Four Weddings and a Funeral is a 1994 British romantic comedy film directed by Mike Newell. It is the first of several films by screenwriter Richard Curtis to star Hugh Grant, and follows the adventures of Charles (Grant) and his circle of friends through a number of social occasions as they each encounter romance. Andie MacDowell co-stars as Charles's love interest Carrie, with Kristin Scott Thomas, James Fleet, Simon Callow, John Hannah, Charlotte Coleman, David Bower, Corin Redgrave and Rowan Atkinson in supporting roles.
The film was made in six weeks, cost under £3 million,BBC Radio 4 – The Reunion – Four Weddings and a Funeral, 13 April 2014 and became an unexpected success and the highest-grossing British film in history at the time, with a worldwide box office total of $245.7 million, and received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. Additionally, Grant won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and the film won the BAFTA Awards' Best Film, Best Direction, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Kristin Scott Thomas. The film's success propelled Hugh Grant to international stardom, particularly in the United States.
In 1999, Four Weddings and a Funeral was placed 23rd on the British Film Institute's 100 greatest British films of the 20th century. In 2016, Empire magazine ranked it 21st in their list of the 100 best British films. A 2017 poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine ranked it the 74th-best British film ever.
Curtis reunited director Newell and the surviving cast for a 25th-anniversary reunion Comic Relief short entitled One Red Nose Day and a Wedding, which aired in the UK during Red Nose Day on 15 March 2019.
Plot
Perpetually late Charles, along with his flat mate Scarlett, deaf brother David, aristocratic friend Fiona and her brother Tom, Gareth and his partner Matthew all arrive at the wedding of Angus and Laura in Somerset, where Charles is best man. At the reception he meets Carrie, an American woman working in England, and the two spend the night together. Carrie returns to the U.S. the next day, lamenting they may have "missed a great opportunity". Two more of their friends, Bernard and Lydia, meet at the wedding and get married in London three months later, presided over by newly-ordained Father Gerald.
At the reception, while David is approached by a young woman, Serena, who is interested in him but unable to communicate in British Sign Language, and Charles encounters Carrie again, who this time is with her older, wealthy Scottish fiancée Hamish. He is also humiliated by several ex-girlfriends, including the distraught Henrietta, who claims Charles is a "serial monogamist" fearful of commitment. Charles retreats to an empty hotel suite and is visited by Carrie, and the two spend a second night together.
A month later, Charles receives an invitation to Carrie and Hamish's wedding and goes in search of a wedding gift when he runs into Carrie and offers to help her choose a wedding dress. Before they part ways, Charles awkwardly confesses to Carrie that he loves her and is gently rebuffed. Charles and his friends attend Carrie's wedding, where Scarlett meets Chester, a Texan, and Henrietta introduces Charles to her new boyfriend at the reception. Fiona accidentally reveals she has long had feelings for Charles, but accepts they are not reciprocated, though Charles expresses sympathy for her.
Gareth has a heart attack at the reception and subsequently dies; at his funeral Matthew expresses his grief by reciting W. H. Auden's "Funeral Blues", leading Charles and Tom to consider that, despite their clique's pride in being single, Gareth and Matthew were like a married couple and they question whether seeking "one true love" is futile.
Ten months later, on Charles and Henrietta's wedding day, Scarlett is reunited with Chester. Tom and his distant cousin Deidre, who have not seen each other since childhood, become smitten with each other. Carrie arrives at the wedding and tells Charles she and Hamish have separated, leading Charles to have an emotional crisis; after being counselled by David and Matthew, Charles decides to proceed with the ceremony. David later interrupts the ceremony, using sign language to say the groom has doubts and loves someone else. Charles confirms this and Henrietta, furious, punches him.
Charles and his group later discuss the fiasco in his flat, where Carrie arrives to apologise for causing trouble. Charles repeats that he still loves her and proposes a lifelong commitment without marriage, which Carrie accepts. A final photo montage shows that Henrietta went on to marry an Army officer; David marries Serena; Scarlett marries Chester, the Texan; Tom married Deirdre; Matthew finds a new partner; Fiona is with Prince Charles; and Charles and Carrie have their first child.
Cast
Production Writing Screenwriter Richard Curtis's own experiences as a wedding attendee inspired Four Weddings and a Funeral. According to Curtis, he began writing the script at age 34, after realising he had attended 65 weddings in an 11-year period. At one wedding, he was propositioned by a fellow guest, but he turned her down and forever regretted it; accordingly, he based the origin of Charles and Carrie's romance on that situation.
It took Curtis 17 drafts to reach the final version. He initially planned the film as 'Four Weddings and a Honeymoon' but introduced the funeral theme on the advice of Helen Fielding. He has commented on director Mike Newell's influence; "I come from a school where making it funny is what matters. Mike was obsessed with keeping it real. Every character, no matter how small, has a story, not just three funny lines. It's a romantic film about love and friendship that swims in a sea of jokes."
