The new Father of the Bride remake will star Andy Garcia as the father, with the script centering on a Cuban-American family. The new film will be directed by Gaz Alazraki, the co-creator of Netflix’s first Spanish-language original series, Club de Cuervos. Garcia, an Oscar nominee thanks to his performance in The Godfather: Part III, has also signed on as an executive producer.
“I’m very excited to join The Father of the Bride, a beloved film that has brought so much joy to so many over the years and to represent my Cuban culture and heritage in this story,” Garcia said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “I commend Warner Bros. for their foresight and celebrate this opportunity they have created.” The rest of the cast has not been announced yet.
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News that Warner Bros. planned to feature a Latinx family in the new Father of the Bride surfaced in September when Matt Lopez was hired to write the script. Lopez’s previous credits include Bedtime Stories, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and Race to Witch Mountain. His script will reportedly be a different take on the now-familiar Father of the Bride story, with a big, sprawling family at the center of it. Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner of Plan B are producing the film for Warner Bros.
Father of the Bride was first filmed in 1950 at MGM, with Spencer Tracy playing the father who is nervous about his daughter, played by Elizabeth Taylor, getting married. The film was a major success, earning three Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. It also inspired a sequel, 1951’s Father’s Little Dividend. In 1991, Disney’s Touchstone Pictures produced a remake, featuring Steve Martin, Diane Keaton, and Kimberly Williams-Paisley. A sequel, Father of the Bride Part II, followed in 1995. The franchise was inspired by the 1949 novel of the same name by Edward Streeter.
Garcia, 64, was born in Havana. He rose to fame in the late 1980s thanks to a breakout role in The Untouchables. His most recent roles include episodes of Modern Love, Clint Eastwood’s The Mule, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, and Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. He stars in Krista Vernoff’s new ABC series Rebel, which debuts on April 8 on ABC. Rebel was inspired by the life of Erin Brokovich and features Katey Sagal as the titular Rebel. In addition to his Oscar and Golden Globes nominations for The Godfather Part III, Garcia also earned two Emmy nominations for the TV movie For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story.
