It's hard to imagine The Wedding Planner without Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey. Turns out, they almost weren't cast in the beloved rom-com. In fact, they weren't even close to being the top choices for the lead roles of Mary and Dr. Steve Edison.

The Wedding Planner's director, Adam Shankman, spoke about how the film came together in a recent interview with Yahoo! Entertainment. According to Shankman, Minnie Driver was the initial studio's—Fine Line Features—first choice for the role of Mary. "Fine Line was trying to get into more of a commercial market, and they really liked this script," Shankman explained. "The plot was essentially the same, but it was going to be a very low-budget indie movie."

Fine Line wasn't able to get the movie off the ground, so, The Wedding Planner eventually landed at Sony Pictures. Once Sony acquired the rights to the script, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. were all considered for the lead roles. "Those actors were people who were talked about, but no one was ever officially cast," Shankman continued.

Lopez eventually took matters into her own hands. After getting ahold of the script, Lopez expressed her interest in playing Mary to Sony. "I was honestly resistant to the idea," Shankman said of casting Lopez. "I didn't perceive her as a romantic comedy person; she seemed too tough to me, frankly. But my agency said, 'You have to meet with her: She read the script and she really wants to do this.' "

Shankman and Lopez ended up meeting for lunch. "I was completely hypnotized by her," Shankman said of his reservations disappearing after that initial meeting. "At that time, she was very much that character: She had just come out of a marriage and was not interested in men."

"She was ambitious and understood everything that was girly and feminine about the movie, but at the same time recognized the engine inside of it," he contiinued. "There were many factors about the real-life Jennifer that really spoke to what the character was."

With Lopez cast, Shankman now needed to find her co-star. He worked hard to get The Mummy star Brendan Fraser to take on the role of Steve. While Fraser was initially interested in the role, he ultimately dropped out to star in another film just a month and a half before The Wedding Planner was set to film. "That was a really dark day for me, because we were a month-and-a-half away from starting rehearsal and we had sold the movie on Jennifer and Brendan," Shankman recalled.

Sony then informed Shankman that McConaughey was the only actor available to film at that time. "I said to everybody, 'I can't imagine Matthew would ever want to do a movie like this — he never has!'" Shankman recalled. "But I was told, 'He is who is available. If you want to make the movie now, you have to get him.'" Shankman was again pleasantly surprised to discover that Lopez and McConaughey "got on like wildfire" during filming.

"I have never seen two people who, on the surface, are more different than Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey, but they were absolutely adorable together," Shankman gushed. "They had very different processes, but they allowed each other the space and freedom to work those processes."

Lopez and McConaughey recently reunited on Instagram to celebrate The Wedding Planner's 20th anniversary. Lopez recalled the "magical" experience she had working with McConaughey. "I so enjoyed working with you," Lopez told her costar. "We had such a nice rapport and chemistry. We were somewhat at the beginning of our careers at that time. It was exciting to be working on any movie. I still feel that way. It was a magical time."

Photo: Sony Pictures

Jay Towers

Friendly House 30th Annual Awards Luncheon

About Jay Towers