Meg Ryan and David Duchovny Discuss 'Magical' New Movie and Reveal Their Personal Favorite Rom-Coms

Meg Ryan directed and stars opposite David Duchovny in ‘What Happens Later,’ in theaters Friday

Meg Ryan and David Duchovny share their favorite romantic comedies.

After a special screening of their film What happens later in New York on Monday, Ryan, 61, and Duchovny, 63, were asked to share their favorite “embarrassing comedies or rom-coms ever.”

“Last Tango in Paris“, Duchovny joked, referring to the controversial 1972 drama starring Marlon Brando.

Ryan — who headlined some of the most legendary rom-coms like When Harry Met Sally…, Sleepless in Seattle and You have mail – replied: “I love Raising a baby,” a 1938 film starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant.

Elsewhere in the discussion, Ryan said she goes to the movies to “feel something.”

“I’m not going to be taught anything or yes… I’m not going for it. My heart will open or I’ll be delighted or I’ll go for a ride,” she said. “I just want to feel things. I think movies are primarily about miracles. They’re still cobwebby.”

“I remember the first film I ever directed, I was at a film festival and I had the opportunity to be on the side of the stage down here and watch the light fall on the screen,” added Ryan. “I was really aware of nothingness and universality that and how everything important about it happened in the part of the audience, in them. It’s amazing that light and sound can do that, they can conspire to do that.”

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David Duchovny and Meg Ryan October 30, 2023

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Ryan and Duchovny What happens later follows two exes, Bill and Willa, who unexpectedly meet again for the first time in years at the airport, where they are buried in snow, stranding them together overnight.

At a Q&A on Monday, Ryan, who also co-wrote and directed the new film, and Duchovny discussed whether What happens later it’s more of a romantic comedy or drama. (Duchovny jokingly suggested the term “rom-drama.”)

“I was very interested in the idea that these are two people who are trying to find meaning in life who are not living together, and for all this time I always think of it as a kind of Hanging Chad,” Ryan said. “The unresolved thing was, ‘Why didn’t you love me enough?’ It’s been an unanswered question for 20 years, and now they have this one night, this magical night.”

“It’s a mature question,” she added. “I don’t think it’s something 20-year-olds think about.”

Duchovny added to Ryan, “I think they’d like the movie, though. Meg?” She replied, “Okay, yes. It’s for 20-year-olds, too.”

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Meg Ryan and David Duchovny in ‘What Happens Later’.

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What happens laterwhich Ryan officially announced in 2022, comes eight years after she made her directorial debut with the 2015 film. Ithaca.

She recently called the entire production “magical” while talking to PEOPLE about the film. (The film received a temporary contract from SAG-AFTRA that allows publicity during the current actors’ strike.)

“It’s a bit of a rollercoaster ride between these two people and it kind of begs the question: Will they or won’t they end up together?” she said. “These are people who broke each other’s hearts a long time ago. And I think they got thanks for that.”

What happens later is in theaters on Friday.

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Source: HIS Education