20 facts you might not know about 'Bridesmaids'

Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo met in the early 2000s when the two were members of Los Angeles’ Groundlings comedy theatre. Wiig’s star rose swiftly from there, and she earned herself a role in Judd Apatow’s movie Knocked Up. Apatow was quickly a fan of Wiig’s and asked her if she had any movie ideas. This led to her connecting with Mumolo to work on the script for Bridesmaids.

Bridesmaids is a simple, illustrative title, but it was not the original title for the screenplay. When Wiig and Mumolo first wrote it, they titled it "Maid of Honor." Given that the main character is the maid of honor, that makes sense, but perhaps they looked to expand the scope with the title of "Bridesmaids."

Mumolo was still based in LA, but Wiig had been cast in Saturday Night Live, which famously emanates from New York. As such, the two were separated much of the time. When they could, they would get together on weekends (presumably when SNL wasn’t in production) and have frequent table reads with Apatow to get notes.

Among those who auditioned for the role of Megan were Busy Philipps — a Freaks and Geeks alum — and Rebel Wilson. Wilson did not get the part, but the Australian actress made enough of an impact to get the role of Brynn. It was her first time being cast in an American production.

Byrne came to audition for the part of Lillian, the bride-to-be played by Maya Rudolph. However, she was asked to play the part of Helen, Kristen Wiig’s Annie’s semi-inadvertent nemesis. Director Paul Feig wanted her for the role because he did not want a comedian playing Helen. His logic was that it would be “too arch if we had a funny woman doing it.”

Mindy Kaling auditioned to play Lillian but did not end up cast in another part like Byrne. Additionally, Judy Greer and Greta Gerwig auditioned, though the roles have not been specified anywhere.

Wiig co-wrote and co-starred in Bridesmaids, while Mumolo’s work was left mainly to writing. However, she does have a small role. She plays the character credited as “Nervous Woman on Plane.” Hey, at least she plays her scene against her friend and longtime comedy compatriot in Wiig.

Pat Carroll plays the older woman in the car. She won an Emmy and a Grammy in her life and was nominated for a Tony. We’re betting there is at least one way you know Carroll. She voiced Ursula in The Little Mermaid.

Jon Hamm has a small role as Ted, but he was not the only famous handsome face that would pop up in the romantic life of Annie. There was evidently a scene shot where Annie goes on a blind date with a guy played by Paul Rudd — no stranger to movies produced by Apatow. That scene was ultimately cut.

Hamm spent some time as a high school drama teacher in the St. Louis area before he came to Los Angeles. He struggled for a while before landing Mad Men and rising to TV stardom. One of his students back then? None other than Ellie Kemper, who plays Becca in Bridesmaids.

Jill Clayburgh had a hell of a career. She was nominated for an Oscar in back-to-back years in the 1970s. She played Annie’s mother in Bridesmaids but sadly did not live to see the movie's success. Clayburgh died in 2010 after a decades-long battle with cancer.

The cop/love interest Nathan was intended to be American. Then, Irish actor Chris O’Dowd was cast. Even then, they planned to make Nathan an American. However, O’Dowd’s thick Irish brogue was a hit with the production, so they decided to rewrite the character and let him be Irish. We’ve never heard O’Dowd try an American accent, but with how deeply Irish he sounds, it was likely a wise decision.

Annie tells Ted she will bring a guy named “George Glass” to Lillian’s wedding. There is no George Glass, but this reference surely landed with many of the audience. On The Brady Bunch, Jan once claimed to have a boyfriend named George Glass. This bit was reused in the Brady Bunch Movie.

Mumolo was on set to help with rewrites and to pitch ideas, even though she was eight months pregnant. She wasn’t the only one. Rudolph was pregnant. Evidently, the costume designers outfitted her with a lot of belts to try and distract the audience from her stomach.

The action of Bridesmaids takes place in the Midwestern cities of Chicago and Milwaukee, which are pretty close to one another. However, the movie production did not go there to shoot. Instead, Bridesmaids was shot in Los Angeles and its environs.

Bridesmaids culminates with Wilson-Phillips appearing at Lillian’s wedding to sing their hit song “Hold On.” However, this was not Feig’s idea. In fact, he had never heard the song “Hold On” before this movie. The idea of a band performing at the wedding was in the script, and they were trying to figure out what would be the best song for the film. A few people suggested Wilson-Phillips; fortunately, they were willing to do it.

Bridesmaids did have Apatow’s cache, and Wiig was a rising star on SNL, but this was a comedy movie not built on any movie stars. In the end, it all panned out. While Bridesmaids was not No. 1 at the domestic box office — it debuted at number two behind Marvel’s Thor — it made $169.1 million domestically and $288.4 million worldwide. That was from a budget of $32.5 million, making it a huge hit.

It isn’t surprising that Bridesmaids got some love from the MTV Movie Awards and the Teen Choice Awards. However, a raunchy, R-rated comedy and the Academy Awards don’t necessarily go hand in hand. And yet, Bridesmaids got two Oscar nominations. One went to Wiig and Mumolo for Best Original Screenplay, and the other went to Melissa McCarthy for Best Original Actress.

Unsurprisingly, Universal wanted a sequel to their massive hit movie. Perhaps they envisioned Bridesmaids becoming their own Hangover. The only problem? The key contributors were never more than lukewarm about it. Wiig said she didn’t plan on doing a sequel, at which point reportedly Universal wanted to make a movie centering on McCarthy’s Megan. Not mincing her words, McCarthy said, “I think it’s a terrible idea.”

No, we never got Bridesmaids 2, but what we did get was Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. Wiig and Mumolo spent their Bridesmaids cache on getting Barb and Star made, and man, are we glad they did. The duo co-wrote this movie, but this time Wiig and Mumolo also got to star together. Unfortunately, Barb and Star was a movie released in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it quickly started to build a reputation toward being a cult classic.