My Big Fat Greek Wedding star Nia Vardalos reflects on the film's 2oth anniversary. Written by Vardalos in her screenplay debut, the romantic comedy was released in 2002 and became an instant success. Nominated for an Academy Award for best original screenplay, My Big Fat Greek Wedding launched Vardalos’ career and became one of the highest-grossing romantic comedies of all time.
Directed by Joel Zwick, My Big Fat Greek Wedding follows Fotoula "Toula” Portokalos (Vardalos), a young Greek-American woman who falls in love with Ian Miller (John Corbett), who is certainly not Greek. Featuring a stellar supporting cast, including Michael Constantine as Toula’s Windex bottle-toting father Gus and Lainie Kazan as Toula’s mother Maria, the charming film spawned a short-lived TV sequel series, as well as the sequel film My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. Released in 2016, the sequel introduced Toula and Ian’s teenage daughter, Paris (Elena Kamprouis), and featured the return of the original cast.
Now, Vardalos reflects on the film that grossed more than $350 million on a $5 million budget. Vardalos took to Instagram to pay tribute to My Big Fat Greek Wedding on the film’s 20th anniversary. Speaking on the film's rough start, Vardalos reveals she was told actors shouldn’t write after presenting her script to her agents and managers. Vardalos also shares that Rita Wilson backed the material after seeing Vardalos' one-woman show, and the film went on to run in theaters for over a year. The star ended her tribute post by stating, "So love yourself. And write your story." Read Vardalos' full post below:
Click here to see the original post.
Two decades later, My Big Fat Greek Wedding continues to endure. Last year, Vardalos confirmed that My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 is officially in the works. Fans can expect the vibrant and loveable supporting cast to make a return for the third installment. Sadly, Constantine will not be involved in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, as the actor passed away last year. Vardalos revealed that Constantine informed her he would not be able to film the third movie and wished they would go on. According to Vardalos, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 will pay tribute to Constantine as Gus Portakalos.
Of course, a third film released the same year as the original's 20th anniversary would have been ideal. However, fans may have to wait a little longer for production to start on My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3. While it remains to be seen if the third film will focus on the wedding of Paris, with Toula and Ian attempting to handle the upcoming nuptials of their daughter, it can be expected the third film will be an emotional ride. My Big Fat Greek Wedding remains one of the most impactful romantic comedies two decades after its debut.
Source: Nia Vardalos