20 August 2021, 09:59
You’ve Got Mail was one of the most successful romantic comedies of the late ’90s starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan as the leads in the iconic film.
Released in 1998, You’ve Got Mail tells the story of two bookstore owners, Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) and Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan).
joe owned a book store while kathleen owned an independent bookstore. the couple falls in love through dial-up internet and the couple is unaware that they are business rivals. and you can’t help but fall in love with them.
read more: The 30 Best Romantic Comedies Ever, Ranked
here are 10 book facts about the classic rom-com movie that got an email you might not know about.
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meg ryan received her first computer while on set
You have the email that was ahead of its time and introduced many of us to the internet and all it had to offer.
The same goes for its main star, Meg Ryan, as she didn’t have a personal computer until she received one on set. It is believed that he sent his own email to tom hanks!
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marvel boss kevin feige taught tom hanks and meg ryan how to use technology
Before directing the Marvel Cinematic Universe full-time, Kevin Feige was a production assistant working on the set of You’ve Got Mail.
one of her responsibilities was teaching meg, tom, and principal nora ephron how to use computers and send email.
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kathleen’s bookstore is based on an actual store in new york city
at you’ve got mail, kathleen’s children’s bookstore is based on books of wonder, which was based on west 18th st in new york city.
the reason for this is because director nora and her sister delia ephron have shopped at the store since it opened in 1980. books of wonder is still open and has since changed locations.
read more: 10 facts you may not know about the ghost starring patrick swayze and demi moore
The store around the corner in you’ve got mail was not filmed in a real bookstore, but it did have over 7,000 real books on set.
Elsewhere, the fox books in the film were based on the barnes & noble. the franchise did not allow the production of you’ve got mail to film at any of their locations, so they used an abandoned barney’s department store.
fox books was built from the ground up and an estimated 25,000 books were used on the set. nora asked that all the books be stored in the correct section and there was also a cafeteria.
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the film had a different name before its release due to possible trademark issues
The movie was originally titled You’ve Got Mail, but it was changed after an interesting discovery.
a consultant hired by warner bros discovered that aol hadn’t registered their iconic “you’ve got mail” greeting. Elwood Edwards first recorded the salute for the company in 1989 and his request for voice credit in the film was denied.
you have an email that you also had to ask the person with the username “shopgirl” to leave so kathleen could use it in the movie.
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dave chappelle was allowed to improvise throughout his performance
Before joining the cast of You’ve Got Mail, Dave Chapelle turned down a role in Forrest Gump.
dave was eager to take on the role of kevin in the movie as a result of this. Kevin was Joe’s business partner in You’ve Got Mail. While filming, Nora gave Dave the creative freedom to enhance all of his lines for the film.
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michael palin had quite a story, but he was cut from the movie
The movie actually also starred Monty Python legend Michael Palin in a subplot in which Kathleen’s boyfriend Frank (Greg Kinnear) tries to help save the corner store with the help of “william spungeon, the most famous solo author since jd salinger.”
spungeon was played by palin, and the character comes out to show his support and how he was in love with kathleen’s late mother. he also had a moment where kathleen has to knee him in the groin after he walks up to her.
read more: pretty woman: the beautiful story of how julia roberts convinced richard gere to take the role
however, the scenes were cut from the movie, which, by the looks of it, was probably a good thing (as much as we love sir michael!).
meanwhile, when the email he received was reviewed, it was too long and several other subplots had to be cut from the final edit.
this includes christina (heather burns) dating, george (steve zahn) dating someone he thinks might be the rooftop killer, and pretty much every scene with veronica (deborah rush).
In the original script you have an email, joe and kathleen’s exes patricia (parker posey) and frank (greg kinnear) also end up hooking up.
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tom hanks improvised an iconic moment in you’ve got mail
During You’ve Got Mail, Tom improvised one of Joe’s most memorable moments in the movie. when joe leaves the store around the corner after meeting kathleen, she closes the store door on the balloons she had for her family.
While holding a fish in his other hand, Joe said, “Good thing it wasn’t the fish.”
the fish was won earlier in the movie at a fair and tom improvised the whole thing; nora liked what she had done and kept it in the final edit of you’ve got mail.
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meg ryan and heather burns prepped for their roles in a real bookstore
meg and heather trained together in a real bookstore before they started filming youve got mail. they did this to make their acting more “natural” as their characters worked through the film.
speaking to vanity fair, heather said, “we worked on books of wonder at the children’s bookstore for a week. we learned the register to look natural when we walked into the store.”
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you’ve got mail had future stars in their supporting cast
You have an email with an impressive cast and it even featured stars who were in their early careers.
This included Chris Messina in one of his earliest roles as a fox seller. Her character was a clueless sales associate who worked at Fox Books and needed Kathleen’s help.
Since this role, Chris has played a leading role as Danny Castellano in the Mindy Project and most recently played Victor Zsasz in Birds of Prey.
sara ramírez also starred in you’ve got mail as rose the zabars cashier – it was sara’s first acting role according to imdb. since she got the mail, sara has gone on to play dr. callie torres in grey’s anatomy.
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nora saw it as the sequel to sleepless in seattle
nora always saw that you have mail “like the sequel to sleepless” in seattle, according to her sister delia. This is because Nora got to work with Tom and Meg once again on another romantic movie.
“nora always thought of this movie as the sequel to sleepless. And even though they’re not the same characters or anything in our heads, it was always going to be for Meg and Tom,” Ella Delia explained to Vanity Fair.
“In our heads it was the sequel, although strictly speaking it’s not ‘the sequel’. it was them back together and they are magical together. so some of that has to do with how rare it is when rom-coms have the kind of chemistry that they did.”