My Big Fat Greek Wedding_ How Nia Vardalos Turned Her Life Into a Movie (Exclusi
My Big Fat Greek Wedding_ How Nia Vardalos Turned Her Life Into a Movie (Exclusi
Transcript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:03 - I had a big wedding.
00:04 I wanted a small cocktail reception.
00:06 I just wanted like six friends and hors d'oeuvres
00:09 and my dad was like, you know, clutching his heart.
00:11 And he actually said, you know,
00:12 who knows how long I'm gonna live.
00:14 And my parents said, you know,
00:15 we came here to make all this for you.
00:18 And I was like, oh.
00:19 So I got sucked into having the big fat Greek wedding.
00:22 - And with that, Nia Vardalos turned her real life
00:25 1993 wedding to husband Ian Gomez
00:27 into a cultural phenomenon.
00:30 - Ah, the pensive bride.
00:32 Here's the thought bubble.
00:33 How can I make some money off this wedding?
00:35 - Nia first produced a one woman show of the same name
00:38 and that attracted a very high profile couple
00:41 who ended up co-producing the film.
00:43 - Just by the title, My Big Fat Greek Wedding,
00:45 I thought that, that, I've gotta go see something
00:47 called My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
00:47 - She lived the life, now she's seeing the show.
00:50 - Nia was shocked Tom and Rita actually allowed her
00:52 a relative unknown to be the star.
00:55 - Right before we started to shoot,
00:56 I went through the wardrobe trailer
00:58 and I looked for clothes in like a size two
01:01 to see if they were really gonna hire Julia Roberts
01:03 and put her in a brown wig and go, Greek enough.
01:05 I was nervous.
01:07 - May I please date your daughter?
01:10 - No!
01:12 - For John Corbett, this was his time
01:15 for onscreen proposals.
01:16 - God, that's such a beautiful ring.
01:23 - I've asked quite a few women to get married this year
01:25 in the movies and TV.
01:27 Finally, one said yes.
01:29 - Hey Angelo!
01:30 - Hey Ian, we're gonna kill ya!
01:32 - The film grossed more than $350 million worldwide.
01:40 The following year, ET was on set for the CBS sitcom,
01:43 My Big Fat Greek Life.
01:44 - Who wouldn't?
01:45 - Lime.
01:48 - How much pressure do you feel
01:53 after having the number one independent film of all time?
01:56 - I actually don't, maybe I'm just a fearless idiot.
02:00 - Despite its debut as the number one new sitcom,
02:02 the show was canceled after one season.
02:04 14 years later, fans finally got their big screen sequel.
02:08 - You all wanna do this?
02:10 - Of course!
02:11 - Thank you.
02:13 - I called John first.
02:14 - Who would've been the last one that found out?
02:16 Probably Joey Fatone.
02:17 - Everybody, yeah, everyone called each other.
02:20 So by the time I called the third person,
02:22 they were like, "I know."
02:23 - This time around, the Portakalas family
02:25 heads back to their roots in Athens.
02:27 - We're Kornic Greeks.
02:28 - Oh yeah.
02:29 - One, two, three, four!
02:32 - Mia wrote and directed this third and final installment,
02:35 which is in theaters now.
02:36 - I loved directing.
02:38 It was very, very fun 'cause everyone's like a family.
02:40 And so I expected them, like,
02:42 I thought you were like,
02:43 "Okay, you're gonna move over here."
02:44 I kinda thought they'd be like, "No."
02:45 You know, 'cause it's like directing your cousins,
02:47 but they were wonderful.
02:48 (bells chiming)
02:51 [BLANK_AUDIO]