My Big Fat Greek Wedding/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Executive Meddling: A rare positive example, as many of the best things about the film turned out to be studio-mandated changes that Nia Vardalos fought tooth and nail. Her entire career since the film is a testament to how badly it could have gone.
  • Fake Nationality: Multiple examples:
    • Nia Vardalos is a Greek-Canadian playing a Greek-American.
    • Lainie Kazan is Russian Jewish on her father's side and Turkish Jewish on her mother's side.
    • Michael Constantine was born in the United States to Greek immigrant parents.
    • Andrea Martin is an Armenian-American; the scene where Rodney & Harriet try to recall the ethnicity of Rodney's secretary, which turns out to be Armenian, may be a reference to this.
    • Joey Fatone is Italian-American.
  • Hey, It's That Guy!: Chris in the Morning from Northern Exposure (as Ian). Also, some of the actors from This Is Wonderland. Also, Joey Fatone from N'Sync.
  • One-Hit Wonder: This was Nia Vardalos's only project to have any sort of success. Her subsequent projects have mostly failed critically and financially. After ten years of failed projects, she recently announced she was penning a sequel.
  • The Other Darrin: Nia Vardalos and most of Toula's family came along for the TV series, but Michael Vartan had to be recast.
  • Real Life Relative: Ian Gomez, Nia's real life husband who was directly involved with the inspiration for the movie, plays a friend of the groom.
    • Leads to an Actor Allusion, as Ian Gomez's character flatly states that there's no way that a gorgeous woman like Toula would even look at a guy like him.
  • Sleeper Hit: Turned a $5 million budget and a limited release into a $241 million domestic tally, thanks in part to such great word-of-mouth that the movie stayed in the top 10 weekly box office for over three months, gradually getting a wider release with each passing week due to its success. Some of the films it outgrossed on its shoestring budget: Austin Powers in Goldmember, Men in Black II, and Die Another Day.
  • What Could Have Been: Tom Hanks helped produce the film but found some difficulty getting it made. The studios liked the idea but wanted to cut the "Big," "Fat," and "Greek" part out and cast someone like Jennifer Lopez in the main role (as a thirty year old woman who has trouble dating, yeah). That's the reason it went indie and turned out the way it did.
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