The Spa Weekend Cast Made ‘Bikini TikTok Dance Videos’ When a Cyclone Halted Filming (Exclusive)

The ‘Spa Weekend’ team, including Leslie Mann, Isla Fisher, Michelle Buteau and Anna Faris, recall to PEOPLE filming the spa-set comedy in Australia during a cyclone, with board games, TikTok videos and cast bonding.

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The cast and filmmakers of Spa Weekend, in theaters Aug. 21, speak to PEOPLE exclusively about the comedy

Leslie Mann, Isla Fisher, Michelle Buteau, Anna Faris and Adam Demos recall having fun while filming in Australia, even during cyclones that shut down production

“It did feel like a summer camp at the end of the day,” says Buteau

The set of the movie Spa Weekend, as its name implies, resembled a relaxing vacation for its cast. That is, except for Australian cyclones occasionally forcing everyone indoors.

“Didn’t we play board games during the cyclone?” Leslie Mann asks her costars in the new film, about four longtime friends escaping their busy lives for a weekend of pampering. Costarring Isla Fisher, Michelle Buteau and Anna Faris, the comedy from writer-directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore filmed at a resort in Australia.

Amid “dangerous” weather that had buildings “shaking,” Mann, 54, tells PEOPLE, “everybody had to stay home from work. A lot of the windows flew off. Do you remember?”

“It was crazy,” says Faris, 49. For Fisher, 50, “That was really fun.”

“At one point everybody just met at the bar,” recalls Buteau, 49, with a laugh. “It did feel like a summer camp at the end of the day.”

Spa Weekend producer Suzanne Todd says production shutting down for three days amid a storm did not dampen the cast and crew’s spirits. “We had them in the most incredible oceanfront suites, exactly where you would want to be, 180-degree view of the ocean — until there’s a cyclone. And then it was 100-mile-an-hour winds and swells like you couldn’t imagine.”

“I literally got emails that were like, ‘Is the building going to blow over?’” quips Lucas, 49. “And I’m like, ‘I don’t think so, but I’m not an architect.’”

“Because everyone was trapped in their rooms,” adds Todd, the movie’s quartet of lead actresses “were literally making bikini TikTok dance videos.”

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During storms, “everyone’s ducking for cover and going through it together,” says Adam Demos, who plays Mann’s onscreen love interest, a yoga teacher at their California spa.

“But the cast bonding,” adds the Australian actor, 41, comes “truly out of laughter during [shooting]. And half the time, the hardest part of this job for me personally was trying not to laugh as I’m entering a scene. Because I’m watching how funny these ladies are, and then I’m trying to keep it together.”

“There’s great chemistry on screen, but some of that comes from the friendship that they developed shooting,” agrees Moore. “We’re on location, so they don’t have their usual support group. And so after [wrapping a day of filming], they’d be hanging out in the bar.”

Eric Charbonneau/Black Bear Pictures via Getty

For Mann, Fisher, Buteau and Faris, it’s clear their Spa Weekend characters’ onscreen friendship has carried over into their lives offscreen. “What was your cocktail you always had?” Fisher asks Buteau, recalling late nights at the bar.

“I don’t remember, because I had a lot of them,” quips the comedian. Says Fisher: “I want to say you had a spicy margarita. I would always order your drink before you came down.”

Buteau’s response: “Is that why I had heartburn the whole time?”

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“It just felt like a special time in life,” says Faris of filming with her now-pals. Asked what she’ll take with her from the experience, Mann doesn’t hesitate: “These friendships.”

“I take the girls as my buddies,” agrees Fisher. “I really hope we get to make another one. I just love to work with you girls.”

Spa Weekend is in theaters Aug. 21. Following its theatrical debut, Southwest will be the only airline to feature the comedy as part of its inflight entertainment throughout the month of November.