Bridesmaids was that rare female-led comedy that went on to be a huge box-office hit, established itself as an iconic addition to its genre, and made overnight stars out of its cast, particularly Melissa McCarthy. With such a formidable legacy to live up to, director of the movie Paul Feig recently revealed to Collider why making a sequel would be a difficult task.
“Everybody thinks they want a Bridesmaids sequel, and it could be fun, but I always have to say this: Bridesmaids works-you remember all the comedy stuff, that was great, but the reason that movie worked is because it was about Kristen Wiig’s character who was a very confident person before the movie began who has this total crash because her bakery goes out of business and everything falls apart in her life.”
“So we meet her and she’s a disaster. She’s desperately trying to hang onto this one thing, which is her friendship with Maya Rudolph’s character, and that takes her through the fire. That’s why all this stuff happens, because she’s just acting out and trying desperately to save things, and by the end she heals herself, as much as you can. That’s what you latch onto in that film.”
It is true that Bridesmaids, as funny as it was, ultimately did more than set up a series of comical situations. It explored the complicated, at times tumultuous relationship between Kristen Wiig’s main character of Annie Walker, and her best friend Lillian, played by Maya Rudolph. According to Paul Feig, a sequel would have to explore a new aspect of Annie in an equally compelling manner in order to be considered a worthy follow up, rather than simply showcasing a new series of wacky hi-jinks.
“So to do a sequel, I think you’re basically just gonna have to have a funny wedding. And I’ve seen those movies a million times and some of them are good and some of them are like okay whatever. It’s obviously up to Kristen, she’s the keeper of the keys on that, but it would have to be something that you can emotionally engage in again and not just go, ‘It’s Megan’s crazy wedding in the Bahamas!’ and all kinds of hijinks happen. That could be funny, but I just think you need more for a movie to be great.”
Thus, Feig has placed the responsibility of making a sequel, if ever, on the shoulders of Wiig, who co-wrote the first film with Annie Mumolo. The two actresses/writers are gearing up to start work on their new feature Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar, which they also co-wrote and will be playing the leads in. Then there is Wonder Woman 1984, which will see Wiig taking on the role of supervillain The Cheetah. It seems, at least for the time being, Wiig is content to move on to other projects rather than further explore the world of Bridesmaids with Annie Walker. And so is Feig. This news was first reported at Collider.