This Is Not A Drill: Meg Ryan Is Making Her Rom-Com Return
People are buzzing after the first trailer dropped!
Rom-com queen and all-around delight, Meg Ryan, is coming back to the big screen after an 8-year hiatus from acting. Let that sink in and feel free to rejoice that our girl is back! Wipe away those tears of joy and regain consciousness from The Best News Ever because there’s a teaser trailer out for the new film, and from the looks of it, rom-coms are back, baby!
Ryan, 61, — known for her roles in the classic films Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail, and When Harry Met Sally — stars opposite The X-Files alum David Duchovny in a new film called What Happens Later.
The two unexpectedly reunite while stranded at the airport after decades apart. When a snowstorm set in and the two are forced to hunker down together a beautiful glimpse into the couple’s past begins to be uncovered as well as what the future could hold for the former flames.
Ryan also directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay which is based on Steven Dietz's play Shooting Star. Ryan shares writing credit with Dietz and playwright Kirk Lynn.
A synopsis for the film describes Willa as a “magical thinker” and Bill as a “catastrophic one.”
When the two reunite, they “find themselves just as attracted to — and annoyed by — one another as they did decades earlier.”
“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.”
What Happens Later recaptures the “cheeky magic of Ryan’s rom-coms of the 90s,” according to the synopsis. If that’s true, I will be first in line on opening night.
Ryan told Entertainment Weekly that rom-coms “really work when the two characters are somehow opposites and yet have a rhythm of intellect and humor and dialogue and banter that sort of indicates their compatibility.”
She also gushed about her co-star.
“It's just been really fun to see David embrace this guy who I don't think is anything really like David. Whereas the Willa thing I can really relate to,” she added in the interview. “To see him dive into every single scene in the fullest way, he's funny, and he's smart, and he's dear, and irresistible.”
Ryan promises that What Happens Later will fulfill all those rom-com tropes but also add new takes on an old classic.
“Sometimes there's a question of: Will they be together? Will they not be together? For that reason, [What Happens Later] sort of evolves the rom-com genre just a little bit,” she said. “It's also about old people, and it's still romantic and sexy.”
What Happens Later lands in theaters Oct. 13.
