The bride wore very little and punctuated her “I do” with an expletive.
That’s one of several scenes, including footage shot at the Palms and the Fremont Street Experience, that have “Anora” on the verge of becoming just the fourth best picture Oscar winner to have filmed in Las Vegas. (The ceremony airs at 4 p.m. Sunday on ABC.)
It’s also yet another entry in the long pop-culture history of the Little White Wedding Chapel.
A reputation built on celebrity
Charolette Richards arrived in Las Vegas in 1959 and almost immediately found work in the wedding industry. She didn’t begin focusing on celebrities, though, until 1985, when Joan Collins walked through her doors.
The actress was one of the most famous women on the planet at the time thanks to her portrayal of “Dynasty’s” scheming, catfighting Alexis. The prime-time soap was fresh off a season as TV’s most popular series.
A little after 11 p.m. Nov. 6, Collins arrived at the Little White Wedding Chapel to marry former Swedish pop star Peter Holm.
“We did all these arrangements for her,” Richards told The Associated Press the next day, “and we didn’t know it was (for Collins) until she walked in the door. … She took her dark glasses off, and I said, ‘Oh, my goodness.’ ”
Richards soon had a sign erected proclaiming her chapel as the site of the wedding.
Michael Jordan and Juanita Vanoy arrived unannounced at 3:30 a.m. Sept. 2, 1989. Richards broke the news of that wedding to the world as well, and a new sign was made to tout both superstars.
Collins filed for divorce after a little more than a year of marriage. The Jordans filed in 2006. The sign, however, still stands.
The media attention given those ceremonies would be dwarfed by other celebrity weddings at the chapel.
Around 5 a.m. Jan. 3, 2004, Britney Spears shocked the world by marrying her childhood friend Jason Alexander. He’d been spotted shortly before then, the Review-Journal reported, walking barefoot through the Palms drinking from a Big Gulp cup. The marriage was annulled after just 55 hours.
Shortly before midnight July 16, 2022, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez wed at the chapel and posed for photos in the pink Cadillac out front. “We read our own vows in the little chapel and gave one another the rings we’ll wear for the rest of our lives,” Lopez wrote the next day in her On the JLo newsletter. She filed for divorce a little more than two years later. A sign reading “Ben’s Bathroom” still hangs in the room where Affleck got dressed that night. It’s next to a framed copy of the People magazine spread that included the selfie he took in that bathroom.
Richards, who came to be known as “The Wedding Queen of the West,” sold the chapel in November 2022. She died Dec. 13, 2023, at the age of 89.
‘Anora’ already paying dividends
The chapel’s new management has seen a flurry of celebrity activity.
Kim Kardashian, who wed music producer Damon Thomas there in 2000, returned in 2023 to officiate the wedding of her hair stylist, Chris Appleton, and actor Lukas Gage.
Over the past two years, Ed Sheeran serenaded newlyweds, Chris Martin joined a couple’s photo shoot, Eli Manning crashed a wedding as part of an Old Spice promotion, and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin officiated a ceremony for two of his fans.
Given all that, nothing about “Anora” suggested that hosting it would be anything special.
When filmmaker Sean Baker (“The Florida Project”) showed up at the Little White Wedding Chapel with his cast and crew in March 2023, the production was much smaller than that year’s shoot for Dan + Shay’s “We Should Be Married” music video.
“We were told it was going to be like a really modern ‘Pretty Woman,’ ” chapel president Melody Willis-Williams says of the film. (Spoiler alert: It’s nothing like “Pretty Woman.”)
The titular character, who goes by Ani (Mikey Madison), is a Brooklyn sex worker who begins “dating” Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), the son of a Russian oligarch. During a weeklong trip to Las Vegas, they have one of those impulsive, only-in-the-movies weddings. It’s so hurried, the bride and groom don’t even bother changing out of their shorts.
There’s no signage or anything else to identify the Palms, where the couple and their friends stay. But Ani and Ivan are shown running down the sidewalk and into the Little White Wedding Chapel, with its name clearly visible. That bit even made it into the trailer. Willis-Williams says it’s already translated into more business.
“That age group of 25 to 27, they’ve all seen this movie. They’ve all seen the trailers on TikTok, the whole thing,” she says. “So, certainly, they find it really cool to come to a place where that movie was shot.”
As she was saying this, numerous participants in a scavenger hunt began running into the chapel to have “Anora”-style photos taken before they could get their next clue.
‘I’m excited with you!’
Diana Moran has married more than 27,000 couples, but none of those weddings has brought her more attention than her ceremony for Ani and Ivan. She’s often recognized at the chapel for her small part in the film.
“And they get very excited,” Moran says of those couples. “And I’m like, ‘I’m excited with you!’ My insides are jumping up and down, too, because I’ve never experienced this. But it’s been so fun.”
Willis-Williams and Moran started tracking “Anora” once it won the Palme d’Or as the best feature film in competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. So far this awards season, it’s won the top prize from the Writers Guild of America, the Directors Guild of America, the Producers Guild of America and the Film Independent Spirit Awards.
At Sunday’s ceremony, it’s up for six Oscars, including best picture, best actress for Madison and best supporting actor for Yura Borisov. Baker is nominated for best director, best original screenplay and best editing.
Should it win the top prize, “Anora” would join “The Godfather,” “The Godfather Part II” and “Rain Man” as the only best picture winners to film in Las Vegas. (“Nomadland” filmed in Northern Nevada. One of the fights in “Million Dollar Baby” was set in Las Vegas, but it was filmed in Los Angeles.)
Moran hasn’t seen “Anora.” Despite having appeared on reality shows, including “Say Yes to the Dress,” she’s terrified of seeing herself onscreen. Moran swears she’ll force herself to watch it, though, if it wins best picture.
Willis-Williams says she plans to watch Sunday’s awards — assuming she isn’t working.
“It’s truly an honor to be part of something that’s Oscar worthy,” she says. “I wouldn’t have guessed that’s where it was headed.”
Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4567.
