FILM · 1994 · USA
When a Man Loves a Woman
13 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (13)
- #001
The film was based on ten pages of notes written by Orson Welles.
- #002
Years later, Meg Ryan admitted that she was drunk in many of her scenes.
- #003
Tom Hanks and Debra Winger were initially cast in the roles of Michael Green and Alice Green.
- #004
It was Mae Whitman's first film.
- #005
It was Tina Majorino's first film.
- #006
The original title was "Significant Other".
- #007
Throughout the film, Michael refers to "returns" at his employer, America West Airlines, which operated under bankruptcy from 1991 to 1994 and eventually restructured in 1994. According to a 1995 study at MIT, America West pilots' salaries were far lower than those at nearly all other major airlines, but Michael notes that he has been there for years and has therefore moved up to a higher scale. In 2005, AWA merged with US Air, which later merged with American Airlines in 2013.
- #008
Michelle Pfeiffer was considered for the role of Alice Green.
- #009
The film's cast includes three Oscar winners — Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ellen Burstyn and Ron Bass — and one Oscar nominee, Andy Garcia.
- #010
When Meg Ryan first starts drinking in the opening scenes, she does so at the famous Buena Vista Café in San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf. America's first Irish Coffee was created there in 1952.
- #011
Mae Whitman and Tina Majorino also appeared in Grey's Anatomy in different years; Mae as a patient and Tina as an intern.
- #012
In the scene with the marriage counselor, a copy of Alice Miller's "Banished Knowledge: Facing Childhood Injuries" is visible on the coffee table.
- #013
The film was directed by Alan J. Pakula and Lasse Hallström.
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