50 Fun Facts About My Best Friend's Wedding

Which kind of writer is Julianne Potter in My Best Friend's Wedding, with George Downes as her editor and confidant?

Food critic Jules is introduced at lunch, where a frantic fine-dining kitchen sweats over her veal and polenta. She likes it, and says she will write it up kindly.

In My Best Friend's Wedding, Jules and Michael once vowed to marry each other if both were still single at what age?

28 was the deadline, and the film opens three weeks before Jules reaches it. Their only romance was one month as college sophomores, and they stayed best friends afterwards.

Which baseball team does Kimmy Wallace's father own in My Best Friend's Wedding, alongside a cable television empire?

Chicago White Sox owner Walter Wallace offers Michael a job at Jules's prompting. She expects a furious row, but the couple's quarrel ends in forgiveness instead.

Which Dionne Warwick hit does George lead an entire restaurant in singing in My Best Friend's Wedding?

I Say a Little Prayer sweeps the whole rehearsal lunch after George starts it to embarrass Jules. A new cover from the film took the song back into the US top 40 thirty years on.

Which 1936 standard do Jules and Michael call their song in My Best Friend's Wedding, sung by Michael as they dance?

The Way You Look Tonight changes hands at the reception, where Jules lends it to the newlyweds until they find a song of their own.

In My Best Friend's Wedding, which bridal job does Kimmy hand Jules after her own first choice shatters her pelvis?

Maid of honor Jules gets four days at the bride's side, which she spends trying to split the couple. Kimmy offers the job almost as soon as they meet.

Which actor's role as George grew in reshoots after test audiences hated the first ending of My Best Friend's Wedding?

Rupert Everett's George became Jules's conscience, phoning to call out each scheme. The new final scene, shot eight months after filming wrapped, has him arrive to dance with her.

At which kind of venue does Jules push a reluctant Kimmy to sing, hoping to humiliate her, in My Best Friend's Wedding?

Karaoke bar regulars end up cheering Kimmy, whose off-key number wins the room through sheer showmanship. Michael looks more smitten than ever.

What does George Downes pretend to be when Jules summons him to Chicago in My Best Friend's Wedding?

Her fiancé is the lie Jules blurts out to make Michael jealous. George, who is gay, had flown in to tell her to confess her feelings instead.

Which film kept My Best Friend's Wedding off the top of the US box office on its opening weekend in June 1997?

Batman & Robin opened to about $43 million, roughly twice the wedding comedy's debut. The rom-com had the last laugh, out-earning the superhero sequel worldwide.

Where does Julianne Potter live and work before flying out to stop the marriage in My Best Friend's Wedding?

New York City is home for Jules, yet the chef seen cooking her lunch in the opening scene is a real Chicago restaurateur playing himself.

What is Michael O'Neal's job in My Best Friend's Wedding, which he will not swap for a post with Kimmy's father?

Sportswriter Michael is always on the road, and his idea of a honeymoon is taking his bride on a baseball road trip.

Which actor plays Michael O'Neal, the groom Julia Roberts schemes to win back, in My Best Friend's Wedding?

Dermot Mulroney reunited with Roberts in 2013 in the ensemble of August: Osage County, this time playing her younger sister's fiancé.

Which actress plays Kimmy Wallace, the heiress Michael is about to marry, in My Best Friend's Wedding?

Cameron Diaz followed Kimmy with There's Something About Mary a year later, the hit that turned a rising supporting player into a headline star.

At which Chicago landmark does Jules catch Michael and confess to the forged email in My Best Friend's Wedding?

Union Station is where Michael proposed to Kimmy, which is why he goes looking for her there. The same station appears in The Untouchables and The Sting.

In the ladies' room of which Chicago sports venue does Jules find a distraught Kimmy in My Best Friend's Wedding?

Comiskey Park is home to her father's ball club. Watched by a crowd of onlookers, Kimmy confronts Jules there, hears her apology and makes peace before the ceremony.

What does Jules commandeer to chase Michael, who is himself chasing Kimmy, in My Best Friend's Wedding?

