Rob Reiner reflects on awkwardness of directing ‘When Harry Met Sally’ orgasm scene in front of his mom

He didn’t want to have what she’s having. 

Director Rob Reiner recently reflected on how awkward it was to film the famous “When Harry Met Sally” orgasm scene in front of his mother. 

On Sunday night, the director, 78, appeared on CBS’s “60 Minutes” where he went down memory lane about the 1989 rom com classic starring Meg Ryan, 63, and Billy Crystal, 77. 

“First couple of times, she didn’t do it full out,” he said, referring to Ryan’s famous performance in the fake orgasm scene. 

The movie follows Sally (Ryan) and Harry (Crystal) through years of their lives, as they initially meet at the end of college, get off on the wrong foot, and ponder if it’s possible for men and women to just be friends. Eventually, they end up together. 

In the scene at Katz’s Deli, Sally (Ryan) is telling Harry (Crystal) that his past lovers have likely faked orgasms with him. To prove it, she fakes one sitting across from him at lunch, bringing the deli to a standstill as everyone stares at her. 

Reiner cast his mother, Estelle Reiner, as the woman sitting nearby, who delivers the famous punchline: “I’ll have what she’s having.” 

“The Princess Bride” director recalled that in order to tell Ryan what he wanted from her performance, he demonstrated it himself. 

“I sat across from Billy. And I acted it for her.… And I’m pounding the table, ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’ And I’m realizing I’m having an orgasm in front of my mother, you know? There’s my mother over there,” he said. 

Reiner’s father, TV comedy legend Carl, who died in 2020 at age 98, created “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” and his mother, Estelle, who died in 2008 at age 94, was a cabaret singer who also appeared in several movies, such as 1983’s “To Be Or Not To Be.”

Reiner, who is currently promoting a sequel to his 1984 classic “This Is Spinal Tap,” (“Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,”) also once said he wouldn’t do a sequel to “When Harry Met Sally.” 

In a September interview with People, the “Stand By Me” director said “no” when asked if he would do a follow up to the Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal classic. 

“No, I never wanted to do sequels. I don’t like them,” Reiner explained.

Referring to his “Spinal Tap” sequel, which is currently in theaters, he explained, “What kind of sequel do you have 41 years after the first? ‘Oh, we’re trading on it.’ It’s not that, like I said, it’s got to be a standalone. No, I don’t usually think of that.”

He added, “I try to figure out where is my mind at that point, and can I find a way to push my own mind and sensibility into whatever it is I’m trying to do. If I can figure out how to do that, I’ll make a film.”