Dylan Sprouse and Virginia Gardner, the leads of Beautiful Wedding, were filled with optimism when we spoke with them about their new sequel. The new movie picks up where Beautiful Disaster left off, with Abby (Gardner) and Travis (Sprouse) in Las Vegas. After a drunken night of celebrating, the two discover they have been married.

Forced to consider the ramifications of their actions, the two head to Mexico with their friends for a honeymoon while trying to figure out what happens next. Abby and Travis go on their own journeys of personal growth, while also coming back together to support each other as they take the leap into married life together.

MovieWeb had the chance to speak with the actors about the sequel, hearing about the growth their characters experience, what audiences can expect from the comedy, and how the cast came together to support each other during filming.

Virginia Gardner on Abby’s Emotional Journey

Beautiful Wedding Release Date January 25, 2024 Director Roger Kumble Cast Dylan Sprouse , Virginia Gardner , Steven Bauer , Rob Estes , Austin North Runtime 1hr 40min

In the sequel, Virginia Gardner’s Abby is forced to consider why she always runs away when something like her feelings or a situation scares her. However, now that she’s married to Travis, she has to reconsider that urge. Gardner firmly believes that while Abby can’t undo this part of herself overnight, she learns to confront it in Beautiful Wedding.

“She has the tendency to want to run away from her problems and the things that scare her, and I think now that she’s legally married to someone, you can’t just run away from that, you have to face it. So I think she kind of learns throughout this film what it takes to face a problem head-on and not just run from it.”

The actress also believes we “could still see [Abby] struggle” in the future, since this isn’t something the young woman can unlearn overnight. But, Gardner is optimistic that Abby will keep working toward overcoming that feeling and “address what’s going on there.”

I think something like that probably innately is always going to be in you, but it’s going to take a lot more work than a couple of years to really get over that urge.

While the dynamic between Abby and Travis has changed with their impromptu marriage, Gardner hopes audiences enjoy the “quite unique” tone the comedy and romance bring to the screen. Like Beautiful Disaster, Beautiful Wedding sets itself apart from similar film series by the nature of its comedy, which reminds the actress of a type of comedy that isn’t made as much these days.

“It reminds me of older comedies and we don’t see so much of this big, broad comedy anymore, so I think it’s really fun to see that mixed in with some romance and in this kind of younger audience genre. I hope that people really enjoy that.”

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Dylan Sprouse on Travis’ Growth and Traditional Love Interests

Dylan Sprouse’s Travis goes from underground fights to breaking down emotional walls in Beautiful Wedding. From a spontaneous wedding to a honeymoon in Mexico, audiences see a different side to Travis. When asked about the change in the couple’s relationship, Sprouse doesn’t think Travis regrets what happened in Las Vegas and that viewers will see more of his softer side.

“I think that Travis definitely saw himself with Abby for the rest of his life. I think he is more romantic than people would expect in that way. I also don’t think he’s a guy who lives in regret very much.”

Like Gardner, Sprouse is confident Travis will continue to grow with time. Travis is fairly possessive, which only serves to drive Abby away and put a strain on their relationship. However, after the events of the sequel, the actor is confident Travis will keep moving in a positive direction.

I think he’s gonna get better at it, and I think a lot of that has to do with them being together longer and trusting each other.

Sprouse believes the appeal of the film series is not only that the characters “are not traditional love interests,” but that they make an effort for the person they love. The movies capitalize on comedy instead of drama, with the actor describing the characters as “raunchy and a little dirtier” than your average love interests, but common and relatable themes like love and perseverance still shine through.

“I think that at the core of this movie, these are characters that are not traditional love interests. They’re very kind of raunchy and a little dirtier and they’re trying to make it work. I think that that’s the fun of the movie, which is that if you really love someone and persevere, you can make it work.”

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Supporting Their Cast Members Through Difficult Times

In our interview with Gardner and Sprouse for Beautiful Disaster, the actors discussed how an accident on set made it into the film. While there weren’t accidents of quite that magnitude while filming Beautiful Wedding, there was an incident with a prop stick during Abby’s mud wrestling scene that was cut from the movie.

“I had picked up a stick and I hit [Rob Estes] with it. It was supposed to break, and the stick did not break and got him right on the elbow bone. I hit him with everything I had too. I mean, his elbow was so swollen afterwards, and he had ice on it. I felt so bad.”

Sprouse and Gardner also shared that the cast supported an unnamed cast member through filming a difficult scene. After being cut for the day, the unnamed actor began to unwind on their personal time — let’s just say they weren’t necessarily prepared when the crew came to them later in the day, needing the actor to film a particularly complicated scene. However, the cast came together to support their co-star while they shot the scene.

“I’m not going to name the actor, but they called an early day for this one actor, and he went back to the hotel,” explained Sprouse.

“Oh yeah,” Gardner laughs. Sprouse continued:

“And then they had to call him back in for a scene that was particularly difficult to do hours later. And he called me up and he’s like, ‘Hey, I’m really worried about coming back because I smoked weed with one of our other actors, and I’m very, very high.’ It was a super difficult scene, and I was like ‘Dude, come on back, I just want to see this.’ And he filmed the scene, and it looks great, and it’s in the movie. But I was like, ‘Dude I do not envy you, I feel really bad.'”

“We all had a powwow,” added Gardner and we’re all like, ‘Okay, we can’t make him feel paranoid. We gotta support him. He’s gonna be okay.'”

We think Sprouse and Gardner’s characters will be okay, too. Beautiful Wedding will be available for purchase on-demand starting February 13.