Trivia / Sleepless in Seattle

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• Actor-Inspired Element: Tom Hanks felt his character was underwritten, so he was invited to help rewrite some of his scenes to improve. Notably, he felt Sam's relationship with Jonah should be more paternal than maternal - in the original draft, Sam turned down a weekend with Victoria to avoid upsetting Jonah, but Tom Hanks felt the character would be more determined to get with her after so many years being single.
• Breakthrough Hit: This helped get Nora Ephron pegged as one of the great Romantic Comedy directors of the 90s.
• Cast Incest: Tom Hanks' wife Rita Wilson as his character's sister.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Rita Wilson had been auditioning for Becky, but Nora Ephron felt she was a better fit for Suzy.
• Completely Different Title: Continuing the trend of the Chinese speakers not applying a literal translation to Hollywood film titles, this movie is titled Skies of Synchronicity in Hong Kong.
• Creative Differences: Nick Castle was supposed to direct, but he left after disliking Nora Ephron's rewrite, feeling she had stripped the film of emotion. She herself then stepped into the director's chair.
• Creator-Chosen Casting: Annie was written with Meg Ryan in mind, and when Nora Ephron was brought on to polish the script, she envisioned the actress in the part too.
• Dark Horse Casting: Clarisse the babysitter was played by Amanda Maher, a waitress Nora Ephron discovered in a bar in Seattle, feeling she was a natural.
• Deleted Role: Parker Posey was cast in a role that was cut from the film, and Nora Ephron made it up to her by giving her a bigger part in You've Got Mail.
• Money, Dear Boy: Nora Ephron accepted the job to script doctor the film as easy money she needed.
• Never Work with Children or Animals: Nathan Watt was originally cast as Jonah, but was replaced after a few days, because Tom Hanks found him to be too disruptive on set.
• Production Posse: The second collaboration between Nora Ephron and Meg Ryan after When Harry Met Sally... and before You've Got Mail. Rob Reiner, who had directed the former, has a small role here as well.
• The Red Stapler: An Affair to Remember experienced a revival in popularity over being featured prominently in this movie. It's even been theorised that this was a factor in star Deborah Kerr being presented with an honorary Oscar the next year.
• Referenced by...:
  • Canadian figure skater Nicolas Nadeau performed to "A Wink and a Smile" by Harry Connick Jr. from this film's soundtrack for his short program during the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 competitive seasons.
  • In an episode of The Critic, Siskel and Ebert go their separate ways, but they're miserable without each other. Jay gets them back together by tricking them into going to the Empire State Building's roof and rigging the lights of a nearby building to form a heart.
    Ebert: Oh, this is just a rip-off of Sleepless in Seattle.
    Siskel: Which was in itself a rip-off of An Affair to Remember.
    Siskel and Ebert: Which wasn't that good of a movie to start with.
  • In Infinite Craft, "Sleepless in Seattle" is a possible crafting recipe.
• Technology Marches On:
  • Jonah explains his far-too-advanced-for-his-age knowledge of sex by shrugging and saying, "Jed's got cable". Nowadays, every household in America has cable, even if it's just the basic channels, but at the time this movie was made, cable wasn't anywhere near universal (only about 4 out of 10 households had it). Even at its height, cable wasn't close to "near universal", and today it's exactly as common as it was when the movie was made (40% of households). The real technological change that makes this scene seem old-fashioned is the same one that led cable to its decline——the Internet, which in turn is near universal.
  • The green text on black background computer interfaces do the same.
• Those Two Actors: Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks also star together in Joe Versus the Volcano and You've Got Mail.
• Throw It In!:
  • The scene between Tom Hanks and Victor Garber crying over The Dirty Dozen was completely improvised during the take.
  • Annie's worried look as she runs for the Empire State Building was actually because the shoes Meg Ryan was wearing didn't fit properly, and she was trying not to trip over them as she ran.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The story was first conceived as a play, where two people fall in love while speaking on the phone without meeting in person.
  • Julia Roberts, Kim Basinger, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jodie Foster, Nicole Kidman, Demi Moore, Natasha Richardson and Debra Winger lobbied for the role of Annie.
  • Dennis Quaid was considered for the role of Sam, as he was dating Meg Ryan at the time, but was turned down for not seeming funny enough. Kevin Costner was who the part was written for.
  • Jason Schwartzman auditioned for the role of Jonah Baldwin.
  • Garry Marshall was originally slated to direct.
  • The original script had both Annie and Sam leaving Chicago for a fresh start after devastating losses—a breakup in Annie's case, with her returning to Baltimore to be close to her family. The opening scenes would have had them passing each other in the airport, completely oblivious to each other and the credits sequence would have seen their planes taking off in opposite directions, rather than only Sam's in the completed film.
  • Annie was also first written to be a reporter based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
  • An early draft had Sam himself calling the radio station, but it was changed to Jonah, with David S Ward, who had been hired to rewrite the script, maintaining that no self respecting man would publicly air his emotional grievances.
  • Bill Pullman recalls the film being pitched to him as a Love Triangle similar to The Philadelphia Story, with Walter in the 'Mike' role played by James Stewart in that, and he was surprised that the part ended up much smaller.

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