Legacy and Final Thoughts

Hello and welcome back to what went Wong your favorite podcast Full stop that just so happens to be about movies and how it's nearly impossible to make them, let alone a good one. let alone a movie that said, Hey It's okay have a big fat, weird family, you can still get married, what a trireat. I am one of your hosts, Lizzie, here as always with Chris Winterbauer and Chris, what do you have for us today? We have a family favorite of the Winterbauers and the Lewises, my mom's side, My big fat Creek wedding. I would say and actually one of the things I really appreciate about this movie is it actually before we get into the romance subplot It's more about her achieving her independence, which I forgot and I actually do really appreciate for like an early otss romantic comedy. Yeah, I spend a long time on it. But yes, we have my bigig Fat Greek wedding. But Lizzie, we have something else that we need to talk about quickly before we talk about my Big Fat Greek wedding. Be you have like been involved in this secret side project that I was not involved in and I've been just so jealous to tell the folks What's comeing their way for any fans of Lizzy Bassett or vampires or Blls. If you want to talk about secret side projects, Chris is the one with those, but we'll get to those later. I am very excited that I got the chance to host the after show companion show for season three of Interview with the Vampire, which is called the Vampire Listat. The show that I'm hosting is called The Vampire Listat afterfter Dark And it was an unbelievably good time. It was so much fun to be able to do this. I absolutely loved talking to the cast and the creators, Really fascinating conversations. Also the show. It's really fucking good. It's really good. I watched it the entire season twice and I will watch it a third time and you can start watching it this weekend. It premieres on june seventh on AMC. You can watch the after showhow. The premier episode at least on AMC and AMC plus. So make sure that you go watch the Vampire Listat. It is so, so good. You know, we talked about Listat a little bit in our interview with the Vampire episode, and I said in that episode Before even getting this job that I thought that Sam Reid was the best incarnation of Listat, and I absolutely stand by that. And also just what a fun guy. veryery fun to talk to him and spend a few days working on this show. So go give it a watch and then make sure that you watch the vampire Listat after dark after every episode. You can watch the after showow on AMC plus Please go do that. And what a fun opportunity that I got thanks to this podcast. So thank you all for listening and making this possible All right guys, and I can back up that Lizzy genuinely lik the show because she saying She said like, thank God, this is good she had already agreed to do it. Yeah. All right. well, let's dive into my Big Fat Greek wedding, which is totally on the opposite side of the spectrum from the Vampire Listop, but I'm very excited. nonetheless, Lizz, had you seen my bigig Fat Greek wedding before and what were your thoughts upon watching or rewatching it for the podcast Of course, I had seen my big fat Greek wedding. It was for anyone who was not conscious in two thousand two, I think, when this came out? two thousand two. This was like a watershed cultural moment where it was like everyone suddenly realized that it was okay to not be a wasp and also to openly mock the only wasps in the movie And So yes, I saw this in theaters, potentially more than once. I know I've watched it since then, but I don't think I've seen this movie since I was probably like, I don't know, fourteen, fifteen years old. We watched it last night. I really enjoyed it. It's very fun. I will say my favorite performance in the entire movie is one that I had completely forgotten about. and it is Can I guess? Yes, guess Is it Andrea Martin is Aunt Boula? Yes. How could you forget the bubopsy? This likes this movie. She's so funny. And I didn't realize how burned into my brain that scene was where she explains about the twin. It the bopsy. Yeah.ops My whole life. I have a lump in my room. It was my unborn twin. The twin that she then absorbed that had a spinal cord in it It is so funny and she really got the energy of the movie, I think. As did Louis Mandalore, who plays her brother, I really liked him a lot in this. You know, it's a little more uneven than I remembered, which is totally fine. It feels very, very cartoonish even from the beginning when, you know she's kind of hiding from Aiden whose actual name is John Corbett Who is playing Aiden again, except actually a good and attractive version of Aiden. Ian Miller. Yeah. He's very good in this. Yeah. Aiden from Sex in the City, of course, if anybody doesn't know But yeah, you know, I didn't remember it being so like slapstick over the top, ridiculous. It is Which was fine. Like once you kind of settle into that and you know what you're in for, I definitely enjoyed it. And I'm excited to talk about it because I know what I remember most about this was like, can you believe that that woman, the star of this movie, also wrote it? Everyone was like, she can put a pen to paper and She can star in a movie and she looks like that. And then in retrospect watching it, I'm like, yeah, she's aiful exactly successful beautiful writer and actress, like yes, she can do this. So I'm excited to talk about that. They do style her very specifically in the first ten to fifteen minutes to I think, lean into a couple of things. I gotta tell you, they don't do her any favors over the course of any part of this movie. And I understand it was the two thousand. It was in the two thousand. Yeah. There was a specificyle happening with like the weird button Cardigan over things on A. We all had it. Yeah. I had. you say, it's very recognizable look. Yes, yes, but she is a lot more attractive, I think than she looks at any point in this movie. although she does look very attractive after she goes through her own little makeover. And we were talking about this a little bit before we got on, but I really appreciate that they spend quite a lot of time Her kind of making herself over, not for a man, like not to get a husband, but because it's making her happy and because you she's sending herself to school to learn more about computers and to have a career. And it is really nice that it's like she actually has come into her own and accepted herself to a certain degree before Ian even comes into the picture. And that is unusual for a movie like this. So I did really enjoy that I gotta say though, the one problem is that there is another movie about not a Greek family, but a big Italian family that is more burned into my brain and I couldn't help comparing the two over the course of this. Do you know what it is? Probably the godfather Not the Goddfather. No, which one are you thinking of? Moonstruck? Sure. Yeah. It felt like it borrowed a lot from Moonstruck, but the thing that it misses that for me, Moonstruck doesn't is that Moonstruck has these moments of real like clarity. And this movie doesn't really ever give you that chance to breathe Or really see these people as humans, I guess. And that's potentially my one complaint about this is that everyone remains so cartoonish all the way through that it's fun, but it doesn't quite have the same emotional impact that I think maybe it could have. But I'll stop there, Chris, what's your experience with it? Don't necessarily disagree with anything you just said. My sister wanted to remind me that Niaardalos has said In the beginning of the movie is just what she looks like when she wakes up, to which I also say, but also they give her the clothing of brown burlap sacks at the beginning of this movie. They put her in like a David Byrne once in a lifetime style suit at some point in this. That just looks insane. Anyho. So I saw this movie when I was it was December of two thousand two, so I would have been thirteen, almost fourteen in Dallas with my mom's family. My mom is Puerto Rican and my dad is Ian Miller. And so it was It was really to us, I think and my sister can attest to this too, it felt like such a mirror. My family's not quite as exaggerated as what we're seeing on screen, but they're o, that person's disli this uncle like this, you know And I do think that that element of we all have that big, loud, boisterous, either half of our family or person whose family is that, right? Like through a friend or something like that in our lives, it's so recognizable, it's so fun. And it feels, I think in comparison to the other films at the time that were coming out of Hollywood, the other romantic comedy films I don't disagree that something like Moonstruck does ultimately feel a little bit more grounded despite having many exaggerated you know elements, including one handed cage and whatnot. It is my Nicklas cage performance of all time, I think. It's amazing. We will cover it at some point. Yeah, and I agree. It wasn't as quite as smooth ride as I remembered when I rewatched, I still loved it But I do think it in part was so successful because this was so quenching a thirst that we had in the early two thousands. if you look at what else was being released for something that felt even remotely recognizable and human and real Yeah. And we'll get to the review by Roger Ebert, which really calls that out. But I saw this movie at least two times in theaters during that one December trip in Dallas with my mom's family. I've gone back and watched it a few times Re watchatching it, certain moments just continue to make me laugh. Andrea Martin is amazing. She's the best. I actually think Nia Vardalis gives an excellent, like more grounded performance than a lot of the other characters. And I do think in part there's a conscious choice being made to have Lane Kazan and Michael Constine go bigger so that then Nia and some of the other characters feel more realistic around them. I'm assuming that was a choice but I just let like that you know, you're gonna get baptized in the Greek church tomorrow, you know? And then he says, Yeahah, and he goes, Y lucky day. Nicki going be a godmother. and you got to Nicki fixing her boobs in shirt. And then she's rubbing him down with oil in the kidy pool and the Orthodox church. There's just so many fun jokes the nick, nick, nick, the joke that all the family members have named their kids the same thing, which in my family, actually on my dad's side on the white side, it's like Andrew, Andrew, Michael, Michael, Chris, Steve, Andrew, Michael, Steve,' just