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Four Weddings and a Funeral

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Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox film Four Weddings and a Funeral is a 1994 British romantic comedy film directed by Mike Newell. It is the first of several films by screenwriter Richard Curtis to star Hugh Grant, and follows the adventures of Charles (Grant) and his circle of friends through a number of social occasions as they each encounter romance. Andie MacDowell co-stars as Charles's love interest Carrie, with Kristin Scott Thomas, James Fleet, Simon Callow, John Hannah, Charlotte Coleman, David Bower, Corin Redgrave and Rowan Atkinson in supporting roles.

The film was made in six weeks, cost under £3 million,<ref name=BBCR4reunion> BBC Radio 4 – The Reunion – Four Weddings and a Funeral, 13 April 2014</ref> and became an unexpected success and the highest-grossing British film in history at the time, with worldwide box office total of $245.7 million, and receiving Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. Additionally, Grant won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and the film won the BAFTA Awards' Best Film, Best Direction, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Scott Thomas. The film's success propelled Hugh Grant to international stardom, particularly in the United States.<ref name="20 Years On"/>

In 1999, Four Weddings and a Funeral was placed 23rd on the British Film Institute's 100 greatest British films of the 20th century. In 2016, Empire magazine ranked it 21st in their list of the 100 best British films.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A 2017 poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine ranked it the 74th-best British film ever.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Curtis reunited director Newell and the surviving cast for a 25th-anniversary reunion Comic Relief short entitled One Red Nose Day and a Wedding, which aired in the UK during Red Nose Day on 15 March 2019.<ref name="Deadline Hollywood">Template:Cite web</ref>

Plot

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At the wedding of Angus and Laura in Somerset, the perpetually-late best man Charles, his flatmate Scarlett, his aristocratic friend Fiona and her brother Tom, Gareth and his partner Matthew, and Charles's deaf brother David, all gather. All are unmarried. At the reception, Charles meets Carrie, an American woman working in England. They spend the night together. In the morning, Carrie, who is returning to the U.S., laments that they may have, "missed a great opportunity".

Three months later, at the London wedding of Bernard and Lydia, Tom is the best man. At the reception, Charles runs into Carrie, who has returned to the UK. With Carrie is Hamish, her older, wealthy Scottish fiancé. Meanwhile, a pretty young woman, Serena, is attracted to David.

During the reception, Charles is humiliated by several ex-girlfriends, including the distraught Henrietta, who claims Charles is a "serial monogamist" fearful of commitment. Charles retreats to an empty hotel suite and notices Carrie and Hamish departing by taxi, though Carrie returns to the reception shortly after; she and Charles spend a second night together.

A month later, Charles receives an invitation to Carrie and Hamish's wedding. Charles runs into Carrie while searching for a wedding gift. He then helps Carrie choose a wedding dress. After, Charles awkwardly confesses he loves her, which Carrie gently rebuffs.

A month later, Charles and his friends attend Carrie and Hamish's wedding. Scarlett meets Chester, a Texan at the reception. Henrietta points out her new boyfriend to Charles. Fiona, aware of Charles's unhappiness over Carrie, admits she loves him. Charles, though sympathetic, does not reciprocate her feelings. During Hamish's speech, Gareth suffers a fatal heart attack.

At Gareth's funeral, Carrie and Charles share a brief moment, while Charles and Tom then ponder that, despite their clique's pride in being single, Gareth and Matthew were like a "married" couple. They wonder whether seeking "one true love" is futile.

Ten months later, it is Charles and Henrietta's wedding. While seating guests, Tom meets his distant cousin, Deirdre, whom he has not seen since childhood; they are immediately smitten with each other. Scarlett and Chester are overjoyed to meet again.

Carrie arrives and tells Charles that she and Hamish have separated following a difficult marriage. Charles has an emotional crisis inside the church's back room. After David and Matthew counsel him, Charles decides to proceed with the ceremony. When the vicar asks whether anyone has reason why the couple should not marry, David uses sign language to say the groom has doubts and loves someone else. Charles confirms this, and a furious Henrietta punches him at the altar, knocking him out and ending the ceremony.

