Names like Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks, and Nora Ephron just go together. That was the case for the 1993 flick Sleepless in Seattle. The flick, both written and directed by Ephron, starred Ryan and Hanks in their first of two movies penned by Ephron, the other being the 1998 film You’ve Got Mail. Now, alongside that movie, as well as When Harry Met Sally, which also stars Ryan and was penned by Ephron, the movie is hitting a free streamer in July. Beginning July 1, you can find Sleepless in Seattle on Pluto TV. The logline for Sleepless in Seattle is as follows:
“After the death of his wife, Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) moves to Seattle with his son, Jonah (Ross Malinger). When Jonah calls in to a talk-radio program to find a new wife for his father, Sam grudgingly gets on the line to discuss his feelings. Annie Reed (Meg Ryan), a reporter in Baltimore, hears Sam speak and falls for him, even though she is engaged. Unsure where it will lead, she writes Sam a letter asking him to meet her at the Empire State Building on Valentine’s Day.”
Wait, Tom Hanks Was “Cranky” on the Set of ‘Sleepless in Seattle’?
While the name may imply a lack of sleep, which is guaranteed to make anyone grumpy or “cranky”, star Tom Hanks apparently took it a step further in the 1993 romcom. In a profile for the New Yorker, Hanks detailed his experience playing Sam Baldwin and working with Nora Ephron on the film. The “cranky” attitude, as Hanks details, actually came from the friction of working under Ephron, finding her “intimidating.” Hanks explained to The New Yorker, “Nora, she was tough. She would say, ‘Hmm, I know what you want to do with that moment, but I hate it. And so, therefore, let’s not do it that way.'” Hanks says:
“I was very cranky, particularly when I first met her to do Sleepless in Seattle, because I was really big and, you know, I had some hits under my belt. We got together, and we were going to make this movie about a guy and a kid and a la di da di da—Sleepless in Seattle. And she was very intimidating, right off the bat. When we were working on the rehearsals for it, I realized that one of the things that was driving me nuts about the project is that Nora and Delia Ephron, who helped on the screenplay, are—-sisters, but they are also mothers. It was a movie about a father. And I said, ‘You guys are the wrong gender to understand what’s going on in this scene between me and my son.’”
You can watch Sleepless in Seattle on Pluto TV. Stay with Collider for the latest updates.
