My Best Friend s Wedding Reunion ft Julia Roberts Cameron Diaz Dermot Mulroney More

You've sort of been, you know, the woman in my life. It was one of the most successful rom-coms of all time. In 1997, My Best Friend's Wedding surprised audiences with a new kind of character. I've got moves you've never seen. A scheming anti-hero hell-bent on sabotaging a perfectly good wedding. I'm the bad guy. All in the name of love. Choose me. Marry me. Let me make you happy. Ah, beautiful. 22 years later, EW is bringing the cast of My Best Friend's Wedding back together for an unforgettable reunion. I think I've seen Cameron, like, at awards things. Yeah, exactly, a couple times. But when was the last time I saw you? We saw each other probably about 15 years ago. It's been a long time. A long time, anyway. I thought you guys were best friends. It's like yesterday. I know, I mean, we talk every day. Action! I'd like to take you to the church so you can walk down that aisle and marry the man of our dreams. The story of My Best Friend's Wedding began back in the mid-90s with screenwriter Ronald Bass. Bass had already built a resume full of hits, including the Julia Roberts thriller Sleeping with the Enemy. Everything in here as it should be? I don't know why I forgot. Well, we all forget things. That's what reminding is for. And his Oscar-winning script for the 1988 Best Picture winner Rain Man. Rain Man? Yeah. Let's play some cards here. My Best Friend's Wedding started with a meeting. I used to have a meeting at my house with several agents, and one of the young women who came every week showed me an article about a woman who had heard that a guy she'd previously dated had just gotten married, and she fantasized about what her life would have been if she'd married him because she thought she could have. We had this little discussion at the table, and I said, well, if it's a story, it's only a story because he's not married yet, and she goes and tries to break it up. I've got exactly four days to break up a wedding, steal the bride's fella, and I haven't one clue how to do it. Then there were certain things that I wanted to do with the story that made this story possible. There were two major things that I wanted to do. One of them was I wanted to do a story where the heroine didn't get the guy in the end, a romantic comedy where we reversed expectations. For my best friend has won the best woman. And the other thing that I wanted to do was create a relationship for my heroine with a person who would be the best looking and the smartest and the kindest and the gentlest and the most rational character in the film, and he would be a gay man. She's talking about me. I hadn't seen gay men. They hadn't been depicted that way at that time. Will and Grace was, they ripped us off. We should be getting royalties from them. Sony Pictures bought the script and eventually tapped P.J. Hogan to direct. The 35-year-old filmmaker was coming off his critically acclaimed comedy, Muriel's Wedding. You're yours, right? Julia Roberts won the starring role, New York City restaurant critic Julianne Potter. I'm writing it up as inventive and confident. The 30-year-old actress made three films the previous year, Everyone Says I Love You, Michael Collins, and Mary Reilly, but was, of course, best known as America's Sweetheart thanks to her 1990 mega hit, Pretty Woman. You're late. You're stunning. You're forgiven. Well, I just thought it was really clever and just funny. Just all the physical comedy I loved. Lots of falling down and falling through things and falling all over myself and falling all over Dermot. My God, it's the bride and the woman she'll never live up to. And the scene for me that made it feel so authentic and earnest is when I finally tell Dermot's character, pick me. Choose me. Marry me. Let me make you happy. That's a great scene. Let me make you happy. Just that line, I thought, wow, it's just so succinct and sweet and meaningful. There's a saying in our business, it's in the casting. I have a special affection for Julia Roberts for so many reasons because you were going to write an anti-heroine. You were going to create somebody who was going to do something terrible, who was going to break up the wedding, not just break up a wedding, but a really great couple who really belong together, who are really wonderful. And you just had to hate her. I never thought that. Yeah. I was always shocked when people said, I was like, what? She's not bad. She's just in love. She's a sad clown, which is such a classic character in all of our stories. And that's what people really feel for, that she's comedic, but she's sad. Even though she's happy and beautiful and busy. But no, that's what really gets people. Not the simple thing that the girl doesn't get the guy at the end. That drives people nuts. But the thing that really made this movie something extra, beyond the performances and the personalities these actors brought, but that character, people just were crying for her. What did you do with my best friend? I'm still your best friend. Just haven't seen you for a while. Dermot Mulroney played Julianne's old college flame turned best friend, Michael O'Neill. The 34-year-old actor had made nearly two dozen films, but was perhaps most recognizable from the 1988 Western Young Guns. Damn good riding with you. She bears. Many nights, my friend. Many nights I'd put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're all right. Well, I liked that he... I liked that he was in the movie and I got the part. I liked that he was the lead in the movie and Julia Roberts liked him. Michael, I was just trying to win you. I liked those obvious elements. But he had his own little story. He was a sports writer, you know, and he was in love. In ways that many people, you know, still argue with me about. It's incredible. I wouldn't give this movie up for anything. Thank you. For loving me that much. That way. It's pretty flattering. Are you kidding? I mean, I got to work with these folks, and Julia was like a huge break for me. And then the scope of it, like when you get there and you're like, Oh, this is like, I've never seen anything like this before. I need you. I'll never get through this. Please come. Please. Oh, man, I can't wait for you to meet her. In the mid-90s, Sony Pictures greenlit My Best Friend's Wedding, with Julia Roberts and Dermot Mulroney starring as college sweethearts turned BFFs Julianne and Michael. Can you believe I'm going to do this? Not hardly. The role of Michael's young heiress bride, Kimmie Wallace, went to Cameron Diaz. This just makes everything so perfect. From the day I met Michael, all I've heard is Julianne this and Julianne that. This was the 25-year-old actress' sixth film since her breakout role opposite Jim Carrey in The Mask. So I was saying about that tie. You know, it sort of looks like a young woman riding bareback. Sort of a Lady Godiva or something. Yeah, I mean, while I was considering turning it down, I mean... No, are you kidding? I mean, I got to work with these folks, and Julia was like a huge break for me. So this means I have four days to make you my new best friend. It's time for you to force yourself to get personal. It was like this moment where I was like, I get to what? You know, even just going to get to read for it was like a huge thing, you know? And then the fact that I got it and, you know, it was on location, it was with the scope of it. Like when you get there and you're like, oh, this is like, I've never seen anything like this before, you know? And it took a lot. It was like a six-month shoot. It was really long. A real old-fashioned movie. Yeah, an old-fashioned movie on film. Rupert Everett co-starred as Julianne's editor and devoted friend George Downs. The 38-year-old actor had made more than a dozen films over the past decade, including a role in another Julia Roberts project, the 1994 comedy Ready to Wear. You know, my mother makes dresses to celebrate a women's party. Dressing for men has never particularly interested her, although she's certainly undressed for a few of them. When I got the part, it was literally two lines in the script, and I thought it was a kind of career-side move at first. And PJ Hogan made me test like three or four times for the film, and I kept saying, PJ, what can I do? There's nothing I can do. There's only two lines. There's only two lines. How many times can I say them? And so I came in with quite a bad attitude, in a way. And what was so extraordinary about it is that, from my point of view, the thing that you think is going to be really the end, because, you know, I was gay, and it was a tiny little gay role, and what was the point, I thought. But it was a complete changing point for me. It sounded like George was gay. Actually, yes. Common misconception. And for our film culture, Rupert, it was a changing point for that, too. I don't care what any, but compare it to whatever you want, it stands where it stands. George likes to pretend that he's gay. Why would you do that? Oh, I find it attracts women. Better than I'd ever envisioned. Rupert is gorgeous, which is, in my mind, I wanted the guy to be so attractive, so suave, but also humble and not conceited and really, really caring about her. Do you really love him, or is this just about winning? Really willing to talk truth to power, tell your best friend when she's just really making a huge mistake, and be relentless about that, but then always be there for her when she melted down. The best friend we all wish we had. Kiss him goodbye and go home. That's what you came here to do. He was the core thing that let her spin around and go crazy and go everywhere else because he was the thing that she would always come back to. Maybe there won't be marriage. Maybe there won't be sex. But by God, there'll be dancing. But it was like we all got on so well straightaway, and everybody clicked on screen straightaway, and you could feel that in a way. And for me, it was magical. But the last time I saw it, it kind of made me cry just thinking of how magic that time was in that summer. Cheers. I've worked in Chicago a lot since then, and that city loves this movie, and it's incredible when we hit town the way that... We shot every corner of that city in a time when people really still weren't doing outdoor location. My sister-in-law is obsessed with this movie. It's literally, she's like, it's my favorite movie. And we went to Chicago a year and a half ago, and she took me to every single set piece and was like, do it, just do it. Incredible. She's like, remember when you were walking down the street like here, and then... Incredible. It was so much fun. I was like, yes, I think I do. She's like, well, I do, and it really means a lot to me, so I would like for you to pretend like you do. My Best Friend's Wedding premiered on June 20, 1997. The film was an instant hit, making more than $21 million opening weekend, which at the time was a record for a rom-com. Hey, congratulations. People love the film so much. That's the amazing thing. The reaction of everybody always for