“We made something that we were very proud of,” says Kumail Nanjiani of The Big Sick, a film that he and his wife Emily V. Gordon co-wrote, and in which he stars, about a crazy time in their life a decade ago when Gordon suddenly had to be hospitalized with a mystery illness and Nanjiani had to sign-off on putting her into a medically induced coma. This indie — which, believe it or not, offers at least as much comedy as drama — premiered at Sundance, sold to Amazon for a near-record $12 million and went into wide release on July 14 (Nanjiani and Gordon’s 10th wedding anniversary), garnering a 98 percent favorable rating on Rotten Tomatoes (bettered, among 2017 releases, by only Get Out‘s 99 percent) and grossing more than $50 worldwide. “I can’t even wrap my head around how well-received it was,” Nanjiani marvels nearly two months later. “It’s been very exciting.”
