Sleepless in Seattle poster
Sleepless in Seattle

Half-Assed Internet Research

Drafts; casting changes; soundtrack; box office; Oscars; radio caller; cut Posey; shared door

In the discussion (12)
Approx. transcript time · 00:15:18Read transcript
  • An assertion that Ephron divorced three times is corrected to three marriages, with the last marriage lasting until her death.
  • Jeff Arch reportedly developed a modern An Affair to Remember premise; subsequent drafts involved Ephron, and Delia Ephron reportedly supplied Hoffmann's abbreviations.
  • Reported research gives two Oscar nominations, original screenplay and original song, a $21 million budget and $127.8 million gross; an initial $27.8 million figure is explicitly corrected.
  • Hanks reportedly insisted Jonah initiate the call so Sam would not seem too pathetic; the change is endorsed as a strong story judgment.
  • The unusually extensive Jeff Arch Wikipedia and IMDb material prompts speculation about self-promotion, explicitly not proof that he edited it.
  • Quoted Arch comments dispute how much Ephron improved or saved the script and claim several scenes survived close to his first draft.
  • Arch reportedly placed Sam in a houseboat after seeing a Seattle home on This Old House.
  • Ephron reportedly wanted O'Donnell to supply the scene-stealing comic relief Goldberg provided in Ghost, judged successful.
  • Previously covered research includes rejected drafts, Ephron's precise dialogue and Hanks shaping Sam; Ephron reportedly voiced the disappointed-in-Denver caller.
  • Posey was reportedly cut, later appearing in You've Got Mail; she is imagined as the babysitter but considered too cool for this film's tone.
  • Ephron reportedly shipped the same door between Baltimore and Seattle to visually connect the destined couple.
  • Wilson reportedly auditioned for the lead and improvised the An Affair to Remember monologue, an unusual exception to Ephron’s precise scripting.