40 Fun Facts About American Wedding

American Wedding's director, once a music-video maker, is the eldest son of which singer-songwriter?

Bob Dylan's son Jesse made videos for Tom Petty and Tom Waits before he turned to film comedies. He also took the cover photograph for Waits's album Bone Machine.

What does a dog swallow while Stifler is looking after it for the couple in American Wedding?

The ring ends up inside the bride's family pet, and Stifler has to follow the animal about until it reappears.

Which future Mad Men star plays the bride's sister, pursued by two groomsmen, in American Wedding?

January Jones was four years away from playing Betty Draper when she took the part of the newly single sister. Stifler and Finch each change their whole personality to impress her.

Jim and his groomsmen travel to which city to track down Michelle's dream dress in American Wedding?

Chicago is where the only designer who makes the gown works. The search for him ends with Stifler in a dance-off that wins the designer round.

Which actress returns as Stifler's Mom to find Finch alone at the reception in American Wedding?

Jennifer Coolidge got her big break with the role in 1999, two years before she played the manicurist Paulette in Legally Blonde.

Which actor plays Steve Stifler, whose dance-off in American Wedding won him an MTV Movie Award?

Seann William Scott took Best Dance Sequence for the routine, performed to a run of 1980s pop hits. He had already shared the Best Kiss award for the previous film in the series.

What does Stifler ruin by accidentally switching off the refrigeration in American Wedding?

The flowers wilt overnight and Stifler is told to leave. He makes amends by working until morning with a florist and a crowd of helpers to put up new displays.

Where do Jim and his friends finally find the dress designer Leslie Summers in American Wedding?

A gay bar is where the trail ends, and Stifler's rudeness to the regulars nearly costs Michelle her gown before he wins them round.

Which relative of Jim's objects to the match in American Wedding because Michelle is not Jewish?

His grandmother is so hostile that the ushers shut her in a closet to keep the peace. She is all smiles by the time the vows are said.

American Wedding's Eric Allan Kramer was the first actor to play which Marvel hero in live action?

Thor was his part in the 1988 TV film The Incredible Hulk Returns. Fifteen years later he played the burly dancer who squares up to Stifler and then becomes his ally.

Which Canadian actor plays Jim's dad, who helps Michelle with her vows, in American Wedding?

Eugene Levy kept the role through the direct-to-DVD spin-offs too, appearing in more of the franchise's films than any other actor.

Which Buffy the Vampire Slayer regular plays the bride, Michelle, in American Wedding?

Alyson Hannigan made the film as her years as the witch Willow were ending. Two years later she began playing Lily in How I Met Your Mother.

Which actor plays the groom, Jim, in American Wedding, a decade before Orange Is the New Black?

Jason Biggs played Jim in all four theatrical films of the series. He later found a second audience as Larry Bloom in the Netflix prison series.

Which Best in Show and Anchorman actor plays Michelle's father, Harold, in American Wedding?

Fred Willard played the genial father of the bride in the same year he appeared in A Mighty Wind, another of Christopher Guest's mockumentaries.

Which actor plays Paul Finch, who copies Stifler to win over the bride's sister in American Wedding?

Eddie Kaye Thomas went on to voice Barry Robinson in the animated sitcom American Dad! and to play Toby Curtis in the CBS series Scorpion.

What is the name of Michelle's younger sister, courted by two rival groomsmen in American Wedding?

Cadence arrives newly single, and Stifler pretends to be polite and bookish to win her while Finch turns crude.

What is the nickname of the burly dancer who takes on Stifler in a dance-off in American Wedding?

Bear starts as Stifler's rival and ends as his fixer, arranging the bachelor-party entertainment and helping to save the ceremony.

Jim's ill-judged shaving session during the preparations destroys what in American Wedding?

The cake is ruined when the trimmings are sucked into a kitchen vent, one more disaster in the run-up to the ceremony.

Which groomsman is found tied up in a closet by Michelle's mother in American Wedding?

Kevin is bundled in there when Jim arrives mid-party with Michelle's parents, and the friends pass it off as a rescue Jim had staged.

