“It has a relationship to movies from the ’40s, like “Bringing Up Baby,” in terms of the banter and the rhythm of things and a lot of that era of filmmaking,” Meg Ryan told EW this week of her new rom-com, “Whatever Happens.” And yes, Ryan used to be the queen of rom-coms and knows a thing or two about the genre, but for this film, she makes her sophomore directorial follow-up, helming and starring in the movie.
Ryan also shouted out the late great Nora Ephron as an influence, the filmmaker that directed her in a trilogy of classic rom-coms, “When Harry Met Sally,” “You’ve Got Mail,” and “Sleepless in Seattle.”
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“Nora Ephron used to say about rom-coms that they were really a secretly incredible delivery system to comment on the times, and we do that in this movie,” she said.
Along for the ride is Ryan’s co-star David Duchovny (“X-Files”). The two met over Zoom, Ryan said, describing why and how rom-com chemistry works. “My character, Willa, is a magical thinker, and David’s character, Bill, is a catastrophic thinker,” Ryan told EW. “These 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. So, 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. 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.”
Directed by Ryan, she co-wrote “Whatever Happens” with Steven Dietz and Kirk Lynn. Based on the play “Shooting Star” by Steven Dietz, the film was produced by Jonathan Duffy, Kelly Williams, Laura D. Smith, and Kristin Mann.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Two ex-lovers, Bill (David Duchovny) and Willa (Meg Ryan), get snowed in at a regional airport overnight. 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. 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.
Bleecker Street will release “Whatever Happens” in theaters on October 13, 2023. Watch the first trailer below.
