Meg Ryan in “What Happens Later”.Photo:Bleecker Street
Bleecker Street
The wait is almost over forMeg Ryan’s return.
The actress, 61, is working on an upcoming romantic comedy titledWhat Happens Later, that she co-wrote, directed and will star in. The movie places her back on screen for the first time since her 2015 directorial debutIthaca, this time costarring withCalifornicationandX-FilesalumDavid Duchovny.
The longtime rom-com darling — Ryan notably starred in Nora Ephron-written classics likeWhen Harry Met Sally,Sleepless in SeattleandYou’ve Got Mail— first announced the project was in development in a May 2022Instagram post.
At the time, she shared a poster for the film showing two figures dancing against a snowy backdrop. She wrote “HERE WE GO!!” in a caption to the post.
The movie follows a pair of ex-lovers who unexpectedly reunite for the first time in decades after a snowstorm leaves both Willa (Ryan) and Bill (Duchovny) stuck at an airport overnight, according to a description of the movie from production company Bleecker Street.
Meg Ryan and David Duchovny in “What Happens Later”.Bleecker Street
The description describes Ryan’s character Willa as “still the willful, independent spirit she once was,” while 62-year-old Duchovny’s Bill is “recently separated” and “reassessing his life and his relationships with his estranged wife and daughter.”
“All each wants is to get home, but over the course of the night they find themselves at first reluctantly drawn together yet compelled to revisit their past,” the synopsis continues. “But when the versions of their shared history don’t quite add up, where do they go from there?”
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Ryan first revealed she was working on the movie while speaking withThe New York Times Magazinein 2019 about her classic string of rom-coms.
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“I’m aware now that romantic comedies are confections, but they have construction. There’s architecture. It’s not something I was aware of back then,” she said at the time, adding, “But I don’t think that because things are tragic they’re deeper. Think about Nora Ephron. Her observation about romantic comedies is that they were commenting on their time in an intelligent way, but with the intention to delight.”
Thefirst trailer forWhat Happens Laterdebuted on Aug. 30. It’s in theaters Nov. 3.
source: people.com
