Sleepless in Seattle

''Sleepless in Seattle'' is a 1993 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Nora Ephron, from a screenplay she wrote with David S. Ward and Jeff Arch. Starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, the film follows a journalist (Ryan) who, despite being newly engaged, becomes enamored with a recently widowed architect (Hanks), when the latter's son calls in to a talk radio program requesting a new partner for his grieving father. In addition to Bill Pullman, Ross Malinger, and Rob Reiner, the film features an ensemble supporting cast also consisting of Rosie O'Donnell, Gaby Hoffman, Victor Garber, Rita Wilson, Barbara Garrick, and Carey Lowell.

Inspired by the romance film ''An Affair to Remember'' (1957), ''Sleepless in Seattle'' was conceived as a romantic drama by Arch in 1989. Several studios rejected his script, deterred by the idea that its main couple does not meet for nearly the entire film. Arch submitted his script to producer Gary Foster in 1990. Foster strongly believed in the film's potential but struggled to get it made by TriStar Pictures for several years, finding its emotional script promising but unsophisticated. Ward and Ephron were among several writers hired to re-write the script into a funnier film, with Ephron eventually being promoted to director once Nick Castle departed over disagreeing with her comedic approach. Although both Hanks and Ryan had been favored for the lead roles from the beginning, several other actors expressed interest in both parts, while Hanks often disagreed with Ephron over his character's material. The film was shot mostly in Seattle during the summer of 1992. Several of its most pivotal scenes were filmed on a former naval base due to the city's lack of sound stages, including a recreation of the Empire State Building's observation deck when the New York skyscraper was not available.

''Sleepless in Seattle'' was released on June 25, 1993, to positive reviews, receiving praise for Ephron's writing and direction, as well as Hanks and Ryan's performances. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards at the 1994 ceremony: Best Original Screenplay and Best Original Song. Despite competition from several blockbusters released around that same summer, the film was a surprise commercial success, earning $17 million during its opening weekend (the highest opening for a romantic comedy at the time), and ultimately grossing over $227 million worldwide. It was one of the highest-grossing films of 1993, and remains one of the most successful romantic comedies in box office history. The soundtrack was also successful, peaking at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200.

Several critics and media publications agree that ''Sleepless in Seattle'' is one of the greatest romantic comedy films of all-time. The film is also credited with establishing Ephron as a celebrated romantic comedy filmmaker.

Plot

Chicago architect Sam Baldwin loses his wife Maggie to cancer, and he and their eight-year-old son Jonah start a new life in Seattle, but they continue to mourn. A year later on Christmas Eve, Jonah calls in to a radio talk show and persuades a reluctant Sam to go on the air to talk about how much he misses Maggie. Thousands of women from around the country hear the program and are touched by the story and write to Sam.

One of the listeners is Annie Reed, a '' Baltimore Sun'' reporter who is engaged to Walter, but feels there is something missing from their relationship. After watching the film ''An Affair to Remember'', Annie writes a letter suggesting that Sam meet her on top of the Empire State Building on Valentine's Day. She decides not to mail it, but her friend and editor Becky does it for her and later agrees to send Annie to Seattle.

Sam begins dating a co-worker, Victoria, whom Jonah dislikes. When Jonah reads Annie's letter addressed to both of them, he instinctively feels that she could 'be the one,' (it mentions the Baltimore Orioles), but he fails to convince his father to go to New York on Valentine's Day to meet Annie. At the urging of his friend Jessica, Jonah replies to her, agreeing to the New York meeting.

While dropping Victoria off at the airport for a flight, Sam sees Annie exiting from her plane and is mesmerized by her, although he has no idea who she is. She later secretly watches Sam and Jonah playing on the beach together. The next day she goes again to Sam's houseboat but when she sees Sam's sister Suzy with him, she mistakenly assumes Suzy is his girlfriend. Sam recognizes Annie from the airport and says "hello" but Annie only responds with "hello" before leaving. After returning to Baltimore, Annie goes to New York to meet Walter for Valentine's Day.

