Why director Rob Reiner changed the ending of 'When Harry Met Sally'

When Rob Reiner met his wife, "When Harry Met Sally" got a much happier ending.

In an interview on "Who's Talking to Chris Wallace," the director revealed his 1989 romantic comedy initially didn't end with the title characters getting together. As Reiner explained, the original, sadder ending was only tweaked after a change in his personal life.

"I'd been married for 10 years," Reiner recounted. "I'd been single for 10 years, and I couldn't figure out how I was ever going to be with anybody. That gave birth to 'When Harry Met Sally.' I hadn't met anybody, so it was going to be the two of them seeing each other after years, talking, and then walking away from each other."

But in the final version of the movie, Harry (Billy Crystal) goes to see Sally (Meg Ryan) at a New Year's Eve party, where he tells her he loves her. They share a kiss, and the film reveals that they married three months later.

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This new ending came about after Reiner met his wife, Michele.

"I met her while we were making the film, and I changed the ending," he told Wallace.

Reiner married Michele Singer, a photographer, in 1989, the same year "When Harry Met Sally" was released. The filmmaker was previously married to Penny Marshall from 1971 to 1981.

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"When Harry Met Sally," which famously begins with Crystal's character insisting that men and women can't be friends, was written by Nora Ephron, and it's often cited as one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time. In 2023, Ryan returned to the romantic comedy genre opposite David Duchovny in "What Happens Later," which she also directed.

"(Love) is endlessly interesting to me," Ryan told USA TODAY. "People are trying to sort it out. We're looking at people and asking quite often, 'How are you doing it?' That never stops. It doesn't stop in your 20s."