50 Fun Facts About Romance Movies

In Casablanca, which line, though closely associated with the film, is never actually spoken?

Ilsa says 'Play it, Sam. Play As Time Goes By'; Bogart improvised 'Here's looking at you, kid' from a poker game between takes.

Which 1934 screwball comedy was the first film to win the 'Big Five' Oscars?

Legend says Clark Gable's bare chest in one scene dented undershirt sales.

Hattie McDaniel became the first African American to win an Oscar for which 1939 romantic epic?

About 1,400 unknown women were interviewed for the role of Scarlett O'Hara.

Audrey Hepburn won her Best Actress Oscar for playing a runaway princess in which 1953 film?

Blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo only got his credit restored in 2011.

In An Affair to Remember, the lovers agree to reunite atop the Empire State Building after how long?

Terry is hit by a car on her way there; Sleepless in Seattle borrowed the rendezvous wholesale in 1993.

Which composer wrote the music for Breakfast at Tiffany's, including 'Moon River'?

Johnny Mercer supplied the lyrics; Marilyn Monroe was considered before Audrey Hepburn.

The Way We Were was based on writer Arthur Laurents's own college years at which university?

Its title song was Billboard's number one pop hit of 1974.

Which 1970 tearjerker gave the world the line 'never having to say you're sorry'?

Erich Segal wrote the screenplay and the novel at the same time; it was Tommy Lee Jones's film debut.

Dirty Dancing is set at a resort in which region during the summer of 1963?

It was actually filmed in North Carolina and Virginia.

Which Dirty Dancing song won the Oscar for Best Original Song?

Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes also took the Golden Globe and a Grammy for it.

Which 1955 song, sung by the Righteous Brothers, became inseparable from Ghost's pottery-wheel scene?

Ghost was 1990's highest-grossing film and won Whoopi Goldberg an Oscar.

Pretty Woman's original screenplay had what title, and a much darker tone?

J. F. Lawton's cautionary tale about class and prostitution became a big-budget rom-com.

Who delivers the line 'I'll have what she's having' in When Harry Met Sally?

Estelle Reiner's deadpan order in Katz's Deli became one of cinema's most quoted lines.

Sleepless in Seattle's Annie proposes meeting Sam atop the Empire State Building on which day?

The observation deck was recreated on a former naval base in Seattle when the real one was unavailable.

You've Got Mail was the third pairing of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Which was the first?

The 1998 film was based on the 1937 Hungarian play Parfumerie.

Which writer-director made Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail after writing When Harry Met Sally?

She was once married to Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein.

Titanic tied which 1959 epic for the record of eleven Academy Awards?

It was also the first film to gross a billion dollars.

Composer James Horner wrote 'My Heart Will Go On' in secret because James Cameron had said what?

Horner waited for Cameron to be in a good mood before playing it to him.

The Notebook is based on a novel by which author?

Gosling and McAdams won the MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss.

In Notting Hill, William Thacker's shop is what kind of bookstore?

The blue door of his flat was later auctioned for charity.

Which Wet Wet Wet cover from Four Weddings and a Funeral spent fifteen weeks at UK number one?

Richard Curtis later had Billy Mack butcher it as 'Christmas Is All Around' in Love Actually.

Whose poem 'Funeral Blues' is read at the funeral in Four Weddings and a Funeral?

The film was made in six weeks for under £3 million and earned a Best Picture nomination.

Bridget Jones's Diary is a loose modern adaptation of which Jane Austen novel, complete with a Mr Darcy?

Colin Firth's Mark Darcy is the giveaway.

10 Things I Hate About You updates which Shakespeare comedy to a Tacoma high school?

Heath Ledger's bleacher serenade of 'Can't Take My Eyes Off You' took just three takes.

Clueless is loosely adapted from which Jane Austen novel?

Amy Heckerling observed students at Beverly Hills High to get the slang right.

(500) Days of Summer was the feature directing debut of which future Spider-Man director?

Critics compared the nonlinear breakup story to Annie Hall and High Fidelity.

La La Land infamously lost Best Picture to which film after the wrong envelope was read?

Its 14 nominations tied the record, and 32-year-old Damien Chazelle became the youngest Best Director winner.

Which two actors were originally in talks to star in La La Land before Ryan Gosling and Stone were cast?

Chazelle first dreamed up the film at Harvard with composer Justin Hurwitz.

Crazy Rich Asians was the first major studio film with a majority Chinese-descent modern cast since which 1993 film?

It is set largely in Singapore, based on Kevin Kwan's novel.

The 2023 hit Anyone but You, with Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, is based on which Shakespeare play?

Its $220 million gross was hailed as the return of the rom-com to cinemas.

In The Proposal, why does Sandra Bullock's character fake an engagement to her assistant?

Ryan Reynolds plays the long-suffering assistant; Betty White steals scenes as his grandmother.

In How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Kate Hudson plays a columnist for a women's magazine called what?

The dating 'don'ts' come from a picture book of the same name.

In Say Anything..., which Peter Gabriel song does Lloyd Dobler play on a boombox under Diane's window?

Entertainment Weekly named it the best modern romance film in 2002.

Cher won the Best Actress Oscar for playing an Italian-American widow in which 1987 film?

Olympia Dukakis and writer John Patrick Shanley also won; the lovers go to La bohème at the Met.

Brokeback Mountain won Ang Lee the Best Director Oscar but lost Best Picture to which film?

Though set in Wyoming, it was filmed in Alberta.

In Before Sunrise, Jesse and Céline meet on a train and get off to spend one night in which city?

Sequels followed nine years apart: Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013).

The title Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a quotation from a poem by whom?

Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar.

Joe Wright called his 2005 Pride & Prejudice which version of Regency England?

Wright's feature debut set the story earlier than the novel and shot entirely on location in England.

Screenwriter James Ivory became the oldest competitive Oscar winner ever for which 2017 romance?

Timothée Chalamet, at 22, was the third-youngest Best Actor nominee for the same film.

Richard Curtis's 2013 film About Time gives its hero what special ability?

Domhnall Gleeson learns the family secret from his father, played by Bill Nighy.

Silver Linings Playbook was the first film since Reds nominated in all four Oscar acting categories. Who won?

She was the second-youngest Best Actress winner ever.

Groundhog Day was filmed almost entirely in which Illinois town standing in for Punxsutawney?

Harold Ramis, drawing on Buddhism, said Phil's loop lasted about 10,000 years; the studio said two weeks.

Which Jerry Maguire catchphrase belongs to Cuba Gooding Jr.'s Oscar-winning football player?

The film was inspired by real sports agent Leigh Steinberg.

In The Princess Bride, farmhand Westley tells Buttercup he loves her using which three words?

Cary Elwes says fans still open conversations with the line; Wallace Shawn gets 'Inconceivable!' shouted at him.

Which Burt Bacharach song, covered by Diana King, features heavily in My Best Friend's Wedding?

Rupert Everett earned a Golden Globe nomination as Julia Roberts's gay best friend.

In The Holiday, Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet swap homes between Los Angeles and a cottage in which English county?

Jude Law and Jack Black are the men they find waiting.

John Hughes lobbied to change Sixteen Candles' rating from R to what?

It was his directing debut and made a star of Molly Ringwald.

The Big Sick is based on the real-life courtship of Kumail Nanjiani and which co-writer?

Emily is placed in a medically induced coma, and Kumail bonds with her parents at the hospital.

The recurring 'meet-cute' is a convention of which genre?

The genre traces its roots to Ancient Greek comedy and Restoration comedy.

Ghost was the highest-grossing film of which year?

It took about $505 million on a budget of around $22 million and was 1991's most-rented video.