``When Harry Met Sally...'' Director Rob Reiner x Screenwriter Nora Ephron: How the monumental romantic comedy movie was created

A work born from the encounter between Rob Reiner and Nora Ephron

The reason ``When Harry Met Sally...'' takes the issue of friendship between men and women, and sex as its theme, is because this movie is based on these very issues. The director of this film is Rob Reiner, who directed `` Stand by Me '' (1986) and ``How to Find Your Best Life '' (2007). The screenplay was written by Nora Ephron, a former journalist who became a screenwriter and director. After this film, she directed a number of high-quality romantic comedy films, including Sleepless in Seattle (1993), and was a pioneer in establishing a position as a female director in Hollywood.

Whenever Nora Ephron is asked about the story behind the creation of ``When Harry Met Sally...,'' she has repeatedly said, ``This story could only have been written because of Rob Reiner.'' According to the preface to the ``When Harry Met Sally...'' scenario book she wrote, they met in 1984. Rob Reiner and producer Andrew Sheinman called Efron over lunch to discuss plans for a new film.

"When Harry Met Sally..." (c)Photofest / Getty Images

The producers had in mind a movie with a lawyer as the main character. At the time, Efron was attracting attention as the screenwriter for Mike Nichols' ` `Silkwood '' (1983), which depicts the life of Karen Silkwood, a real-life woman who accused wrongdoing at a nuclear fuel plant in the 1970s. What Reiner and others proposed was probably a project for a socially conscious film. However, Efron has no interest in the project at all and is reluctant to talk about it. They had no choice but to spend their lunch time introducing themselves and having fun chatting. And it is this chatter that leads to ``When Harry Met Sally...''.

Rob Reiner had just gotten divorced and was single again at the time. Andrew Sheinman remains unmarried. They talked to Efron about how carefree and free the single life in LA is. On the other hand, she just divorced her second husband Carl Bernstein a few years ago (the story of which was made into the movie `` Kokoromidare '' (1986)). The two single men's honest talk about love and friendship both surprised and amused Efron.

The next time they met was in New York. Several new project ideas have been proposed, but they are not very popular. Eventually, the story develops into a story about their own lives, just like last time. And finally, Reiner said. I thought why not make a movie about the themes that the three of us talked about here. What he proposed was a story about a man and a woman who develop a friendship. However, they decide never to have sex. Because sex ruins everything. Efron heard the story and answered. "Let's try it."

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