the film is so incredible and really touching in a way. And beautifully shot, that whole sequence in the boat going under the bridges and all that kind of stuff. Kimmy says if you love someone, you say it. You say it, right then, out loud. Well, Dermot mentioned Laszlo. I mean, we were so lucky to have someone of his caliber shooting our romantic comedy. Yeah, that didn't happen really until those moments in those years when they really high-ended a couple of these movies. Ours was treated great. And unfortunately, these movies are really hard to make now. I'd argue that it's impossible. For some crazy reason, and it's only been three or four times in my life that I felt this way out of all the movies, I just knew it was going to be hit. I knew it just felt so solid. It was so funny. It was so heartfelt. It was so contemporary. It was so against expectation. It was so wonderfully cast. All the stars aligned, and I just said, when you get something this good, just enjoy it and tuck it away because it won't always be this way. I think I'm going to cry. Me too. I'm just staring at him the whole time because he's looking at me like, you're okay, you're not going to die. Ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for the dazzling vocal stylings of Miss Kimberly Wallace! No, that was just... I was terrified to do that scene, for real. That was some acting, but really I allowed the true terror of singing in front of people to be alive in me. I wanted to run and hide, and Dermot kept me there. And he's like, you can do it, you can do it. And in the scene, I'm just staring at him the whole time because he's looking at me like, you're okay. And I was like, but I'm dying! It was just tears, and it was really hard, but it was really difficult, but I'm traumatized. It's an amazing scene because how it turns around from being ridiculous to suddenly being incredibly moving and then suddenly winning the whole audience around you. It's so much fun, when you're standing there by yourself, it's terrifying, but then when everybody came in on it, then it was like this relief and this celebration. We did it so many times, and every time I was still just like... Hollywood has done it dozens of times. How many karaoke scenes can you think of? And there's only one that has this and worked that way. It's such a standout. It's kind of a typical scene that just worked wonders in this movie, and like I said, it means so much to people, that particular scene. Yeah, because you two fall in love more, you become more isolated in your plotting, everything's so many things happening. I need to watch this movie again. I don't remember feeling isolated in my plotting. I had you. You did, didn't you? I hadn't arrived back then, but you were on your own. Your last close-up in there is you just saying, well, God, this all went wrong, because you were so popular by the end. And she also knew that I didn't want to sing, and she made me. Yeah, you made her. Do you remember that? I was trying to be encouraging, right? No. In that moment, I knew... Okay, we don't all need to know what he said. Yes, we do! I'm very curious. What do you remember about that? Well, oh my God, you can't fail, really, in a scene like that, in a way. I said to Dion, Dion, I'm in love. Could this siren love me? And Dion turned to me, opened her lovely eyes, and said... The music was taken very seriously, wasn't it? The moment I wake up Before I put on my makeup I say a little prayer for you We did lots of rehearsals and lots of pre-recordings, and we had lots of options. PJ only wrote that scene almost just before the movie started, and that was when I knew... That's why he had you in three times, because he had big plans and he wasn't sharing them. I run for the bus, dear So that was his canny plan all along, was to erupt this character in ways that we didn't even see coming. It was a three-hander, and then suddenly it was this incredible movie instead. It was something else to watch that happen. I'm in love with you Answer his prayer now, baby Answer my prayer, baby And the best part of it was when they started handing out the bibs, and we were all like, what? We were like, is this happening? They're like, yeah. I will love you forever And then they whipped out the fake crab claws for the guys in the background. This really all was unspooling beneath our feet on that day. We didn't know really until... I mean, I think you knew, but I didn't see that coming at all. And then that night, I went back with you on the Warner jet to New York, and then I thought, really, I was living the dream. I just think that we're all being honest in a really sweet, earnest way that the alchemy of the four of us together, it was just all very refreshing in a way. It's been more than 20 years since the premiere, but My Best Friend's Wedding remains one of the most beloved rom-coms ever made. It's amazing how, to me, how popular it remained. Young people today watch this, and if I'm with somebody who I meet who's not in our business at all, it's always the first film we talk about. It always is my favorite film. And they'll tell me lines from it, and that always makes me feel good. I just think that we're all being honest in a really sweet, earnest way that the alchemy of the four of us together and the city of Chicago and the story and that we were outside, that we were running around, that all these things that we were pretending to do, that we were doing, except for the isolated plotting. And I just think that that is, it was just all very refreshing in a way.