Actress Andrea Martin talks about her portrayal as Aunt Voula in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3” and about reuniting with her castmates in her interview. Check it out.
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00:00 Hooray!
00:02 I packed my bags.
00:03 I knew it was gonna happen.
00:06 I mean, I don't feel that the story of my Big Fat Greek wedding ended, so I think it's
00:10 just a continuing family saga.
00:14 And it felt natural to hear that there was gonna be a third one.
00:21 To reunite with all my castmates, well, it was particularly dynamic, because we all met
00:28 in Greece.
00:29 I mean, after all these years, to see everybody in our homeland, in the movie's homeland,
00:36 that was pretty powerful, and very emotional, actually, especially since Michael Constantine
00:41 was not there.
00:42 So in place of Michael there, we tried to form a unity in support of him.
00:51 I think the script does honor him.
00:53 I think it's really about him, and kind of the end of his story, kind of the full circle
00:59 of his story, to go back to the place that he was born in.
01:05 And from his growing up in Greece, he was able to impart all the fabulous wisdom and
01:12 philosophy that he did in the last two movies.
01:16 So I think it was a really natural way to do this third movie.
01:22 It's like a storybook village, and it just steps right off the page, and really enhances,
01:32 I think, the story that Nia wrote.
01:35 It was really easy to be the character in that village.
01:39 You know, you didn't feel like an actress.
01:41 The minute I walked on, I felt like this was my homeland.
01:45 It was really powerful.
01:50 It was a fabulous asset to have Nia as the director, because first of all, she never
01:56 had to stop and say, "Let me ask the writer," because she is the writer.
02:01 So I thought it was very fluid, and I thought it enhanced the scenes, because she knew exactly
02:08 what she wanted.
02:09 You know, she's lived this life.
02:10 It was really beneficial.
02:14 I think gratitude is the first word that I feel that I would have been asked to do this
02:22 part.
02:24 And the part was—I didn't know it at the time—was really close to who I am as an
02:32 Armenian woman.
02:33 And it was a real gift to be able to play a character that's a little larger than life,
02:40 but really no larger than life of every Armenian woman that I know.
02:45 So it feels really natural to play the part.
02:48 That's one thing.
02:49 That's the kind of character development.
02:51 But over the last twenty years, and I've done many things over the last twenty years, I
02:56 would say, without a doubt, this character and this movie or franchise is the one thing
03:05 that people, if they know me, know.
03:09 They might not know the Tony Award-winning performance.
03:11 I mean, they might not know of anything I've done on Broadway or any television show I've
03:15 done recently or that's on the air now, but they know my Big Fat Creek winning.
03:22 I think that every family—it's been my experience in the last twenty years—that no matter
03:27 what your nationality is or your culture is, everybody has a Joey Fatone or has an Aunt
03:34 Vula.
03:35 So, they're all easily identifiable.
03:39 So, I think people feel like they're part of an extended family when they come up to
03:44 Joey or they come up to me.
03:47 No one's shy when they say it.
03:49 They're totally excited.
03:51 And I don't mean excited 'cause they're seeing somebody that they know.
03:55 I think they feel like, oh, they're seeing a family member, and they're really so warm
04:00 and generous in their excitement when they—anybody really comes up to me.
04:06 So, it's very comforting.
04:11 If this movie can bring some pleasure, some act of decency, some act of joy in the place
04:20 that we're in as a country, as a world, I think we feel, coming out of the pandemic,
04:27 detached and we felt isolated.
04:30 And I think this movie bridges all that and says, come into our arms and you're no longer
04:36 alone.
04:37 I think the movie will do that.
04:40 Based on the last twenty years of people coming up to me, I think people will sit back in
04:44 their seats and feel taken care of.
04:47 [BLANK_AUDIO]