Rob Reinerthis is tragic death made me think a lot about this movie, so I dove deep into the making When Harry Met Sally…and along the way I discovered many interesting, funny and touching facts:
1.
Rob Reiner and Nora Ephron initially met for lunch so Rob could offer her another movie, but she rejected it before they even placed an order.
The next time they met, she rejected another of his ideas. When he then briefly mentioned that he was interested in how sex could ruin a friendship between a heterosexual man and a woman, Nora became excited and immediately understood how she would structure the film.
2.
Nora Ephron interviewed Rob Reiner and producer Andrew Shainman about their dating lives to inspire the script. describing it as “a terrifying experience.”
3.
While Nora Ephron was working on several drafts of the script, Rob Reiner was filming both Stay with me And Princess Bridebefore returning with Nora to focus on developing and creating When Harry Met Sally…
4.
Harry's character was very highly inspired Rob Reiner and his experience of loneliness after divorce (from Penny Marshall, to whom he was married from 1971 to 1981).
5.
Meanwhile Sally was partially inspired Nora Ephron and many of her quirks, including her special way of ordering food, came directly from the screenwriter herself.
6.
It was Rob Reiner's idea to include documentary style interviews with couples throughout the film – he was inspired to do this after asking the father of entertainment executive Alan Horn how he met his wife and seeing the reserved old man light up.
7.
All older couples are actors, but the stories they tell were inspired by real people—mostly people from the production company Nora Ephron interviewed.
8.
The creative team couldn't decide on a title for the film, and Rob Reiner even held a competition among the crew, offering a case of champagne to whoever could come up with a name that would stick.
9.
Before the final decision was made, the titles used were “Scenes from a Friendship”, “How We Met”, “When They Met”, “Boy Meets Girl”, “Just Friends”, “It Should Have Been You” and “Harry, It's Sally” – a Nora Ephron song. liked it the mosteven more than When Harry Met Sally…
10.
Rob Reiner said he didn't like the name When Harry Met Sally until he came up with the idea of adding an ellipsis at the end. “The three dots meant a lot to me,” he said, revealing that once he added them, When Harry Met Sally… became a title for him.
11.
Even though Rob Reiner thought from the beginning that Billy Crystal would make a good Harry, talked to several actors about the role, including Albert Brooks, Tom Hanks, Richard Dreyfuss and Michael Keaton, before offering it to Billy.
The pair have been best friends since playing on-screen buddies in All in the familyand Rob was worried that casting Billy as Harry might jeopardize their friendship if something went wrong in the film. Billy, meanwhile, really wanted the role, but thought Rob wasn't interested in it as he was talking to so many other actors.
13.
When Harry Met Sally…was Meg Ryan's first leading role, and she fell out of steel magnolias, in which she was cast as Shelby to play Sally (Julia Roberts, of course, took on the role of Shelby in steel magnolias in its place).
14.
Billy Crystal said it was just one problem on working with Rob Reiner as director: “He laughs during takes.”
15.
Rob Reiner was concerned that Billy Crystal would also be out of action. “sweet” To make Sally's instant dislike of Harry seem believable, he added the part where Harry rudely eats grapes when they first meet, and Billy added the detail that he would spit seeds out the window.
16.
In one scene, Harry can be seen reading a Stephen King book. Adversitywhich will be adapted into Rob Reiner's next film.
17.
Billy Crystal improvised the funny voice and “pecan pie” line Harry says in the museum scene, and Meg Ryan was so abandoned she glanced at Rob Reiner off-camera, but he pointed out that she should get over it, which she did. After Meg realized what was happening, they did two more takes, but neither of them seemed as special as the first, showing her true surprise and spontaneity, so that's what went into the film.
18.
Most of the scene in Pictionary was improvised – Rob Reiner said Meg Ryan she had to draw “baby talk” but let her decide how to depict it and was pleased when the final drawing was “so completely obscure”. All the guests’ guesses were real and the actors, including Legendary film by Bruno Kirby. “Baby fish mouth!”
19.
The infamous fake orgasm scene came about after Rob Reiner and Andrew Shainman challenged Nora Ephron to tell them something they didn't know about women because she was interrogating them about men. She told them “women fake orgasms,” to which Rob replied “not with me,” and Nora said “absolutely with you.”
20.