A bread delivery van is the best Jules can find. Mid-chase she phones George, who points out that nobody is chasing her, a call added in reshoots.

In My Best Friend's Wedding, Jules forges an email from Kimmy's father asking Michael's boss to do what?

Fire him, the message says, so that Michael would have to accept a job from the Wallace family. Jules only saves the draft, but a secretary sends it.

At which Ivy League school did Jules and Michael have their brief romance, years before My Best Friend's Wedding begins?

Brown University is where the pair dated for about a month as sophomores before deciding they worked better as best friends. The marriage pact came later, sealed with a blood oath.

My Best Friend's Wedding took the record for a romantic comedy's opening weekend from which Meg Ryan film?

Sleepless in Seattle had opened to $17.3 million; the wedding comedy took $21.7 million, which was also the best start of any Julia Roberts film to that point.

Which ABBA-soaked 1994 comedy made the name of P. J. Hogan before he directed Julia Roberts as Julianne Potter?

Muriel's Wedding was his first big hit, and it launched Toni Collette. Three years later he followed it with another comedy about a ceremony going wrong.

Ronald Bass, who wrote My Best Friend's Wedding, had already won an Oscar for co-writing which Dustin Hoffman film?

Rain Man won Bass the Oscar for original screenplay, shared with Barry Morrow. The wedding comedy was an original script too, not an adaptation.

Which actor played the stranger Jules met in the first ending of My Best Friend's Wedding, cut after a test screening?

John Corbett was the new man Jules met in the original final scene. Test audiences hated it, so the scene was scrapped; he later found rom-com fame in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Returning months later to shoot the new ending of My Best Friend's Wedding, Julia Roberts hid a pixie cut under what?

A wig, and an expensive one, covered the crop she had since adopted, so the reshot reception scene would match the rest of the film.

Jules and Michael's song in My Best Friend's Wedding was introduced in Swing Time by which dancing star?

Fred Astaire sang it to Ginger Rogers while she washed her hair in the next room, and the number won that year's Academy Award for best song.

Which songwriting duo's 1960s hits run through the My Best Friend's Wedding soundtrack, sung by cast and guest artists?

Bacharach and David wrote nearly half the album's tracks. When the film was later turned into a stage musical, its score was built from their songbook.

Which singer's reggae-style cover of a 1960s classic was the hit single from the My Best Friend's Wedding soundtrack?

Diana King took the cover to number 38 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Jamaican singer was already known for the 1995 hit Shy Guy.

What color is the gown Kimmy picks for Jules to wear as her chief attendant in My Best Friend's Wedding?

Lavender is the choice, and the fitting turns awkward when Michael walks in on a half-dressed Jules and flirts with her days before his own ceremony.

Where is 20-year-old Kimmy Wallace a college junior when she gets engaged in My Best Friend's Wedding?

University of Chicago junior Kimmy is ready to shelve her own plans and follow Michael from ballpark to ballpark, a sacrifice Jules tries to turn against her.

Which future Oscar nominee has a small early role as Richard the bellman in My Best Friend's Wedding?

Paul Giamatti's bellman comes across Jules in a hotel hallway. A year later he had supporting parts in Saving Private Ryan and The Truman Show.

Which composer earned an Oscar nomination for scoring My Best Friend's Wedding, the film's only Academy Award nod?

James Newton Howard was nominated for best musical or comedy score, four years after his nomination for the thriller The Fugitive.

My Best Friend's Wedding lost the Oscar for best musical or comedy score to which British Best Picture nominee?

The Full Monty won for Anne Dudley, a result that surprised some critics because its best-remembered scenes are set to old jukebox hits.

Julia Roberts lost the Golden Globe for My Best Friend's Wedding to Helen Hunt's performance in which film?

As Good as It Gets also beat the wedding comedy to the Globe for best musical or comedy film, and Hunt went on to win the Oscar for the same role.

Which celebrated Chicago chef plays himself at the start of My Best Friend's Wedding, barking orders at his cooks?

