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Meg Ryan to make directing debut with Ithaca
The actor will team with her two-time romcom partner Tom Hanks on
Ithaca, a World War II drama in which she will also star
Ben Beaumont-Thomas
theguardian.com, Thursday 30 January 2014 08.28 GMT
Meg Ryan is to direct her first feature film. Photograph: Theo Kingma
/Rex Features
Meg Ryan is directing her first feature film, Ithaca, an adaptation of
the 1943 William Saroyan novel The Human Comedy.
She will also star in the film alongside Sam Shepard and Melanie
Griffith, whileTom Hanks, who Ryan memorably starred alongside in
Sleepless In Seattle and You've Got Mail, will be executive producer.
Also starring will be Meg Ryan's son Jack Quaid, best known for his
role as Marvel in The Hunger Games movies.
The Human Comedy, written for the Ryan version by Band of Brothers
producer Erik Jendresen, is about a teenage telegram delivery boy in
small-town America during World War II, witnessing the impact of the
conflict on those he delivers messages to. The novel was actually
originally written as a screenplay by Saroyan, before he was fired
from the project; he swiftly turned it round into a novel and
published it before the film came out, which starred Mickey Rooney in
the lead role.
Ryan has been relatively quiet of late, focusing on family life and
only appearing in a few episodes of Lisa Kudrow sitcom Web Therapy
since her 2009 film Serious Moonlight. But in November it was also
announced that she would take the lead in an upcoming sitcom for US TV
network NBC, playing a single mum who returns to work at her
publishing house with her former intern as her boss.
In 2011, it was announced that Ryan would direct Into The Beautiful,
described as "a contemporary Big Chill with longtime friends
reconnecting", but it was never made.
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jan/30/meg-ryan-directing-debut-ithaca-tom-hanks
From: Baghdasarian
The actor will team with her two-time romcom partner Tom Hanks on
Ithaca, a World War II drama in which she will also star
Ben Beaumont-Thomas
theguardian.com, Thursday 30 January 2014 08.28 GMT
Meg Ryan is to direct her first feature film. Photograph: Theo Kingma
/Rex Features
Meg Ryan is directing her first feature film, Ithaca, an adaptation of
the 1943 William Saroyan novel The Human Comedy.
She will also star in the film alongside Sam Shepard and Melanie
Griffith, whileTom Hanks, who Ryan memorably starred alongside in
Sleepless In Seattle and You've Got Mail, will be executive producer.
Also starring will be Meg Ryan's son Jack Quaid, best known for his
role as Marvel in The Hunger Games movies.
The Human Comedy, written for the Ryan version by Band of Brothers
producer Erik Jendresen, is about a teenage telegram delivery boy in
small-town America during World War II, witnessing the impact of the
conflict on those he delivers messages to. The novel was actually
originally written as a screenplay by Saroyan, before he was fired
from the project; he swiftly turned it round into a novel and
published it before the film came out, which starred Mickey Rooney in
the lead role.
Ryan has been relatively quiet of late, focusing on family life and
only appearing in a few episodes of Lisa Kudrow sitcom Web Therapy
since her 2009 film Serious Moonlight. But in November it was also
announced that she would take the lead in an upcoming sitcom for US TV
network NBC, playing a single mum who returns to work at her
publishing house with her former intern as her boss.
In 2011, it was announced that Ryan would direct Into The Beautiful,
described as "a contemporary Big Chill with longtime friends
reconnecting", but it was never made.
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jan/30/meg-ryan-directing-debut-ithaca-tom-hanks
From: Baghdasarian