Later at his flat, Charles and the group are discussing the fiasco when Carrie arrives to apologise for causing trouble. Charles again says he loves her and proposes a lifelong commitment without marriage, which Carrie accepts. As they kiss, a thunderbolt flashes across the sky.

In an ending photo montage, Henrietta has married an Army officer; David married Serena; Scarlett has married Chester, the Texan; Tom married Deirdre; Matthew has found a new male partner; Fiona is shown with Prince Charles; and Charles and Carrie have had their first child.

Main cast

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Template:Cast listing

Production

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Writing

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Screenwriter Richard Curtis's own experiences as a wedding attendee inspired Four Weddings and a Funeral.<ref name="15 Facts">Template:Cite news</ref> According to Curtis, he began writing the script at age 34, after realising he had attended 65 weddings in an 11-year period. At one wedding he was propositioned by a fellow guest, but he turned her down and forever regretted it; accordingly, he based the origin of Charles and Carrie's romance on that situation.<ref name="15 Facts"/>

It took Curtis 17 drafts to reach the final version. He initially planned the film as 'Four Weddings and a Honeymoon' but introduced the funeral theme on the advice of Helen Fielding.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He has commented on director Mike Newell's influence; "I come from a school where making it funny is what matters. Mike was obsessed with keeping it real. Every character, no matter how small, has a story, not just three funny lines. It's a romantic film about love and friendship that swims in a sea of jokes."<ref name="Anne Thompson">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Curtis chose to omit any mention of the characters' careers, because he did not think a group of friends would realistically discuss their jobs while together at a wedding.<ref name="15 Facts"/>

Casting

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Curtis, Newell and the producers began the casting process for Four Weddings in early 1992. Alex Jennings was cast as Charles, but funding for the production fell through in mid-1992.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Jennings would eventually go on to play a supporting role in Mindy Kaling's 2019 television miniseries adaptation of the film. The team continued holding auditions for over a year, seeing roughly 70 actors for the role of Charles before Hugh Grant.<ref name="20 Years On">Template:Cite news</ref>

Grant was ready to give up acting as a career when he received the script for Four Weddings and a Funeral; he stated in 2016 that: "I wasn't really getting any work at all, and then to my great surprise this script came through the letterbox from my agent, and it was really good. And I rang on and said there must be a mistake, you've sent me a good script."<ref name="SAG-AFTRA Foundation">Template:Cite videoTemplate:Cbignore</ref> Initially, writer Richard Curtis, who had modelled the character of Charles after himself, was opposed to casting Grant in the role, because he thought Grant was too handsome. Curtis favoured casting Alan Rickman, but Rickman refused to audition. Curtis was eventually persuaded by Newell and the producers to approve Grant's casting.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>

Jeanne Tripplehorn was originally cast as Carrie, but she had to drop out before filming when her mother died.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> The role was offered to Marisa Tomei, but she turned it down, because her grandfather was sick at the time.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Sarah Jessica Parker was also reportedly considered. Andie MacDowell was in London doing publicity for Groundhog Day when she read the script<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and was subsequently cast.<ref name="15 Facts"/> MacDowell took a 75% cut in her fee to appear, receiving $250,000 upfront, but due to the success of the film, she earned around $3 million.<ref name=bells>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Grant's participation hit another stumbling block when his agent requested a £5,000 rise over the £35,000 salary Grant was offered. The producers initially refused because of the extremely tight budget, but eventually agreed. The supporting cast members were paid £17,500 apiece.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Production

