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How Kimberly Williams-Paisley Literally Passed the Father of the Bride Baton to Adria Arjona

ELYSE DUPRE, SARAH GROSSBART, SPENCER LUBITZ

E Online

Jun 6, 2022

Kimberly Williams-Paisley had a super sweet way of welcoming Adria Arjona to the Father of the Bride family. Read on for all the details of the film's remake.

Weddings are all about bringing people together.

And when Adria Arjona signed on to the new Father of the Bride remake, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, the franchise's OG bride, welcomed her to the family with open arms.

"She sent me a video the second that she found out I was going to be the bride saying, 'I pass you the baton. I adore you. You're gonna be amazing,'" Arjona exclusively told E! News at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival on June 5. "I was crying, and it was the first time that I realized, 'Oh my god, I'm the bride in the Father of the Bride.' So that was really special."

While Arjona sent a message back, she hasn't been in touch with Williams-Paisley since the film wrapped. However, she's anxiously awaiting her review. "I'm like dying for her to watch the movie," Arjona said, "and then hopefully she'll reach out and be like, 'You did all right.'"

It's been more than three decades since Williams-Paisley made her film debut as the bride Annie in 1991's Father of the Bride, which also starred Steve Martin, Diane Keaton and Martin Short. Now, the remake, directed by Gary Alazraki, follows parents Billy (Andy Garcia) and Ingrid (Gloria Estefan) as they plan their daughter Sofia's (Arjona) wedding, all while keeping their plans to divorce a secret.

The situation get even more complicated when Billy meets the family of Sofia's fiancé Adan (Diego Boneta). As HBO described it, "cultures clash, generations take sides and competing traditions collide."

For Arjona, the best part was sharing stories that highlighted different cultures. "We're really showing how different a Mexican family is to a Cuban family, and that was really interesting to me," she said. "I think the world sees us all as Latinx and that we are just one thing, and we are incredibly different within our own countries and I think this movie will showcase that."

For anyone who's had some tricky family dynamics, it'll feel relatable AF. "No one has a perfect family," the actress continued. "So I think people are going to be able to relax, relate whether they're Australian, English, Asian, like, I think this movie is so universal."