Meg Ryan talked about the “giant break” she took from Hollywood ahead of the November premiere of her first romantic comedy film in almost 15 years, “What Happens Later.”
The 61-year-old actress told People magazine she disappeared because she simply wanted to experience more as a human than she had been while immersed in her career, which included being a mom to her two kids — Jack with ex-husband Dennis Quaid, and adopted daughter Daisy.
“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,” Ryan said. “It’s nice to think of it [acting] as a job and not a lifestyle.”
“And that is a great way of navigating it for me,” she added.
Ryan not only stars alongside David Duchovny, but also directed and co-wrote the new film.
“It came to me during lockdown,” Ryan told the outlet about the film. “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.”
Meg Ryan Reveals Why She Took a ‘Giant Break’ from Hollywood — And Why She’s Back with a New Rom-Com (Exclusive) https://t.co/cqyWfYlJpH
— People (@people) October 25, 2023
“It’s a little roller-coaster ride between these two people, and it asks the question in a way: Will they or won’t they end up together?” she added. “These are people who broke one another’s hearts way back when. And I think what they gained is that they have gratitude for that.”
The movie is about Willa and Bill, who “are ex-lovers that will see each other for the first time in years when they both find themselves snowed in, in-transit, at an airport overnight,” a description on IMDb read.
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“Indefinitely delayed, Willa, a magical thinker, and Bill, a catastrophic one, find themselves just as attracted to — and annoyed by — one another as they did decades earlier,” the film’s synopsis added. “But as they unpack the riddle of their mutual past and compare their lives to the dreams they once shared, they begin to wonder if their reunion is mere coincidence, or something more enchanted.”
The last rom-com Ryan was involved in was “Serious Moonlight” in 2009 — and the last rom-com of hers to generate attention came in 2001 when she starred with actor Hugh Jackman in “Kate & Leopold.”
“What Happens Later” hits theaters November 3.