Creator Ellie Palmer pulled loads from her personal expertise whereas writing her debut rom-com, 4 Weekends and a Funeral — however Sandra Bullock and Invoice Pullman inadvertently led to the novel’s twist.

Mild spoilers for 4 Weekends and a Funeral forward.

“The film Whereas You Have been Sleeping was an enormous inspiration for me,” Palmer completely instructed Us Weekly whereas selling the novel, which was launched on Tuesday, August 6. The 1995 basic stars Bullock as Lucy, a girl who’s misidentified because the fiancée of a comatose affected person named Peter (Peter Gallagher) after accompanying him to the hospital. There, she meets Peter’s brother, Jack (Pullman) and so they fall in love.

“Among the finest elements of that film for me is when Peter Gallagher wakes up — it simply type of takes all the things in a distinct course,” Palmer defined to Us. “As a result of he wakes up, he can type of give them permission to be collectively on the finish. He will get to present them the OK, and it provides you this heat feeling on the finish.”

This wasn’t an possibility for Palmer when it got here to her e book. 4 Weekends and a Funeral follows Alison — a 30-year-old lady who not too long ago underwent a double mastectomy after testing constructive for the BRCA-1 gene mutation — as she attends her ex-boyfriend Sam’s funeral. Alison discovers that Sam’s household by no means came upon about their breakup, main his dad and mom to imagine that they had been nonetheless romantically concerned when he died. Sam’s finest pal, Adam, throws a wrench into Alison’s plans — particularly as she begins to fall for him.

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“From the start, Sam was useless, and a part of the e book is [Alison and Adam] coping with their feelings with that,” Palmer instructed Us. “I needed him sprinkled all through, after which as I used to be heading in the direction of the ending, I might sense the way it was all coming collectively.”

Just like Gallagher’s character in Whereas You Have been Sleeping, Sam is “a extremely good man” and who posthumously turns into part of Alison and Adam’s love story, Palmer stated.

Bringing all of it again to the film, Us pitched Bullock and Pullman to play Sam’s dad and mom in Palmer’s novel.

“That’s excellent,” Palmer gushed. “I like that a lot.”

Hold studying for solutions to all of Us Weekly’s burning questions on 4 Weekends and Funeral:

Us Weekly: What made you resolve to show your concept right into a novel?

Ellie Palmer: I had considered the premise for the e book early on and filed that away as one thing too zany. It wasn’t till I used to be getting ready for a preventative mastectomy — I’m a provider of the BRCA1 genetic mutation — I used to be studying a lot romance and loving the entire films and the books that I used to be studying. I used to be additionally coping with a few of the feelings that include having hereditary most cancers in your loved ones and the survivor’s guilt that comes from being armed with this data. To mitigate my danger meant that different folks in my household weren’t capable of, and that’s the way you’re capable of show that you could get a mastectomy. So, whereas I used to be grappling with these feelings, I believed [it] can be excellent to plop on this concept — the place an imposter at a funeral is somebody who appears like an imposter in their very own well being journey.

Us Weekly: Has anybody in your loved ones learn the e book and what did they assume?

Ellie Palmer: My mother learn the e book, she had breast most cancers after I was 10. She actually loved [the story]. We’ve usually talked in regards to the strangeness of getting a mastectomy after which the reconstruction course of and having new physique elements. It’s such an odd factor that’s so common to that have.

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Us Weekly: Within the e book, Allison’s mother was additionally a breast most cancers survivor. How a lot of their relationship was pulled from you and your mother?

Ellie Palmer: I feel my mother and I are shut in the best way that Allison and her mother are. Additionally they have this relationship the place they will joke forwards and backwards and rib one another in a automotive experience. Mother and I are very very similar to that too.

Us Weekly: Why was it essential to incorporate the morning after scene with Adam at Allison’s condo, the place he sees her mastectomy scars?

Ellie Palmer: I actually needed to ensure that they’d that second., I had a surgeon inform me, “When you’re trying within the mirror and also you count on to see one thing else, and also you type of do this double take, that’s what you’ll expertise.” I undoubtedly did expertise that after I was recovering, and I needed [Adam] to have that second and never do this double take and simply type of settle for her as she is. It was actually therapeutic for me, but it surely was additionally this second that I actually needed different folks to see and skim.

Us Weekly: Inform us about creating Allison’s help system with pals Mara and Chelsea.

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Ellie Palmer: The chums had been so clear to me from day one scripting this e book. I knew precisely who she wanted in her life. Throughout my very own struggles with my mastectomy or any laborious occasions in my life basically, earlier than you discover a romantic associate, my pals had been my life companions.

Us Weekly: Is there a actuality TV universe the place Allison and Adam would match?

Ellie Palmer: I feel Adam can be good at Survivor, however I don’t assume he would really like it. He’d actually shine there. … I might see Allison on Love Island as a result of I feel she can be into simply chilling, simply hanging out. It’s a whole lot of friendship on Love Island. It’s a whole lot of hanging with the women. I really feel like she’d excel at that.

Us Weekly: Do you assume Adam and Allison are endgame?

Ellie Palmer: I undoubtedly assume they’re endgame. I feel that they’re rather well suited to one another. They need the identical issues. They’ve all of the issues in widespread that you just wish to have. I feel proper now they’re dwelling collectively, possibly they’re beginning to consider whether or not they wish to get married. I had that be ambiguous of whether or not that was one thing that they needed however I’d have an interest to see in a sequel the place they land on that.