Secrets about the Family Stone

The Family Stone Originally Had a Different F-Word in the Title

The film's original title was "F--king Hating Her," referring to Sybil's extreme initial dislike of Meredith, before that was toned down to "Hating Her," and then ultimately it became The Family Stone.

ASL in the Family

An American Sign Language instructor worked with all the actors whose characters were supposed to be fluent in ASL to communicate with Thad Stone, who was portrayed by deaf actor Ty Giordano.

Keaton admittedly had a hard time getting the hang of it, calling herself a "slow learner" in the FMC featurette.

"I did something so wrong," she shared. "I was supposed to sign 'OK' and I think I signed '[bleep].'"

Diane Keaton Took Pride in Her Fiercest Matriarch Moment

Referring to when Sybil claps back at Meredith's ignorant comments about Thad and his partner Patrick, Keaton—whose daughter Dexter and son Duke were 10 and 4 at the time—told SFGate, "I loved who I was at the dinner table. I think it's one of my finest moments, as a person, in the movie, because I'm defending my son, whom I adore, worship and utterly believe in. I'm a progressive mom, and I like what I represent there."

That's a Real Christmas Feast

Chef Valerie Aikman-Smith was enlisted as a food stylist to make sure all scenes of food prep and feasting, as the Stones do on Christmas Eve, looked realistic and, ultimately, appetizing.

Home for the Holidays

While the Stone family homestead is supposed to be in an unspecified New England college town, they actually set the scene on camera in Madison, N.J. A blizzard that rolled in as production got underway made the area look especially picturesque.

A residence in Greenwich, Conn., stood in for the exterior of the house, while the interiors were cozily decorated Hollywood sound stages.

“This is fabulous,” Keaton said in the production notes of the Stone house. “But I wouldn’t live here if you paid me.”

Diane Keaton Brought Her Own Wardrobe

It was no coincidence that Sybil Stone dressed like Diane Keaton. And you'd be forgiven for thinking the actress is wearing one of her signature menswear-inspired overcoats throughout the film rather than a cozy bathrobe.

Which, incidentally, was Keaton's personal Beacon bathrobe, which she wore with her own pajama bottoms, socks and slippers.

How to Drop a Strata

Asked how many times she ended up splattered with strata—the breakfast casserole Meredith so painstakingly prepares, only to lose her grip and end up on the floor covered in eggs (but finally bonding a little with Sybil and Amy)—Parker told Vulture, "Many times."

"We did it a lot because it was covered from a bunch of different angles," she recalled. "As always, before those scenes, it's a lot of discussion about how it's going to happen…But it has to feel completely out of control and reckless and spontaneous."

In the end, Parker was "completely covered with it," and had to "stay covered in it. Like, I couldn't clean up. I had to stay because they were going in for tighter shots, and we couldn't try to recreate how it had spilled on me. I spent many, many hours staying in that outfit."

Meredith's Incessant Throat Clearing Was Scripted

Parker told Vulture that Meredith's throat-clearing tic that comes out when she's nervous was written into the script "from the beginning."

Textured Portrayal

Bezucha showed costume designer Shay Cunliffe some Victorian Christmas cards that "had a warm, burnished, golden ruddy feeling to them," she shared in the production notes. And in addition to extending that palette to the film's production design, Cunliffe said, Bezucha wanted "no blue tones in the film's wardrobe."

Meanwhile, Cunliffe felt that Wilson's free-spirited Ben Stone, having flown in for Christmas from his home in Berkeley, Calif., "cried out for jeans," but she made do with corduroy pants. Which, incidentally, also seem perfectly appropriate for a pot-smoking West Coast film editor.

How Diane Keaton Tuned Out the Noise on Set

Keaton wore headphones, Parker told Vulture, "basically until they call action."

"I think it's a very interesting way to stay focused," she continued. "A set is wonderfully chaotic."

Meredith's Drunken Dance Was a Departure for Sarah Jessica Parker

"That particular scene was the hardest I've ever done," Parker, who doesn’t drink "at all" told indieLondon of the moment when Meredith gets drunk and cuts loose, proving she's a normal person underneath the rigid exterior. "I don't dance in real life. I don't go to clubs or dance at parties. I am happy that everyone else does and I love watching. So that piece of acting was really embarrassing."

That's Me and You, Kid

Meredith gets it right, finally, when she gifts all the members of the Stone family with a framed black and white photo of Sybil taken when she was pregnant with Amy.

The picture, though edited to make Sybil look pregnant, was from Keaton's own archive, taken when she was 27 by her mom Dorothy Deanne.

"That moved me more than anything in the movie," Keaton told Girl.com.au, "because that picture was, to me, about my mother."

She explained, "I had the strangest feeling when I looked at that picture—which, I hate that picture—but I had this feeling that, you know, that's the best acting I've ever done in my whole entire life is that portrait that my mother took. So, the whole thing about motherhood and, you know, your sense of honor to your mother had such resonance for me in that moment, and I just thought that Tom Bezucha captured that in such a lovely way about, you know, life going on...It's my favorite moment in any movie that I've ever been in, is my mother's photograph of me, because she took it."

Why Diane Keaton Was a True Original

Keaton memorably "liked asking very personal questions," Parker told CNN, about "everything from money to, like, really funny, provocative topics.

"I think it was simply because she was so interested in people," the actress added. "She loved knowing odd facts about people and what makes a person an individual was very interesting to her."

And, Parker noted, Keaton was the first person she ever saw put ice cubes in a glass of Pinot Noir.