Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding
TONY N’ TINA’S WEDDING
2004
Directed by Roger Paradiso
Starring Mila Kunis, Joey McIntyre, Adrien Grenier and many others
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Festival Awards and Recognition for “Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding”
Reviews
“BRILLIANT… BEST OF THE RECENT WEDDING PICS” -VARIETY
“MADCAP AND LOUD” -BACKSTAGE.COM
“ALTMAN-ESQUE” -EXCLUSIVE MAGAZINE
“A LA CHRISTOPHER GUEST” -VARIETY
“THE MOST UNCONVENTIONAL WEDDING RECEPTION EVER TO BE PUT ON FILM” – ARONSKY, FILM THREAT
“MILA KUNIS (TINA) LOOKS LIKE AN ANGEL BUT SWEARS AND RAGES LIKE THE DEVIL”. PRISCILLA LOPEZ IS LITERALLY A HOWL!” -ROB LESER EDGE
“KUNIS AND MCINTYRE ARE EXCELLENT” -DVD VERDICT
“TONY AND TINA’S WEDDING IS A TOTAL SCREAM….FOR THOSE WHO FOUND GREEK WEDDING TOO SOFT” -EINSIDERS.COM
Paradiso’s brilliantly cinematic adaptation of the second longest running play in Off-Broadway history might be the best of the recent rash of wedding pics. “Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding never lets up…
“Satiric slapstick punch of a pic, that a la Christopher Guest, presents people of all persuasions as equals in idiocy”. -Ronnie Scheib, Variety
“Make no mistake: Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding, the movie is still plenty madcap and loud…..But there’s another element in play, ironic even perhaps- in taking Tony and Tina to the big screen, Paradiso was able to get down to the story’s smaller, more intimate levels.” -Backstage.com
“Paradiso’s skillful scripting, Altmanesque framing and talented cast meld into a touching, comedic take on the tension between family ties and a couple’s love.” -Exclusive Magazine
“One of the most unconventional wedding receptions ever to be put on film… successfully causing fits of various types of laughter.” -Aronsky, Film Threat
“Tina (Mila Kunis of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”) looks like an angel, swearing and raging like the devil…Priscilla Lopez as Tina’s brassy, bossy mom is literally a howl!” -Rob Lester EDGE
Chicago Tribune *** MSN All Movie Guide ****
Mostly a New York cast of Broadway actors, it is an incredible ensemble featuring BROADWAY vets with TONY AWARDS PRISCIILLA LOPEZ (A CHORUS LINE); DAISY EAGAN (THE SECRET GARDEN and MARY TESTA (42NDSTREET) plus, young stars like ADRIAN GRENIER (ENTOURAGE ON HBO; MILA KUNIS (THAT 70’S SHOW) and JOEY MCINTYRE (NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK).
Alternate Headlines:
“… Slutty bridesmaids… tackless behavior… trashy homage to chewing gum, sequins and Paula Abdul… “New York Times
“Sad to see Italian Culture reduced to this level of vulgarity, but many Italian Americans seem to like it…” Bowman, Daily Mirror
The film version by writer-director Roger Paradiso had its Festival premiere on May 3, 2004 at the [[Tribeca Film Festival]] and received glowing reviews.
Variety said, “Paradiso’s brilliantly cinematic adaptation of the second longest running play in Off-Broadway history might be the best of the recent rash of wedding pics”.
“Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding never lets up…”. “Make no mistake: Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding, the movie is still plenty madcap and loud…. But there’s another element in play, ironic even perhaps- in taking Tony and Tina to the big screen, Paradiso was able to get down to the story’s smaller, more intimate levels.” -Backstage.com
“THE MOST UNCONVENTIONAL WEDDING RECEPTION EVER TO BE PUT ON FILM …. ARONSKY, FILM THREAT. Tony and Tina’s Wedding is filled with some genuinely funny dialogue and gags. Kunis and McIntyre are excellent” – Judge Mancini, DVD Verdict
“As far as weddings go, this one is a total scream… A total spoof that is often hilarious, “Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding” could be an interesting alternative to “My Big Fat Greek Wedding… T N’ T: might find a hefty adult audience that found “MBFGW” too soft.” -Einsiders.com
Chicago Tribune *** MSN All Movie Guide ****
DIRECTOR’S POV
However, there is a point and time when all Producers and Directors have to focus on getting it done because it is so hard to get the money to make such a risky investment. If you think about the millions of film scripts, and the millions of films made of all types every year in this world, you would realize that a small percentage of these dreams will ever get seen. Then you think about the small percentage of those which will actually make money, well you might become frozen with fear, loathing and anxiety.
I had all three, but I was determined to make this film.
And I did.
I shot this film with two hand held camera’s. I was shooting through the POV of Tony and Tina, but the main body of the film was shot from the POV of the wedding videographer. Not only did this style fit the film, but there was no other way to shoot this film in 10 days. All during rehearsals, the crew and cast and Producers all thought I was kidding. As I told them, how the heck you think we’re going to get through this shoot by filming this like a regular film with 8-12 set up shots a day. That’s what regular movies do. And they end up shooting fifty to sixty days or more. I had 10 days to shoot a musical wedding comedy with 50 extras and cast most every day.
It was a funny film. And the film pushed the limits.
Let’s put it this way. It was the anti-Mamma Mia of wedding films and it should have gotten a better shot at providing an alternative to what the Studios were pushing in wedding films.
