The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, the little indie film with the big actors, took everyone by surprise in 2012 when it grossed $90 million worldwide. The cast included Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Dev Patel and Tom Wilkinson in a story about retirees who have decided to spend their golden years living in India. So, how do you follow up a successful movie with an even more successful sequel? Screenwriter Ol Parker has the answer.
“It was a joke really….” Parker says. “We kept saying when we did the first one, when’s the sequel…?” But he never thought it would happen. Then, the first movie released into theaters and was a critical and box office success. Scoring a 78% favorable rating on the critic review website Rotten Tomatoes, the film seemed to prove that 70 was the new 50 and everyone wanted to see what these retirees were doing in India.
Parker started straight away with writing the sequel. He wrote and wrote, but when he got to page 60, he says, he just stopped. “I had no idea what was going to happen next.”
But that’s what’s so fun about ensemble movies such as this. Anything can happen. And there are so many storylines. ScreenwritingU sat down with Parker to get the details on how he created an ongoing storyline for more than eight characters whom the audience already loved dearly.
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel released in theaters March 6.
Photo credit: Twentieth Century Fox
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