Four Weddings and a Funeral
Short description
Charles is a British bachelor in his early thirties who has grown uncomfortable with the idea of marriage, even as the friends around him keep pairing off. At one wedding after another, he keeps crossing paths with Carrie, an American woman he meets while serving as a witness for a friend. What begins as a single shared night together turns into something more complicated, since their next encounters take place at further ceremonies, including one where Carrie introduces the wealthy Scottish man she intends to marry. The film follows this circle of friends and the celebrations and losses that mark their lives.
Mike Newell directed the film, several years after Enchanted April and before Donnie Brasco, from a screenplay by Richard Curtis. Hugh Grant plays Charles, with Andie MacDowell as Carrie, and Kristin Scott Thomas, Simon Callow, James Fleet and John Hannah among the large credited cast of fifty. The production had a budget of four million dollars and returned roughly 246 million dollars worldwide, a very large multiple of its cost.
On IMDb the film holds 7.1 out of 10 from about 181,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.8 from roughly 3,000 votes. A critics' rating of 8.1 out of 10 from 133 reviews places it clearly above both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- By the beginning of 1999, the film was the highest-grossing film in the history of British cinema.
- Marisa Tomei turned down the lead female role.
- One of the deleted scenes revealed that Charles, Matthew, and Fiona attended the same university. Gareth was a teacher at that same university.
- Kristin Scott Thomas voiced her character for the French dubbed version of the film.
- The film's budget was so small that the Scottish wedding was not filmed in Scotland, and the extras were dressed in their own clothes.
- Andy McDowell was cast in the role of Carrie just two weeks before filming began.
- The scene where Carrie lifts the veil of the dress she is trying on and sees Charles was cut after test screenings.
- Most of Jeremy Kemp's role was cut.
- The role of Carrie could have gone to Jeanne Tripplehorn.
- During filming, Hugh Grant believed the film would be a box office flop.
- Richard Rodney Bennett, who composed the music for the film, fell asleep during the first screening.
Similar movies
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
