The son of famous comedian and filmmaker Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner first gained public attention primarily as an actor (most recognizably as "Meathead" on the hit television series "All In The Family"), but like his father, soon made the successful transition to writer and director. Racking up an impressive body of work over the past two decades, Reiner has become one of the few modern Hollywood filmmakers to earn both critical plaudits and considerable commercial success at the box office.

His early films such as the romantic comedy The Sure Thing, the sleeper hit Stand By Me and the fantastical The Princess Bride, continue to be favorites on home video, and Reiner has continued his prolific career with such diverse fare as the horrific Misery and the drama The Ghosts Of Mississippi, and recently returned to the genre of romantic comedy-drama (which he helped revitalize with When Harry Met Sally) with the experimental The Story of Us in 1999.

Currently, he balances his film work with stumping for his favorite political causes and devoting much of his time to charitable causes (his TV special for parents "I Am Your Child" earned an Emmy nomination in 1997.) Laura Gross had the opportunity to chat with the director about his work, DVD and the upcoming release of perhaps his most beloved film, When Harry Met Sally...

Laura Gross: What do you think it is about When Harry Met Sally that's given it such longevity?

Rob Reiner: I think because it's honest. I mean, we have a lot of people talking about how they met and fell in love all the way through the film and that's something everybody can relate to.

LG: Did you know at the time that this was really going to be special?

RR: No. You know, you're just making a movie; you don't really think about whether it's gonna strike a chord or whether or not people are gonna like it or not. I just make films that try to do something that's honest, to be honest to how human behavior is and then hopefully people like it.

LG: It does have that sense of timelessness -- that you could watch this movie 50 years from now or it could be 50 years ago. At the core of it, it doesn't matter what era it's set in. When you were filming, were you thinking of that, that you wanted it to be timeless?

RR: Well, you know, you always hope that something will be kind of timeless. And I think if you notice that, like I said, there's this motif running through the film where you met all these people talking about how they met and fell in love. Subsequently I've met a number of people who have said that they had similar kind of experiences where they've known the person for a long time and they've been friends for a very long time before they decided to get married. So, it's obviously connects with a lot of people.
 

LG: And then the chemistry between Billy and Meg, which is very real and obviously very important. Can you talk about how you direct that? How do you help the chemistry and how much of that chemistry just happens?

RR: I think most of the time, chemistry like that just happens. You get lucky. I knew Billy would work great in the part because we were such close friends at the time. You know, he was almost like an extension of me, and Billy was very much understanding that, who I was. And he is very similar in a lot of his feelings, so that was easy.

And then when Meg came in and they read together, right away, we knew there was something good there. They hit it off right away. And you know, that, that's something that you can't create. You can't create chemistry. It's either there or it's not there.

LG: You said Billy knew you and what you were trying to say. What did Meg bring?

RR: Meg has those rare qualities of somebody who is attractive, projects sexuality, projects intelligence, and can play drama and also has a great sense of humor. That's a very rare thing to find that in one person. She had all those things. In order for a picture like this to work, it's a romantic comedy, you've got to be rooting for the people to get together, and you also have to have a romantic feeling for them. You have two very likable people that can both play comedy and drama, and they can also project intelligence. Those are hard qualities to find in one person, and Meg certainly has that.

LG: How about Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby? What do you think they added?

RR: Well, again, we're talking about very smart people with Billy and Meg, so their friends obviously had to be on that same level. And Carrie is another person who's brilliantly funny, extremely intelligent, and has a great wit. Bruno the same. He's a really good actor, has a great sense of humor and also can play very real and very honest. And that's what this called for, you know, it's not sketch comedy. This is a very real examination of human behavior. You have to find people who can deliver on that. And, at the time, Billy and Bruno were very, very close friends, too. So there was a natural connection there.

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