Nancy Meyers Mourns ‘Fearless’ Diane Keaton After Her Death: ‘Lost a Giant’

Nancy Meyers is honoring her friendship with the late Diane Keaton.

“These past 48 hours have not been easy,” Meyers, 75, wrote via Instagram on Monday, October 13. “Seeing all of your tributes to Diane has been a comfort. As a movie lover, I’m with you all — we have lost a giant. A brilliant actress who time and again laid herself bare to tell our stories. As a woman, I lost a friend of almost 40 years — at times over those years, she felt like a sister because we shared so many truly memorable experiences.”

She continued, “As a filmmaker, I’ve lost a connection with an actress that one can only dream of. We all search for that someone who really gets us, right? Well, with Diane, I believe we mutually had that. I always felt she really got me so writing for her made me better because I felt so secure in her hands. I knew how vulnerable she could be. And I knew how hilarious she could be, not only with dialogue (which she said word for word as written but managed to always make it sound improvised) but she could be funny sitting at a dinner table or just walking into a room.”

Prior to Keaton’s death at age 79, she and Meyers collaborated on 1987’s Baby Boom, 1991’s Father of the Bride and the 1995 sequel. The pair reunited for 2003’s Something’s Gotta Give.

“But the truth is — Diane didn’t just ‘get me.’ I’ve watched all of her groundbreaking spectacular work with Woody Allen a million times and I watch her performance in Warren Beatty’s REDS with awe,” Meyers wrote. “Diane did exactly the same for them because that is what she does. She goes deep. And I know those who have worked with her know what I know … she made everything better.”

She continued, “Every set up, every day, in every movie, I watched her give it her all. When I needed her to cry in scene after scene in Something’s Gotta Give she went at it hard and then somehow made it funny. And I remember she would sometimes spin in a kind of goofy circle before a take to purposely get herself off balance or whatever she needed to shed so she could be in the moment.”

Meyers noted that Keaton was “fearless,” adding that the late actress was “like nobody ever, she was born to be a movie star, her laugh could make your day and for me, knowing her and working with her — changed my life.”

Meyers concluded, “Thank you Di. I’ll miss you forever.” Alongside the message, Meyers shared a throwback image of Keaton smiling.

News broke on Saturday, October 11, that Keaton died in California. She is survived by daughter Dexter and son Duke, whom she welcomed via adoption in 1996 and 2001, respectively.

No further details surrounding Keaton’s death were shared at the time, with a spokesperson for the family asking “for privacy” while confirming her death to People. Us Weekly reached out for comment.