REEL FACE: | REAL FACE: |
Kumail Nanjiani
Born: February 21, 1978 Birthplace: Karachi, Pakistan Portrays himself | Kumail Nanjiani
Born: February 21, 1978 Birthplace: Karachi, Pakistan |
Zoe Kazan
Born: September 9, 1983 Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, USA | Emily V. Gordon
Born: 1979 Birthplace: Winston-Salem, North Carolina |
Ray Romano
Born: December 21, 1957 Birthplace: Queens, New York City, New York, USA | Terry Gordon
Birthplace: USA |
Holly Hunter
Born: March 20, 1958 Birthplace: Conyers, Georgia, USA | Beth Gordon
Birthplace: USA |
Anupam Kher
Born: March 7, 1955 Birthplace: Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India | Azmat Nanjiani
Birthplace: Pakistan |
Zenobia Shroff
Birthplace: India | Sharmeen Nanjiani
Birthplace: Pakistan |
Adeel Akhtar
Born: September 18, 1980 Birthplace: London, UK | Naveed Nanjiani
Birthplace: Karachi, Pakistan |
Yes. The Big Sick true story reveals that comedian and actor Kumail Nanjiani (HBO's Silicon Valley) portrays himself in the movie. It tells the story of the first year of his courtship with his wife Emily V. Gordon, who co-wrote the movie with him.
"Our first date was at a restaurant right by my house," said Kumail.
"Kumail had asked me out and I said no," recalled Emily, "and then I texted him a couple days later and asked if we could just get a platonic dinner together, but it was a date. We both knew it was a date." -USA Today
No. In fact-checking The Big Sick movie, we learned that Kumail never actually worked as an Uber driver like his character does in the movie. Watch the film here. -Bustle.com
Yes. In the movie, Kumail and Emily make a rule that they can see each other no more than two days in a row. When asked about it in an interview with Tribute Magazine, Kumail responded, "That is true. I don't know how she put up with it."
"It feels like the most made up thing [in the movie]," said the real Emily, "and it is absolutely true and somehow I put up with it."
Not exactly. In researching The Big Sick true story, we learned that Emily was still in the middle of her divorce when she met Kumail in 2006 and they started dating. She was 27 and Kumail 28. "I was recently separated and was in the waiting period to get divorced," says Emily. "I was trying to decide whether to stick it out in Chicago or go back home. Then Kumail and I met." -BostonGlobe.com
Yes. The man crush is true. The real Emily V. Gordon said that Kumail definitely has a thing for Hugh Grant, as evidenced below. She said that he also enjoys romantic comedies, which she used to detest. In the interview, Kumail then began citing lines from some of his favorite Hugh Grant rom coms, including Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill. -Tribute Magazine
No. Unlike what's seen in the movie, the real Big Sick couple had not broken up before the real-life Emily went into her coma. They were still dating, but there was little thought of it turning into a lifelong relationship. Like in the film, the coma changed that. With regard to the movie's use of dramatic license in adding the break-up, the real Emily Gordon commented, "It's interesting to be at your casual girlfriend's side when she gets sick. But it's even more interesting to be at your recent ex-girlfriend's side." -Variety.com
No. The Big Sick is not based on a book. It is from an original screenplay by the movie's subjects, Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon. However, Gordon is a published author and a former couples and family therapist. She wrote the tongue-in-cheek self-help book Super You: Release Your Inner Superhero, published in 2015. The well-reviewed book is infused with humor and references to comics, video games and superheroes, just some of the things she often discussed on her podcast The Indoor Kids, which she hosted with her husband. She has also written for Hello Giggles, Huffington Post, The New York Times, Mashable, The Daily Beast, and Lenny.
No. During an interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Kumail Nanjiani said that Emily's father never asked him what his feelings were on 9/11.
No. One of actress Holly Hunter's best moments in the movie is when her character defends Kumail against a racist frat-boy heckler at his comedy show. It marks the moment that we first visibly see her dislike for Kumail begin to change. It unfolds into an intense scene but we found no evidence of it actually happening in real life.
Yes. It was while Emily was in a medically-induced coma that Kumail realized she was the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Though it's not shown in the movie, they married just months after she got out of the hospital.
Emily was in a medically-induced coma for over eight days. -The View
No. Emily admits her parents are quite different than the characters portrayed by Holly Hunter and Ray Romano. Kumail's real-life parents are perhaps more similar to his movie parents, especially in that they did expect him to enter into an arranged marriage. However, they were living in a different city than they do in The Big Sick movie (watch the trailer). -Variety.com
Yes. The Big Sick true story confirms that the real Emily Gordon was miserable when she came out of the coma, despite those around her feeling very happy she was awake. "Yeah, a lot of the hospital people had invented a personality for me that did not match how I felt when I woke up," says Emily. "Because I had, like, fun hair, and I just was mean, and scary, and very upset, and angry and would cry a lot, for like a while. And people were like, 'Oh, we thought you were gonna be fun.' And I was like, 'I used to be.'" According to her now-husband Kumail, she needed time to deal with the fact that she had been betrayed by her own body. "It took me a few months to remember to be fun again," says Emily. -ScreenAnarchy.com
"No, not at all," said Emily, "because my husband is an actor and has been on many TV shows and movies, whereas I was the president of the thespian society in high school, but since then I've kind of hung up my acting shoes. ... So never at any point. I'm very happy to be a writer and kind of tell stories that way." In addition to being one of the movie's screenwriters along with her husband, Emily was on set every day of the New York shoot, as seen below. -Fabulous TV
The videos below offer a closer look at The Big Sick true story, including interviews with the real couple, screenwriters Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon.