Rob Reiner Almost Gave When Harry Met Sally a VERY Different Ending
When Harry Met Sally is one of Hollywood's most endearing romantic comedies, thanks to excellent performances from Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal, as well as an emotionally satisfying ending that wraps up with an iconic New Year's Eve kiss. But what if we told you that, at first, director Rob Reiner had another ending entirely in store for Harry and Sally?
While chatting with PeopleTV's Lola Ogunnaike, the famed director revealed that after all the ups and downs of Harry and Sally's friendship-turned-relationship, he was going to have them not end up together. Say WHAT?!
"I was single for ten years and making a mess of my personal life, in and out of relationships and not being able to make anything work," Reiner explained. "The first draft of the script — or the draft we were going to shoot — Harry and Sally weren't going to get together. They meet each other years later and then walk separate ways."
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It's a bittersweet idea that would, to be totally fair, make a bit of sense — Harry and Sally don't exactly make things easy for each other. Then again, that's exactly why seeing them finally put aside their hang-ups and embrace the romantic tension that's been brewing between them for years so damn perfect. Fortunately for all of us, Reiner met his future wife while filming the rom-com, and his own romance inspired him to tweak writer Nora Ephron's ending to something more hopeful.
"We changed the ending and this is what we came up with," he said, noting that Crystal is even responsible for some of the dialogue in that final, epic scene. Now, if you'll excuse us, we're going to go re-watch When Harry Met Sally for the hundredth time, and forget we ever knew about this depressing alternate ending.