Meg Ryan has done quite a few romantic comedy movies with Tom Hanks throughout her remarkable career, and a majority of them have turned out to be widely beloved by fans. These include one of her biggest classic melodrama/romance films to date, Sleepless in Seattle, which was her second rom-com with Hanks. Yet, as much as fans love the movie for its resonance and endless quotableness, little do they know one major secret about the film.
This secret is the fact that the 1993 superhit was created by writer cum filmmaker Nora Ephron for one reason only: just for a social experiment to figure out if the movie could ‘screw up’ with people’s brains about ‘love’ forever.
Meg Ryan’s Sleepless in Seattle Was Only Created As A Social Experiment
Although released over three decades ago, Sleepless in Seattle still ranks as several fans’ go-to rom-com film of all time. The epic portrayal of emotions by Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks and the perfectly resonating script made the movie nothing short of a masterpiece.
However, writer cum director Nora Ephron, who was the mastermind behind the 1993 hit, created the film with just the intention of conducting a social experiment through it, as per her statement in the book Happy Endings in Hollywood Cinema:
“Our dream was to make a movie about how movies screw up your brain about love, and then if we did a good job, we would become one of the movies that would screw up people’s brains about love forever.”
Turns out, her social experiment ended up working out, considering how no other rom-com has influenced and captivated the audiences with its unique and endlessly quoting story as Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks’ 1990s blockbuster did.
Sleepless in Seattle Gave Birth To Some Of The Most Famous Quotes Of All Time
The 1993 classic rom-com Sleepless in Seattle starred Meg Ryan as Annie Reed, the love interest of Tom Hanks’ character, Sam Baldwin. Yet, the film wasn’t like every other romantic comedy considering how it balanced the perfect combination of endearing characters, enthralling interactions, and beyond-entertaining observations.
Not only this, but it also gave birth to some of the most famous quotes of all time. Like when Hanks’ widower character Sam Baldwin said about his attempt at dating once more:
“Well, I’m not looking for a mail-order bride. I just want somebody I can have a decent conversation with over dinner, without it falling down into weepy tears over some movie.”
Or when Ryan’s character Annie Reed had the epiphany:
“You don’t want to be in love, you want to be in love in a movie.”
In fact, the film’s tagline itself held a comforting yet confounding quote, which read:
“What if someone you never met, someone you never saw, someone you never knew was the only someone for you?”
Regardless, despite whatever reason Nora Ephron might have made the film for, Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks‘ Sleepless in Seattle gave fans something truly unique and loveable that will forever be etched in the audience’s hearts as an exceptionally profound love story.
