Mandy Moore Mourns Diane Keaton, Says It Was ‘An Honor of a Lifetime’ to Play Her Movie Daughter

Mandy Moore has reacted to Diane Keaton’s death, nearly 18 years after they played mother and daughter in Because I Said So.

“They say don’t meet your heros but I got to work with one of mine and even call her ‘mom’ for a few months. An honor of a lifetime,” Moore, 41, wrote via Instagram on Saturday, October 11. “What an incandescent human Di is and was.”

She continued, “I am so sad she’s gone for all the reasons but also because it felt like she’d be here forever, dazzling us with her talent and charm (and her style, c’mon)!!! One of the very best to ever do it. All my love to her children and loved ones.”

Moore shared more tributes to Keaton via her Instagram Stories, writing, “God, I love her. [A] legend forever.”

News broke that Keaton died at the age of 79. She is survived by her two children, Dexter and Duke.

Because I Said So, which was released in 2007, was among Keaton’s iconic filmography. She starred as Daphne Wilder, a polka-dot-wearing baker hyperfixated on introducing youngest daughter Milly (Moore) to The One. The movie also starred Lauren Graham and Piper Perabo as Daphne’s other daughters.

Moore, for her part, recently recalled her set experience during an appearance on Kylie Kelce’s “Not Gonna Lie” podcast in July.

“I love Because I Said So, it’s this film I did with Diane Keaton,” Moore told Kelce, 33, this summer. “I mean it’s Diane Keaton, she’s just like, on a pedestal to me, it was such a bucket list experience.”

Keaton similarly loved the experience of working with the This Is Us alum on the romantic comedy.

“I love Mandy. The thing about Mandy is, what I really love about her, she’s just a little workhorse, like a filly out there,” Keaton told Collider in 2007. “She loves to work and you can see her progress as an actress. She’s a very emotional actress but she’s funny, she’s adorable and she’s beautiful to look at. In this movie, she looks to me like Claudia Cardinale. She’s got this gorgeous face [and] It’s going to be really interesting to watch her in life. I think she’s going to be really surprising.”

At the time, Keaton revealed how her own parenting journey helped inform her character.

“I give a lot of notes, as much as I can. I know that pictures are pretty much what they are,” she said. “You can tweak them and mess with them and put in ideas here and there but the core of what they are is essentially the same. … [The filmmakers] were very nice about listening to what I had to say.”

Keaton, a noted fashion icon in her own right, also brought her signature style to Daphne’s wardrobe.

“I thought she was kind of a flamboyant gal in this one, but in her own world,” Keaton told the outlet. “It didn’t really connect to anybody at all in life except herself which also said a lot in a way about how she was walled off from her feelings and walled off from the influence of her daughters in that way. I think she was eccentric.”