Tag: meg ryan

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Alba Rohrwacher Amy Poehler Fashion Meg Ryan Oscars Zoe Saldana

Zoe Saldaña won the first Oscar of the night in Yves Saint Laurent: one of the worst looks?

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As Zoe Saldaña swept the Best Supporting Actress category this awards season we really saw that she wears her heart on her sleeve. She got choked up in almost every speech, and it was moving. Zoe feels things deeply, and that obviously informs her work because she’s capitivating on screen. For all the things you can say about Emilia Perez, Zoe turned in an incredible and mesmerizing performance. I’m happy for her and I hope to see more of her on screen for years to come. Here’s Zoe’s acceptance speech. She said “I’m the proud child of immigrant parents” and that she was the first American of Dominican descent to win.

Zoe’s fashion last night was largely considered a miss. She wore an Yves Saint Laurent empire waist gown with a sequin bandeau top with a skirt made of layered balloons of fabric. The top might have worked in a different gown and maybe the bottom could be salvaged with a more voluminous dress but the overall effect was fug. I would also like to have seen bolder makeup. She’s lovely though and I dig her fabulous necklace and mesh gloves. They’re very old Hollywood.

Last year’s winner, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, presented in this category. I don’t have an ID for Da’Vine’s dress and I looked hard so let me know if you’ve seen it. It’s kind of a snooze but it’s really decent for a presenter. We saw several dresses like that last night. I like the trailing chiffon.

Speaking of nondescript dresses, Amy Poehler was in a strapless black mermaid style gown. She presented best original screenplay, which went to Sean Baker for Anora. Amy made her red carpet debut with her boyfriend, Joel Lovett! He’s a former editor for the NY Times, according to JustJared. They’re cute together!

I’m including presenter Meg Ryan here, although this Ashi Studio gown is kind of banging. It’s classic and striking and I like the bold jewel tone. Meg’s bit with Billy Crystal presenting Best Picture was fun. I forgot how many times he’s hosted The Oscars.

Presenter Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher (Maria) was in a crazy ruffled Valentino gown that I mildly respect. Valentino so often toes the fug line but makes up for it in whimsy. This is very Beetlejuice-coded. Valentino did her makeup too and this seems to be her standard look. There’s something IDGAF about this. She’s also reminding us that we could have had Angelina Jolie at the Oscars.

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America Ferrera Christina Ricci Critics' Choice Meg Ryan Sheryl Lee Ralph

America Ferrera was honored with the See Her award at the Critics’ Choice Awards

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America Ferrera gave such a heartfelt speech at the Critics’ Choice Awards last night when she won the See Her award, presented by Margot Robbie. She cracked everyone up when she got to the podium, paused and admitted that she was waiting for the teleprompter to start. At one point she told the tech people to roll past a part she cut. My favorite part was when she said “We are all worthy of being seen — Black, brown, indigenous Asian, trans, disabled, any body type, any gender. We are all worthy of having our lives richly and authentically reflected.” I also liked when she gave a shout out to her husband, Ryan, and clarified that she didn’t mean Ryan Gosling. America’s performance in Barbie was so moving, her activism has always been on point, and this was well deserved.

In terms of fashion she was in a copper sequin Armani tank dress. I really like her sleek styling and it complements the look well.

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Sheryl Lee Ralph also rocked a tank dress. She was in a champagne colored CD Greene gown dotted with crystals. Sheryl’s daughter, Ivy Coco, is her stylist and she always makes her mother look amazing. Sheryl was nominated for Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, which went to Meryl Streep.

Meg Ryan was also super sleek in black strapless Yves Saint Laurent. I feel like this needs a bracelet or something but she also looks amazing and I love to see her comeback! Meg and her costar, David Duchovny, presented. Their movie, What Happens Later, is streaming to rent now. Maybe I’ll wait until it’s free but I do want to see it.

Christina Ricci took it a little too severe in this black PVC deep v-neck gown with a scalloped bustline. Maybe this would work with softer styling. I would love to see her recognized more for Yellowjackets, because she is so good as a sociopath on that show. (I’m all caught up, but I’m mad at it and don’t think I will keep watching.) Elizabeth Debicki won in Christina’s category, Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.

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Careers Meg Ryan

Meg Ryan explains why she ‘took a giant break’ for eight years from acting

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Meg Ryan was one of the IT actresses in the 1990s and early 2000s. Her career kicked off when she starred in 1986’s Top Gun and really soared after When Harry Met Sally in 1989. She made so many romantic comedies in the following decade that she was dubbed “America’s Sweetheart” by the press. In 2015, Meg directed her first movie, Ithaca, which she also starred in, and then promptly took an eight-year, self-imposed break from Hollywood. Meg’s break is over now, though! She’s starring in a new rom-com called What Happens Later with David Duchovny, which she also directed and co-wrote. So why did Meg take a Hollywood hiatus? Turns out she wanted to explore other aspects of her life.

“I took a giant break because I felt like there’s just so many other parts of my experience as a human being I wanted to develop,” she says, including her role as mom to her two kids, Jack, 31, with ex-husband Dennis Quaid, and Daisy, 18, whom she adopted in 2006.

