49 Fun Facts About 27 Dresses

Which actress plays perpetual bridesmaid Jane Nichols in 27 Dresses?

Katherine Heigl. Her Jane has stood beside 27 brides and kept every outfit, on the theory that one day, when it is finally her turn, all those people will be there for her.

Which Elton John song do a tipsy Jane and Kevin belt out on top of a bar, mangling the lyrics?

Bennie and the Jets. Neither of them knows the words, the whole bar joins in anyway, and the next morning a customer in a diner hails the pair as Bennie and the Jets.

In 27 Dresses, what does eight-year-old Jane use to mend a bride's torn dress?

A hair ribbon. She borrows it from her little sister at a cousin's wedding, the family's first big event since their mother died, and the grateful bride lets Jane carry her train.

On the night 27 Dresses opens, what will cost Jane's cab driver money every time he does it?

Glancing in his mirror. Jane offers $300 for the night, less a fine for every look, because she is changing clothes on the back seat as she shuttles between a wedding in Manhattan and another in Brooklyn.

What does Jane leave behind on the night she meets Kevin, which he then uses to research her?

Her Filofax planner. Before handing it back Kevin rips out a week, writes himself into every Saturday for the rest of the year and adds his phone number, so that she has to call him.

Under what first name does Kevin Doyle sign the wedding columns that Jane adores?

Malcolm. He tells a stunned Jane that he keeps his own first name off the byline so that he doesn't get stalked by crazy brides.

In 27 Dresses, which section of the newspaper does Kevin write for?

Commitments. A colleague calls it the gold standard of wedding announcements, the page brides-to-be rip open first every Sunday, and its star writer says he is dying back there.

Who plays cynical reporter Kevin Doyle in 27 Dresses?

James Marsden. The director had just worked with him on Hairspray, where he played TV dance-show host Corny Collins, and cast him here as a romantic lead for a change.

In 27 Dresses, Jane's boss George strolls back into the office fresh from what kind of trip?

Climbing. He has just been up and down Mount Whitney in ten hours, and the smitten Jane startles him by remembering that it was his eighth time.

Who plays George, Jane's boss, in 27 Dresses?

Edward Burns. He made his name writing, directing and starring in the indie hit The Brothers McMullen, and joked that George, a self-made saint of a boss, is a kind of man who doesn't really exist.

Jane's sister arrives in New York in 27 Dresses after six months working as a model in which fashion capital?

Milan. She breezes in as if between fashion shows, and only after her wedding is called off does she admit that she had been fired there and dumped by her Italian boyfriend.

Which actress plays Jane's younger sister Tess in 27 Dresses?

Malin Akerman. Her Tess has so few friends of her own (girls, she admits, just don't like her) that she has to borrow Jane's best friend to make up her bridesmaids.

Which lifestyle does Tess pretend to follow in order to impress George?

Being a vegetarian. She waves away a chili dog at a ball game unless it is a tofu one, and a year after the lie comes out she reintroduces herself to George as someone who eats a hamburger a day.

How does Jane's friend Casey stop her mooning over George at work?

She slaps her. The idea is to wipe the goofy look off Jane's face before George walks in, since, as Casey points out, everybody in the office knows about the crush except him.

Which actress plays Jane's wisecracking best friend Casey in 27 Dresses?

Judy Greer. Her brassy Casey also gets the film's wisest line: when Jane's revenge on her sister leaves her miserable, Casey says that if it had been the right thing to do, she would feel better.

In 27 Dresses, what does the sisters' father Hal give Tess when she gets engaged?

Their mother's gown. Jane had always hoped to wear it herself, and when Tess finds it old-fashioned and has it cut up for parts, Jane's years of patience finally run out.

In 27 Dresses, what is the name of Jane's dream wedding venue, where her parents married?

The Boathouse. Her parents' ceremony there, with a big band at sunset, is the wedding Jane has always dreamed of copying, which is why it stings when Tess books the place for herself.

After a cancellation at her chosen venue, how long does Tess give Jane to organise the whole wedding?

Three weeks. The venue's usual wait is a year and a half, but Tess rings nine times until another couple's wedding falls through, then tells Jane she knows she can pull it together quickly.

How does Jane take revenge on her sister at the rehearsal dinner in 27 Dresses?

A slideshow exposing her lies. Tess hands her a script to read over the family photos; Jane reads every word as written but swaps the pictures, among them young Tess dangling a cat upside down.

In 27 Dresses, what does Jane do after George praises her for never saying no?

She quits her job. Hearing her own doormat habit praised is the last straw: she tells George that she got too comfortable to leave and never bothered to get a life of her own.

Where do Jane and Kevin marry in the final scene of 27 Dresses?

On a beach. A year has passed, and among the guests George meets Tess all over again, this time as her real self: broke, cheerful and designing her own handbags.

Which choreographer-turned-director made 27 Dresses?

Anne Fletcher. She said she identified with Jane completely, as 'a full-blown co-dependent' whose own nickname is Mama, and she went on to direct Sandra Bullock in The Proposal.

Which hit film had screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna written just before 27 Dresses?

The Devil Wears Prada. McKenna modelled Jane on a friend who had been a bridesmaid about a dozen times, and that friend got engaged just before the film was given the go-ahead.

Which dance film was the director's debut before 27 Dresses?

Step Up. It was produced by Adam Shankman, the choreographer-director who had given her her start years earlier by taking her on to help stage his dance numbers.

27 Dresses is set in New York City, but in which state was most of it actually shot?

Rhode Island. Providence doubled for Manhattan, Newport's Gilded Age mansions hosted the grand weddings, and the bar where Jane and Kevin sing was a real dive in Pawtucket.

