What happens when you make a movie about your girlfriend being in a coma, and it becomes a huge hit?
While The Big Sick ended up being a bona-fide Hollywood hit, it very nearly didn't happen at all.
"[Emily Gordon was] a little bit more hesitant than I was. I had to talk her into it, because she was like, 'But then everyone's going to see the story!' and I was like, 'Don't worry, nobody's going to see it,'" lead actor Kumail Nanjiani told Newshub.
"And then here we are in Australia, making plans to go to New Zealand."
Stand-up comic Nanjiani and - spoiler alert - his now-wife Gordon co-wrote The Big Sick. Now they're on a whirlwind global tour promoting their story.
Their path of true love is somewhat rockier than most. They meet, they fall in love, he dumps her, she ends up in a coma, he ends up standing vigil with her understandably frosty parents.
It's a delightful, hilarious, unexpected and emotional story.
"Some of my close friends didn't know that I had ever been sick, because it's not something that comes up in conversation that often," Gordon admitted.
"It's hard to be like, 'Hey, do you guys have 30 minutes? I was in a coma... Hey I know we're having a fun brunch, let's get more mimosas and let me tell you about my coma.'"
They chose actress Zoe Kazan to play Emily in the movie, while Nanjiani plays himself.
The Big Sick opened on New Zealand screens last week.
Newshub.
