Outside of having one of the greatest rom-com plots of all time (if not the greatest), When Harry Met Sally boasts some of the most gorgeous nature shots of New York City ever caught on film. Billy Crystal reveals to TV Insider that weather almost deprived us of one of its most picturesque scenes. Had they waited just one more day to film it, they would have lost the perfect shot.
When Harry Met Sally shows the changing seasons so idyllically. Crystal tells TV Insider its cinematography is “underrated in that way.” One of the film’s most famous moments takes place in Central Park. In it, Harry (Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) stroll through the park talking about their odd sex dreams before going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
They’re surrounded by gorgeous autumn leaves in the scene. “It was timed that way,” Crystal says. And the timing was kismet. Just one day later, their perfect backdrop was gone.
“Barry Sonnenfeld was a [director of photography] on the movie who later became a great director himself, and he was a cinematographer,” Crystal explains. “I remember we were shooting a really lovely scene in Central Park where she tells me about this dream that she has, and it’s a just really lovely little scene before we go into the Temple of Dendur. We did the scene, we finished the scene, it rained, and the leaves were gone. The next day they were just gone.”
“Fall became winter in a day,” Crystal continues. “It was one of those [days]. I remember the date. It was November 11th, and it just ended. It just ended.”
The City Slickers star knows how beloved this film is and the way it looks plays a big part in that. “It’s a beautiful looking movie, and I think underrated in that way, the way that Barry photographed us,” he says. “It’s simple and elegant.”
Harry and Sally were lucky to meet each other that one day in college. The rest of us are lucky the film stuck to its schedule.