In 27 Dresses, Jane compares unmasking her favourite columnist as a cynic to learning her favourite love song is about what?

A sandwich. She has clipped and saved his tender wedding columns for years, so hearing from their author that the cynic is the real him knocks the romance flat.

Which classic film was the theme of the wedding behind Jane's hoop-skirted, parasol-twirling bridesmaid outfit in 27 Dresses?

Gone with the Wind. When Kevin protests that nobody holds such weddings, Jane replies that she has been to three, and the costume team built eight giant hoop dresses for the scene.

Kevin's cynicism about weddings in 27 Dresses dates from his own: who did his wife leave him for?

His college roommate. Jane guesses it while needling him in a gift registry, asking whether his own wife left him or something, and he answers 'Bingo', with an extra bingo for the roommate.

Which nickname does Kevin's newspaper article pin on Tess, sending her into a rage?

Bridezilla. Tess screams down the phone at Kevin about lawyers she doesn't have, then storms out telling Jane to alert Traffic Control because Bridezilla is on the loose.

What is the name of George's dog, who carries the ring when he proposes to Tess?

Gatsby. Tess gushes over dogs to win George round, although, as Jane reminds her in private, she could not stand the family's own dog when they were children.

Which monster movie kept 27 Dresses from the number one spot on its opening weekend?

Cloverfield. The monster movie broke the January opening record with $40 million, while 27 Dresses, drawing a crowd that was three-quarters women, took what one box-office report called the bridesmaid spot.

On the opening night of 27 Dresses, Jane's second wedding sees a Jewish bride marry a man of which faith?

Hindu. Jane swaps her first bridesmaid dress for a sari and a stick-on bindi on the way over, arriving in time to see Shari Rabinowitz marry Prakash, known to his friends as Woody.

Caught calling the family's old dog Toby by the wrong name, what does Tess blame for the mistake?

A childhood lisp. Jane points out that no lisp turns a B into an R, but the excuse lands anyway: George is charmed, because he had a stutter as a boy.

In 27 Dresses, what does Jane say is her favourite moment at any wedding?

Watching the groom's face. While every other guest turns to see the bride come in, Jane looks at him; Kevin later admits it is his favourite moment too, and at her own wedding she finds him looking at her that way.

What does Kevin call the wedding beat that he hopes his article about Jane will get him out of?

The taffeta ghetto. He tells his editor he will shoot himself if he has to write one more sentence about baby's breath, and she gives him exactly one chance to show he can do something else.

On the morning Jane assumes George has sent her flowers, what has he actually left on her desk?

His dry-cleaning slip. Jane spends the day convinced that the unsigned bouquet is a declaration from her boss; it was sent by Kevin, the stranger who saw her home the night before.

Which TV role had made the film's lead actress famous before 27 Dresses?

Dr. Izzie Stevens on Grey's Anatomy. She won the supporting-actress Emmy for the part in 2007, and a year later she pulled out of the race, saying her material that season had not earned a nomination.

27 Dresses beat Get Smart to win Favorite Comedy Movie at which awards in January 2009?

The People's Choice Awards. The public's vote ran against the reviewers', whose consensus on Rotten Tomatoes had called the film clichéd and mostly forgettable.

Kevin writes his Sunday wedding column for which fictional newspaper?

New York Journal. When his piece on Jane runs there sooner than he asked, a diner waitress recognises her from the photographs before he has had the chance to confess that he wrote it.

What is Jane's job at George's company in 27 Dresses?

His personal assistant. George introduces her as his right hand, the one who takes care of whatever he needs, and is the only person in the office who hasn't noticed that she is in love with him.

At Jane's own wedding in 27 Dresses, what do the 27 brides she once served wear as her bridesmaids?

The outfits she wore for them. All 27 line up in the dresses Jane kept, and her closing line has the last word: she always knew they would all be there for her someday.

Where does Jane finally tell Kevin that she loves him in 27 Dresses?

On a ship at a wedding. It is the last ceremony Kevin has to cover: Jane leaps aboard at the pier, and the bride, who knows her from the newspaper, hands her the microphone.

In 27 Dresses, Kevin is promised a move to which section if his cover story lands?

Features. His editor gives him one chance, on pain of covering weddings for the rest of his life, and the piece is such a hit that by the film's end he is reporting on his last ceremony.

In 27 Dresses, which deception helps convince George to call off the wedding?

Paying his young mentee to clean. The boy gives the game away himself, proudly thanking Tess in front of the guests for helping him start a cleaning business with George's flat as its first job.

What does Jane discover when George finally kisses her in 27 Dresses?

She feels no spark. The two of them even try a second kiss to make sure, and then her phone rings with a tune that sends her running out of the office to find Kevin.

Why is Jane at the restaurant when George's surprise proposal to Tess starts by mistake?

She is returning his wallet. A band is waiting and a 'Will You Marry Me' banner unrolls for the wrong sister, and Jane then has to stay and watch the real proposal.

At what kind of event does Tess first catch George's eye in 27 Dresses?

An engagement party. Jane has just worked up the nerve to tell George that she loves him when he spots her sister across the bar, and within minutes he is buying Tess the drink Jane had turned down.

Which Judd Apatow comedy had made the star of 27 Dresses a box-office name the year before?

Knocked Up. One of the producers of 27 Dresses saw early footage of the Apatow film, judged its leading lady 'really spectacular', and was thrilled when she agreed to play Jane.

What strands Jane and Kevin for the night, leading to their bar-top duet in 27 Dresses?

Their car skids off the road. Jane is driving too fast because Kevin has just told her the truth about her feelings for George, and with the phones down they wait out the storm in the nearest bar.