the same And your name is Christopher Andrew. It is. I know. And my uncle's name is Andrew, and my brother in law's name is Andrew, and my uncle's name is Mike and my father in law's name is Mike. What I love about this film is yes, it's my big fat Greek wedding, but you could also call it like my big fat American wedding, which I think is what really makes it so universal But let's jump into it because it's a really interesting story. I'm very excited. And there's one thing I want to say too, to clarify, you know, this is one of those movies. like you're talking about what was available at the time. And absolutely, this was different culturally, which was important The other thing that, you know, we kind of touched on saying like it's a bit ridiculous that Nia Vardalos is painted as this extremely unattractive woman. It was not ridiculous at the time. And I think when you're talking about the other offerings that were available, I mean, and this is what we grew up with and you know, this was the time of the gossip blogs starting to really generate content And she did look markedly different from what was being pushed to young women, teenagers. And I do remember that standing out to me. and it was important. and I am glad that she was able to do this, even though it's ridiculous that it was even a question if she could, you know? Yeah. and let's get into some of the other options that were Perhaps floated for this movie because they're illustrative of that point that you're making. How white are they? No, actually not. Okay, okay, but also not Greek. And we'll get into that as well. This is a really interesting, It's a nuanced story. I'm really excited to talk about it. The focus today guys is very much on the development of this movie, which is fascinating and then the release of this movie. There's a little bit in production But the reason I wanted to talk about this movie aside from the fact that I really love it, is that I think in many ways it's a movie. It's not that it couldn't get made now, but it's just that it would never in the way that it did in two thousand two because so much has changed with the way movies are released and the way that they're marketed and our attention is divided. So let's dive into one of the craziest stories behind an independent film ever made So my Big Fat Creek wedding is a two thousand two romantic comedy film directed by Joel Zwick. It was written, as we've mentioned by Nia Vardalos. It was produced by Rita Wilson, Tom Hanks, and Gary Getzman It stars Mia as Tula Porticalos, John Corbett as Ian Miller, Lane Kazan as her mother Maria, Michael Constantine as Gus, Louis Mandalore as Nick, Andrea Martin as Aunt Bula and many, many more, including Joe Fatone, Evinync as Angelo. That's pretty funny. Yays good. It premiered on february twenty second, two thousand two, had a limited release on april nineteenth, two thousand two pllatformed wide beginning august second, two thousand two had a very interesting release schedule that we'll get into It was distributed by IFC films, produced by HBO, Gold Circle Films and Playtone, and the IMDB loogline reads. A young Greek woman falls in love with a non Greek and struggles to get her family to accept him while she comes to terms with her heritage and cultural identity Sources for today's episode include but are not limited to Instant Mom, Neia Vardalos's twenty thirteen book Her twenty twenty five interview on the Don't Kill the Messger podcast with Kevin Getz Her twenty fourteen interview is part of the dialogue series, The Ringer's great coverage of the release of My Big Fat Greek wedding, and many, many more articles, retrospectives, and interviews with those involved in the film. All right, Lizzy Because it's my big factat Greek wedding, we have to start with the fact that every word from a Greek word. The word a cinema comes from the French Sineema which is a shortening of cinematograph coin by the Lumierere brothers to describe a device which projected a series of photographs in rapid successions so as to produce the illusion of movement. And you'd say, but that's not Greek. Of course it is. It all goes back to the Greek. Kineema, meaning movement, Graphine, meaning to write, draw, or record. And it's a bit ironic that would be a moment in Neiaardolos's life that she perhaps hoped to forget that would be recorded forever in cinema history It's the early nineteen eighties and Nia is twenty years old when her father turns to her and says, You better get married soon because you're starting to look old. I'm sorry, twenty. twenty years old. Great. She told her mom who told her dad to apologize, and he doesn't. He just says, Hey kid, someday you'll laugh about it. And one day, she would. She'd also get married. But let's rewind for a moment So Nia was born, Eugenia Antonia Vardalos in September of nineteen sixty two in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her father's name was Constantine, but everyone called him Gus. He immigrated from Greece and eventually moved to Winnipeg where he met his future wife, a Greek Canadian named Doreen. And yes, Lizzie, he did believe in the healing powers of Windex after that seemingly curreda warart One time She had three siblings and twenty seven first cousins, and her family was very big and very funny. But to be clear, it wasn't exactly the family we'd see on screen years later. Here's her quote. In our family, everyone is funny. That's the way you got attention. But we were never rude because preserving the family was more important than being funny. We were all very, very supportive of each other And growing up in that comfort zone, that bubble gave me an inordinate amount of confidence later So Nia grew up watching a few very funny women in particular Dilda Radner on SNL. Andrea Martin on seconde City TV, Bet Middler Barbara Streisen and Monty Python. she wanted to be a serious actor. And she had chops. She earned a scholarship from the Manitoba Theater Company, which gave her the opportunity to attend Ryerson University in Toronto But Lizzy, that would mean moving to another province from Manitoba to Ontario. What do you think her dad said? Absolutely not. Why you doing this today? Yeah, I started crying. And she said, But dad, this is such a prestigious program. They only chose twenty seven people out of thousands. And he says, noope. And she says, but I'm going to be an actor. And he says, no And so she finally says Dad, I'm the only Greek they accepted At which point he swelled with pride and started telling people, My daughter was the only Greek accepted into this program. So she moves to Toronto. She studies Shakespeare and trains to be a classical actress. She graduates and that protective familial bubble Wse She gets a whole lot of just not what we're looking for. and a fair share of you're too fat She said she worked in a bad dinner theater for several lifetimes, and everything changed when she went to an improv show at Second City in Toronto. She said, I saw people become anyone or anything they wanted to be, not held down by physicality So, Nia starts taking classes at Second City. The cast is full, so she works a job at the box office. and every night that there's a show, she takes tickets, then takes the phone off the hook and goes and watches the show. And one night, one of the cast members gets sick and is rushed to the hospital The stage manager runs to the box office and says, Nia, call an under stududy. And she does while secretly praying that they don't answer the phone They've don't. So she goes to the stage manager, says they didn't pick up But I can do it And the stage manager says, okay And she did it. And the next day the producers made her a cast member. Wow In the early ninetyies, she moves to the US. She starts working for seconde city in Chicago, where my B Fat Creek wedding will end up being set. And it's there that she meets fellow actor in Gomas Wh Lizz, you may recognize in this film as Mikees Ian Miller's friend that we meet, you know, early on, one of his fellow teachers. Yeah, he's in a ton of stuff too. Wasn't he on like the Drew Carerey show forever was. Yes. he's a prolific character actor. He's in a lot of television work. He is handsome, talented, funny, Jewish, Puerto Rican, deffinitely not Greek. So her family at first didn't want to meet him. Eventually they came around. Because he was baptized into the Greek Orthodox Church, which they were married in in nineteen ninety three They then move to LA. They start to work in TV and movies. And as you mentioned, Lizzie, Ian is the one who finds steady work. The Drew Carey show, Felicity,. And I think this is really important This is where somebody like Ian, I think, has an advantage in that he has a very specific look, right? He's already bald, he's got kind of a cherubic face, he's very funny. So he looks different than a lot of other folks, but he very obviously slots into a character type, right? The funny male friend. We know what he is, and he starts working very quickly, whereereas Nia's opportunities were far more fleeting Mm. Casting agents were constantly telling her she was either too old or not old enough, too ethnic or not ethnic enough, and perhaps a part of her wished she were blonde and slim, but as she later said, on the same day that she was dropped by her agent because he couldn't get her work because she didn't look like anybody else in LA, quote, my blonde slim friend was also dumped by her agent who said to her, I can't get you work because you look like everybody else in LA Yeah, I may have told this story before on the podcast, but the way that and God, I hope this is different now, but the way that women who are trying to enter the professional acting field are treated was shocking to me as someone who was going to college to try and be a professional actor. But we had a professional actress, a very famous person, who was a graduate of our program come to the school and in our senior year and do like a class, a seminar for all of the senior acting students Part of it was we would like do a monologue, and then afterwards she would tell us, in her professional opinion, you know, like the types of parts we should be looking for essentially upon graduation. And everybody got up there and you know there's obviously a lot of like very beautiful anenue types in my class. I was not one of them. maybe looked a little older than I was, didn't look sort of like a typical onenue at all. And after I did my monologue, she looked at me and she said, yeah The reality is you're just not going to work until you're forty. So just be prepared for that. And then, you know, you'll probably start to come into your own a little bit then And I'll never forget it Again, this was a very famous person. Just bleep the name.. Dum L it. Yeah Backlisted. No, look, she's probably wasn't wrong. L in all honesty, she was probably trying to be kind, but it was to hear that and to basically be told, yeah, it doesn't really matter how good you are. L you just don't look like what I could see fitting into any particular category. You know basically You're not young enough, you're not old enough, you're not pretty enough. You you're also not quite ugly enough. So we just don't know what to do with you until you're old I mean, you and Nia, I think she was running into the same problem. I also think she also to me looked a little more when she was young, a little more mature is the way I would describe it. and I think a great way, but it's again, it's if you don't fit a preconceived type. That's the thing. The failure of imagination will shock you or as it did there for you, Lizzie, Now, you will clearly start you will transition from podcasting into acting in only three years. So I gott to take advantage of it now I can. My dream Yes. you know The other thing that was working against Nia is that agents seemed to be confused by her Greek heritage as well. So it was not just the fact that she didn't fit into a conventional type just holistically, it was also, well, what minority are you on top of it? Yeah, that was not a problem I had, but yes, definitely. Right. There was one agent who had claimed to have handed out her headshots left and right to no success who once asked her Again, according to Nia, what are you Latina? And I said, No, I'm Greek. And she said, Well, that's the problem. We're going to change the spelling of the last part of your name from OS to EZ and send you out as Hispanic. And Nia said, I don't think I want to do that. And the agent said, I don't want to represent you and dropped her Yeah, by the way, this continued happening. I'll keep this brief as well, but one of my very good friends is ethnically very ambiguous, though she's of Japanese, Italian and German descent. And there was a long period of time where her agents kept sending her Native American parts and she finally just had to be like, guys, I can't do this. I understand that I look because she does. She looks like she could be Native American, absolutely. But to her eternal credit, she started turning them down and just said, this isn like I can't, I can't do it. And she lost a lot of parts Well, Hollywood was not letting Mia transcend her physicality in the way that Second City had, but there also weren't a lot of Greek roles available for her. so she decided to write one So she sat down at her kitchen table and she wrote out all the family stories that she'd been telling for years. And it sounds like around this time she started taking these stories on stage at open mics because her friend, another writer in L.A, told her, hey, don't do that. Don't tell your idea out in LA land of stealers and liars and thieves. That's the official slogan. You should register it. So she calls up the library of Congress and they're saying, you can't register ideas could write a screenplay and register that. Now, she'd written sketches for Second City, but she'd never written a screenplay, which is a blessing in disguise because she later said if she knew how hard it was or the chances of it getting sold, she never would have written it. But she borrows a friend's laptop, which has a copy of Final draft, which is the industry standard screenwriting software, and it just basically makes sure that you're formatting everything properly And she gets to work. She doesn't go out. she barely sleeps three weeks later. She has the first vomit draft, we'll call it of my Big Fat Greek wedding. Sometimes when she tells the story, it's two weeks, sometimes it's six weeks. no matter which version or how long it took, she says she hated it. She put it in a drawer, she didn't look at it for months. And when she finally did, she realizes, o my go, there's way too much exposition. She decides to read a bunch of old film scripts, learn about scene crafts. She does a rewrite, and she says, Okay, this thing is ready. And she sends it to her managers As well as various studios with a very modest goal, I'd say. She doesn't want to be the lead at this point or perhaps she does want to be the lead, but her goal is maybe they'll make it and maybe I could play one of the bridesmaids. I mean, I'm thinking like, is she thinking maybe cousin Nickki with reach? You know what I mean at this point? Yeah. So then she waits to hear back The studios send back their copies unopened. Now, that's not really a negative reflection on the studios. If you send an unsolicited script to a studio, they have to send it back unopened to prove that they did not read your script because there is always a chance they could be working on something similar. Then later on, there could be an issue with chain of title and there could be exposure to legal liability in some way. Yeah, there's also like safety risk with opening I worked at the front desk of a major management production company and we were not allowed to open that stuff either After three months, she does work up the courage to ask her managers who theoretically should be reading her script. Indeed, yeah. about it Now, things were not great with her managers. She hadn't booked any of the auditions that they'd lined up for her, and they had not been able to convince an agent to too her on. She said, I knew I was a disappointment to them because they told me. She went in and her manager grabbed the script from the floor behind her desk, pushed it across the table and said, You're an actress. Whever told you you could write a screenplay So Nia fired them. Wha. Yeah The studios, the agents, the managers, they were all one big dead end. The only person who seemed to believe in this idea was Nia. So she said, what if I made it into a show starring the one person who believes in this idea? What if I make it into a one woman show She was inspired to write something like Julia Sweeney's Goda Ha or Jeff Garland's I W someone to eat cheese with. And it does seem like she had one important connection that she could leverage, which is the HBO Wspace. So according to some coverage from nineteen ninety eight, the HBO Wspace was the sixty seventh seat theater in Hollywood that was designed to provide young comics a place to hone their material This was not done entirely out of the goodness of HBO's heart, right? The space is provided free of charge, but the real kicker is that at the end, HBO execs theoretically could come down and watch it. and then if there's something good there, right they have the opportunity to pounce on this material without any competing bids from anywhere else. So she said that HBO Workspace knew her work through secondecond city. So she had some sort of in there She gets to do it four times in front of an audience, She gets notes, feedback, a chance to improve. And this is so valuable. I mean, even it's something like a table read, hearing your dialogue and then learning where the laughs are and where to time things, it's a really invaluable experience. And obviously though, what she's really building toward is this opportunity to run it for these HBO executives But she says that there was a regime change at HBO while she's workshopping it, and none of the executives show up on the night of her big presentation. So it ends up being great learning experience, not going anywhere there She also does an early run version at the Acme Theater, and eventually, she and Ian Gomez decide, screw it. Let's scrape together a bunch of money The Hudson, which is a ninety nine seat theater in LA, and she started performing the show once a week for ten dollars a ticket. And at first, the only people that are coming are the only people that come to all of our shows when we get started in LA. friends H friends from Second city, Eactly thenen she did something really smart, Lizzie. Where do you think she could go to start finding an audience for this show? whichich is my big fat Greek wedding Greek restaurants around Los Angeles Basically, she starts hanging out flowers at Greek churches and community groups. and all of a sudden, the audience grows until one fateful day, a famous face appears in the crowd former Golden girl. Rue McClanahghan. Oh. Her assistant comes up to Tan and says Rue loved the show and she'd be honored to have you over for dinner She's thinking, this is it. This is the big break I've been waiting for The assistant says Rue wants to throw a Greek dinner. She asks for suggestions of what groceries to buy. Tonight of the dinner party arrives, Mia and Ian Gomez show up at Rue's house. and Rue's assistant directs them to the kitchen. She'd been invited to cook Greek food Lizzie's face is no. She's so surprised and she's too polite and probably terrified to say no. So she and her husband cooked dinner for Rue and her friends. And as they're leaving, Rue says, wait, And Nia thinks, o, finally she's going to say something about this being some sort of misunderstanding And then Rue says, canan you give Estell Geti a ride home Thank God. Yeah, it's a heartbreaking dead end But there's good news, which is that rue aside, the show is doing well The show's doing very well In fact, she was starting to get approached by production companies that wanted to turn it into a movie It wouldn't be her movie She said, The first thing that they tell me is that no, they didn't want to read my screenplay. They just wanted to buy my story and have a real writer write the script They also didn't want her to act They didn't even want to keep her on as a bridesmaid, let alone the bride. Guys, read it. It'll take you two hours. Somebody just read it. Lizzy, they didn't even want to keep it Greek They said, let's do it Hispanic with Jennifer Lopez. Okay. Let's do it Italian with Marissa Tomee She said it was really hard to say no. One production company reportedly went as far as offering her fifty thousand dollars for the rights. If you are a struggling artist in LA's a lot. In two thousand two, turning on fifty thousand dollars would be tough. But she was in a meeting at one of these production companies when the quote writer in the room pitched her some openings for their version of the movie. she said I think I've seen that before and he said, yeah, it worked in. and then he listed three films And that's when she realized she had to do it herself. She also said