Due to financial problems with an investor the film was given a limited theatrical run three-and-a-half years after Tribeca. It opened at the IFC Theater in Greenwich Village for a four-week run and had a successful VOD run on the IFC channel. It then went to Screen Media many years later. They tried to revive it on streaming platforms with a limited marketing budget. It is currently available on Amazon and Netflix.
It is my belief that there was no better cast doing some scripted and improvised comedy than our cast. It was the best comedy troupe in the world at that time. I really believe that. Mila, Joey and all the great actors we had were terrific. I really missed them as I went into post.
Here is information from our Press Kit
(as of Tribeca Film Festival Premiere May 2004)
Based on the hit off-Broadway show, “Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding” is an unlikely source of movie material. The play was staged like a real wedding, with the audience members participating as actual wedding guests. The film of “Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding” replaces that device with its own clever conceit–the entire film is seen through the lens of the videographer who has been hired to document the wedding. By watching the actual (albeit raw) wedding footage, the audience is offered a voyeuristic glimpse into the merging of two very dysfunctional families.
As one of the most anticipated events in a person’s life, weddings more often than not become one of the most stressful and dramatic occasions as well. Such is the case with the wedding of Tony and Tina, two Italian kids from different sides of the tracks. The Nunzio’s, led by dominant patriarch Tony “Big T” Nunzio, are proud to be from Astoria, Queens where they operate a GoGo Bar. The Vitale’s, led by strong matriarch Mrs. Josephina Vitale, have moved away from “trashy” Queens and now reside in the pleasant suburb of Massapequa, Long Island. Even though the parents disapprove of the marriage they realize the kids, Tony “Little T” Nunzio (Joey McIntyre) and Tina Vitale (Mila Kunis), are in love. So they agree to try to get along for their wedding day – “for the kids.” Unfortunately for everyone involved, it might have been better had the kids just eloped.
Writer/Director Roger Paradiso was first exposed to “Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding” when the play showcased in 1986. He was dating an actress who wasreally liked the skeleton of the story and I thought maybe there was a film in there although it was unclear at the time what form that might take.”
“Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding”grew from that initial workshop to become the second longest running play in off-Broadway history. It ran consecutively in New York for over 15 years, and has been staged in over 100 cities worldwide including Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Chicago, Cleveland and many others; as well as in Canada, Japan and Australia.
Paradiso had been a writer-director in the New York Off-Off-Broadway Theatre scene and to make ends meet had been leading a double life as a Location Manager, Assistant Director and Line Producer in feature films and commercials. “All my friends from high school, college and my early years in New York knew me as a creative person. I had been writing and directing in theatre and I had also been a set and lighting designer at some regional and Off-Broadway theatres. But to pay the rent, since everybody knows there is no money in theatre, I started working in film. And I enjoyed film tremendously, not only as a young kid seeing all thoseRoger CormanandSamuel Z. Arkoffmatinees, but I had experimented with film since high school. What a learning experience it was for me to work withWriters and Directors like John Huston, Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman, Norman Jewison, John McTiernan, Michael Caton-Jones and Adrian Lyne. It was like taking a Master Class in Filmmaking.”
Paradiso never forgot“Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding”and continued thinking about the challenges of trying to adapt the piece to film–a task that was seemingly impossible. How could such an interactive, improvisational theater play, be adapted to a screenplay and work on the big screen? Paradiso found his answer by telling the story through the eyes of the wedding’s videographer, “played” by Director of Photography Giselle Chamma. While this is hardly the first film to use such a device–both the hit horror film“The Blair Witch Project” and the Vietnam drama “Charlie Mopic”were completely shot through the lens of the main character’s camera–it is certainly the first feature film to be entirely disguised as a “wedding video.” Paradiso uses this style to replace the improvisational nature of the source material with something equally experimental, and hopes that it will help capture behavior that we can all identify with.
He told all the actors that this might be the closest thing to theatre that they would ever experience in film. The actors did improvs and rehearsed and Paradiso rewrote scenes and roughed in the entire film in a very condensed two-week rehearsal period. Paradiso created bios of each character and had everyone email and call each other so they could develop their group mythology. The actors had to get to a place where they would naturally behave as if they knew each other for many years. “I like to rehearse in film but it’s different than a theatre rehearsal. In film, I like to rough things in but not over-rehearse scenes, because I thinkappearing in the piece. “It was only going to run for one weekend because that’s all the money they had. I thought it worked great as an improv for theatre. Iscenes have to be fresh to make the audience think that this is really happening moment to moment. In film, you want accidents to happen and you want the actors to perform as if they are hearing and seeing the scene for the first time. Hopefully, we did that. I know we did very long takes and I kept the camera moving so that the actors always had to be ‘On’.”
In addition to the actors, Paradiso had to keenly orchestrate his placement of the camera and work with the fluid and sometimes not so fluid movements of the Director of Photography, who is the actual wedding videographer. The camera actually became one of the characters in the film. This also had to work in the editing room. Shooting the film with this type of style was a bit unorthodox to most editors. “I am very proud of the work we did in post production and the creative talent that our editor, Jennifer Davidoff Cook, brought to the project.”
“In the end, I wanted this to be a fun journey and a fun film. I think we ended up with a great improv group. The cast and crew were amazing and we had a lot of fun. I was sorry to see it end.”