With Jessica's help, Jonah flies to New York and goes to the Empire State Building to find Annie. When Sam discovers this, he grabs a later flight to follow him, and he finds Jonah on the observation deck. Meanwhile, Annie sees the skyscraper from the Rainbow Room where she is dining with Walter and confesses her doubts to him, amicably ending their engagement. She rushes to the Empire State Building and arrives on the observation deck just moments after the doors to the other elevator close with Sam and Jonah inside.

The observation deck is empty, but Annie discovers Jonah's backpack. As she pulls out his teddy bear from the bag, Sam and Jonah emerge from the elevator to retrieve it, and the three meet. After Sam and Annie stare at each other in recognition, Sam prepares to leave and offers his hand to Annie. A happy Jonah then enters the elevator together with the two as the doors close.

Cast

Production

Origins and development

In 1989, ''Sleepless in Seattle'' was conceived by Jeff Arch, a struggling writer and former cinematographer who was working as an English and taekwondo teacher at the time. Recalling that the film was largely conceived out of frustration with his career, Arch had experienced little to no success as a writer prior to ''Sleepless in Seattle'', conceding he simultaneously had little reason to continue writing and little left to lose. Following the birth of his son, Arch convinced himself to write at least three films in one year, the second of which was ''Sleepless in Seattle''. The story began as a play about two people falling in love over the telephone without meeting in person. Struggling to develop an original love story, Arch initially found most of the reasons he conceived to keep the couple apart unconvincing. He ultimately decided that, unlike typical romance plots in which the main characters bicker for most of the film after they "meet cute", his couple would not meet until the end of the film, feeling unprecedented confidence that ''Sleepless in Seattle'' would be successful as long as he "got these people to the top of the Empire State Building on Valentine's Day". The writer drew inspiration from several sources, namely the French film ''And Now My Love'' (1974), and a ''Washington Post'' article he had read about women hiring private investigators to uncover information about their romantic partners. Arch recounted that the film's remaining ideas formed organically after looking up into a star-lit sky one evening and assuring himself that "for every star in the sky there's a good idea". Arch was also inspired by motivational speaker Tony Robbins, completing the script in early 1990 shortly after attending one of his seminars.

Despite Arch believing in ''Sleepless in Seattle'''s success wholeheartedly, several parties warned him about the unlikelihood of the film being made due to the lack of scenes shared by its lead couple. He pitched the film to at least six studios and executives, all of whom rejected it claiming audiences would not be interested in watching a film whose main couple does not meet. Desperate, Arch's agent Dave Warden submitted the spec script to producer Gary Foster in 1990. Although Foster typically discards new scripts that fail to captivate him within its first 25 pages, he claims to have read past the 25th page of Arch's script unnoticed, only to find he was crying by the last page. Immediately noticing the script's potential, Foster hoped ''Sleepless in Seattle'' would serve as his breakthrough film as a producer (despite having already produced four films by that point), and submitted the script to TriStar Pictures executive Richard Fischoff, whose studio had produced all of his previous films. At first Fischoff ignored Foster's request to read the script himself instead of his staff, who ultimately passed on it. The producer predicted that staff readers would fail to realize that the film worked despite being unconventional. After pleading from Foster, Fischoff eventually relented and read the script, optioning it to TriStar a few days later. After struggling as a writer for several years, ''Sleepless in Seattle'' was Arch's first script to be optioned as a film.

Eventually TriStar chairman Mike Medavoy was heavily promoting the film, and Foster began interviewing potential directors shortly after. Nick Castle had been slated to write and direct ''Hook'' (1991), a big-budget adaptation of ''Peter Pan'' also for TriStar, but he was eventually removed from the film in favor of Steven Spielberg. The studio re-assigned Castle to ''Sleepless in Seattle'' as a consolation. Garry Marshall had also been considered to direct. While Foster retained sole producer credit, the film was co-executive produced by Lynda Obst

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