Sarah Jessica Parker is looking back at a nerve-wracking scene in her holiday film with the late Diane Keaton.
“In theory, it was scary,” Parker, 60, said during CNN’s recent special The First Christmas Without Diane, discussing one of her emotional scenes with Keaton, who died at age 79 in October, in 2005’s The Family Stone. “I was very nervous about it.”
The Family Stone stars Keaton as Sybil Stone, who gathers her family in New England for what may be their final Christmas together due to her terminal breast cancer. However, the holiday becomes complicated when the eldest Stone son, Everett (Dermot Mulroney), brings along his tightly-wound girlfriend, Meredith (Parker).
In one of the film’s final scenes, Meredith gives each member of the Stone family a gift to close the rifts between them, including Sybil.
Sarah Jessica Parker counted herself lucky to work with the late Diane Keaton not once — but twice. “Diane Keaton has been a point of inspiration for countless actresses. I include myself among those who loved and admired her,” Parker, 60, wrote via Instagram on Sunday, October 12. “I was very privileged to witness her […]
“I did feel like [Keaton] was a real combatant, like we were in proper swordplay, and that I had to be both capable of that but also not win,” Parker said of the scene.
The Sex and the City alum said that she succeeded in the scene because she allowed Keaton to guide her through it.
“Really just listening to Diane and responding, given the story, was my best approach, and I loved it,” she continued.
Parker said that filming The Family Stone, including both light-hearted and more serious scenes, gave her “inspired and instructive” opportunities to “watch [Keaton] work and to see how she puts it all together.”
The actress also recalled Keaton’s inquisitiveness on set, noting how she “liked asking very personal questions.”
Sarah Jessica Parker, Dermot Mulroney, Diane Keaton 20th Century Fox Film Corp
“Typically not questions that somebody would ask another person,” Parker explained, adding that the topics were about “everything from money to, like, really funny, provocative” things that sometimes led her to “involuntarily answer” Keaton.
“I think it was simply because she was so interested in people,” Parker continued. “She loved knowing odd facts about people and, I guess, what makes a person an individual was very interesting to her.”
Recalling Keaton’s trend-setting nature, Parker said, “She was the first person I ever saw put ice cubes into a Pinot Noir. Now everybody puts their Pinot Noir in the fridge. So, of course, typically as usual, she knew something before everybody else.”
Keaton died of pneumonia on October 11, her family shared in a statement to People at the time.
Fans of famed actress Diane Keaton are revisiting some of the actress’ most memorable roles following news of her death. People confirmed on October 11, 2025 that the Something’s Gotta Give actress died in California. She was 79. A spokesperson told the outlet no additional information regarding the actress’ death was available at the time, […]
“The Keaton family are very grateful for the extraordinary messages of love and support they have received these past few days on behalf of their beloved Diane, who passed away from pneumonia on October 11,” the statement read. “She loved her animals and she was steadfast in her support of the unhoused community, so any donations in her memory to a local food bank or an animal shelter would be a wonderful and much appreciated tribute to her.”
Following Keaton’s death, The Family Stone director Thomas Bezucha revealed that a sequel is in the works, which will “honor” both Keaton and her character, who died due to her cancer battle at the end of the first film.
“I’ve been haunted by the loss of Sybil for months now while I worked on it, and so this was a blow on a tender bruise already,” Bezucha, 61, told CNN in November. “Mentally, I’ve been spending time in that house where I’ve been missing her for a while already.”
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