A private screening for cast and crew was held on May 21 at the Metropolitan Room in New York City. Filmmaker Misha Zubarev hosted the event. Zubarev wrote, produced and directed the film with V. Ulea as co-writer and co-director, and Vad Chariton composed the musical score based on Zubarev’s original song “Remember the Day.” This Ariella Media production is currently being submitted to national and international film festivals.   

The story deals with the reconciliation of two people who were divorced and estranged from each other for almost twenty years. Although the film deviates from the book, it pays tribute to the spirit of the original source. Richard Vernon and Debra Lord Cooke portray Harry and Elizabeth, who were married for twenty-four years before their divorce. Nancy Lombardo and George Bettinger play Elizabeth’s friends. 

In his review of this movie, film critic Richard Jack Smith writes, “As a hopeless romantic, I instantly warmed to the connection made by Harry and Elizabeth Lawrence. Their stunning memoir It Had To Be Us took chances that traditional love stories don’t. For one, the characters come across as idiosyncratic and well developed. Also, there’s Misha Zubarev’s filmmaking sensibility in translating this narrative to the big screen.  A collaboration with V. Ulea on script and direction, Cake: A Love Story reveals hope at the end of a long breakup.”

 It Had To Be Us won First Place in the E-book category at the Hollywood Book Festival, where awards were given to books with the most potential to be transferred to other media such as film and television. The memoir also received a Five-Star rating from Romantic Times Magazine. The Lawrences donate their authors’ royalties to THE IMAGINATION LIBRARY, a children's literacy project sponsored by the Dollywood Foundation.