A rom-com for the ages! Julia Roberts, Dermot Mulroney and more of Hollywood’s finest starred in My Best Friend’s Wedding.
The 1997 movie was a major success at the box office and has since gone down as one of the most beloved romantic comedies in history. Directed by P. J. Hogan, the film follows food critic Julianne Potter (Roberts) and her childhood pal Michael O’Neal (Mulroney), who made an agreement as kids that they would marry each other if they were both single at 28. Days before Julianne’s 28th birthday, she learns Michael is getting married to a younger woman (Cameron Diaz) — and tries to put a stop to the wedding after realizing she has feelings for the groom.
More than 20 years after the movie’s debut, the cast reunited to reminisce on their time on set.
“I think about these guys every day,” Mulroney told Entertainment Weekly of Roberts and Diaz in February 2019. “Because people come up to me and they bring up this movie every day for the last 22 years.”
Hogan, for his part, confessed that making the perfect rom-com was not an easy feat.
“I think what kills romantic comedies is they often feel prepackaged or like frozen food that hasn’t quite thawed — they’re just not really fresh,” he told the outlet. “But when I see the film, it’s still got a snap to it. When it’s funny, it’s really funny, and the actors all glow. And I think Julia was extraordinary in the lead role. I mean, who else could’ve pulled that off?”
The blockbuster was filmed in Chicago, and according to Mulroney, the Windy City is full of some of the movie’s biggest fans. “That city loves this movie,” he said. “It’s incredible.”
While it’s been years since My Best Friend’s Wedding premiered, the Pretty Woman actress still remembers exactly what drew her to the role, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
“I just thought it was really clever and just funny,” she told EW. “All the physical comedy I loved. Lots of falling down and falling through things, falling all over myself, falling over Dermot. The scene, for me, that made it feel so authentic and earnest is when I finally tell Dermot’s character, ‘Pick me. Let me make you happy.’ Just that line. That’s just so succinct and sweet and meaningful.”
To this day, fans continue to ship Michael and Julianne, even though the movie gave viewers a different ending. In December 2021, Mulroney exclusively told Us Weekly that even he wished the characters got together.
“Didn’t everybody?! I did too in some ways, of course, as true as I played it to the story,” he told Us. “And of course, you know, Julia and I remain great friends. That’ll be one of those things that I will share with the rest of the world, wondering, and maybe wishing. … That movie — is it really 25 years ago? — still means as much to me as it did the day I got that part.”
Scroll down to see where the cast of My Best Friend’s Wedding is now: