inewsamerica: Rom-Com Queen Meg Ryan Is Writing a Swoon-Worthy New Movie

By Albert L. Ortega/Getty.

You can’t talk about American romantic comedies without talking about Meg Ryan. She is synonymous with the genre, having ascended to ultimate rom-com queen status in the 80s and 90s. Since then, there have been plenty of attempts to usurp her throne, but none—none!—have managed to overtake her title. Though Ryan has spent the last few years on an acting hiatus, she’s also felt that old familiar call—and, at long last, is answering it. In an interview with The New York Times, Ryan revealed that she’s currently writing a new romantic comedy of her own, with plans to possibly direct it as well.

“It’s at Working Title Films. I’ll just leave it at that,” she said. “Getting the green light, David [Marchese, the interviewer]. My God. You feel like you’re jinxing it if you’re talking about it. Hopefully it’s for me to direct.”

It’s what we deserve! Ryan only recently got in the directing game, helming the feature Ithaca in 2015. The film, decidedly not a rom-com, is a World War II-era drama about a bike telegraph messenger, starring Alex Neustaedter as well as Ryan, her son Jack Quaid, Sam Shepard, and Tom Hanks (who flew across the country to drop into the film and reunite with his old rom-com scene partner).

Frankly, now is a perfect time for Ryan to get back into the rom-com game. Netflix has been churning out lighthearted romances over the last year, reviving and refreshing the genre with films like Set It Up and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. The streamer also recently announced plans for sequels to To All the Boys and The Kissing Booth, another rom-com hit.

In the interview, Ryan said that working on a rom-com of her own has actually changed her view of the genre. “I’m aware now that romantic comedies are confections, but they have construction,” she said. “There’s architecture. It’s not something I was aware of back then.”

She also got candid, once again, about her departure from acting, which was sparked by her ill-received turn in the 2003 film In the Cut. “I think the feeling with Hollywood was mutual,” she said. “I felt done when they felt done, probably.”

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