It was big, fat, Greek, and very popular indeed. Twenty-one years ago My Big Fat Greek Wedding was unleashed on an unsuspecting public, and became an unexpected hit, raking in almost $400m on a $5m budget… that’s one hell of a honeymoon. The success of the first film spawned the inevitable franchise – a 2003 TV sitcom spinoff My Big Fat Greek Life, and a 2016 sequel – and now it’s time once again to catch up with the Portokalos family, this time as they go in search of their roots in Greece.
While the first two movies were set in Chicago, this is the first of the franchise to take the Portokalos family back to their homeland – both Athens and Corfu – sadly due to the death of patriarch Gus, with one of his last wishes for the family to return to his ancestral home. The film is dedicated to the memory of the actor who portrayed him, Michael Constantine, who passed away in 2021.
This, of course, was never a case of dumping a bunch of actors with a script somewhere in Greece and pressing the ‘record’ button. Every location – whether it was in Athens or Corfu – was purposely and meticulously scouted out by the movie’s location manager Giannis Nikoletos, who guides me through his Greece, and the world he found where the story could be told. “The keyword for the location scouting of My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 was Neoclassical,” he tells me. “This term represented the dream the director and production designer had for the paternal village and the house of the Portokalos family, that they would discover upon their first visit to Greece.”
He says they wanted to find the kind of village that had seen wealth and prosperity in the past, but due to Greek emigration to the US, some of its status and shine had faded. “We scouted various areas in different regions of Greece like the Mount Pelion in the North or Peloponnese in the South, as well as areas near Athens, but it was when we scouted the Ionian Island region, and especially Corfu, that the riddle was solved. The images shown from Corfu coincided with the reference photos from the creative team in almost all the cases.”
The idea is that this village had a great history and wealth in the past, but due to the immigration to the US in the middle of the 20th century, it was left abandoned over the years, and its original beauty and status had faded.
What was your brief for the location scouting?
“The balance of straight lines and geometric shapes, along with the pale colour palettes, finesse, and the amazing natural beauty of the island, made Corfu the ideal place to shoot the film. Digging deeper into the Corfiot countryside, we discovered an array of amazing villages, vast areas of olive groves, and mountainous areas next to crystal blue beaches. All these were combined into the world of the Portokalos family, along with locations in Athens. But Corfu and its locations definitely set the tone.”
Does one particular location stand out for you?
“The Danilia Village in the area of Kira Chrisikou, 10km from the city of Corfu, really was a game-changer. The village was created in the late 1970s by the Corfiot businessman Spyros Bouas to serve as a tourist/amusement park in order to promote the traditions and culture of Corfu. It represented a Corfiot village of the 1930s, and its shops showcased all the local craftsmanship – producing wine, olives, olive oil and other local products. Recently it was acquired by the Grecotel Hotel & Resorts Group and is operated as a park and museum.”
“The location fitted exactly with the aesthetic needs of the creative team, serving as the main part of the Portokalos family paternal village. Most of the exterior scenes were filmed there, and the addition of various villages in the Corfiot countryside created the world of the film. It’s also close to five-star accommodation for cast and crew and near the city and the port of Corfu, which is very convenient logistics-wise.”
For both Athens and Corfu, what is the most important thing to capture about both locations? What is the essence?
“Whether we are talking about Athens or Corfu, the main connecting feeling one gets on visiting is history. The land of Greece has a rich tradition, dating back to the Ancient Greek civilisation, but also very interesting Byzantine, Medieval, and Modern history. It surrounds the traveller and is present in every corner of big cities or smaller villages. For over 3,000 years, Athens has been a meeting point of culture, politics and art. Even if nowadays you don’t get to see an ancient philosopher like Aristotle walking the streets, the old city centre puts you in the right mind to understand the circumstances that led to the outbreak of philosophy back in the day. The modern part of the city is an open workshop of how a relatively small Balkan city is transforming into a metropolis, and at the same time paying respect to the recent history of the modern Greek state of the last 200 years. Corfu also has many stories to tell dating back to medieval times, and the years of the Venetian Occupation of the Ionian Islands. The monuments, the neo-classical buildings, the Western musical tradition and the Catholic churches alongside the Orthodox ones are the living tradition of Corfu. All this history that lies everywhere, along with the amazing landscape and the Greek hospitality, is the essence of Athens and Corfu. These are the roots the Portokalos family is seeking to reconnect with.”
Finally, which hotels would you recommend?
“My subjective choices in Athens include Grande Bretagne – the oldest, most luxurious Athenian hotel located at the main Constitution square of Athens opposite the Parliament; a fine new addition in the shape of the Perianth Hotel, situated in the hip city centre, with an excellent view to the Acropolis; and Coco-Mat Hotel Athens, which is situated at the posh Kolonaki neighbourhood, and a boutique urban delight.”
“In Corfu, Angsana Corfu Resort and Spa is truly an experience. It’s located a few kilometres away from Benitses, on a hill overlooking the Ionian Sea. The huge infinity pool is a memorable experience - it feels like you are on the same level as the horizon.”
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 is released in cinemas 8 September 2023