The three reasons behind the 2003 movie Diane Keaton said “will always be my favourite”
When Diane Keaton passed away in 2025, there was such a huge outpouring of grief for the star which I hadn’t seen for an actor in a long time. She was so beloved, her legacy spanning a range of genres – but none more celebrated than her comedies.
Woody Allen’s Annie Hall wouldn’t exist without Keaton, who directly inspired the creation of the titular character. While we can’t ignore the dark cloud Allen has cast over his own work by being such an awful man, let’s be real – Annie Hall is pretty fantastic. Keaton is so charming in the role, and her outfits, like her androgynous suits, also left a lasting impact on popular culture.
I’d argue that Annie Hall is one of the greatest rom-coms ever made, so of course it only made sense for her to continue starring in comedies, leading her to everything from Father of the Bride and The First Wives Club to The Family Stone and Book Club. Nothing she did after the 1970s could exactly come close to her appearances in The Godfather movies or Annie Hall, but she still found incredible popularity nonetheless.
I mean, when you’ve appeared in several stone-cold classics so early on in your career, you’re always going to struggle to compete. But Keaton brought incredible skill and charm to even the most average-looking movie. I hate to say it, but on the surface, Nancy Meyers’ Something’s Gotta Give does look like a rather forgettable rom-com, but with Keaton in one of the leading roles, she bagged an Oscar nomination for her performance.
It’s this 2003 movie that she actually cites as her favourite of everything she’s ever done, with Keaton and Jack Nicholson bringing a great connection to the screen, their characters falling for each other in spite of their differences. The premise sounds silly and far-fetched, with Nicholson’s character only dating women under 30, only to fall for the mother of his latest conquest, but Keaton was the perfect choice for the role. It really becomes her film.
There are several reasons why Keaton loves the movie so much, though, and she detailed these in her book Then Again. “After our last shot, Jack hugged me goodbye, saying something about a little piece. I hugged him back, and we went our separate ways. Two years later, a check with a lot of zeroes arrived in the mail for my back-end percentage on Something’s Gotta Give. I didn’t have a back-end deal. There must have been some mistake,” she explained.
Keaton was confused, but she soon realised that Nicholson had committed a huge act of generosity. “I called my business manager, who told me it was from Jack Nicholson. Jack? That’s when I remembered him saying something about a little piece when we hugged goodbye. Oh, my God. He meant he was going to give me a piece of his own percentage.”
Of course, it wasn’t just this monetary bonus that had Keaton so excited. The whole experience was incredibly special to her – she even won a Golden Globe for it – and she was left with a shoot she’d cherish forever.
“So that’s what Something’s Gotta Give gave me: Nancy’s godsend, Jack’s kiss, and a piece of the back end. Something’s Gotta Give will always be my favourite movie, not only because it was so unexpected at age fifty-seven, but also because it gave me the wonderful feeling of being in the presence of a couple of extraordinary people who delivered two gifts and a kiss,” Keaton wrote.
