Interview (Written): Nia Vardalos (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2”)

An Entertainment Weekly interview with Nia Vardalos, screenwriter and star of My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, the sequel to the hugely popular first movie.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Was there a specific event or experience that inspired My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2?

NIA VARDALOS: On my daughter’s first day of kindergarten, another mom said something that made me realize I had become my own Greek, suffocating mother. She said, “Just think, in 13 years they’ll leave us and go to college!” And I went “Gulp.” I sucked all the air out of the room and I realized, “Oh my God, that’s the sequel,” and I started writing it that very day. I worked on the script for almost four years.

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EW: The concept of a woman and family who feel to a certain extent foreign in a foreign land, still feels fresh all these years later. Is there anything about that storyline which you think is particularly relevant today, especially that we’re in an election season and surrounded by all these very complicated issues?

NV: It really is complicated stuff. America was founded on immigrants. The immigrant experience is common to all of us. If you aren’t a descendant of the Mayflower or if you’re a Native American, you see your family in this film. And I understand that now more than ever, because I’ve had 14 years of people coming up to me saying, “I’m Scottish, and I married a man from Israel. I’m Peruvian and I married a woman from Italy.” Those stories have made me realize that we’re all the same.

A trailer for the movie:

For the rest of the interview, go here.