Forget Fargo and Get Shorty: the latest movie to get the TV treatment is bittersweet romcom classic Four Weddings and a Funeral.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the project is the brainchild of none other than Mindy Kaling, whose show The Mindy Project is heading for its series finale on November 14.
Remakes can make some viewers nervous, but there are some reassuring signs for any fans worried this adaptation won’t do justice to their beloved romcom. Richard Curtis, the original film’s writer and director of Love Actually, is involved, overseeing the project as executive producer alongside Mindy and her Mindy Project showrunner Matt Warburton.
This new version will follow the American Horror Story anthology format, where each season is its own self-contained story arc, weaving multiple major characters through life milestones, just as the original film followed friends Charles (Hugh Grant), Carrie (Andie MacDowell), Fiona (Kristin Scott Thomas), Tom (James Fleet), Henrietta or “Duckface” (Anna Chancellor), Gareth (Simon Callow), Matthew (John Hannah), Bernard (David Haig), Lydia (Sophie Thompson), David (David Bower), and Scarlett (Charlotte Coleman), as they reconvened at five major life events.
(Psst. Ever wondered what that rather stellar cast got up to next? Well then look no further.)
Mindy’s TV adaptation is the latest in a resurgence of interest in the 1994 film among the current crop of comedians. Kumail Nanjiani, the writer and star of recent romcom The Big Sick, has recently spoken of his admiration for the film, calling it his “favorite movie” and even going so far as to say Hugh Grant’s best man speech inspired him to get into comedy.
Find you someone who looks at you the way I look at Richard Curtis. pic.twitter.com/Wwibob4NfZ
— Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) May 21, 2017
Aww. As for how it’ll translate to TV, Four Weddings famously had little in the way of background story — for instance, we never find out what any of the characters do for a living — but there’d be more scope for those kind of details in a TV series.
It’s still early days, meaning we don’t yet know if Mindy’s version will feature any of the original characters, or take place in the original locations.
The whole thing is being developed for Hulu, where The Mindy Project has aired for three of its six-season run.
How do you feel about Four Weddings moving to the small screen?