there was a very funny moment there where she said, I'm gonna to do it myself. and they said, you've never written anything. And then she looked at the writer and says, have you written anything? And he said, I've assisted on script many scripts have not written anything. Yeah, bye. But she realized that she has to do it herself. otherwise they're gonna strip the authenticity away In the meantime, she decides that she needs to try to expand the show's audience to earn an income from it. So she spends five hundred dollars hundred on an ad in the LA Times. It's two inches by two inches and it catches the eye of another actress of Greek descent Lizzy Enter, we talked about her before the show started. Rita Wilson. Enter Rita Wilson. Oh. Born Margarita Ibrahimof. I believe her Greek heritage is on her mother's side. Wow. She got her start in TV back in nineteen seventy two with a guest appearance on The Brady Bunch. She was only sixteen years old. and in nineteen eighty one she met who on the set of Wome buddies. Tom Hanks. Thomas the Tank Engine Hanks. Better known as the father of Chet Hanks. Yes. And Rita Wilson as his mother. Yes. She broke out with nineteen eighty five's volunteers, which she co starred in with Hanks. They married in nineteen eighty eight. They had two children, Chet in nineteen ninety and Truman in nineteen ninety five. She continued to work, but generally speaking She'd been taking fewer acting roles to focus on raising her kids, and she had not yet produced any movies. I just want to say briefly Ched Hanks. Pretty funny and running point anyway, continontue. Ched Hanks having quite the comeback from White Boy summer. Gotta say. I know. He's very charming. He is very charming. He's pulling it off. Did you listen to him on the Zway interview that he did? No, I haven't. She gets him, like she gets him with some good burns and he's pretty good. Like he takes it. Well, good. I've come around All right, let me play you this clip of Rita Wilson on how she discovered my big fat Greek wedding It really was because I go to see a lot of off Broadway theater when I'm in New York. And many years ago, I thought, why am I seeing so much theater in New York and not really focusing on the theater in Los Angeles? LA's got great theater too So I opened up the newspaper one day and there was this little tiny ad about that big that said Near ofarddallas is my big fat Greek wedding. and I just thought being of Greek heritage That is a very funny title. I will go see this play. and it was at a ninety nine seat theater I took my mom who was alive at the time and my sister and my nieces and We saw it and I thought it was literally one of the funniest things I'd ever seen. It was just truthful about families and particularly about Greek culture So I asked to meet Nia at the playwright. after the The play was done and she came out and I said, Nia, this would make an amazing movie. And she said, I have a script. So I don't know if you caught the end there, Lizz, but ye, she said I have a script right when Rita Wilson came up to her. And is Rita Wilson going to be the only person who says, I can read. More than a second. Mia knew that Rita Wilson was coming because the box office phone number on that newspaper ad That was Nia's home phone number. And the box office attendant answering the calls, That was Nia doing voices. So when Wilson told her it should be a movie, Nia says she handed her the screenplay so fast her hair flew back. And the next day, Nia got another call at the home box office, we'll call it. Wilson was sending some more family to check out the show Her father, her brother, her son, and Tom Hanks. Tom Hanks. Wha. That would be so crazy. The show starts and no one's looking at Mia on stage. They are all looking at Tom in this roped section. She hits the first punchline and Tom Hanks laughs loud and hard beforeforest go like laugh A couple of days later, she gets a letter from Hanks, and I'd like to read part of it, I'll paphrase Dear Nia, I know you. You are one of those Greek girls who come into the lives of men like me, men who are not Greek, non Greek men. We see you, then we work up the courage to speak to you, then we fall in love with you and ask you to marry us. Then you do in one of those big fat Greek weddings where you walk around a table three times, and then us non Greek men live happy forever PS, I look Greek Nia would apparently call her mother every few weeks and read the letter and her mother would cry. She says in her book she would have been happy if the story ended there doesn't. because there was another party interested in the script, and he claims that he was in the audience the same night as Tom Hanks. And that's director Jim Millio Nia had recently acted in a nineteen ninety seven film called Men Seeking Women, which I have never seen and got kind of panned with Will Ferrell. Yeah, I've heard of that. Directed by Jim Millio Millio claims that when Nia met up with Wilson after the show that first night, she actually introduced him as the director attached to her script Now she denies saying this, but this is where things get a little tricky. Here's what we know. Around this time, Rita Wilson told Nia to do the show as a full theater run with Rita Wilson producing it So Rita Wilson put her name on it, they rented a bigger theater and she started doing the show five nights a week. Wow. In an interview from early nineteen ninety seven, Nia says that she gave Jim Millio the second draft of the script, and that she then didn't hear from him for weeks, assumed he hated it but then found out his production company, MPH, needed time to drow up a budget so they could make an official offer Here's her quote. I had an option agreement with them, meaning Jimilio MPH. Right now, a bigger company is trying to buy it from the smaller company, meaning Jimilio's company As the smaller company are my friends, I don't want them to get shafted. We're negotiating, trying to find a solution favorable to everybody. I'm hopeful we'll have an agreement shortly and shoot it sometime this year Here's my best guess is what happened. I'm just putting some pieces together. These are my assumptions At some point, Nia shared the script with Milio because he was perhaps the one feature director she knew or at least knew well since they'd worked together. He optioned it because I'm sure he thought it was good, but didn't buy it. Then Wilson and Hanks get interested. The bigger company she mentioned moments ago was probably Playtone which is Tom Hanks's production company that he'd formed with producer Gary Getzman Which Lizzie, do you remember what the playaytone name is from Playtone Re reccords that thing you do. That's right. My guess is that Nia realized the likelihood of the movie getting made with Hanks was a lot higher than getting made with Milio. Milio said that he and Vardalos had a number of heated exchanges because he felt that he had a business stake to protect. She felt that he was causing her to miss the opportunity of a lifetime to work with Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson. So eventually, MPH sells the rights basically the option for two hundred thousand dollars, co executive producer credits and three percent of the film's profits guessing they had demonstrably done some amount of work on either the script or shopping it around because I don't know how they would gotten that H have gotten that, you know, without that, but we can't know One thing I love about my husband, David is that this man cannot pass up a good deal. As soon as he sees a yard sale, it's like a tractor beam is pulling him in and he cannot resist. And his deal hunting obsession has rubbed off on me, except I'm not pulling my way through cobweb cover yard sales, I'm on whatnot Whatnot is the number one live shopping app in the US where shopping happens in real time with real people, real conversations, and incredible deals. Seriously, I cannot emphasize enough how great the deals are. You almost never pay full price on name brand perfume, clothes, makeup, handbags, jewelry, and so much more. Plus, it's fun. You're connecting with sellers and other shoppers. It's like hanging out and shopping with friends I just got an amazing Goodfellass t shirt from Treasure Chest TX for nine dollars that I can't wait to wear and a vintage Gucci cross body bag from the Don's luxury that I picked up for like half the price of other retailers. I am obsessed with it. Everything arrives so quickly and in excellent condition. Download what Not today and get twenty dollars off and free shipping on your first purchase Search What notot W H A T N OT in the App store, sign up and start finding the best deals on the products you love with twenty dollars off and free shipping on your first purchase. Mh. Let's go back to the phone call with Hanks. He calls Nia up. He's read the script, He says, I want to make your movie. And Nia decides to take a shot. She figures none of the other big Greek actresses she knows are available. They're either busy or pregnant. Jennifer Aniston is shooting friends. Melina Cana Coretes is pregnant. Tina Faayays on SNL, but she hasn't broken out yet. Angie Harmon is best known for law and order. Maria Manunos isn't going to get going until the early two thousands. Yeah. So she asks Tom Hanks if she can play the lead tiny pause and Hanks says, Yeahah Of course. Now Hanks, for his part says he never hesitated. She's the one who says there was a tiny pause. and I bet there was p. Either way, she said she was shocked. and then she waited for eighteen months because what she didn't know is that when Hanks and Wilson shopped the project to several studios, the feedback was basically love the script, lose the girl And Could Tom Hanks really take the role from her? She'd written the script. It was her life. But Playtone still had a card to play, Lizzie HBO's theatrical movie division had already passed on the script when Gary Getsman calls up HBO execut Chris Albrecht. And according to Albrecht, Gsman said, I really want to do this. If I can get half of the five million dollars budget, will you put up the rest? Albrecht hadn't read the script, but he said yes Maybe because HBO owed Tom Hanks. He had done the minis series from the Earth to Moon with them. It's a docy drama about the Apollo program. Every episode features Tom Hanks. And what big World War two show would Tom Hanks Develop, put his name on, brring to life Band of Bothers. Band of Brothers, whichich given immense credibility by him and Steven Spielberg, given that they had just done saving Private Ryan. Yeah. So