Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan and Nora Ephron were a perfect match when it came to 90s rom-coms.
Sleepless in Seattle? We all wept when Annie and Sam finally met atop of the Empire State Building. You’ve Got Mail? Talk about a timeless classic.
Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan have starred in three films together, but it could’ve been four!
(Credit: (Image: TriStar Pictures))These two films were released in 1993 and 1998 respectively, obviously both starred Tom and Meg, and were both co-written and directed by Nora.
But fate almost brought the trio of Tom, Meg and Nora together much earlier, in 1989.
You see, Nora wrote the iconic film When Harry Met Sally, which ultimately starred Meg and Billy Crystal, and was directed by Rob Reiner.
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But before Billy took on the leading male role of Harry Burns, it was offered to Tom.
Rita Wilson, Tom’s wife, recently appeared on the podcast Table for Two and revealed that he was asked to star in When Harry Met Sally but turned it down because, at the time, was in the process of divorcing his first wife Samantha Lewes.
“People probably don’t know this, but Tom was offered When Harry Met Sally and he turned it down because he was going through a divorce and he was very happy to not be married,” Rita said.
Tom was originally offered the role Billy Crystal played in When Harry Met Sally.
(Credit: (Image: Getty))“And so he could not understand that a person going through a divorce would have anything other than just like, ‘I’m so happy.’ But I loved that script,” she continued.
While we’re positive that Tom would’ve been fantastic as Harry if he did take the role, there’s no denying the character and potentially the entire movie would’ve been very different, as we can’t envision Tom having the same wit and comedic timing as Billy…
And as When Harry Met Sally is considered one of the best films of all time, perhaps it was for the best that Tom turned it down.