Curtis chose to omit any mention of the characters' careers, because he did not think a group of friends would realistically discuss their jobs while together at a wedding.
Casting Curtis, Newell and the producers began the casting process for Four Weddings in early 1992. Alex Jennings was cast as Charles, but funding for the production fell through in mid-1992. Jennings would eventually go on to play a supporting role in Mindy Kaling's 2019 television miniseries adaptation of the film. The team continued holding auditions for over a year, seeing roughly 70 actors for the role of Charles before Hugh Grant.
Grant was ready to give up acting as a career when he received the script for Four Weddings and a Funeral; he stated in 2016 that: "I wasn't really getting any work at all, and then to my great surprise this script came through the letterbox from my agent, and it was really good. And I rang on and said there must be a mistake, you've sent me a good script." Initially, writer Richard Curtis, who had modelled the character of Charles after himself, was opposed to casting Grant in the role, because he thought Grant was too handsome. Curtis favoured casting Alan Rickman, but Rickman refused to audition. Curtis was eventually persuaded by Newell and the producers to approve Grant's casting.
Jeanne Tripplehorn was originally cast as Carrie, but she had to drop out before filming when her mother died. The role was offered to Marisa Tomei, but she turned it down because her grandfather was sick at the time. Sarah Jessica Parker was also reportedly considered. Andie MacDowell was in London doing publicity for Groundhog Day when she read the script and was subsequently cast. MacDowell took a 75% cut in her fee to appear, receiving $250,000 upfront, but due to the success of the film, she earned around $3 million.
Grant's participation hit another stumbling block when his agent requested a £5,000 rise over the £35,000 salary Grant was offered. The producers initially refused because of the extremely tight budget, but eventually agreed. The supporting cast members were paid £17,500 apiece.
Production Duncan Kenworthy produced the film while on sabbatical from Jim Henson Productions. Pre-production for the movie was a long process because funding was erratic, falling through in mid-1992 and leading to much uncertainty. Finally, in early 1993, Working Title Films stepped in to close the gap. Nonetheless, another $1.2 million was cut just before production began in the summer of 1993, forcing the film to be made in just 36 days with a final budget of £2.7 million (approximately $4.4 million in 1994). Channel Four Films contributed £800,000. The budget was so tight that extras had to wear their own wedding clothes, while Rowan Atkinson appeared as a vicar at two of the weddings so production would not have to pay another actor.
Future Home Secretary and Member of Parliament (MP) Amber Rudd was given the credit of "Aristocracy Coordinator" after she arranged for several aristocrats to make uncredited appearances as wedding extras, including Peregrine Cavendish, who was at the time Marquess of Hartington, and the Earl of Woolton, who conveniently wore their own morning suits.
To make Grant look more nerdy, the producers styled him with shaggy hair, glasses and deliberately unflattering, ill-fitting clothes. Grant was encouraged by director Mike Newell to mess up and trip over his lines, written in "convoluted syntax" as Grant describes them, in order to give Charles a stammering, nervous quality. Grant, who struggled with hay fever throughout filming, was unsure of Newell's direction and his performance, which he thought was "atrocious." Regarding Newell, Grant commented that: "He seemed to be giving direction against what I thought were the natural beats of the comedy. He was making a film with texture, grounding it, playing the truths rather than the gags".
Filming locations The film was shot mainly in London and the Home Counties, including: Hampstead, Islington where the final moments take place on Highbury Terrace, Greenwich Hospital, Betchworth in Surrey, Amersham in Buckinghamshire, the village of Sarratt in Hertfordshire (wedding number one), St Bartholomew-the-Great church in London (wedding number four), and St Clement's Church, West Thurrock in Essex (the funeral). Exterior shots of guests arriving for the funeral were filmed in Thurrock, Essex, overlooking the River Thames with the backdrop of the Dartford River Crossing and the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge.
Stately homes in Bedfordshire (Luton Hoo for the wedding two's reception) and Hampshire provided exteriors for weddings.
Post-production According to Hugh Grant, the initial screening of a rough cut of Four Weddings went very badly.
Throughout production, Gramercy Pictures, the U.S. distributor for the film, sent frequent transatlantic faxes objecting to the explicit language and sexual content, fearing the final product would not be suitable for American distribution or television airings. They particularly objected to the opening scene of the movie, in which Charles and Scarlett say the word "fuck" over and over, after an initial screening of the movie in Salt Lake City led the conservative Mormon members of the city council to walk out. Accordingly, Mike Newell and the actors agreed to reshoot the scene with the British swear word "bugger" to be used in the American version. The executives also objected to the title, believing Four Weddings and a Funeral would turn off male viewers from the film. In its place they suggested such titles as True Love and Near Misses, Loitering in Sacred Places, Skulking Around and Rolling in the Aisles, none of which were accepted.
Music and soundtrack