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Duncan Kenworthy produced the film while on sabbatical from Jim Henson Productions.<ref name=bells/> Pre-production for the movie was a long process because funding was erratic, falling through in mid-1992 and leading to much uncertainty.<ref name="20 Years On"/> Finally in early 1993, Working Title Films stepped in to close the gap. Nonetheless, another $1.2 million was cut just before production began in the summer of 1993, forcing the film to be made in just 36 days with a final budget of £2.7 million (approximately $4.4 million in 1994).<ref name="20 Years On"/> Channel Four Films contributed £800,000.<ref name=bells/> The budget was so tight that extras had to wear their own wedding clothes, while Rowan Atkinson appeared as a vicar at two of the weddings so production would not have to pay another actor.<ref name="15 Facts"/>

Future Home Secretary and Member of Parliament (MP) Amber Rudd was given the credit of "Aristocracy Coordinator" after she arranged for several aristocrats to make uncredited appearances as wedding extras, including Peregrine Cavendish, who was at the time Marquess of Hartington, and the Earl of Woolton, who conveniently wore their own morning suits.<ref name="15 Facts"/>

To make Grant look more nerdy, the producers styled him with shaggy hair, glasses and deliberately unflattering, ill-fitting clothes.<ref>Template:Cite video</ref><ref name="youtube.com">Template:Cite videoTemplate:Cbignore</ref> Grant was encouraged by director Mike Newell to mess up and trip over his lines, written in "convoluted syntax" as Grant describes them, in order to give Charles a stammering, nervous quality.<ref name="youtube.com"/> Grant, who struggled with hay fever throughout filming, was unsure of Newell's direction and his own performance, which he thought was "atrocious." Regarding Newell, Grant commented that: "He seemed to be giving direction against what I thought were the natural beats of the comedy. He was making a film with texture, grounding it, playing the truths rather than the gags".<ref name="Anne Thompson"/>

Filming locations

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The film was shot mainly in London and the Home Counties, including: Hampstead, Islington where the final moments take place on Highbury Terrace, Greenwich Hospital, Betchworth in Surrey, Amersham in Buckinghamshire, the village of Sarratt in Hertfordshire (wedding number one), St Bartholomew-the-Great church in London (wedding number four), and St Clement's Church, West Thurrock in Essex (the funeral).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Exterior shots of guests arriving for the funeral were filmed in Thurrock, Essex overlooking the River Thames with the backdrop of the Dartford River Crossing and the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge.

Stately homes in Bedfordshire (Luton Hoo for wedding two's reception) and Hampshire provided exteriors for weddings.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Post-production

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According to Hugh Grant, the initial screening of a rough cut of Four Weddings went very badly. Template:Blockquote

Throughout production, Gramercy Pictures, the U.S. distributor for the film, sent frequent transatlantic faxes objecting to the explicit language and sexual content, fearing the final product would not be suitable for American distribution or television airings.<ref name="20 Years On"/> They particularly objected to the opening scene of the movie, in which Charles and Scarlett say the word "Fuck" over and over, after an initial screening of the movie in Salt Lake City led the conservative Mormon members of the city council to walk out.<ref name="15 Facts"/><ref name=":0"/> Accordingly, Mike Newell and the actors agreed to reshoot the scene with the British swear word "Bugger" to be used in the American version.<ref name="15 Facts"/> The executives also objected to the title, believing Four Weddings and a Funeral would turn off male viewers from the film. In its place they suggested such titles as True Love and Near Misses, Loitering in Sacred Places, Skulking Around and Rolling in the Aisles, none of which were accepted.<ref name="20 Years On"/>

Music and soundtrack

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The original score was composed by British composer Richard Rodney Bennett. The movie also featured a soundtrack of popular songs, including a cover version of The Troggs' "Love Is All Around" performed by Wet Wet Wet that remained at number 1 on the UK Singles Chart for fifteen weeks and was then the ninth biggest selling single of all time in Britain. This song would later be adapted into "Christmas Is All Around" and sung by the character of Billy Mack in Richard Curtis' 2003 film Love Actually, in which Grant also stars. The soundtrack album sold more than 750,000 units.<ref name=bells/>

Release

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Four Weddings and a Funeral had its world premiere in January 1994 at the Sundance Film Festival in Salt Lake City, Utah.<ref name="20 Years On"/>

