Nancy Meyers pays tribute to her longtime friend and collaborator Diane Keaton, remembering the Oscar-winning actress as “brilliant,” “fearless” and unlike anyone else.
The celebrated writer-director, who worked with Keaton on several beloved films, including Baby boom (1987), Father of the bride (1991), and Something has to give (2003), shared an emotional message on Instagram on Monday, October 13, alongside a photo of Keaton Something has to give.
“The past 48 hours have not been easy,” Meyers (75) began.
“Seeing all your tributes to Diane was a comfort. As a film lover, I sympathize with you – we have lost a giant. A brilliant actress who exposed herself again and again to tell our stories.”
She further reflected on their friendship of forty years, writing: “As a woman, I lost a friend of almost forty years – during those years she sometimes felt like a sister as we shared so many truly memorable experiences. As a filmmaker, I have lost the connection with an actress one can only dream of.”
Meyers said she and Keaton shared a deep creative understanding.
“We’re all looking for someone who really understands us, right? Well, with Diane, I think we had that mutually,” she wrote. “She really got me, so writing for her made me better because I felt so safe in her hands.”
The director described how Keaton’s talent went far beyond delivering lines.
“I knew how vulnerable she could be. And I knew how hilarious she could be, not only with the dialogue (which she spoke word for word as written, but always managed to make it sound improvised), but she could also be funny sitting at a dinner table or just walking into a room,” Meyers recalls.
She noted that Keaton showed the same dedication to every filmmaker she worked with.
“She did the exact same thing for Woody Allen and Warren Beatty, because that’s what she does. She goes deep,” Meyers added. “She made everything better. Every lineup, every day, in every movie, I saw her giving it her all.”
Meyers shared a touching memory from filming Something has to giverecalling how Keaton gave her full emotional energy to every scene.
“When I needed her to cry in scene after scene…she pushed it hard and somehow made it funny,” she wrote.
“And I remember sometimes she would go around in a kind of crazy circle before taking a shot, to deliberately throw herself off balance or whatever she needed to get rid of so she could be in the moment.”
The filmmaker concluded her tribute by writing, “She was fearless, she was like no one ever, she was born to be a movie star, her laugh could make your day and for me, knowing her and working with her – changed my life. Thank you Di. I will miss you forever.”
Their creative bond was mutual.
While she received her Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy in 2004 Something has to giveKeaton has publicly credited Meyers with “rediscovering” her.
“Let’s face it: Playing a woman to love at 57 is like reaching for the stars with a ladder. But I know I was lucky,” Keaton said at the time.
“And isn’t it ironic that all my happiness was that Nancy gave me the opportunity to play another bittersweet woman to love?”
Diane Keaton died on Saturday, October 11 at the age of 79 in California.
A spokesperson confirmed the news, saying that “no further details are available at this time and her family has requested privacy at this time of great sadness.”
