Funny, Romantic Dennis Dugan Brings His 15 Year RomCom to Life in Love Weddings and Other Disasters
Love, Weddings and Other Disasters starring Diane Keaton and Jeremy Irons hits select theaters and Video on Demand today, Friday December 4th. It’s one of only a handful of major motion pictures to get a regular release in 2021, and for many of us, it’s a welcome diversion from hunting for a new series to binge in quarantine.
I spoke with Dennis Dugan- who conceived, co-wrote, produced, and directed the film- about the long journey this script made from when it was first written, over fifteen years ago. Dugan is one of the most successful comedy directors of all time (Happy Gilmore, Big Daddy, Grown Ups, to name a few), but this is the first movie he’s had a creative hand in from nose to tail.
He told me he first pitched writing a script 15 years ago, after working on a movie with comedian Larry Miller. “He’s just one of the best of all times. And one of the funniest guys of all times,” Dugan said about Miller. “We did a TV movie together and we did that thing that everybody does. We said, “Hey, you know what, when we get back, we should do something together,” and everybody says it and nobody ever does it. So I had the idea for this [movie] and I said, “Hey, meet me at the bowling alley in Studio City, and let’s have lunch and I’ll pitch this to you.”
Dugan met with Miller and his wife Eileen Conn, and they immediately dove into the deep end of the pool. Rather than working on a simple script they began sketching out a multiple narrative arc with five different stories that would ultimately connect. Initially it was like coming up with five separate films, Dugan said. When both Miller and Conn paused to work on other projects, Dugan hit the ground running, completing the script in two months.
The idea for the movie came from his wife. “When I first went in to write it, my wife goes, “What are you doing?” I said, “I’m going to the office. I’m going to write a script.” And she said, “What’s it about?” And I said, “I don’t know. I haven’t gotten an idea yet.” She goes, “Well, write a wedding movie, I love wedding movies.” And I love my wife and I’ll do whatever she asks me to do.”
“And so I wrote this and I didn’t want to write a wedding movie because I felt everything had been written. So I wanted to, let’s just do a wedding movie that isn’t actually a wedding movie, but it’s about people who’ve worked for the perfect day for the perfect couple. When you’re at a wedding, you go, “Oh, she’s so beautiful. Oh, they’re a perfect couple, whatever.” And meanwhile, all of their relationships are just like crazy, chaotic, heartbreaking, funny, sad and thrilling. So I thought that would be a nice way to play, almost like the upstairs, downstairs of a wedding.”
And Dugan says, he’s always loved Boston and wanted the duck boat involved. “I thought, that’s going to be the thing that’s going to help me get everybody to the end.”
The movie didn’t get made right away, because he was so busy having an amazing career. Since 2005 when he first conceived Love Weddings and Other Disasters, Dugan has been busy directing seven movies.
“Ted Hope and Ann Carey, two of the gods of independent film, wanted to do it,” Dennis said. “And then I got a movie with Sandler, and I said, “we’ve got to wait until next year.” And then I did another movie. And then we did seven movies in a row, and then Ted and Ann broke up their company and Ted went off and ran Amazon or something. So the three of us, never made it, but the good news on that was the script got better as years went by and I got better. So this iteration of the movie is way better than the one it would have been 14 years ago. So I’m very happy about that, even though it was agonizing trying to wait it out and get it made.”
Eventually Dugan sent the script over to Diane Keaton who said she wanted to do the movie. And once Keaton was on board it was easy to get Jeremy Irons interested, and everything else fell into place.
A romantic comedy with a dream cast is the right fit for Dugan, a self-described romantic at heart, who loves to make people laugh. “The moment I set eyes on my wife, I went, “That’s the girl. She’s the girl.” And that’s why King Badge says, “instant lightning bolt love” because that’s what it was and I believe in it and we’ve been together 36 years. So I think lightning bolt love actually works.”
If there’s anything that Dugan knows more than romance it’s comedy. “I love the joy of it. I love the agony of it. I love that jumping out of the plane and not knowing if you’ve got your parachute on of it. And I love it when you finally get in the theater and people are laughing.” Of course in 2020, sitting in a theater listening to people laugh isn’t going to be possible. But he’s got ideas for that. “I’m just going to go to people’s homes and listen outside. And on Friday a bunch of people probably in my neighborhood will be streaming it and, I’m just going to go and stalk.”
It’s a guarantee people will be watching and they’ll be laughing, even if Dugan is not outside their windows listening. They’ve been doing that since Dugan’s early days. In fact, Dennis has had such an interesting career, that before we had to wrap, I asked him about making the transition from actor to directing. He summed up his early career with this great story that I’ll shoehorn in here:
“I wanted to be an actor, so I went to the Goodman Drama Theater in Chicago for three years. Joanne Kenya was there and Carrie Snodgrass was there. And went to New York to be an actor and finally got a job after three years in an off Broadway play. And six weeks later, somebody burned down the lobby and stole the safe, so they closed the place and they said, “Hey, we’re taking the play to Los Angeles, if you want to do it there. You’ve got to fly yourself out.” So I flew myself out and I did it, and I made a hit in the play. And so I started getting parts and then … in television. I had no idea what I was doing, and I got parts in movies and in television, and then the science of that started interesting me.”
“So I won some money playing poker in New York one time and came back with that money and bought a Super 8 film camera and I shot a little movie. In fact, we got kicked out of Griffith Park. The ranger said, “Hey, you can’t shoot here. You’ve got to have insurance.” I go, “It’s a student film.” He goes, “With this cast, it’s a student film? Get out of the park.” And here’s who was in the movie. I had Griffin Dunne, Michael Keaton and Leah Thompson. And Teri Garr. Yeah and the four of them were standing by the horse corral, kids are riding. The guy says, “Get your equipment and get out of here.” And I go, “It’s a student film!” He goes, “Yeah, really. No, it isn’t.”
Fantastic!
Check out Love Weddings and Other Disasters opening today, Friday December 4th on Video on Demand and in select theaters.
