Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon put their own real-life romance on-screen for all the world to see when they collaborated on the screenplay for The Big Sick. So it’s only natural that strangers feel a sense of familiarity with the Silicon Valley actor, 39, and his wife of 11 years.
The movie — one of the highest grossing independent films of the 2017 — chronicles the first months of a relationship between a Pakistani comedian (Nanjiani) who’s stuck between his parents’ desire for an arranged Muslim marriage and his desire to to be with writer-producer Gordon, who is portrayed by Zoe Kazan. And it’s filled with relatable moments, including the scene where Gordon desperately tries to leave Nanjiani’s apartment in the middle of the night because she has to poop but is embarrassed to do it there.
“It’s just a lot having people know your relationship,” Gordon, 38, told Us Weekly at the Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala presented by American Express on Tuesday, January 2. “People often say to me, ‘Do you remember when you took a s–t at Kumail’s house?’ I’m like, ‘That was a movie; that didn’t happen in our lives.’ The idea that people think they have a window into everything about us . . . it’s both cool and a lot.”
Another question they get a lot: Are you going to have babies soon?
“You saw our baby, it’s called The Big Sick,” a laughing Gordon told Us. Added Nanjiani: “Yeah that’s our baby. That’s what we tell her mom. And that’s what we’re telling you!”