In the original script, the scene did not include Sally faking an orgasm, but Meg Ryan suggested she do itand then it was decided that this moment should happen in an “inappropriate place” – which is exactly how it was set at Katz's Deli.
21.
It was Billy Crystal who came up with the idea that another buyer will say the phrase: “I'll take what she has.”
22.
Rob Reiner decided that his mother, Estelle Reiner, should be the actress to play the role. When he told her that the moment might not make it into the final film if it wasn't funny enough, She said“It’s okay, I just like spending the day with you.”
23.
Even though it was her idea to fake an orgasm, Meg Ryan was nervous about filming the scene in front of so many people. She planned as she had done in her hotel room the night before.
24.
The morning the scene was to be filmed, Meg Ryan still had some nerves left and went to Billy Crystal's trailer to discuss everything. She told him that she didn't feel comfortable in what she was wearing and took a sweater from his wardrobe, which she is wearing in the final scene.
25.
The first two or three takes of Meg Ryan's fake orgasm were “tepid,” so Rob Reiner sat down in front of Billy Crystal to show Meg how he wanted her to do it—essentially acting out a huge orgasm himself. He later said Billy: “I made a mistake, I shouldn't have done that… I just had an orgasm in front of my mother.”
27.
At the royal screening of the film in London, Princess Diana apparently found this scene and the entire film very funny, and organized a private showing for yourself and your friends at Buckingham Palace.
28.
This film was given to Harry Connick Jr. his big break and his first Grammy. Rob Reiner asked him to score the film after a friend gave him a demo.
29.
Tracy Reiner, Rob Reiner's eldest daughter whom he adopted during his marriage to her mother Penny Marshall, appears in the film as Emily, Harry's younger girlfriend – sort of like Billy Crystal. described as “a little awkward” since he had known her since she was a little girl.
30.
In the scene where Harry and Sally are separately talking to Jess and Marie on the phone and the screen is split into three parts, the actors took it off simultaneously on three adjacent sets on the same sound stage, broadcasting the dialogue in real time without cuts, meaning that if anything went wrong, they would all have to start over.
Rob Reiner said somewhere around They did the 50th take perfectly, but the sound engineer discovered that it was ruined by the rustling of birds in the rafters. They got rid of the birds and continued filming, finally filming the entire scene from the film on the 61st take.
31.
In the first draft of the script, Harry and Sally didn't end up getting back together or even rebuilding their friendship—the sex they had actually ruined it. “In the original ending, they went their separate ways, and then one day, many years later, they ran into each other on the street and were chatting about how their lives had turned out, walked away, and the camera stopped.” Rob Reiner said.
32.
“It always seemed to me—forgive me—the true ending,” Nora Ephron. said the original ending, in which Harry and Sally went their separate ways.
33.
Rob Reiner said he also thought the original “miserable” ending was appropriate because he didn't see Harry ever being able to get into another serious relationship – until he met his future wife Michelle Singer while filming the film. Fall in love with her made him realize “it made sense that Harry and Sally could get together” and the happy ending was confirmed.
34.
Rob Reiner later described meeting Michelle Singer on set as another of the love stories featured in the film. Before filming began, director of photography Barry Sonnenfeld asked told Rob“I have a friend in New York. Her name is Michelle Singer. You are going to marry her.”
Rob initially dismissed the remark, but a few months later he was attracted to a visitor on set and learned that it was Michelle Singer, who had come to have lunch with Barry Sonnenfeld and his wife. Rob invited himself to dinner, and seven months later he and Michelle were married.
35.
Rob Reiner said that immediately after meeting his wife best thing get out of creation When Harry Met Sally…was that his friendship with Billy Crystal deepened, despite his initial fears that it might ruin their friendship.
36.
Billy Crystal wrote much of the final speech in which Harry declares his love for Sally, including details of the wrinkle above her nose and the line: “When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”
39.
After success When Harry Met Sally… Rob Reiner, Nora Ephron, Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan have all discussed a potential sequel from time to time. But they all agreed every time everything was “perfect as is.”
40.
At the film's 30th anniversary in 2019, Rob Reiner said that Harry and Sally will still be together. “That doesn’t mean they haven’t had huge ups and downs or been on the brink of divorce and gotten back together, just like in any relationship. But I think they're still together.”
Billy Crystal added, “For all of us who believe in happily ever after, that's where they live.”
What is your favorite fact about When Harry Met Sally…? Tell us in the comments.