What job is Stifler doing by the time of American Wedding, the third film in the series?

Football coach is his new line of work, and his teenage players turn up overnight to help him rescue the ceremony.

American Wedding's fictional East Great Falls, modelled on the town where its writer went to school, is in which state?

Michigan is where the whole series is set, and the first script was even named after the fictional town's school before it became American Pie.

Which group, known for One Headlight, covered Into the Mystic for the American Wedding soundtrack?

The Wallflowers recorded the cover for the film, which also uses the 1970 original as the newlyweds take to the floor.

Which Northern Irish singer wrote Into the Mystic, played for the first dance in American Wedding?

Van Morrison released the song on his 1970 album Moondance and included it again on his 1974 live album It's Too Late to Stop Now.

Which Manchester group first recorded Laid, the series theme song re-recorded for American Wedding?

James released the song in 1993, and Matt Nathanson's cover version was recorded specially for this third film.

Which Foo Fighters single from the album One by One opens the American Wedding soundtrack album?

Times Like These leads a track list heavy on pop-punk, with Good Charlotte, New Found Glory and Sum 41 following straight after.

Stifler's dance-off in American Wedding features Maniac, a Michael Sembello hit from which film?

Flashdance turned the song into a US number one, and Stifler's routine moves on to Eurythmics, Bananarama and Duran Duran.

Which Will Ferrell comedy co-starring Robert Duvall did the director of American Wedding make next?

Kicking & Screaming cast Ferrell and Duvall as a father and son in charge of rival children's soccer teams.

Which composer, an Emmy winner for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, wrote the score for American Wedding?

Christophe Beck went on to score Disney's Frozen and Marvel's Ant-Man films. His younger brother is the pianist and rapper Chilly Gonzales.

Which creator of the American Pie characters wrote American Wedding, his last script for the series?

Adam Herz drew the series from his own school years and sold the first script for a reported $650,000.

Which Hollywood studio released American Wedding, as it did the first two American Pie films?

Universal Pictures opened the film at number one in the United States, on its way to more than $230 million worldwide.

Which actor, who played Oz in the first two American Pie films, is absent from American Wedding?

Chris Klein is one of six original cast members missing from the third film. He came back for the fourth, nine years later.

Which actress, exchange student Nadia in the first two films, is missing from American Wedding?

Shannon Elizabeth's character had been Jim's great crush in the original. When the cast regrouped in 2012 she returned only for a cameo.

The original cast returned in 2012 for a direct sequel to American Wedding titled American what?

Reunion brought back the friends who had missed the ceremony, and it out-grossed this film by only about $3 million.

Which direct-to-DVD spin-off, the first American Pie Presents film, followed American Wedding?

Band Camp follows Stifler's younger brother Matt, and Jim's dad turns up there as a counsellor in Michelle's place.

In its second weekend American Wedding fell behind Freaky Friday and which Colin Farrell film?

S.W.A.T. opened with $37 million that weekend, while American Wedding's takings fell 54 percent after its number-one debut.

Which notorious Ben Affleck flop opened the same weekend American Wedding debuted at number one?

Gigli took under $4 million in eighth place that weekend, against more than $33 million for American Wedding.

Which California town is home to the seafront Ritz-Carlton used as the wedding hotel in American Wedding?

Half Moon Bay lies on the coast south of San Francisco. The reception itself was shot far to the south, in an unfinished conservatory at the Huntington Library gardens.

Which Method Man and Redman stoner comedy was the feature debut of American Wedding's director?

How High came out two years before American Wedding and took about $31 million, with Danny DeVito among its producers.

Variety's review likened American Wedding's gross-out humour to which Baltimore director's work?

John Waters was the reviewer's benchmark for bad taste, in a notice that judged this film tastier than the two before it.

What is the surname of the bride, Michelle, and her parents, Harold and Mary, in American Wedding?

Flaherty parents Harold and Mary are the in-laws Jim spends the film trying to impress, starting with a dinner that collides with his bachelor party.