Here Are Some Fun Facts About 'You've Got Mail' in Honor of the Movie's 25th Anniversary
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While there may be no such thing as a perfect world, Nora Ephron movies come quite close to depicting one. Ree Drummond would be the first to tell you that! Any of her beloved films can fit into this category, but right now, our attention is veered towards You've Got Mail! It's a classic '90s film and one of a kind romantic comedy—perfect to put on when you want to watch something light, humorous, and witty. The fashion trends from Meg Ryan, the charming banter from Tom Hanks, and the breathtaking scenery (who doesn't love autumn in New York City?!) exuded in the flick are also worth noting. There's so much to love about You've Got Mail, that we could talk about it forever!
The storyline begins as your typical enemies-to-lovers trope, but ends up becoming so much more than that. Truly! It focuses on Kathleen Kelly (Ryan), owner of a small children's bookshop in New York who is already struggling to keep her business afloat. You can imagine her dismay when Joe Fox (Hanks) moves his very corporate bookstore, Fox Books, just a mere few feet away from hers. Hating each other from the start, the pair would be baffled to know that the anonymous, online love interest they've been secretly chatting with was each other... How can you hate someone and love them at the same time? Well, that's the magic of Ephron's storytelling!
Reminiscing about all of this makes it crazy to think that You've Got Mail celebrated its 25th (!!!) anniversary in December 2023. In honor of this milestone, we decided to list a bunch of fun facts about the movie.
Kathleen's bookstore is actually based on a real-life store in New York City.
While it wasn't filmed inside of it, Kathleen's bookstore (Shop Around the Corner) was heavily inspired by Books of Wonder, an actual bookstore located in the heart of the Big Apple! Ephron and her sister Delia used to visit the cute shop many times in their adult and adolescent years, so it was essentially a no-brainer to model Shop Around the Corner as such.
You used to be able to read the official emails between Kathleen and Joe online.
Warner Bros. once had an official site for the movie that showcased each and every email that was sent between the two protagonists. While that is sadly no longer the case, you can always rewatch the movie a billion times to memorize them yourself!
Meg Ryan never owned a computer before You've Got Mail, funny enough!
She actually received her first ever computer on set of the film.
"I got my first computer when I did that movie," The actress once told Vanity Fair. "I think that the company gave us a computer."
Some of Tom Hanks' funniest lines were ad lib.
Remember the scene when Joe carries the balloons while holding a goldfish at the same time? Well, when he mistakenly pops some of the balloons, Hanks spontaneously said, "good thing it wasn't the fish." It made it into the final cut of the movie!
Meg Ryan actually worked at a real bookstore for a few days before filming.
Ryan and her costar Heather Burns spent about a week working the register and shelving books at Books of Wonder to get into the mindset. We call that dedication!
The kids in the movie didn't even know they were filming.
Hallee Hirsh and Jeffrey Scaperrotta were the child actors who played Joe’s adorable aunt and half brother (yes, it was meant to be ironic).
In an interview with Today, Scaperrotta had something funny to say: “I didn’t know I was actually filming just because of how friendly he was with me [...] Even after shooting, I was, like, still hanging on his shoulders, eating cotton candy, playing with the carnival games.”
Barnes & Noble didn't want to be involved.
That's right! They didn't want to close up shop to their loyal customers, fearing it would drive them away. So, they declined Ephron's request to film inside. With that said...
Fox Books (Joe's bookstore) wasn't real, but it sure looked it.
Would you believe us if we told you that Fox Books didn't really exist, and was built from scratch for the film? Because that's the shocking truth! Barney’s, a once mega-book store that had recently shut down at the time, allowed Ephron to use the defunct location for their set. They managed to get over 25,000 real books delivered to set, and then organized it like a real bookstore. It apparently looked so real, that people walking along the streets kept asking the production crew when the shop would be open! 😂
The movie almost didn't star Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks.
Can you even a picture You've Got Mail without the two Hollywood stars? We sure can't! Turns out, this could have been a reality, because Ryan and Hanks almost turned down their roles—both for different reasons.
Ryan didn't want to do another romantic comedy after having done so many in the past. For Tom, it was more about the constant comparisons the media was making about him and James Stewart, the lead actor in The Shop Around the Corner (which is where Ephron's movie took inspiration from). However, the two ultimately decided to go with it. "I really loved the script and wanted to work with Tom and Nora again," Ryan told Entertainment Weekly.
Some people think they remember the movie ending differently than it did.
Some fans of the movie swear up and down that they remember an alternate ending to You've Got Mail. If you remember, it ends with Kathleen and Joe seemingly in love, hugging each other in Riverside Park. However, some fans say they remember the film ending with Kathleen reading a book to children inside of a now mini version of her bookstore inside Fox Books. When this was brought up to Ephron's sister Delia, she claimed that no such scene ever existed!
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