The Banks family is back! The cast of Father of the Bride reunited for a mini sequel to benefit a worthy cause amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Steve Martin (George Banks), Diane Keaton (Nina Banks), Kimberly Williams-Paisley (Annie Banks), Kieran Culkin (Matty Banks), George Newbern (Bryan MacKenzie) and Martin Short (Franck Eggelhoffer) reprised their beloved roles from the 1991 film and its 1995 follow-up, Father of the Bride Part II.
The special event, dubbed Father of the Bride Part 3 (ish), aired on Netflix’s YouTube and Facebook channels on Friday, September 25. The continuation, written and directed by Nancy Meyers, benefitted World Central Kitchen, which provides meals for kids and families impacted by the coronavirus crisis.
Reese Witherspoon introduced the segment, which saw Matty marrying his fiancé, Rachel (Alexandra Shipp), via Zoom. Annie’s son, George (Ben Platt), George and Nina’s youngest daughter, Megan (Florence Pugh), and Rachel’s dad (Robert De Niro) joined the festivities as Franck officiated the nuptials.
Fans also received updates on the Banks. Matty is a comedy writer, George is retired and the family never actually moved out of their beloved colonial home.
Netflix teased in a trailer released on Thursday, September 24, that the reunion would be set in 2020. “George, we’re all here, come on. George, Matty said it was important,” Keaton’s Nina yelled, to which Martin’s character replied, “I’m just washing my hands. One more ‘Happy Birthday’ to go!”
Newbern, 55, hinted in October 2017 that a third movie could come to fruition in the near future. “[Director] Charles Shyer wrote a script. I know there’s a script out there. And there’s talk,” the actor exclusively told Us Weekly at the time. “I don’t know how far it got but I’m sure most of the cast would be into it if the script was right. So maybe that’s just a question of that happening.”
He added: “I have heard some [concepts] and they are pretty far out there. From what I heard it was pretty good and different and newsworthy.”
Williams-Paisley, 49, for her part, reflected on her life-changing role in April 2017. “Almost every day, people tell me that Father of the Bride is part of their history,” she wrote in an essay for ABC News. “Fathers see the film with their daughters and weep over memories of long ago backyard basketball scrimmages. Brides watch it as a rite of passage before their wedding day. Couples often romanticize it as ‘their movie.’”
The actress then revealed the piece of advice Martin, 75, gave her during filming for the first movie: “Welcome to Hollywood. You’re going to need a good therapist.”
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