Charlie Trotter threatens a cook over a VIP order in the frantic first scene. His namesake restaurant ran in Chicago from 1987 to 2012.

Which Six Feet Under star made her American film debut as bridesmaid Samantha Newhouse in My Best Friend's Wedding?

Rachel Griffiths had already worked with the director on his breakthrough hit. Within two years she was an Oscar nominee for Hilary and Jackie.

Who is Michael's best man in My Best Friend's Wedding, even though the groom hands the ring to Jules for safekeeping?

His younger brother Scotty gets the job. He is played by Christopher Masterson, later the trouble-making eldest son Francis in Malcolm in the Middle.

My Best Friend's Wedding was hailed as a Julia Roberts comeback after which 1996 period drama flopped?

Mary Reilly took about $13 million against a $47 million budget. Roberts played Dr Jekyll's housemaid in it, a long way from romantic comedy.

Which country released an official remake of My Best Friend's Wedding in 2016, moving the ceremony to London?

China's version stars Shu Qi as a fashion editor who flies to Britain to stop her childhood friend marrying someone else.

The actor who played George in My Best Friend's Wedding later played which pop star's gay best friend in a 2000 film?

Madonna starred opposite him in The Next Best Thing, and he sang backing vocals on her cover of American Pie for its soundtrack.

In which country, home of director P. J. Hogan, did the My Best Friend's Wedding soundtrack top the album chart?

Australia kept the album at number one for four weeks in November 1997. In the United States it peaked at 14 on the Billboard 200.

Which folk singer's wry cover of Wishin' and Hopin' plays over the opening titles of My Best Friend's Wedding?

Ani DiFranco's playfully ironic cover opens the film, and the soundtrack album that includes it was certified double platinum in the United States.

Which country's remake of My Best Friend's Wedding, starring Ana Serradilla as Julia, opened on Valentine's Day 2019?

Mexico's La boda de mi mejor amigo keeps close to the original's names: its heroine is Julia, her old friend is Manuel and her confidant is Jorge.

Which X Factor star was cast as Julianne in a UK stage musical of My Best Friend's Wedding, cancelled in 2021?

Alexandra Burke's tour was postponed and then scrapped in the pandemic. The musical finally had its world premiere in 2024 at a playhouse in Maine.

Roughly how much did My Best Friend's Wedding earn at cinemas worldwide, placing it among 1997's ten biggest films?

$300 million is close: the film took $299 million worldwide on a budget of about $38 million, with more than half coming from outside North America.

Which future Emmy winner for The Good Wife plays bridesmaid Amanda Newhouse in My Best Friend's Wedding?

Carrie Preston plays one of the Newhouse twins. She won her Emmy in 2013 as the eccentric lawyer Elsbeth Tascioni, a character who later got a series of her own.

On the morning of the ceremony in My Best Friend's Wedding, what does Kimmy catch Jules doing with the groom?

Kissing him comes seconds after Jules finally admits she loves him. Kimmy drives off distraught, he goes after her, and Jules sets off after them both.

Which career ambition is Kimmy ready to give up to follow Michael on the road in My Best Friend's Wedding?

Architecture is her dream, yet Kimmy is willing to give it up for a man whose job keeps him travelling. Jules pushes her to ask her father to hire him instead.

The actor behind George in My Best Friend's Wedding lost the Golden Globe to Burt Reynolds for his role in which film?

Boogie Nights gave Reynolds a late-career triumph as a 1970s adult-film director. George still earned his actor a BAFTA nomination and critics' prizes in Florida and London.

Which filmmaker was announced in 2025 as the writer of a sequel to My Best Friend's Wedding?

Celine Song, who made Past Lives, had just released her second feature, Materialists. The news came days after the actor who played Michael hinted that sequel talks were under way.

Which director of Ghost, one of the trio behind Airplane!, was a producer of My Best Friend's Wedding?

Jerry Zucker produced the film through his family's production company, a long way from the spoofs that made the Zucker name.