Sleepless In Seattle: 11 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The Tom Hanks And Meg Ryan Movie

The Ending At The Empire State Building Originally Looked Much Different

The final moments of Sleepless in Seattle (Annie finally properly meeting Sam at the top of the Empire State Building) make for an all-time great romantic comedy ending, but Nora Ephron admitted during the commentary that she initially had trouble when working on that section of the script. And just like she did with the “NY” scene earlier in the movie, the director called on her sister, Delia Ephron to help make the scene work.

Initially, Sam and Jonah had already exited the Empire State Building by the time Annie had gotten there, but the Ephron sisters just didn’t like the way it played out. After thinking it over, Delia Ephron came up with the idea of having the father and son still at the building but on their way back to the top just as Annie was able to head down.