It opened in the United States on 11 March 1994 in five theatres. The box office receipts from the first five days of the film's general release in the United States so impressed the movie's distributor that it decided to spend lavishly on promotion, buying full-page newspaper ads and TV-spots totaling some $11 million.<ref name="20 Years On"/> The movie also benefited from much free publicity because of Grant's reception in the United States, where he became an instant sex symbol and undertook a successful media tour promoting the film.<ref name=":0"/> Producer Duncan Kenworthy stated that "It was the most amazing luck that when Hugh went on the publicity trail he turned out to be incredibly funny, and very like the character of Charles. That doesn't ever happen."<ref name="20 Years On"/> The film had a wide release in the United States on 15 April 1994.

At the UK premiere in Leicester Square on 11 May 1994, Hugh Grant's then-girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley garnered much publicity for the film when she wore a black Versace safety-pin dress which became a sensation in the press.<ref name="20 Years On"/> The film opened in the UK on 13 May 1994.

Reception

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Critical response

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Four Weddings and a Funeral received critical acclaim.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 92% based on 134 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The site's critics consensus states, "Hugh Grant ably snatches up the bouquet of leading man status with Four Weddings and a Funeral, a sparkling romantic comedy given real charm by its chummy ensemble and Richard Curtis' sharp-witted screenplay."<ref>Template:Rotten-tomatoes</ref> Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 81 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, calling it "delightful and sly", and directed with "light-hearted enchantment" by Newell. He praised Grant's performance, describing it as a kind of "endearing awkwardness".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Todd McCarthy of Variety called it a "truly beguiling romantic comedy" which was "frequently hilarious without being sappily sentimental or tiresomely retrograde."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Producer Duncan Kenworthy later attributed much of the success of Four Weddings at the box office to McCarthy's review.<ref name="20 Years On"/>

Writing for the Chicago Reader, Jonathan Rosenbaum called the film "generic" and "standard issue", stating that the audience should not "expect to remember it ten minutes later".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Time magazine writer Richard Corliss was less scathing, but agreed that it was forgettable, saying that people would "forget all about [the movie] by the time they leave the multiplex," even joking at the end of his review that he had forgotten the film's name.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Box office

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Upon its limited release in the United States, Four Weddings and a Funeral opened with $138,486 from five theatres.<ref>Weekend Box Office Results for 11–13 March 1994. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 16 August 2011.</ref> In its wide release, the film topped the box office with $4.2 million.<ref>Weekend Box Office Results for 15–17 April 1994. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 16 August 2011.</ref> The film would go on to gross $52.7 million in the United States and Canada.<ref name="BOM"/>

In the United Kingdom, the film grossed £1.4 million in its opening weekend, a record for a UK production,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and £2.7 million in its opening week from 211 theatres. It was number one for nine consecutive weeks, grossing £27.8 million, making it the second-highest-grossing film of all time in the United Kingdom behind Jurassic Park.<ref name=bells/><ref name=ukopen>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It surpassed A Fish Called Wanda as the highest-grossing British film.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In France, it was number one at the box office for ten weeks, grossing $34.4 million.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> It was also number one at the Australian box office for five weeks and was the second-highest-grossing film of the year, grossing $A21.4 million.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Overall, it grossed $245.7 million worldwide, generating the highest percentage return on cost of films released in 1994.<ref name="BOM"/><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The success of the film cleared Working Title's past losses and generated over $50 million for Polygram, clearing most of their losses in the four years since they started producing films.<ref name=bells/>

Recognition

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The film was voted the 27th-greatest comedy film of all time by readers of Total Film in 2000. In 2004, the same magazine named it the 34th-greatest British film of all time. It is number 96 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".