eventually, Gold Circle Films, which is founded by Norman Waite Junror, one of the co founders of Gateway Computer, puts up the initial two point a half million dollars and HBO puts in the matching two and half million dollars And by August of two thousand, varietyies reporting that Playtone is producing, and Joel Zwick is going to direct. Now Joel Zwick was an established TV director with a Tom Hanks connection, whichich television show did he direct several episodes of back in the early eighties, Lizzie? Bosom buddies. Bosom buddies. Now wick's reaching out to Hanks. He's trying to transition into indie films. He sent Tom a script and Tom says, Hey, what do you want to do with this? And he's like, Well, I want to direct it. I want to do indndie films. And Tom says, Well, I've got a script I want you to direct. And he sent him my big backack Greek wedding. and Joel wick said, I would have directed the phone book if he had asked me to. But the script still needed work aboutbout a year before filming begins, they do a table read and Nia says it is a rude awakening hearing it read outut loud She takes three months to revise it, and then she takes it to the people who had inspired it, and she reveals it to her parents She didn't want to offend them, but she says, you know, people are going to think this is real, a documentary of her life. And I'd like to play you a clip of Nia talking about explaining to her father the character of Gus in the film Before we shot the movie, I sent it to my parents just to make sure that they were okay with it because I wanted to make sure mean that I wasn't going to offend them people are going to think it's a documentary. And you know, I said to my dad, You know, I'm naming the main character guess. peopleeople are going to think it's you. And he went, but I know it's not me. And I said, but But you do actually change every word into a Greek word and he went, Every word is a Greek word. I was like, okay So say he's fine. He's fine with it. Now the low budget comes with some perks. HBO and Gold Circle have no input on the script or casting, but it also comes with some Caveat Specifically, there is a provision in Nia's contract that she can be fired and replaced within the first four days of shooting if they are unhappy with dailies. Jesus. Let's talk about the rest of the cast and get back to that. Okay Co from Moonstruck could have maybe been in this movie. Danny Aiello. Not Dannello. sorry, Olympia Dukas. Olympia Dukas. Danny Aello too, could have been great. He totally could have been in this Yeah. Olympia Duas, I actually when this movie started, I was like, is she in this? She's not. But Nia talked about wanting her to play the mother. And she also wanted Rita Wilson to play cousin Nicki. Oh fun. Now, Wilson took a role in a play called Dinner withith Friends, which left Niki to Australian Greek actress Gia Critis, who's very funny really nails the role Now they did try to find as many Greek actors as possible. And a lot of the secondary roles and many of the extras are local Greek actors, but they actually found Nia's father, Gus right in their backyard. Michael Constantine was in his early seventies and happened to be visiting his sister in LA. He's the son of Greek immigrants, and'd been acting TV and movies for forty years He was an Emmy winner for his role in the sitcom rooom two hundred twenty two, which ran from nineteen sixty nine to nineteen seventy four, created by James L. Brooks. He plays a high school principal. He had a wide swath of credits. I mean, the hustler with Paul Newman. He was in Mel Stewart's. If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium, which we just talked about on Willy Wonka. And he'd just been in the to Be moreore Alec Baldwin thriller, the Jer Which has my favorite tagline I have seen in forever, which is there is no defense. And it's so that's it. That's the whole tagline. Now he'd actually played very few Greek characters throughout his career. Hed played Russians and Frenchmen and Italians and Germans, and quote, even an Okinwan. And maybe that's why Constantine said he wanted to read the script before auditioning He was leerary. He didn't know who Nia was, and he said that he was anxious about somebody writing about Greeks. But he sits down and reads the script and he said, yes, this person obviously knows Greeks. end quote. Yeah. Well, there was not a lot of content featuring Greek people if any. L it actually is pretty crazy. That is. And anything that could have potentially been played by Greek people, whether it's, you know, Alexander or Troy, I know that's after, but like they're not played by Greek people. Yeah think Like he said, like Russia, Eastern Europe, Greece, Italy, the Balkans, Armenia, like right. It's all they're all just like, ah, yeah, just throw them in there. We won't notice. And you know, I will say for most of my life, I did not notice. And so you know, they rely on the lack of education of Americans on the diversity of people beyond the Americas. So Constantine says he auditioned three times before getting an offer But Zwick says Michael Constantine walked in for a reading and he didn't say three words and he was cast. Now Nia backs this up. She says, Tom slapped the table and said, we're done after Michael left room. I do think I think Tom Hanks loves slapping tables. I just have this idea that. It's a deal. We're done. L I would love to work with Tom Hanks. I it would be an absolute dream. He's popped up, you know, in a couple of movies and things that we've talked about. and he's just never sounded not delightful. Like there's never been a thing that's been wrong with him I've read very smart, thoughtful, a real student of history. Very interesting man My guess is that Constantine read for the casting directors first. You know I'm guessing he did audition three times, but by the time he hit the producers and the director, they realized, okay, this is our guy. Yeah. Either way, Constantine turned the role down The casting director offered him the part, told him the pay, and said, takeake it or leave it. Clearly, she wasn't Greek. Constantine said, where's the negotiation? You can't say take it or leave it to a Greek. accccording to Constantine, a producer then stepped in and quote, then we did a true negotiation. in the business, that's standard operating procedure. A week later, I was playing the role. And quote, For all I know, it was the exact same amount of pay. He just needed to have that negotiation in place. But I do think it is a sign of respect. and especially for somebody who's been in the business for forty years. Take it or leave it's a little rough. It's a little tough. Now I also though understand it from the casting director's perspective, they're probably saying like m to keep my budget very low But sometimes the kabuki theater can be important to the folks involved. Yes. C couple more fun casting notes. So Nia wrote the role of Aunt Voula for Andrea Martin because she'd grown up watching her on SCTV. Now, Martin is Armenian. Yes. She was one of the non great cast members. She'd been in TV and movies for thirty years. She'd also won a Tony for her Broadway debut in My favorite year Joey Faton filmed his scenes at the same time as he was recording the album Celebrity with In. W. Yeah. He's definitely a bit of a stunt casting in this movie. Also I believe he is of Italian descent. He's also not Greek. One quick fun story I heard separately years ago, but I looked up again about Fatone because he seems like a cool guy and he has got a ton to do in this movie Before fellow Ininct member Lance Bass came out, he was like at his house and he said, quote, My boyfriend at the time, my very very first boyfriend was sitting on my lap. And at three AM, Phaton wakes up looking for Bass and he like comes into the room and Bass's boyfriend is straddling him. And Bass is like, sururprise. And Phitone's like, Ohh, please, I don't care. And then he just goes back to bed and didn't tell anybody until Bass came out in two thousand six. that was a very nice. That was nice. Yeah. I he was like, oh, please. what used to give a sh No, there's one more crucial Greek part that went to a non Greek actor, Lizzie. Yeah. Wh? Laney Kazan. Laney Kazan, as Tula's mother, Maria. I did not know this. Do you know where Laney Kazan got her start? Oh I did at one point, but no, I can't remember. It was on Broadway and she was the understy to a singer and actress that we talk about a lot on this show. Barbara. That's right. Barbara Streison. so she had famously or infamously been Babs's understudy and fununny Girl. Oh, that makes sense. And she didn't go on for eighteen months because Babs refused to miss a show. No roll. I'm gonna do it every night Finally, at some point, Babs couldn't do it. and so Lanie got the chance to do it. and people loved her. You know, she was a real force. I think she did the show, you know a number of times. Also, have you seen pictures of a young Lanady Cazanne in the sixties 'use holy Smokehow? Have you seen her playboy spread from the early seventies? 