Meg Ryan reveals why she took a ‘giant break’ from Hollywood ahead of the release of her first rom-com in nearly 15 years
Meg Ryan shed light on her decision to take a step back from Hollywood, following her starring roles in When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle.
After cementing her status as a leading lady and household name, the 61-year-old actress revealed why she took time away from her career ahead of the release of her first romantic comedy, What Happens Later, in nearly 15 years.
‘I took a giant break because I felt like there’s just so many other parts of my experience as a human being I wanted to develop,’ the mother-of-two told People.
She continued: ‘It’s nice to think of it as a job and not a lifestyle. And that is a great way of navigating it for me.’
She’s back! Meg Ryan shed light on her decision to take a step back from Hollywood, following her starring roles in When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle; seen in 2019
In 2015, she made her directorial debut with the drama Ithaca, based on the 1943 novel The Human Comedy by William Saroyan.
For her latest project, What Happens Later, she tackled directing, writing and serving as its star, alongside David Duchovny.
‘It came to me during lockdown,’ she raved. ‘The essence of it is these two people who are stuck together. I just love that idea that we’re held in a space, even if it feels conflicted, maybe for reasons that heal them.’
In a recent conversation with Carol Burnett for Interview magazine, Ryan lifted the curtain on the process of making her new film.
‘Truly, the easiest part was acting in it,’ she said. ‘I want to direct again just so I can sit in the chair, because I’m sure there’s a lot of things I missed.’
The performer also noted: ‘I hadn’t done a role in a really long time, but it was fun with David.’
She added: ‘A lot of it was done in two shots. I’m proud of that. I set up everything beforehand so that once we were there, it was just David and I trying to tell the truth.’
Meg explained that the process of cobbling the film together was ‘all really deliberate’ – and accomplished on a budget of $3 million.
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A big break: After cementing her status as a leading lady and household name, the 61-year-old actress revealed why she took time away from her career ahead of the release of her first romantic comedy, What Happens Later, in nearly 15 years (seen in her 1998 film You’ve Got Mail)
‘We had to do it really quickly. A lot of those extras weren’t even ours, they were real people,’ Meg revealed. ‘We went back in post and made everybody the same palette. There’s a lot of stuff you can do digitally now, thank god.’
Meg shot to stardom in the 1980s, playing the female love interest in hit movies like the original Top Gun and When Harry Met Sally.
As the years went on, she became inextricably identified with romantic comedies, with her best-known films including Sleepless In Seattle and You’ve Got Mail.
Her girl-next-door image, however, suffered a blow in 2000 when news broke of her affair with her Proof Of Life co-star Russell Crowe.
‘I took a giant break because I felt like there’s just so many other parts of my experience as a human being I wanted to develop,’ the mother-of-two told People; seen in 2009 in her hit movie Serious Moonlight
As the years went on, she became inextricably identified with romantic comedies, with her best-known films including Sleepless In Seattle (seen above in 1993)
Memorable: Ryan famously played Sally Albright in the 1989 rom-com, When Harry Met Sally (pictured above)
At the time, Meg was still married to Dennis Quaid, whom she later accused of having been unfaithful to her ‘for a long time’ during their relationship.
What Happens Later is the first rom-com Meg has acted in for over a decade, with her previous entry in the genre being the 2009 film Serious Moonlight.
In a newly dropped trailer for What Happens Now, Meg’s character Wilhelmina and David’s character William happen to run into each other at an airport.
It emerges that the pair of them are exes whose romance ended a couple of decades previously – but an undeniable chemistry is still detectable between them.
When both of their flights get delayed, they wind up stuck together, waiting around in the airport with nothing to do but hash out the unfinished business of their past.
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