The actress isn't opposed to reuniting again.
Kimberly Williams-Paisley is opening up to ET about recently reuniting with Steve Martin and the rest of the Father of the Bride cast for the short film, Father of the Bride Part 3 (ish), much to the delight of the original films' fans.
The reunion was for a good cause, benefiting World Central Kitchen, which serves meals to survivors of natural and man-made disasters. Williams-Paisley told ET's Kevin Frazier on Monday that it was Nancy Meyers -- who wrote both 1991's Father of the Bride and its 1995 sequel, Father of the Bride Part II -- who made the initial call to get the virtual reunion going.
"She was talking about being in quarantine and being by herself and just sort of needing a project, and thought that this would be a great opportunity to bring familiar characters back for people who are looking for a little nostalgia as well as to raise money for World Central Kitchen," Williams-Paisley says. "It was so cool and also bizarre because we weren't together of course -- nobody was, we were all in different places -- but it felt so familiar, and being directed by Nancy again was just so familiar to me. It was wonderful, it was like no time had passed in so many ways. It was great to see everybody, and then of course, we have a lot of new faces too and that was exciting."
New faces included Robert De Niro, Ben Platt and Alexandra Shipp. With a brief intro by Reese Witherspoon, the short film begins with footage of the original movie and sequel, as they introduce the characters. It then shows the year 2020 as Diane Keaton's Nina kicks off the Zoom and reunites her family. Each family member gives updates on how their lives have been amid quarantine when Matty (Kieran Culkin) then shares that he and his fiancée, Rachel (Shipp), had to postpone their wedding -- and that he's decided to get married now during their Zoom. However, Rachel doesn't know Matty has arranged the surprise wedding, and George (Martin) gets upset because he will not get to be the Father of the Groom at a big celebration. He eventually gets over it.
"I mean, I was delighted. I'm a fan of all of those people, so it was really exciting to have these new Banks members pop up on the screen and then everybody was great to work with, we shot it over about a week," Williams-Paisley says of the experience. "It took an amazing amount of time to shoot this film given it was on Zoom. We had, like, tech scouts. I was driving Nancy around trying to show her different areas, different backgrounds. I was just carrying my computer everywhere and trying to find the right spot. Then I had a wardrobe fitting where I had to take her through my closet. She wound up sending me some stuff because I didn't have the right Annie Banks attire."
The actress told ET she is definitely not opposed to reuniting with the Father of the Bride crew again for another project.
"I think it's up to Nancy Meyers and the rest of the cast, you know, Nancy worked her tail off to get this out," she says. "This is her big summer project and I think now she just wants to get it out in the world and raise money for World Central Kitchen, but I know a lot of people are asking her that question and the response that she's given is 'maybe.'"
Williams-Paisley talked about the impact the beloved Father of the Bride films has had on her life. She's married to country musician Brad Paisley, and they have two children together -- William and Jasper. She said that her sons recently watched the movies, though they were reluctant at first!
"They loved it," she shares. "My boys are 13 and 11 and I think they just weren't interested in a wedding movie. ... Finally they said, 'All right, Mom, you're doing the sequel, we'll sit down and watch it.' They loved the movies, so then once they knew those characters -- the movies really held up beautifully -- they were so excited to come and watch me work. So, they would sit off-screen. My son took behind-the-scenes photos and then Brad mostly helped with taping that yoga mat onto the window [to block out the light] and then he let me be."
Williams-Paisley also talked about the "terrifying" pressure she felt at her own 2003 wedding to Paisley given everyone's expectations because of the films.
"We actually had a very casual ceremony," she shares. "It was because I had grown up my adult life with people telling me about weddings and telling me how amazing Father of the Bride was, and I didn't want people coming to my wedding and saying that the movie was better. So, we tried to just throw all that out the window. I wore jeans and sneakers and a sweatshirt. Pretty awesome."
Later, she was happy to talk about the important cause Father of the Bride 3 (ish) benefited -- World Central Kitchen. Visit Netflix's YouTube and Facebook pages to see the film.
"Well, food and security and hunger are passions for my husband and I," she says. "We have a nonprofit in Nashville called The Store and it's something we've been working on for a long time. So, I was really excited when Nancy Meyers called and said we're going to do this mini sequel and we're benefiting World Central Kitchen. And World Central Kitchen does phenomenal work. They are first food responders on the ground when disasters hit and people need food, but they also go to places that need help and they give people the skills and the tools so that they can have food resiliency before disasters hit. So, it's a really great organization and I'm so happy we're raising money for them."
Back in 2018, Williams-Paisley talked to ET about the possibility of a Father of the Bride 3.
"I mean, there could be new brides or grooms, but yeah, it's such a beautiful, classic movie, and people still talk to me about the movie every day," she said at the time. "So it'd be fun."
Watch the video below for more.
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