'causeuse holy Smokeeshow. Nope, looking it up. Yeah. So Lanie Cuazanne, you know, she'd worked with Frances Ford Coppola when she was at Hofstra. She'd been in Pboy. She headlined Yes, Lizzy's face She'd headlined playlayboy jazz club. She has a later quote where she says No man I've ever met has not tried to sleep with me, I believe was what I saw. She hadd guest starred on the Dean Martin showh dozens of times. I mean, she is like the consummate stage jazz, you know, triple threat performer But she was probably at this time, Lizz best known in the nineties for her recurring role as Aunt Frida on The Nanny, the Fran Drescher sitcom. Yeah. Are you still looking at her playboice, Rad? Yeahes, sorry. There's a picture of re boobs, I'll stop looking now. Yeah, Lizzy, come on, wild inapppriate. Now, they're four days out from production. they are missing one key player. Lizzy, what role have we not talked about yet Ian Miller. There's a million of these guys, right? The white boy White bread. The mil It's white boy summer. It's white boy summer. The obvious choice would seem to be Nia's real life husband, Ian Gomez, right? But she didn't want to cast him in the role She says, you can play Ine's friend, Mike Her dream choice was John Corbett. Was he already playing Aiden? He was playing Aiden.. Okay. Yeah, I mean, listen, it makes a lot of sense. He wasn't available. He was actually shooting serendipity Now he broken out with the role of Chris Stevens in Northern Exosure. And as you mentioned, Lizzy, he'd taken on the role of Aiden in Sex of the City, kindind of the good guy to Chris Noth's big bad guy. Yeah, although he ends up being a drip anyway, but Yes, I know. They don't love the way they wrote him in the end. But I do think Corbet has a very charming easy going disposition, at least on screen that really lends itself well to this character who ultimately is just a good partner to her. Yes, you know throughout the movie. Well, and also he's obviously very attractive, but no feel like a good match. Yeah, and he looks like a real person. Like he's does look like a real person. He is a leading man. abbsolutely. He's very attractive, he's very charming, but he doesn't look like someone that you wouldn't see, you know at your table at the restaurant. Yeah. I mean, would he be the most handsome person at the table at the restaurant? Probably, but he totally fits in this world. He's got those slutty little glasses when he's teaching his class.'s very charming. And I think his height actually works really well opposite her family in a lot of ways. Yeah, he's super tall. There's a fun humor to when they like all rush him and he's just this super tall statue of Liberty, white guy who rushed by all these Greeks. say Brid Jones, I do think he should rethink the length of his sideburns, but that is my only critique. Well, let's talk about the hair for a second. So Nia and the team had spent six months combing lists of actors and could not find the right guy. They couldn't find their John Corbett who wasn't John Corbett. She says that there was, quote, a bit of a conflict and that there was a guy that some of the producers wanted and I just didn't want him. I can't remember his name Nia, you are classy for not sharing, but there is no way you do not remember his name.. You will remember that name. That'll be the last name you say before you die. Now, I do wonder if at any point Lionionscape, the distributor or you know, Gold Circle, said, why doesn't Tom play the role? I'm guessing he was busy. and I also think he would overwhelm the movie. The movie would have to be too old as well. He was probably too old and the movie would have to be about him. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? It doesn't make sense They go to Toronto where they're shooting movie and Nia heads to a bar with producer Gary Getzman, and she looks across the room, and there's John Corbett because that's where he's been shooting. He hadn't been available, but their shoot dates had recently been moved back two weeks. So they sidle over to the bar. Now John does not know who they are, right? They know who he is. Right. And they eavesdrop on his conversation with the bartender. This is according to Nia. so take it with a grain of salt, but Nia claims that the bartender asks Corbett What are you gonna do after you wrap your movie? And he says, I don't know, but I just read the script in my room called My Big Fat Greek wedding, and I want to be in it. At which point Gary says, Hello, sir, My name is Gary Gibsson. I'm a producer and he offers him the role. And Corpus says, Are you telling me if I shake your hand right now? I have this role? And he says, Yeah, so he did withith one caveat. He had to keep his long hair, which he'd grown out in part for his role in serendipity, a musician with long hair. So that was a stipulation of the my Big Fat Greek wedding production was that he had to keep the long hair. Okay I do think the hair creates a great opportunity for it subtly introduces conflict and also humor. So Constantine Gus's disapproval of him I think it's like subtly reinforced, you know, who is this guy? He's got long hair, he's coming into my house. Yeah. It makes him a little more interesting because he is very like his whole joke is I was boring until I met you, right? But you can tell he doesn't want to be boring, which I like. And also then the joke of Andrea Martin, which we'll get to running her hands through his hair is so funny. then also when he gets baptized and the hair is all in his face is very funny as well. Yeah Shooting kicks off in Toronto in May of two thousand one. differentifferent sources say twenty one shooting days to thirty shooting days, which by the way is a big difference. twenty one would be crazy fast. That's how many days basically I had on my first feature. And just from experience, I can say it's crazy fast. That's why like four weeks. Yeah, that's four weeks almost exactly with a Saturday. And then thirty feels more doable to me that feels Pably more accurate. They shoot most of the movie in Toronto. The bulk of the Chicago footage is just stock photography of the city. They built the interior of dancing Zorbas. It's built not on a sound stage, it's built inside a supermarket. And of course, Lizzie Nia is terrified that they're going to replace her she just has to make it for four days So one of the first scenes they shoot is when Tula asks her dad if she can attend night school and he says, no, and she cries. And she said, That was easy. I just imagined I was getting fired from the movie. And she started crying. But four days come and go. No word. She's safe And then her confidence takes a hit when she hears an extra on set, ask another, What's this movie about? An extra explains the plot and then points to Nia saying she's the romantic lead. And the first extra was like, That's her. But they had a lot of supporters The local Greek restaurants rallied around the movie. They're like, this is our movie and they started sending food to set. And she had some great performers like Andrea Martin, whose SCTV background came in handy when she forgot her line and improvised, Let me touch your hair and grabbed this hair. One of my favorite parts of the movie. They shot the opening scene of the movie last, Tula and Gus driving to the restaurant And Nia and Constantine felt genuinely sad that the experience was coming to an end. But little did they know The end was just the beginning. Now, in most instances, Lizzie, the writer is not invited to editorial, speaking from experience. But Nia sat in on editing. And she says every once a while, she'd say, could you just go to a close up on me? And she said they did. And she said, quote, they treated me like gold and I know it will never happen again. They trimmed some scenes, they considered ending the movie with the wedding instead of the jumped forward in time to them living next to her parents. They were not prepared though for the test screening reactions. Lizzie, how do you think people reacted to my Big Fat Creek wedding in their test screenings? Extremely well. People loved this movie Yeah. As of last year, she was still carrying around a top line sheet from one of the first test screenings at AMC. They scored a ninety four whichich means ninety four percent of the audience ranked it in the top two categories, meaning they definitely recommend it to somebody. And I believe sixty plus percent of the audience gave it an excellent, which is the highest rating they can. It's an extremely high score for a movie that people were worried was too specific to resonate with general audiences It didn't seem to matter Everybody kept saying, we don't know how to market this. It's a very specific story. There are no big name actors. And then their original distributor Lionsgate Drop down. She'd written a great script, found a great producer, made a great movie, audiences loved it. didn't seem to matter In the end, they turned to a very new kid on the block, IFC Films, which had just been formed and was trying to get into the indie film market. And it turns out, IFC had exactly the man they needed for the moment M Now we discussed Bob Bernie, distributor Maestro, a bit in our episode on Memmento, Lizzy. Yeah. He was instrumental in getting that movie distributed. When he first screamed my Big Fat Greek wedding, a woman apparently fell out of her seat because she was laughing so hard and broke her hip She didn't need that hip. They had to pause the movie so she could get medical attention. And everybody stayed He knew they had a hit. He knew that there was demand, but he also knew that they couldn't compete with the bigger movies at the box office, like Spider Man. So they decided not to So fifty of the Vardalos family members fly out for the premiere in February, They stay at the same hotel, and to Nia's relief, they laughed when they watched the movie. because her biggest concern was she didn't want them to think, if you remember our quote from the beginning, we're not mean to each other. Yeah. She wants to make sure they're not thinking that she's being mean to them. They definitely don't think that. And it seems like this family vibe is the vibe that the distribution team very smartly tried to recreate and rolling out this movie So they start with screenings at Greek Orthodox churches Then they move on to cities with big, Greek populations, always making sure that they can sell it out, keeping it small, special, limited. They do promotional screenings, not director driven interviews or reviews. They know that the audience is going to sell the movie for them if they can just get them in the theater. Here's a quote from Bob Berneie We would get church groups or greek groups to band together and buy out a first show. Not only did that help the actual initial grosses of the film, but we had instant ambassadors for the film coming out of the screening They also had some unexpected help. Gary Gessman, who hadd worked as a composer and music producer, I believe he co wrote some of the music in that Th You do, Lizzie. No, had helped put together this quote doog and pony show around America. He got Nia on local radio. They handed out t shirts, frisbees. They made a deal with Windex to donate money to a Greek foundation in Chicago. So in April of two thousand two, they do a limited release in one hundred eight theaters Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, cities with big Greek populations. It makes six hundred thousand dollars its first weekend. and the reviews, Lizzie are pretty mixed. So the New York Times praised Nia's writing and acting. They said she was very natural, but criticized Zuick's pedestrian direction and the performances of both Kazan and Constantine. They pointed out exactly what you did is that they felt that a lot of the characters were too broad for the material The LA Times said that it would quote, make passable television eventually. but I think Roger Ebert is the one who nailed what audiences would feel He gave it three out of four stars. and he said five minutes into the film, I relaxed, knowing