Word: ephron
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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COOKIE Directed by Susan Seidelman; Screenplay by Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen...
...conflict, a little sex. Good stuff for a movie? Good enough for a pair of terrific movies: When Harry Met Sally . . . , written by Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner; and sex, lies, and videotape, written and directed by Steven Soderbergh. Their characters are quick and engaging; they could be the thirtysomething folks on a good day, in a gilded mirror. As Ephron says, "People who live in cities aren't in car chases. We don't get shot at. What we mainly do is talk on the phone and have dinner." Her film and sex, lies serve...
...When Ephron met Reiner to discuss a script, she recalls, the director said, "I want to do a movie about two people who become friends and are really happy they become friends because they realize that if they had had sex it would have ruined everything. And they have sex and it ruins everything." Start with randy Harry (Billy Crystal) and precise Sally (Meg Ryan) in the Manhattan of your dreams, at the beginning of a beautiful friendship. But are they aware that falling in like can be as dangerous as falling in love? Reiner, who based the film partly...
...This Is Spinal Tap) and the historical romance (The Princess Bride). Crystal, the improv master who is Reiner's closest friend -- "We finish each other's sentences," Crystal says, "and he finishes my lunch" -- meets the challenge of making a compulsive Lothario not just likable but impishly seductive. And Ephron, a helpful Heloise of emotional heartburn, perks the script with clever answers to modern problems. How long should a man hold a woman after making love to her? "Somewhere between 30 seconds and all night." What doubt nags at any woman who lets Mr. Right get away? "You'll have...
...prize at Cannes, Soderbergh was apprehensive. "I thought the film would seem too European for an American audience," he says, "and too dialogue heavy to translate in Europe. I figured ten people would go see it four times, and that would be that." Reiner, a man Ephron describes as being "very fond of his depressions," dared to commit some small optimism on his happy set. As Meg Ryan recalls, "Rob said, 'Wouldn't it be amazing to have this kind of experience, make a great movie, and have people come...