Allow Patton Oswalt to provide you with a much-needed break from the onslaught of sexual misconduct accusations, political bickering and out-of-control wildfires that we’ve all been struggling to process lately.
On Friday, actor and comedian Oswalt blessed social media with a little ray of light in the form of a video clip from his wedding to actress Meredith Salenger.
Oswalt captioned the video, which also features Oswalt’s daughter holding hands with the newly hitched couple, with the message, “This year started out grim but what a great twist near the end.”
Oswalt’s life was struck by tragedy in April 2016, when his first wife, true-crime writer Michelle McNamara, died unexpectedly at age age 46.
In February of this year, Oswalt told the Associated Press that McNamara died of a combination of prescription medications and a heart condition that had not been diagnosed.
'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' 15th Anniversary: Anatomy of the Sleeper Hit (Photos)
Screenwriter-actress Nia Vardolous initially wrote "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" thinking a few people who identified with her might appreciate it. But the indie movie, starring John Corbett -- then the hunky Aidan Shaw on HBO's "Sex and the City" -- went on to become the sleeper hit of the summer in 2002 and remains the highest-grossing romantic comedy until this day. Take a look back at the origins of the hit film, about a Greek woman whose family struggles to accept the non-Greek man with whom she has fallen in love.
IFC Films
Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos is the leading role written and played by Nia Vardalos. It is based on her own upbringing as a Greek American -- as indicated by a caption she placed next to her childhood photo: "I am Toula."
Nia Vardalos/Facebook
A few years before Vardalos played Toula on the big screen, she was portraying the character in a one-woman stage show.
IFC Films
Rita Wilson, who is also Greek, saw one of the Vardalos' stage performances and went backstage after the show to tell the fledgling writer-actress that her creation should be made into a movie. One week later, Wilson's famous husband Tom Hanks attended a performance -- and then something astounding happened ...
IFC Films
Tom Hanks called up Vardalos and from there the Oscar winner and his wife Wilson signed on as producers. But first, the woman who would forever become known as Toula thought the call from Hanks was a prank. "When Tom finally did call... I thought it was my friend Brian," she said in a 2002 interview, explaining that her friend had been phoning her up repeatedly pretending to be the famed "Forrest Gump" actor.
Sebastian Artz/Getty Images
Once Vardalos and her team got to filming, feeding the cast and crew wasn't a problem. According to the writer-actress, local Greek restaurants were so enthused about the project, they'd feed the production for free. Incidentally, filming mostly took place in Toronto.
IFC Films
You know the scene in the film when dad Michael Constantine uses Windex to cure ills "from psoriasis to poison ivy"? Well, Nia Vardalos explained its origins in a 2013 book-signing chat, saying her own father used it to remove warts. Before referencing it in the movie, she sought the all-clear from Windex parent company SC Johnson, who told her: "As a family company, we'd be proud to be part of this movie that has family values."
Abishua Abishur/YouTube
The movie hit theaters in limited release in on April 19, 2002. It did well enough to continue expanding and by the weekend of May 10 it picked up major steam, earning $1.3 million from 247 theaters. But that's not all ...
IFC Films
The box office returns were so consistently strong, distributors gave it a wide release (more than 1,000 locations) by mid August. Gross percentages continued to increase the following two weekends by more than 27 and 52 percent respectively -- an almost unheard of phenomenon. Then another really cool thing happened ...
IFC Films
"My Big Fat Greek Wedding" became a massive summertime sleeper hit and the highest-grossing romantic comedy of all time, making $241.4 million in North America alone. It remains the top money-making rom-com of all time to this day, according to Box Office Mojo -- just ahead of 2000's "What Women Want."
IFC Films
And to think, it all started with a stage show and a call from an Oscar winner. Here's a behind-the-scenes photo (from left): Gary Goetzman (producer,) Tom Hanks (producer,) Steven Shareshian (executive producer) Diana Choi (development,) Nia Vardalos, Amy McKenzie (Hanks' assistant). "This was during the shoot of the interiors of Toula's Parents-Meet-The-Inlaws Party scene," wrote Vardalos in a Facebook post.
Nia Vardalos/Facebook
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How a little indie about clashing cultures made a huge splash
Screenwriter-actress Nia Vardolous initially wrote "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" thinking a few people who identified with her might appreciate it. But the indie movie, starring John Corbett -- then the hunky Aidan Shaw on HBO's "Sex and the City" -- went on to become the sleeper hit of the summer in 2002 and remains the highest-grossing romantic comedy until this day. Take a look back at the origins of the hit film, about a Greek woman whose family struggles to accept the non-Greek man with whom she has fallen in love.
IFC Films
Nia Vardalos/Facebook
