15 Things You Didn't Know About When Harry Met Sally
9. When The Phone Call Scene Took Sixty Takes
One of the film’s best moments is the phone conversation which involves Sally, Harry and their friends, Marie and Jess. It was the most complex scene to produce as it required three different sets, perfect timing and word perfect speech.
The first set had Bruno Kirby and Carrie Fisher, another for Billy Crystal and the third for Meg Ryan. They were all on the same soundstage, similar to a recording studio. The phones were all connected to each other because if one of the actors made a mistake, there was no way of covering it. It took over sixty takes before they got it right and the main problem was because the phones all had to be hung up in perfect unison.
According to Rob Reiner, take fifty-four was perfect until Bruno messed up his line which came AFTER the phones hanging up, and the whole scene had to be done again.