Sleepless In Seattle
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Nora Ephron
Tom Hanks
Meg Ryan
Bill Pullman
Rosie O'donnell
Rob Reiner
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
It's Christmas Eve and radio talk show psychologist Marcia Fieldstone has asked her listening audience what they are wishing and dreaming of during this season of hope. A little boy, who is tuned in from Seattle calls in his wish, a new wife for his father who has been widowed for a year and a half. Meanwhile, all the way across the country, punching buttons on her car radio as she drives from Baltimore to Washington, D.C., Annie Reed hears Jonah and is immediately captivated by him and his selfless Christmas wish. Jonah and his dad are immediately besieged by countless letters from listeners reaching out to help, including thousands of marriage proposals from women across the country. Meanwhile, Annie becomes convinced that it is her destiny to meet Sam, Jonah's lovely dad. And as Annie sees it, there are just two minor problems. First, she is presently engaged to marry another man whom she does love. And, of course, Jonah's dad does not even know yet that he and Annie are made for each other.
Director
Nora Ephron
Cast
Tom Hanks
Meg Ryan
Bill Pullman
Rosie O'donnell
Rob Reiner
John Boylan
Ross Malinger
Amanda Maher
Tom Mcgowan
Donald J. Lee
Caroline Aaron
Latanya Richardson
Calvin Trillin
Julie Janney
Tamera Plank
Tony Zazula
Tom Tammi
Rickie Lee Jones
Matt Smith
Victor Garber
Dana Ivey
Diane Sokolow
Robert Livingston
David Hyde Pierce
Gaby Hoffmann
Rita Wilson
Marguerite Schertle
Brian Mcconnachie
Stephen Mellor
Frances Conroy
Tom Riis Farrell
John P Oates
Le Clanche Durand
Valerie Wright
Carey Lowell
Hannah Cox
Kelly Borisy
Jeff Mazzola
Michael Badalucco
Butch Stevenson
Victor Morris
Philip Levy
Barbara Garrick
Mary A Kelly
Chris Gibbin
Philip Mihalski
Sidney Armus
Kevin O'morrison
Rich Hawkins
Linda Wallem
Crew
Kimberly Adams-galligan
Harold Adamson
Robin Agron
Richmond Aguilar
Leroy Anderson
Jeff Arch
Jeff Arch
Jeff Arch
Harold Arlen
Dana Armonda
Louis Armstrong
Gene Autry
Gene Autry
Tamara Bally
Robert Balzarini
Bruce Barbour
Jane Bartelme
Barbara Bass
Eve Battaglia
Jack Bauer
Charley Beal
Sally Sue Beisel
Janey Bergam
Walter Bernard
Louis Bertini
Lucas Bielan
Stan Bochner
Deborah Boyd
Linda Boyland
James S Brown
Judith Brown
Mary Buri
Rick Butler
Kenny Cabrera
Colleen Callaghan
Jennifer Campbell
Kristin Capp
Hoagy Carmichael
Amy Caton-ford
Paul Caven
Al Cerullo
Agnès Challe-grandits
Ray Charles
Robert Chestnut
Calvin Chin
Terri Clemmons
Joe Cocker
Jay Schlosberg Cohen
Nat King Cole
Harold Collins
Kay Colvin
Betty Comden
Harry Connick
Harry Connick
Jeff Cronenweth
Patrick Crowley
Patrick Crowley
Charlie Daboub
Peter Damien
Mitchell Dauterive
Foster Denker
Lee Dichter
Celine Dion
Mort Dixon
Daren R. Dochterman
Debra Donaldson
Walter Donaldson
Paul Drost
Andrea Dupras
Jimmy Durante
Dan Edelstein
Leonard Engleman
Delia Ephron
Nora Ephron
Dale Evans
Steven Eyrse
Page Feldman
Rick Fichter
David Filippi
Judie Fixler
David Foster
Gary Foster
Tim G Foster
Kirk Francis
Hugo Friedhofer
Richard Friedlander
Jennifer Gardner
Joseph Garzero
Boris Gavrilovic
Aussie Geer
Dow Giffith
Gershon Ginsburg
Milton Glaser
Walter Glinoweicki
Sanford Golden
Adolph Green
Clive Griffin
Clay A. Griffith
Nord Haggerty
Oscar Hammerstein Ii
Dick Hancock
E. Y. Harburg
John Helde
Ray Henderson
Thad Hendrickson
Amy Henkels
Amy Herman
Edward Heyman
Joe Hicks
Bob Hilliard
Margee Hocking
Lawrence Hoff
Roberta Holinko
Nick Hubbard
Herman Hupfeld
Michael Hyde
Sharon Ilson
Kenton Jakub
Donna James
Kevin Jewison
Murray Jones
Gus Kahn
Robert Kaiser
Bert Kalmar
Gene Kearney
Mary A Kelly
Aleen Keshishian
Richard King
Michael Kirchberger
Barbara Anne Klein
Dan Korintus
Paul Kostick
Diane L Langone
Donald J. Lee
Tim Lee
Paul A Levin
Christine Lewis
Sarah Manley
David Mann
John Marston
Chandler Martin
Brick Mason
James Mazzola
Jeff Mazzola
Bruce V. Mcbroom
Leo Mccarey
Michael J Mccombe
Larry Mcconkey
Brian Mcdonald
Steven Mckinney
Ramsey Mclean
Elizabeth Mcmullin
Johnny Mercer
Nick Meyers
Nick Meyers
Dennis Milliken
Eytan Mirsky
Gene Moore
Michael H Moran
Addie Moray
Maggie Murphy
Jim Nau
Randy Nolen
Chris Northup
Jack Norworth
Kaye Nottbusch
Sven Nykvist
Sven Nykvist
Kevin O'brien
Bitty O'sullivan-smith
Lynda Obst
Terry Odem
Marty Oppenheimer
Marty Oppenheimer
Conrad Palmisano
Conrad Palmisano
Mitchell Parish
Stanley Pasey
George Patsos
J Pierpont
Jeffrey Pollack
Paul Postelnicu
Judy Pursley
Angela Quiles
Jane Raab
Bob Reitano
Norm Rice
Bob Riggs
Sally Roberts
Roy Rogers
David Rogow
Laura Rosenthal
Jodi Rothfield