it was set in the real world, not in the Hollywood alternative universe where Julia Roberts can't get a date. Yeah. This movie is warm hearted in the way a movie can be when it knows its people inside out Audiences were aligned. They expand to one hundred and fifty theaters, then two hundred and fifty theaters, and the box office receipts keep growing. eight hundred thousand one point two million one point six million By mid July, my Big Fat Greek wedding, which was made for five million dollars, and the biggest actor involved is John Corbett is on five hundred screens and is approaching thirty million dollars. Oh my God. the box office. That would have been fantastic And then it released wide According to Bernie, once the movie hit a thousand screens in August, it stayed there for most of the remainder of its nearly one year run They had to record a voicemail message specifically for theater owners who were calling for more prints, telling them to call back next week, but they never expanded too wide. He has another great quote where he talks about how they decided even when they were starting to succeed, they would never allow themselves to get out ahead of their skis. They always wanted to keep the demand in check with the supply So the box office receipts peaked over Labor Day weekend in two thousand two. It brought in fifteen million dollars that week alone. twenty weeks into its run. Scond only to signs and beating out Triple X with Vin Diesel, which had been in theaters for sixteen fewer weeks than my big Fat Greek wedding. I didn't see my big factory wedding until December of two thousand two, and then we saw it twice in theaters At this point, it had been nominated for two Golden Gobes, Best Motion Picture Musical or comomedy and Best Actress, Motion Picture Musical or comomedy for Neo Vardallos Lizzie, do you know what film beat it in both categories Oh Chicago Yes, very good. That's tough competition. It is. I know. Chicago iss great. Godspeed to my big factory wedding. I think well deserved Chicago. Yeah Now Nia was nominated at the two thousand three Academy Awards for Best original screenplay. She lost to Pedro Almodovar for talkalk to her. No. The awards were held on march twenty third, two thousand three, and my bigig Frank Greek wedding was still playing in thirty six theaters I would like to read you, Lizzie, a list of the top ten highest grossing films of two thousand two. Great in order The Lord of the Rings, the two toowers Harry Potter in the Chamber of Secrets, Spider Man Star Wars episode two Atack of the Clones, Men in Black two die another day. Signs, Ice age My big Fat Creek wedding Minority report. Wow The next lowest budgeted film on that list cost over seventy million dollars to make. Was it Science? It was science. Yeah My Big Fat Greek wedding ended its run with a global haul north of three hundred fifty million dollars. Oh my God, that guy got three percent of that Did he? Oh In two thousand three, MPH sued Bardalos, HBO, Gold Circle, and Playtone, claiming they were still owed three percent of the profits. Accounting statements apparently showed that the movie had lost more than twenty million dollars MPH's attorney said, quote, My clients gave up practically everything to help get this picture made, and all they asked for in return was a small share of the real profits and proper credit What they received was a big fat Greek tragedy They also claimed they were excluded from award ceremonies, festivals and press releases. Now they didn't work on it. To be fair, it seems like Nia Vardalos, Tom Hanks, and Rita Wilson didn't have anything to do with this Hollywood accounting because a few years later in two thousand seven, they also sued Gold Circle, claiming that they'd under repported revenues from the film by over one hundred million dollars Oh my go The complaint, which alleges breach of contract and fraud, seeks unspecified monetary damages and in accounting. Plaintiffs claim the participation statements have been vague and inadequate, and their attempts to conduct an audit have been thwarted. They dropped the suit in two thousand eight. So we do not know if there was any fraud committed or what Hollywood Math may or may not have been engaged in Now there was a TV show that was made, my Big Fat Greek life almost in conjunction with the movie. To be fair, this was basically the result of a contractual agreement that Nia had from she had taken the show to the Just for Lughs Festival in Montreal, and then she agreed to turn it into a series. and then they wrote the series while she was promoting my Big Fat Greek wedding in Europe without her. And so I think one of the reasons that the show ultimately was not very well received. I like vaguely remember that yeah. Yeah, was that it just did not have the personality that the movie did in this because she probably wasn't as involved. Now Joel Zwick directed two more movies both in two thousand four, and then he returned to television Mia, of course returned to my Big Fat Creek Wedding in twenty sixteen with its sequel, My Big Fat Creek Wedding two, and then my Big Fat Creek Wedding three later on. Both of those films received poor reviews, although my Big Fatreek Wedding two, I believe it made ninety million dollars at the box office and the third one still made thirty five or forty, which is pretty amazing But Lizzie, the truth is few indie films, if any, have been able to replicate the box office magic of my bigig Fat Greek wedding couple examples I was able to come up with. Little Miss Sunshine took its VW bug to about one hundred one million dollars at the boox office on a budget of eight. Yes, although one big difference there is that that had very recognizable name actors in it. Absolutely. But still quirky Family, indie Film, you know, Yes,s got similar vibes. Then you have other films that yes, technically they're independently financed, but they have huge names involved where they're based on IP. Passion of the Christ would be an example, right? Which made an incredible amount of money. But come on guys, it's the oldest IP in the world s older. That's true, please Chris. Christopher Nolan's adapting something older anyway. Yes, he is. Daddy. Everybody's upset about the word daddy in the trailer. Maybe something like the Untouchables out of France from twenty ten. I'm not sure if you saw that movie with Omari, but that movie made an incredible amount of money without huge American names involved, very big French names To me, the movie that's come the closest in the last ten years, Lizzie, is the Big Sick. Oh, yes. I mean, there's one that we've covered that keeps coming up as an example of a truly independent film that made enormous amount of money with no name actors in it. Well, Blairwit projects. Yeah. But that was before my Big Fat creep wedding. Yeah. But yes, absolutely another example The Big Sc made fifty six million against a five million dollars budget, to be clear. Wow. And so you know, in concluding this episode, I think what's so interesting about my Big Fat Creek wedding is that it represented kind of the highest moment of independent film, in my opinion, in terms of what you could accomplish on the global stage with a smart release strategy and a good Although perhaps not great movie, a very charming movie. But then, as we slowly transitioned into streaming and whatnot in a more fractured media landscape We entered a world where I don't think it's not that this movie couldn't get made. It's just that I don't think this movie would ever happen culturally in the way that it did in two thousand two. And so I think it's such an amazing time capsule for that moment, you know, for that reason and many others And I do think it's also interesting that the movie was such a success that instead of breaking Nia out to other bigger opportunities, it became in a weird way The high point It own kind of cage. Yeah, its own kind of cage, so to speak. I don't want to overstate that. I think she's had many opportunities since then and she co wrote Larry Crown with Tom Hanks and she's had great success on Broadway, etcetera But it's such a double edged sword, you know, that just the victory has a thousand fathers and the manipulations of the profits and it's just it's such a tricky business Everything eventually broke right and yet still, it's not the fairy tale ending that you think it's going to be But that concludes our coverage of my big fat Greek wedding. Lizzy I have to ask you what went right? Well, before I answer that, I have a little bit of a question, which is was this kind of the last, you know, when I said Blair Witch project, you were like, well, that came before W this period of the early two thousands sort of the last dying breath of what like a truly successful, truly independent film could be? Because when I'm thinking, yes, the big sick does come later, but like, Everything else I'm thinking of is around that time. You mentioned Little Miss Sunshine, there's Napoleon Dynamite. I just wonder what happened becausecause it seems like we had this period where discovering a truly independent film and bringing it to this kind of massive blockbuster success was something that we collectively as an audience really enjoyed. And I can't think of anything in the last ten years really that has achieved that No, I mean, I think there are two things happening. You have fracturing top, right, which is our culture is not as monolithic as it once was in terms of dominating the attention of the public. via a box office run, right? Right. We're in an age where the box office runs even of successful films are a fraction of what they were previously because we were competing with television and streaming and social media platforms. And then I think the other side is Well, why do you make an independent film? You make it as a calling card But as we've seen, actually, there are more effective vehicles for making a calling card now, which is developing a social media following, which is making content on YouTube, which is becoming you know successful on TikTok. think we just talked about Caleb Haran showing up in the Devil Wars Prada two. Caleb Haron's a wonderful performer. He's very funny. And I know him just from appearances on video podcasts that have been served through YouTube shorts Caleb Herron, you know, I believe that was one of his first mainstream acting roles. It may have been his first big one, you know, for all I know that he was cast out of. If you have someone like Kaine Parsons who directed Brooms for A twenty four. He taught himself Blender when he was fourteen, and he