard Happy Gilmore 2 was in the works.

“And that was OK — it was like Virginia Venit, it’s been 30 years, (Happy’s) got a hottie. He’s got some little bitty on the side, like a cart girl,” she said, imaging aloud where Sandler’s character would be after all this time. “As a matter of fact my children told me, before I was even told officially that there was a Happy Gilmore sequel, my now 18-year-old said, ‘Mom, I hear they’re doing a sequel and he’s with Sydney Sweeney as a cart girl.’”

Bowen told THR she would have been happy to see Sweeney land a part in the movie (“Of course, why wouldn’t you?”), but was shocked that she was welcomed back. “When I got the call that I was actually in it, I was like, ‘Are you sure? Come on.’”

In addition to some of its returning cast, Happy Gilmore 2 features newcomers, including Paige Spiranac, Bad Bunny, Margaret Qualley, Benny Safdie, Travis Kelce, Kym Whitley and Eminem. Bowen revealed she lost her composure around Bad Bunny during his scenes.

“Seeing Bad Bunny on set I was just like, ‘Oh, I can’t actually look you in the eye, I’m going to have to walk away,’ and I did. I think he was offended and I had to circle back and now I made it worse,” she joked. “I’m the kind of person who doesn’t want to meet her heroes because I think I’m just going to be a jackass.”

Happy Gilmore 2 hits Netflix on July 25.

mdaniell@postmedia.com