Lisa M Rowe
Harry Ruby
Judy Ruskin Howell
Katie Ryan
Chris Scheetz
John H Schulz
Rick Seaman
Videos
Movie Clip
Trailer
Hosted Intro
Film Details
Technical Specs
Award Nominations
Best Original Screenplay
Best Original Song
Articles
Sleepless in Seattle
The film follows its two main characters who live on opposite sides of the United States. In Seattle, widower Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) is trying to start a new life for himself and his young son, Jonah (Ross Malinger). Jonah recognizes his father is having trouble coping with his loss and calls a radio talk show for advice. Jonah eventually puts a reluctant Sam on the phone. In Baltimore, Annie Reed (Meg Ryan) hears Sam describe his magical relationship with his wife. Even though she is already engaged, Annie becomes obsessed with the man dubbed "Sleepless in Seattle."
Later, Annie and her best friend, Becky (Rosie O'Donnell), discuss romance while watching the Cary Grant classic An Affair to Remember (1957). Annie comments, "Now that was when people KNEW how to be in love." Becky replies, "That's your problem! You don't want to be in love. You want to be in love in a movie." Nora Ephron thought this was one of the intriguing aspects of Sleepless in Seattle and noted that "It had all these weird, wonderful ideas to play with, including all this stuff about what the movies do to your brain and how so many of our notions about romance are based on the movies we've seen."
Ephron learned about movies at an early age thanks to her parents, screenwriters Henry and Phoebe Ephron. Their work includes the films, Carousel (1956), Daddy Long Legs (1955), and Desk Set (1957). The Ephrons also wrote a play loosely based on letters Nora sent them from Wellesley College. The play was later made into the film Take Her, She's Mine (1963) with Sandra Dee and Jimmy Stewart.
Nora Ephron began her career as a journalist for The New York Post. She then went on to write the semi-autobiographical novel Heartburn, which was made into a film in 1986. Ephron received Academy Award nominations for her screenplays for Silkwood (1983) and When Harry Met Sally (1989). She received her third nomination for co-writing the script for Sleepless in Seattle.
Tom Hanks initially turned down the role of Sam Baldwin thinking he wasn't right for the part, but later changed his mind after Nora Ephron rewrote the script. Hanks liked that the role was more serious than the parts he'd played in his earlier movies. In describing his character, Hanks stated, "The guy is enmeshed in grieving, and no one has to work hard in buying that attractive premise, as opposed to a guy who gets off the airline and picks up the wrong suitcase and it's full of uranium."
It may be easy to understand Sam Baldwin, but it was more difficult for Ephron to build a love story between two characters before they ever even meet. In The Films of Tom Hanks, authors Lee Pfeiffer and Michael Lewis describe one of the ways Ephron helped bridge the gap between Sam and Annie, "Ryan was going in one door in Baltimore while Hanks was going through another in Seattle. To seal a bond between the actors, Ephron actually had the same door transported between the cities."
After the success of Sleepless in Seattle, many people eagerly awaited another film teaming Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. In 1998, Nora Ephron paired them up again in the romantic comedy You've Got Mail, a modern version of the Ernst Lubitsch film The Shop Around the Corner (1940).
Director: Nora Ephron
Producer: Gary Foster
Screenplay: Nora Ephron, David S. Ward, and Jeff Arch. Story by Jeff Arch.
Cinematography: Sven Nykvist
Art Direction: Charley Beal, Gershon Ginsburg
Music: Marc Shaiman
Cast: Tom Hanks (Sam Baldwin), Meg Ryan (Annie Reed), Ross Malinger (Jonah Baldwin), Rosie O'Donnell (Becky), Bill Pullman (Walter), Rob Reiner (Jay), David Hyde Pierce (Dennis Reed), Rita Wilson (Suzy), Calvin Trillin (Uncle Milton).
C-106m. Letterboxed.Closed captioning.
by Deborah Looney
Sleepless in Seattle
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Nora Ephron, David S Ward and Jeffrey Arch were nominated for best original screenplay (1993) by the Writers Guild of America.
Released in United States Summer June 25, 1993
Released in United States on Video December 8, 1993
Nick Castle was once attached as director.
Juliet Taylor received the Casting Society of America's Artio Award for her work casting this film.
Completed shooting September 25, 1992.
Began shooting July 13, 1992.
Released in United States Summer June 25, 1993
Released in United States on Video December 8, 1993