According to an interview with screenwriter Jeff Arch in the 11 Jul 1993 LAT, Arch was inspired to write Sleepless in Seattle after seeing an infomercial for motivational speaker Anthony Robbins. Arch ordered Robbins’s audiotapes and, in Jan 1990, flew to La Jolla, CA, to attend one of his seminars. The following month, Arch began writing the script, which he sold to TriStar Pictures in May 1990. An article in the 28 Jun 1993 Austin American Statesman described producer Gary Foster’s “bumpy two-year stretch” trying to get the film made. David S. Ward was hired to rewrite Arch’s script, which was said to contain little comedy, as noted in the 5 Apr 1992 LAT. Larry Atlas also provided rewrites that were “thrown out entirely.” Nora Ephron, who claimed the original script “wasn’t a comedy at all… It was a simple, empty movie,” was brought on to rewrite Ward’s version. Ephron initially took the job because she needed cash and was looking for a quick paycheck.
       The film was originally slated to shoot in Vancouver, British Columbia, as noted in an 11 Jan 1991 Vancouver Sun brief, with actor Dennis Quaid to star. The following year, the 25 Mar 1992 Seattle Post-Intelligencer noted rumors that Garry Marshall would direct the picture with Julia Roberts starring. In the interim, Nick Castle had been attached to direct; however, Castle left the project over “creative differences,” according to a 3 Mar 1992 DV item, as did Marshall and Roberts. A 15 Apr 1992 Newsday item announced that Nora Ephron would direct. Shortly after, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan were set to co-star, as reported in the 29 Apr 1992 DV. Hanks and Ryan had formerly collaborated on Joe Versus the Volcano (1990, see entry).
       In the 23 May 1993 LAT, Nora Ephron credited Jeff Arch with the motif of the 1957 film, An Affair to Remember (see entry), a favorite of Arch’s mother, which in turn was based on the 1939 film Love Affair (see entry). Ephron showed An Affair to Remember to actor Tom Hanks during rehearsals, and the actor reportedly found it laughable. In Jul 1993, around the same time Sleepless in Seattle was released in theaters, Warren Beatty and new wife Annette Bening were set to begin shooting a remake of the 1939 Love Affair. Beatty and Bening’s film, also titled Love Affair, was released in 1994 (see entry).
       Principal photography commenced between 11 and 15 Jul 1992, according to various DV production charts. Filming took place in Seattle, WA; Chicago, IL; Baltimore, MD; and New York City. A 15 Aug 1992 Orange County Register item listed the budget as $25 million and stated that night filming for the past month in Seattle had been disturbing residents’ sleep.
       According to an item in the 6 Aug 1992 Toronto Star, Tom Hanks’s wife, Rita Wilson, beat out several other actresses to play his sister. The item also stated that Hanks lost twenty pounds for the role, after having gained as many for A League of Their Own (1992, see entry).
       A 10 Sep 1992 Chicago Tribune article erroneously described Hanks’s character as an accountant in the Equitable Building, and Ryan’s character as a Chicago Tribune reporter who moves to Baltimore, MD, after being jilted by a series of boyfriends. In early Sep 1992, three days of filming in Chicago took place at Wrigley Field, O’Hare Airport, and on North Michigan Avenue. The production moved to Baltimore, where locations included the Baltimore Sun headquarters, as noted in a 12 Sep 1992 Baltimore Sun item. Baltimore filming concluded on 17 Sep 1992. Production wrapped one week later, on 25 Sep 1992, in New York City, according to the 2 Oct 1992 Austin American Statesman.
       A 2 Jul 1993 LAT item noted that a January research screening led to good word-of-mouth and positive publicity in Premiere magazine, Redbook, Allure, and Movieline. Initially slated for 26 Mar 1993 release, the film was delayed to avoid competition with Indecent Proposal (1993, see entry). According to Nora Ephron, TriStar’s marketing team presented the film as “an underdog.” It was offered as “counter-programming” to summer “blockbuster” films such as The Last Action Hero and Jurassic Park (1993, see entries). The same strategy had been used successfully with When Harry Met Sally… (1989, see entry), a romantic comedy written by Ephron and starring Meg Ryan.
       Sneak previews took place in 750 theaters on 19 Jun 1993, as stated in the 2 Jul 1993 LAT, which cited a final budget of $27 million. The film premiered two nights later, on 21 Jun 1993, at the Loews Fine Arts Cinema in New York City, with a party at the Plaza Hotel, as noted in the 23 Jun 1993 Newsday. A 23 Jun 1993 Los Angeles, CA, premiere raised $2.5 million for a recently formed fundraising arm of the Motion Picture Television Fund, designed to “provide care to the entertainment community.” The event was said to have raised the most money of any benefit premiere in history.
       On 25 Jun 1993, Sleepless in Seattle was released on an estimated 1,500 screens, according to the 22 Jun 1993 LAT. The $17.2 million opening-weekend box-office gross marked the largest opening for a romantic comedy, to date. A 5 Jul 1993 LAT article credited the film’s broad appeal to its lack of violence and “good, clean happy ending,” calling it “a PG poster child and a parent’s dream.” By late Oct, the film had grossed $120,604,912, according to the 26 Oct 1993 DV box-office chart.
       A 23 May 1994 LAT item reported that the soundtrack version of “When I Fall In Love,” by Celine Dion and Clive Griffin, received the second annual Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP) Music Award for best film song.
       The floating home on Lake Union in Seattle, which served as the residence of “Sam Baldwin,” became a tourist attraction as a result of the film. A 29 Sep 1994 NYT article reported that the four-bedroom, 2,000-square-foot house, built atop a 40-by-68-foot raft, recently sold for $560,000.
       According to a 4 Mar 2009 LAT brief, a Broadway musical version of Sleepless in Seattle was in development. A 4 Jun 2013 LAT article stated that Stephen Sondheim turned down the project, and two composer/lyricists were briefly involved before Ben Toth and Sam Forman came on board. The musical, with a book written by Jeff Arch, premiered 2 Jun 2013 at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, CA.
       The film was ranked #10 on AFI’s 2008 list of Top 10 Romantic Comedies, and #45 on AFI’s 2002 list 100 Years…100 Passions. It was nominated for the following Academy Awards: Best Writing (Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen), and Best Music, Original Song (“A Wink And A Smile” by Marc Shaiman and Ramsey McLean).
       End credits include the following: “Clips from ‘An Affair to Remember’ courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; Clip from ‘Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve’ courtesy of dick clark productions inc.; Major League Baseball trademarks licensed by Major League Baseball Properties, Inc.”; “Special thanks to: Washington State Film Commission, Christine Lewis; Seattle Mayor’s Office, Mayor Norm Rice, Donna James; New York Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting; Tiffany & Co., New York; Tiffany & Co. Windows by Gene Moore; Empire State Building and Helmsley-Spear, Inc.; Athenian Inn; Nike; Chicago Film Office; Baltimore City Film Commission, Jay Schlosberg Cohen; Citizens of Baltimore, Maryland; The Baltimore Sun.”