Emotional ending When Harry met Sally it was originally supposed to cause tears of sadness, not joy.
In a new interview with CNNChris Wallace director Rob Reiner has opened up about the ending he originally planned for the iconic rom-com — and the real reason he changed it.
“The original ending we had was Harry and Sally not getting together,” Reiner, 76, said of the 1989 classic.
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Instead of the iconic New Year’s Eve scene — still a blueprint for epic rom-com speeches everywhere — the opening ending saw Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) and Harry Burns’ (Billy Crystal) will-they/won’t they romance end rather anticlimactically.
“It will be the two of them seeing each other after years, talking and then moving away from each other,” Reiner revealed.
“Because I was married for 10 years, I was single for 10 years and I couldn’t figure out how I was ever going to be with somebody,” he said, “and that gave birth to When Harry met Sally.”
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Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan in ‘When Harry Met Sally’.
Columbia/courtesy of the Everett Collection
But that all changed when Reiner crossed paths with his now-wife, Michele Reiner, while directing the Nora Ephron classic.
“I met my wife Michele, who I’ve been married to for 35 years, I met her while we were making the movie and I changed the ending,” he told Wallace.
“So we owe Michele that tear-jerking ending?” Wallace asked, and Reiner replied, “That’s right.”
And, like him and Singer, Harry and Sally continue to live happily ever after, the director said at a special 30th anniversary screening of the film.
“Yes, they are still together,” he said at the 2019 screening, per Diversity. “That’s not to say they haven’t had huge ups and downs or been on the verge of divorce and getting back together, like any relationship. But I think they are still together.”
‘Iron Man’, ‘The Little Mermaid’, ‘Carrie’ and ‘When Harry Met Sally’ selected for preservation in National Film Registry
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Michele and Rob Reiner.
Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic
In the “weepy” ending — the culmination of years of tension and friendship — Harry delivers one of the film’s most memorable monologues, telling Sally, “When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, I want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”
And Crystal, 75, actually came up with some of the dialogue himself, Reiner previously revealed.
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In addition to the New Year’s speech, When Harry met Sally also gave the world Ryan’s influential “I’ll have what she’s got!” scenes and some iconic ’80s fashion — including Crystal’s iconic knit sweater.
Last year, the actor and comedian recreated the white sweater and jeans he wore in the 1989 film for his 75th birthday.
Crystal posted a picture of himself next to the scene where he was wearing the kit and wrote: “Thank you everyone.”
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Source: HIS Education