The Behind The Scene Stories That Made "When Harry Met Sally" Unforgettable

By | December 31, 2021

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A rom-com hall of famer. amazon

The 1989 classic, “When Harry Met Sally'', easily earns a spot on the rom-com Mount Rushmore, thanks to the collective genius of Nora Ephron, Meg Ryan, and Billy Crystal. However, the movie would very likely not exist without Rob Reiner. The titan of Hollywood teamed up with Ephron to mine his romantic experiences with ex-wife Penny Marshall and others to create the feel-good classic.

Crucially, Reiner also interviewed a number of elderly couples, ensuring a universal love story legible to the masses. We’d all like to have what she’s having and here’s how they got there.

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It's hard to imagine the film with any other stars. thefordhamram

Casting What Ifs

The “When Harry Met Sally” movie we all love and adore could have turned out very differently. For starters, Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal were far from the studio’s first choices. On the male side, they hoped to cast Albert Brooks, Tom Hanks, or Michael Keaton.

Brooks felt it was too similar to Woody Allen movies while Keaton’s hands were full with Batman. For Sally, Reiner hoped to cast Susan Dey, Elizabeth Perkins, or Molly Ringwald. As is often the case, scheduling conflicts gave us the dream pairing of Crystal and Ryan.