Nancy Meyers Credits Cindy Williams With Idea to Remake ‘Father of the Bride’: ‘She Changed the Course of My Life’
Nancy Meyers is remembering the legacy of Cindy Williams, who died last Wednesday following a brief illness.
Sharing a photo of the beloved actress on her Instagram Wednesday night, the filmmaker behind movies like Private Benjamin, Parent Trap, and The Holiday credited the actress for having the idea to remake Father of the Bride in the Nineties.
“So sad to hear about Cindy Williams. What few people know is that it was Cindy’s idea to remake Father of the Bride,” Meyers wrote on Instagram. “She told me she was watching the Spencer Tracey version on TV one night and thought it would be a great movie to remake. And she made it happen.”
Meyers added, “She changed the course of my life and many others with that idea. And she never took credit for being responsible for that. Pretty unusual in Tinseltown. ❤️”
Meyers co-wrote the screenplay for the 1991 version of Father of the Bride starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Diane Keaton. The film was a remake of a 1950 movie of the same name, which featured Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, and Elizabeth Taylor.
The 1991 film was the second of four films written by Meyers where Keaton starred as the protagonist, and the movie became so successful that it had a sequel four years later.
Back in 2020, the cast of Father of the Bride reunited for a mini-sequel, which was recorded over Zoom to benefit World Central Kitchen amid the pandemic.
“I hadn’t written the Father of the Bride characters in decades,” Meyers wrote in the New York Times at the time. “I was a little nervous. I watched both movies, made some notes and got that excited feeling in my stomach that I hadn’t felt in a long time…Even though we were never in the same room or even the same time zone, the camaraderie was still there. When it was over, it felt like all movies feel when shooting ends — a little sad.”
The death of Williams, known for her role as Shirley in Laverne & Shirley, was revealed by her children Zak and Emily Hudson in a statement to the AP Monday night.
“The passing of our kind, hilarious mother, Cindy Williams, has brought us insurmountable sadness that could never truly be expressed,” the statement read. “Knowing and loving her has been our joy and privilege. She was one of a kind, beautiful, generous, and possessed a brilliant sense of humor and a glittering spirit that everyone loved.”
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