Random Trivia For This Title: - The location of Fox Books in the movie is actually the location of a real-life Barnes & Noble, on Broadway and 83nd street on the upper west side. The Barnes and Noble generated considerable neighborhood opposition when it opened in the early 1990s, as many feared it would drive a local bookseller, Shakespeare & Co. on 81st street, out of business. This is exactly what happened.
- Joe Fox (Tom HanksTom Hanks) is obsessed with The Godfather, and frequently uses dialogue from it to shape his philosophy on life. In the Coppola Restoration Godfather DVDs, Alec BaldwinAlec Baldwin claims that Hanks and Rob ReinerRob Reiner are both Godfather aficionados who have been known to host viewing parties where the attendees do drinking games and quote famous lines while watching the film.
- The passage that we see Kathleen Kelly reading during her bookshop's story time to a group of kids (including Joe Fox's aunt and brother) is from Boy: Tales of Childhood, an autobiographical children's novel written by Roald DahlRoald Dahl.
- At one point Michael PalinMichael Palin was to play a benevolent writer who frequently gave readings at Ryan's store. Although he filmed several scenes, they were eventually cut from the film.
- Jean StapletonJean Stapleton's character's name is Birdie Conrad, a reverse of the character Conrad Birdie from the famous Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie.
- The scene where Joe accidentally closes the door of Kathleen's shop on the balloons was unscripted. Tom HanksTom Hanks actually did that, and ad libbed the line, "Good thing it wasn't the fish." The director thought it was so funny that she kept it in.
- Joe misquotes The Godfather: When Joe Fox and Kathleen Kelly first meet at the cocktail party, Joe says, "I didn't know who you were with," quoting the movie producer Jack Woltz. The actual line is, "Why didn't you say you worked for Corleone Tom?"
- This is the third time that Meg RyanMeg Ryan and Tom HanksTom Hanks act together, the previous two being: Joe Versus the Volcano and Sleepless in Seattle.
- Joe Fox's grandfather mentions that long ago, he briefly shared a pen pal romance with the store's previous owner, Cecilia Kelly (Kathleen's mother), and that they only communicated through letters. This may have been a reference to the movie's predecessor, The Shop Around the Corner, starring James StewartJames Stewart and [?] Margaret Sullavan, or possibly the famous book and the movie 84 Charing Cross Road of the same name, with [?] Anne Bancroft and Anthony HopkinsAnthony Hopkins as a female customer in New York and a male employee of the bookstore at that address in London.
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