In a credit title of What happens next, Meg Ryan's second film as director, a dedication appears: “To Nora.” That Nora is Nora Ephron, the screenwriter and director who died in 2012, the creator who turned Meg Ryan (Fairfield, Connecticut, 61 years old) into the queen of the romantic comedy in the nineties: if Ryan on camera delighted in When Harry Met Sally, Something to Remember, You Have an Email and hanging, It was mainly because those texts drank from Ephron's soul. So, just as Billy Wilder watched for hours in his office a poster that read “How would Lubitsch do it?”, Ryan thought a lot about how Ephron would do it in what is her first romantic comedy as a director, an adventure in which wanted to highlight the changes that have occurred in the world after MeToo, and in which only his co-star, David Duchovny, appears alongside Ryan. After her visit to the Barcelona Film Fest, where the interview takes place on a dull Sunday, What happens next opens in theaters on May 17.
Nora Ephron made Ryan a winner in 1990s Hollywood, and the actress-turned-director responds from admiration: “Nora said, 'Just do it like you don't want to leave.' She was a great, wonderful woman.” And Ryan does not forget some of her other teachings, such as, for example, that she was passionate about the people who surrounded her when working, “artists-colleagues who brought things to the journey.” In his case, he took an all-or-nothing bet: he shot the comedy in 21 days and with a meager budget of three million euros in Arkansas. “When I directed my first feature [en 2015, Ithaca, una película que se desarrollaba en el verano de 1942 con Sam Shepard en el reparto] I felt that I had not enjoyed some parts of the direction. Do you know that he is a director? An expert in micromanagement. And as my role in What happens Afterwards she is so tired, almost always lying on the seats at the airport, fed up with the delays of her flight and, deep down, of her life, when 'Action' was heard, my relaxation came. She would throw me on the chairs [gesticula recordándolo]. Over time, you understand that directing has to do with power and knowing how to manage the flow of events.” And remember a quote from Hugh Grant: “Grant said that maintaining the tone of a comedy is as difficult as keeping a balloon in the air with sharp pencils. “I understand you perfectly.”
Ryan assures that he started directing because he felt that a different challenge was opening up for him artistically. “It has been a natural progression, and now I am interested in building emotional and intellectual challenges on screen,” he says. He elaborates when asked why so many performers face this change: “An actor communicates through others, he needs those channels to reach the public. Now I want to be the one who speaks directly to the viewers, I want to be the one who takes care of that connection. What will the future hold for me? Will I continue acting? I don't know, although I do know that I still have to learn, that I have a toolbox that I am slowly mastering, and that now I just want to dedicate myself to directing.”
Now I just want to dedicate myself to directing”
And so the talk reaches a key moment in Meg Ryan's career: that of her disappearance at the end of the first decade of this century. Various articles suggested that she had to be punished for starring in raw (2003), by Jane Campion, a thriller with which she broke with her romantic past and a film with a feminist message that not everyone liked. “There were several things. The material that came to me didn't drive me crazy either. But I made the decision for my children. [el ahora actor Jack Quaid, de 31 años, fruto de su matrimonio con Dennis Quaid, y Daisy, a la que adoptó en 2006]. It was organic. I felt that it was time, that a challenge was presented to me that attracted me more than returning to work. Looking back, I feel happy with that step, for having opted to grow within myself and to be with my children. How did the people around me react? Good, because I explained to them that I wanted to be the owner of my time and, deep down, face life with my artistic spirit.”
What happens next He reunites at an airport in the middle of nowhere an ex-couple who hasn't seen each other since they broke up 25 years ago. And because of a snowstorm they have to sit face to face and consider what happened to them, if it was worth it, and if their life has progressed where they expected. “I developed the film during confinement, and that can be seen in the claustrophobic nature of the situation. I do believe in second chances, that there is still time when you get older to do many new things. I say this being very aware that today's society pivots on young people.” Ryan laughingly refuses to talk about past movies or previous on-screen couples. “Each actor is different, each chemistry with them was born from a different process. I chose David without almost knowing him personally because I had read his novels—and he is a fantastic writer—and I sensed that it would work. We did a lot of zooming in on rewriting the script during confinement, and we created that relationship together.” Ryan has a certain post-covid fear: he finds it difficult to shake hands, he takes physical distance from those around him, and even before starting the talk he pushes his seat back. Of course, when he starts he exudes kindness.
Without saying MeToo, Ryan has peppered the talk with feminist messages. Without saying orgasm, the conversation ends at the table. Katz's Deli, mythical New York place where Sally teaches Harry that women can fake pleasure in a very believable way. Since Ryan rolled When Harry found Sally, masterpiece of comedy, has never set foot on the premises again. “Not even incognito, really,” she confesses, smiling. But his son Jack, who last September was staying in a hotel opposite the deli, and who after crossing the street discovered what all tourists have noticed: that a sign hangs from the ceiling of the establishment indicating the table with the motto : “Where Harry 'found' Sally. We hope you have what she had. Enjoy”. “Very crazy, right?” he says. Her son called her from there, the actress put the speaker on so that her daughter could also hear her, and she heard: “Mom, this is mega embarrassing.” Now, in Barcelona, she reflects, after confessing that yes, that her son Jack sounded embarrassing: “We didn't even see him coming when filming that sequence, and it will be difficult for him to do something that surpasses that popularity. “You never know what is going to connect with the audience.”
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