Recently, Tom Hanks’s wife, Rita Wilson, disclosed on the Table for Two With Bruce Bozzi podcast that her husband declined the opportunity to portray the character of Harry in the 1989 romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally due to his personal circumstances at the time.
The actor’s decision to turn down the movie role was primarily driven by his enthusiasm for moving on from his own unsuccessful marriage, as he was apparently over the moon to be ending his relationship with Samantha Lewes at the time.
Rita Wilson shares details on the reason why Tom Hanks turned down the role
“People probably don’t know this, but Tom was offered ‘When Harry Met Sally, and he turned it down because he was going through a divorce, and he was very happy to be not married,” Rita shared during the discussion.
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She further stated that his marital status at the time was not compatible with the role that he was selected to play because the character of Harry gets pretty bummed out about the dissolution of his own marriage in the movie. “And so he could not understand that a person going through a divorce would have anything other than just like, ‘I’m so happy.’” Wilson added. “But I loved that script.”
Director Rob Steiner says he was apprehensive about casting Billy Crystal after Tom Hanks’s rejection
Alongside Tom Hanks declining the role, Richard Dreyfuss, Michael Keaton, and Albert Brooks were among the actors who also rejected it before Billy Crystal was eventually cast for the role opposite Meg Ryan. While speaking with Variety for the 30th anniversary of the film in 2019, Rob Reiner, the director of the movie revealed that he had some reservations in making the decision to go with Crystal.
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“The fear I had was, ‘What if you would [work] with a friend and it doesn’t work out, are we going to destroy a friendship?” he told the news outlet. “Luckily, that fear didn’t come to pass. It turned out way better than anything I could have imagined because not only was he great in the part, it made our friendship better.”