Director Rob Reiner reveals that When Harry Met Sally originally had a sad ending
I love when tidbits of trivia from When Harry Met Sally come out. Last year, Meg Ryan’s son Jack Quaid shared that he and his sister consider the deli fake orgasm scene to be “a unique embarrassment.” Now, we learn that the ending was almost very different and much sadder! Director Rob Reiner recently did an interview with Chris Wallace for Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace where he revealed that the original ending of the film almost had a “tearjerking ending.” In fact, Reiner only had a change of heart and turned it into a happy ending after he fell in love himself.
The ending of When Harry Met Sally was not how it was initially conceived, and director Rob Reiner is opening up about what changed his mind. In a new interview for Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace, Reiner revealed that the 1989 romantic comedy had a “tearjerking ending.”
“The original ending of the film that we had was that Harry and Sally didn’t get together,” Reiner said on the CNN show.
The film’s ending has Billy Crystal‘s Harry see Meg Ryan‘s Sally at a New Year’s Eve party, where he declares his love for her. After sharing a kiss, it’s revealed that they go on and get married three months later.
Reiner said he changed the ending after meeting his wife, Michele Singer, who he met during filming. The director that if it hadn’t been for him finding love in real life, Harry and Sally wouldn’t have ended up together.
“I’d been married for ten years,” Reiner said. “I’d been single for ten years, and I couldn’t figure out how I was ever going to be with anybody. That gave birth to When Harry Met Sally. I hadn’t met anybody, so it was going to be the two of them seeing each other after years, talking, and then walking away from each other.”
When Harry Met Sally was written by Nora Ephron and directed by Reiner, the film was released in 1989, the same year Reiner married his wife. Other actors in the movie include Carrie Fisher, Bruno Kirby, Steven Ford, Lisa Jane Persky, Michelle Nicastro, Kevin Rooney, Harley Kozak and Estelle Reiner.
Well, they do say to write what you know. I think Reiner has said before that the movie’s plot was inspired by his decade being single, but I had no idea that he almost made the ending to be such a downer, albeit true to his own life at the time. That would have definitely changed it from a rom com with an edge to just a relationship drama that would probably be nominated for Best Comedy for today’s Golden Globes. Not to be all that #TheUniverse person (okay fine, I’m willing to go there) but I’ll throw it out there that maybe Reiner met Singer while filming that particular movie because it was the exact right time in his life for all of those things to combine. Or, maybe it was all a coincidence and he just got lucky, lol. Either way, I love When Harry Met Sally as it is and am happy those two crazy kids ended up together.
photos credit: Nicky Nelson/Faye’s Vision/Wenn/Avalon and screenshots from YouTube
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