‘Born to Be a Movie Star’

Nancy Meyers is remembering the “brilliant” Diane Keaton.

The writer-director — who worked with Keaton on movies like Baby Boom (1987), Father of the Bride (1991) and Something’s Gotta Give (2003) — paid tribute to the late Oscar winner in an Instagram post on Monday, Oct. 13, alongside a photo of Keaton in the latter film.

“These past 48 hours have not been easy,” Meyers, 75, began her caption. “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.”

Aside from Keaton’s screen legacy, “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,” Meyers 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,” she added.

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Meyers went on to say that Keaton “really got” her, “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,” the director continued.

But Keaton’s ability to connect with her director didn’t just extend to Meyers, she wrote, explaining that the late actress “did exactly the same for” Woody Allen and Warren Beatty “because that is what she does. She goes deep.”

“I know those who have worked with her know what I know … she made everything better,” Meyers 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 concluded, “She was fearless, she 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. Thank you Di. I’ll miss you forever.”

While accepting her Golden Globe win for Best Actress in a Comedy in 2004, Keaton credited Meyers for “rediscovering” her with her role in Something’s Gotta Give.

“I sure as hell wasn’t prepared to be rediscovered by Nancy Meyers,” she began her speech at the time. “Let’s face it: Getting to play a woman to love at 57 is like reaching for the stars with a step ladder. But I know I got lucky.”

“And isn’t it ironic that all my luck was to have Nancy give me a chance to play a woman to love one more bittersweet time?” Keaton added.

Keaton died in California on Saturday, Oct. 11. She was 79 years old. “There are no further details available at this time, and her family has asked for privacy in this moment of great sadness,” a spokesperson told PEOPLE.

Her Father of the Bride costar Kimberly Williams-Paisley told PEOPLE, “It’s really one of the best memories I’ll ever have in my life, getting to work with Diane.” The star, 54, added, “She had such a great sense of humor and was just full of laughter, and so generous with compliments.”