Eulogies for Nora Ephron Are Coming to HBO

As we mourn the passing of Roger Ebert, The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that another film and journalism icon who recently died, Nora Ephron, will be the subject of an HBO documentary.

As we mourn the passing of Roger Ebert, The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that another film and journalism icon who recently died, Nora Ephron, will be the subject of an HBO documentary.

A documentary seems only fitting. Ephron was a woman who spent much of her time behind the camera when it came to film—discussion of her own life, when it wasn't shrouded in fiction, was revealed in the pages of her essay collections—but upon her death it became ever so clear that Ephron herself was perhaps the ultimate subject. At her star-studded memorial service, which she had all planned out even when she kept her illness a secret, friend Meryl Streep said: "But sometimes you have to wait until your friend leaves the room to say how great she is, because she absolutely would never put up with any of this if she were within earshot."

The film will be co-produced and directed by Ephron's son Jacob Bernstein, who recently wrote a piece for the New York Times Magazine about his mother's final days, and will be titled Everything is Copy. The title refers to the mantra passed down to Ephron from her mother.

Ephron's play Lucky Guy is currently running on Broadway in a posthumous production.

Ebert, meanwhile, will also get the documentary treatment. A film that was in the works before he died will be finished, according to THR. It is being produced by Martin Scorcese. Though the tone of tributes to Ebert and Ephron have been similar—focusing on their generosity and humor, in addition to their work—Ebert was not a fan of Heartburn, the film Ephron penned based on her autobiographical novel, and called it a "bitter, sour movie." He liked When Harry Met Sally...  more, saying her dialogue was "witty and epigrammatic."