Meeting His Wife Changed Ending of Famed Reiner Movie

The deaths of Rob and Michele Reiner is bringing back the story of how their meeting changed the ending of When Harry Met Sally. Rob Reiner had told the story a number of times over the years (some obvious spoiler alerts follow):

• Back in 1989, the director recounted to the New York Times that he was watching a scene in which the characters played by Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan were arguing. Then he spotted Michele, who was working as a photographer on the set. "I look over and I see this girl, and 'Whoo!' I was attracted immediately," he said.
• They met, fell in love, and were married within the year, a chain of events that got Reiner to rethink the movie's original not-so-happy ending.

• "Originally, Harry and Sally didn't get together," he told the Guardian in 2018. "But then I met Michele and I thought: 'OK, I see how this works.'"
• He reiterated that in a 2024 interview with CNN's Chris Wallace, notes the Hollywood Reporter. Originally, "it was going to be the two of them seeing each other after years, talking, and then walking away from each other," Reiner said. "I had been married for 10 years. I'd been single for 10 years, and I couldn't figure out how I was ever going to be with anybody, and that gave birth to When Harry Met Sally." But then he met Michele, and decided that Harry and Sally should get together, too. Asked if fans have her to thank for the famous tear-jerker of a ending, he replied, "That's right."
• In the film, Crystal's character says to Ryan's: "I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."