made a series of creepy pasta YouTube videos and they became a web series and now he's been moved into a, I mean, you could call it an independent film. I would call A twenty four a mini major studio You know, so twenty years ago, Cane Parsons would have made that as an indie film and taken it to Sundance and now he's going to make it and put it online. So I think that part of the issue is that the pipeline is just different now. And I don't think that that's inherently bad. I think it's somewhat tragic only in that it's so fun that we all had the same touchpo with my B wedding, which was so lovely. Yeah, and we had these moments of like collective discovery kind of L there was so much excitement around these types of movies and finding something that you knew was small And being part of, you know, the audience that made it hundreds of millions of dollars. And I just we don't get that anymore. Yeah. I agree To your point, Lizzie. It's not the last example of a movie that seems to have captured the zeitgeist despite being, you know, it's the little engine that could. Yeah. But I do think it's the last biggest example I can think of. you mentioned Napoleon Dynamite. At least for me, that really captured the moment too. and that was two thousand four, That was a couple years later So I think this era from, you know, I think once Jud Appatau's comedies kind of came into the fore in the late two thousands, a lot of these smaller indie comedies were crowded out a little bit. Yeah. A smaller box office for Napoleon dynamite, but also a much smaller budget. It's worth mentioning. Yeah. Maybe we'll cover it at some point. Yes. But Lizzy, what went right What went right? I mean, God, Nia Vardalos, like the fact that she didn't give up, the fact that she didn't sell this to people who were saying that they were just going to rewrite it, this is a remarkable story. It shows so much perseverance and more backbone than I would ever have. I think, you know, it is so hard to turn down the money, be, you know, the opportunity thinking like This may be my only chance to get this thing made. and the fact that she had the power to say no that many times is amazing. I mean, that deserves so much credit and it's such a good reminder that it is important to say no. and that that is sometimes the greatest power you have I think that's great. You stole it from under me, but I would like to give mine. so I will give one what weren't right just to the whole cast, who I really it's also rare that you get a movie where so many people in the ensemble just make you laugh. I mean, yes, when they're like casting huge names and whatnot, but this just goes to show you there's so many talented people out there who are so capable of delivering such great performances. So kudos to the entire cast and Joeles Wick the director but I would like to specifically give mine to Rita Wilson. Yes, good. And one of the reasons is that okay, I know she said that she wanted to go see this play, this one woman show because she had great heritage and she had not been seen theater in New York, but This actually reveals like what I think a proder half of a producer's job is obviously getting a movie made is truly being the midwife of this movie from script to screen. But the other half is being in the trenches. digging through gold and shit the slime and finding the diamonds in the rough. And it's the people who go to the O womoman shows. It's the people who, you know, read the scripts on the weekend, who check out that weird short film link I think those are really the best producers out there who find the really incredible material and then as Hanks and Wilson hopefully were able to, participate handsomely financially in the success of those things. But I just am impressed that she went and she said, this is great, This should be a thing. I'm gonna make it a thing. You know what I mean? I'm gonna to put my name on it. She never produced anything before. That's awesome. Yeah, it's great. And also like she could so easily have slapped her name on so many things at this point being both who she was and also being married to Tom Hanks. L it would have been very easy. So I think that this is And the sense I get is they really let it be what it was Well, they were they're good at that. Yeah. and they would continue to be good at that, I think. Well, and also it does help that they also just made a movie about losing who you are artistically through the process of working with a big record label. It's very fortuous in many ways. Which by the way, this year is the thirtieth anniversary of that thing you do. So perhaps if you all are interested, we might ver that that thing do Wow, it's really hard to say never aged at all. It's crazy. All right, Lizzy, thank you so much for joining me at this Big Fat Creek wedding. Please tell folks at home how they can support this podcast if they happen to be enjoying it Listen, if you like this podcast, you go to a Greek Orthodox Church tellell people about it. Seriously, that would probably help. If you like this podcast, tell a friend, tell a friend at a Greek Orthodox Church or anywhere. justust tell them that you like this show. what went wrong? You should give it a listen. You can leave us a rating on whatever podcatcher you are listening to this on. that really does help us. You can go a step further and you can subscribe on Apple or Spotify. You will get at least one bonus episode every month, but honestly Probably more than one. That's how it's been shapen up lately because we're enjoying doing them so much. And then if you want to go even a step beyond that, and by that I mean you have to actually click off of the platform that you're listening to it on, I know it's hard. But if you do, you can go to Patreon and for five dollars, only five dollars, you get everything I already mentioned, bonus episodes plus an ad free feed and a fan community is really delightful. We love talking to all of you on Patreon. And then if you w to just go even one step further, if you want to be Gus buying his daughter a house for her wedding, this is the equivalent. That is by the way, my worst nightmare in terms of a wedding gift is to be Your dad's just plot you in a little piece of land right next to his My God. Chip, we love you We love you. We need some distance in a little bit. If you would like to go one step further, for fifty dollars a month, you can get a big fat Greek shout out just like this. All right for this week's shoutouts, I thought we would embrace the idea that every word comes from a Greek word. Obviously, I say all of the following in jest. We really appreciate your support. Adrian Peng Korea From the Latin name Hadrianus or Hadrianus, meaning from Hadria, a city in northern Italy, which would have been better if it was in Greece. Angeline Ray Cook from the Greek. An Heelllos, meaning Messenger and Archangel. Ver good. Beatrix Earhart, Beatrix from the Latin name Beatrix, meaning Voyager or traveler, you should travel to Greece Ben Schindelman from Hebrew, the right hand, but the wrong origin, not Greek. Blaze Ambrose from the Greek Blacios. No idea what it means. Brian Donahghue Probably old Celtic, meaning high or noble, but not Greek. Brittany Morris, meaning from Britain Not from Greece. Brook. Like a little river or a stream. Greece has great rivers Cameron Smith, Scottish for bent nose. In Greece, our noses are straight C grrace B from the Greek word Charis, meaning grace, kindness in life, well done Chris Leil from the Greek, Christophoros, Christ bearer. Jesus is in your soul, at least in Greece. Daniel P., Daniel, Hebrew, God is my judge. He judges you for not being Greek. David Friscalani, againgain, Hebrew, beloved or friend, not to the Greeks. Darren and Dale conquling, Darren from the Greek, Doron, meaning gift, but Dale, maybe from the Norse, meaning Valley, I will take the gift. Don Schibel from the Latin, Donatus gifted for non Greek M Zodia, we love you, couldn't figure out where that name comes from Evan Downey could be a shortened version of Evangelos, meaning good messenger. veryy Greek. let's go with that Felicia G. Latin, Felix. Lucky. Not lucky enough to be Greek Film it yourself. in Greece, good tax incentive. Frankenstein, German, but based on Prometheus, very Greek Galen and Miguel, the broken glass kids, Galen from Galene, meaning seerene or tranquil, but Miguel from Mkel, who is like God, not you. you are not Greek. It's Hebrew origins. Same with you, Michael McGrath. From the cast and crew of Win a trip to Brownntown, maybe next time, Win a trip to Greece, half Greyhound, Argus, Odysseus' faithful dog, believed to be a greyhound. very Greek. James McAavoy, sir, you are Scottish Jason Frankl Pic Greek, meaning healer. JJ Rapido, send us your first name. John D. Wiltshire From the Hebrew, Johannan, God is gracious, He let you live, even though you're not Greek. Ji Hillpiper from the Greek. Giorgios, meaning farmer. Very good. Jose Emilano Salto del Giorgio, from the Hebrew Yasf to add. neede to add a little more Greek. Carina Canaba from the Greek Catharos, maybe, meaning pure, pure Greek, ignnore the Latin version. same goes for Kate Ellington and Kathleen Olsen Amy Ogusaga McCin. Latin for beloved. Not in Greece. Lanna LJ from the Greek. Helena from Helios, meaning shining one Lousy Susan, not so lousy, maybe from the Greek Susana, way actually from the Hebrew Shosana, meaning Lotus or Lily close enough. sameame with you, Suzanne Johnson Lydia House, from the Greek, meaning woman from Lydia, Great place. Mark Bertha maybe traces back to the Roman god Mars, who's really just a copy of Aries, you are now Aries Mipos is humans, lots of Latin here. In ancient Greek, it would be psycheanthropos uch better. Matthew Jacobson Mata Yahoo Ancient Hebrew, gift of God Maybe a gift, not ged Nate Ashley, Nate the knife. Hebrew again, Natan, meaning gave Rosemary Southward, Latin, Rsemarinus, Dew of the Sea. Rural j, two words with Latin roots. Sadie, just Sadie from the Hebrew Sarah, wife of Abraham, not Greek. Skadosheida. Scott, Scottish. Go hang out with James MclBoy. San Sinani, Sanskrit, meaning moon Or in Greek would be Celine. Steve Winterbauer from the Greek Stephanos Meaning crown. You're the king dad And the Provost family from Provost Latin origins. The O's may sound like O's but they are not Greek All right, thank you so much to our full stop supporters. I hope you enjoyed that pererhaps somewhat accurate exploration of the origins of your names, which are all wonderful We are coming back at you next week. Lizzy What do you have for the fine folks at home?