Nancy Meyers mourned her longtime friend and muse Diane Keaton on Monday, sharing that writing for the iconic actress “made me better.”
“These past 48 hours have not been easy,” Meyers said in an Instagram post on Monday. “Seeing all of your tributes to Diane has been a comfort. As a movie lover, I’m with you all — we have lost a giant. A brilliant actress who time and again laid herself bare to tell our stories.”
The “Something’s Gotta Give” filmmaker went on to call Keaton, whom she worked with on several films, also including “Baby Boom” and the “Father of the Bride” duology, her decades-long friend.
“As a filmmaker, I’ve lost a connection with an actress that one can only dream of,” Meyers continued. “We all search for that someone who really gets us, right? Well, with Diane, I believe we mutually had that. I always felt she really got me so writing for her made me better because I felt so secure in her hands. I knew how vulnerable she could be. And I knew how hilarious she could be, not only with dialogue (which she said word for word as written but managed to always make it sound improvised) but she could be funny sitting at a dinner table or just walking into a room.”
Meyers ended her tribute saying she misses Keaton and applauding her for being unlike any talent Hollywood has ever seen.
“She was fearless, she was like nobody 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’ll miss you forever,” Meyers said.
Keaton, whose lengthy career in Hollywood included roles in “The First Wives Club,” “Annie Hall” and “The Godfather,” died at her home in California on Saturday. She was 79.
The actress was remembered over the weekend by Hollywood collaborators and fans alike for her lasting impact in film and entertainment.
Notably Sunday, Woody Allen, who directed Keaton in a number of films including her Oscar-winning turn in “Annie Hall” and had a decades-spanning personal relationship with the actress, said that “it’s a drearier world” without her in it. “Still, there are her movies. And her great laugh still echoes in my head.”
“It’s grammatically incorrect to say ‘most unique,’ but all rules of grammar, and I guess anything else, are suspended when talking about Diane Keaton,” Allen’s tribute began. “Unlike anyone the planet has experienced or is unlikely to ever see again, her face and laugh illuminated any space she entered.”