The Guardian, in a 20th-anniversary retrospective of Four Weddings, stated that "Its influence on the British film industry, on romantic-comedy writing, on the pop charts, on funeral readings, on haircuts, was enormous."<ref name="20 Years On"/>

Hugh Grant commented in 2016 on the experience of the film's phenomenal success and its effect on his career: "I was making An Awfully Big Adventure at the time that Four Weddings came out, with Mike Newell again, same director, even tinier budget, in Dublin. And we'd get back from brutal days on the set, very long and no money, and the fax machines...were coming out saying that now your film Four Weddings is #5 in America, now it's #3, now it's #1 and here's an offer Hugh, for Captain Blood and they'll pay you $1 million. It was completely surreal."<ref name="SAG-AFTRA Foundation"/>

Awards and accolades

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Year-end lists

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Awards

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Award Category Recipient Result
Academy Awards<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Best Picture Duncan Kenworthy Template:Nominated
Best Original Screenplay Richard Curtis Template:Nominated
BAFTA Awards<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Best Film Duncan Kenworthy Template:Won
Best Direction Mike Newell Template:Won
Best Original Screenplay Richard Curtis Template:Nominated
Best Actor Hugh Grant Template:Won
Best Supporting Actor Simon Callow Template:Nominated
John Hannah Template:Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Kristin Scott Thomas Template:Won
Charlotte Coleman Template:Nominated
Best Editing Jon Gregory Template:Nominated
Best Film Music Richard Rodney Bennett Template:Nominated
Golden Globe Awards<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Best Musical or Comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral Template:Nominated
Best Actor – Musical or Comedy Hugh Grant Template:Won
Best Actress – Musical or Comedy Andie MacDowell Template:Nominated
Best Screenplay Richard Curtis Template:Nominated
Directors Guild of America Awards<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Outstanding Directing – Feature Film Mike Newell Template:Nominated
Australian Film Institute Awards<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Best Foreign Film Four Weddings and a Funeral Template:Won
British Comedy Awards<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Best Comedy Film Four Weddings and a Funeral Template:Won
César Awards<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Best Foreign Film Four Weddings and a Funeral Template:Won
Chicago Film Critics Awards<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Most Promising Actor Hugh Grant Template:Won
Evening Standard British Film Awards Best Actress Kristin Scott Thomas Template:Won
Best Screenplay Richard Curtis Template:Won
London Critics' Circle Film Awards British Film of the Year Four Weddings and a Funeral Template:Won
British Director of the Year Mike Newell Template:Won
British Producer of the Year Duncan Kenworthy Template:Won
British Screenwriter of the Year Richard Curtis Template:Won
Writers Guild of America Awards<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Best Original Screenplay Template:Won
Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Film – Screenplay Template:Won

Franchise

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Hulu anthology television miniseries

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Template:Main It was reported in November 2017 that the streaming service Hulu was developing an eponymous anthology television series based upon the film, to be written and executive produced by Mindy Kaling and Matt Warburton, with Richard Curtis also serving as an executive producer.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In October 2018, it was announced Jessica Williams, Nikesh Patel, Rebecca Rittenhouse and John Reynolds had joined the cast.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The miniseries premiered on 31 July 2019.

One Red Nose Day and a Wedding

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On 5 December 2018, it was announced that Richard Curtis had written One Red Nose Day and a Wedding,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a 25th-anniversary Comic Relief television reunion short film. The original film's director, Mike Newell, returned, along with the film's surviving cast, including Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell, Kristin Scott Thomas, John Hannah, Rowan Atkinson, James Fleet, David Haig, Sophie Thompson, David Bower, Robin McCaffrey, Anna Chancellor, Rupert Vansittart, Simon Kunz, Sara Crowe and Timothy Walker.<ref name="Deadline Hollywood"/> It was filmed on 13–14 December 2018 at St James' Church, Islington, London.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It centered on the reunion of all the characters from the original film at the wedding of Charles and Carrie's daughter to Fiona's daughter.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The involvement of additional cast members Lily James and Alicia Vikander, who played the young lesbians getting married, was not announced until the day the film aired in the UK.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The film aired in the U.S. on their Red Nose Day on 23 May 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

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References

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