“It’s nice to think of it as a job and not a lifestyle. And that is a great way of navigating it for me,” she says.

Now — eight years after her last film, her 2015 directorial debut, Ithaca — Ryan is finally back on the big screen. She stars in, directed and cowrote the new rom-com What Happens Later, about ex-lovers snowed in together overnight at a regional airport. (The film received an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA allowing publicity during the strike.)

“It came to me during lockdown,” she says. “The essence of it is these two people who are stuck together. I just love that idea that we’re held in a space, even if it feels conflicted, maybe for reasons that heal them.”

Ryan, who stars alongside David Duchovny, calls the entire production “magical. It’s a little roller-coaster ride between these two people, and it asks the question in a way: Will they or won’t they end up together? These are people who broke one another’s hearts way back when. And I think what they gained is that they have gratitude for that.”

Does she now believe everything happens for a reason? Ryan’s thoughts turn to the late Nora Ephron, who wrote and directed many of her classic rom-coms. “In retrospect I feel it’s true, yeah,” she says. “The movies I did with Nora had an operative thing about kismet, like destiny and fate. And there’s something really comforting about that.”

[From People]

I wanted to snark on her statement that “It’s nice to think of [acting] as a job and not a lifestyle,” but honestly, I think that’s a healthy attitude to have about a lot of jobs. In America, our culture tends to tie so much worth and identity into what we do that we can sometimes forget who we are. We are a live-to-work country and, when having healthcare is tied to our employment, we are also a work-to-live society. I’m jealous that Meg was able to afford to take eight years off to be a mom and discover herself and hope that she recognizes how fortunate she is. I’m also always here for a good quote about destiny and fate, lol. (Shoutout to Kismet for having her name in Meg Ryan’s mouth!)

What Happens Later will be in theaters on November 3, and honestly, I’ll probably go see it. I like Ryan and Duchovny and while, yes, I know that most rom coms are problematic in that they play into dated sexist tropes, I’m still really looking forward to this one. I like that it centers around Boomer-aged actors and adjusts the romantic connection for their current age/place in life. We’re about to head into the Hallmark holiday movie season, which will be filled with mid-talented yet very hot young actors doing their meet cute thang, so gimme a Mulder/Sally rom com, baby.

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Jack Quaid Meg Ryan

Meg Ryan’s kids call her deli scene in When Harry Met Sally a ‘unique embarrassment’

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I always forget that Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid were married, and that Jack Quaid is their son. Jack is 31 now and an actor with a pretty decent resume, including The Boys and the 2022 Scream series reboot. Meg also has a daughter, Daisy, who is 19 years old and has thus far stayed under the radar. Having famous parents can have its perks (see: Jack’s career) but for some, it also comes with the downside of being embarrassed by things your parents have done throughout their own careers. Meg’s children get a bit cringy over *that* famous scene from When Harry Met Sally.

Many movie fans consider Meg Ryan’s fake orgasm scene in When Harry Met Sally to be one of the most iconic moments in rom-com movie history. Her kids would use a different word to describe it.

This week, Ryan was interviewed by Carol Burnett for Interview magazine. The duo talked about Ryan’s upcoming movie with David Duchovny, her life and her movie career, including that famous scene inside Katz’s Deli from 1989.

During the interview, Burnett thanked the 61-year-old actress for her many wonderful movie moments, including the fake orgasm scene, and asked if she had to do it more than once.

“We probably did that over and over and over again,” Ryan revealed. The actress explained that the movie had even come up that morning during a phone call with her son, actor Jack Quaid, and her daughter, Daisy Ryan.

“It’s funny, my son just called me this morning and he’s in New York staying at a hotel that’s right across the street from Katz’s Deli,” she said. “My daughter was here and everybody was on speaker, and they were like, ‘Mom, this is a very unique embarrassment.’”

Ryan shared that the 31-year-old Scream actor told his family, “You know you can go into that deli and there’s an arrow pointing down to the table where you shot that scene.”

In 2019, Quaid revealed that he had been resisting seeing the Rob Reiner and Nora Ephron film, telling InStyle, “It’s one of those things, where if you really think about it, you don’t want to see your mom having a fake orgasm in a deli when you’re growing up. I avoided it.”

The Boys actor eventually watched the movie while filming his own rom-com, Plus One. “I watched the movie, because I’m doing a rom-com, I have to watch the rom-com, and the movie’s so much more than that scene,” he told the outlet.

[From Yahoo]

LOL at “a very unique embarrassment.” I think this is so funny. I could see maybe being embarrassed by it as a kid if all of my friends were teasing me about it. As an adult, though, I’d embrace it by walking right into Katz’s Deli, sitting down under the arrow at that table, and post a picture of me doing some pose (I haven’t thought that one through yet) all over my social media. And OF COURSE the movie is more than just that one scene. It’s just that one scene is a classic. I do love the whole movie, even though it’s always bummed me out that they missed the opportunity to prove that men and women really can be just friends. But then it wouldn’t be a rom com, would it?

I think it’s fairly common knowledge that the woman who delivered the famous, “I’ll have what she’s having” line was Rob Reiner’s mother, but I didn’t realize until I started reading about it that the fake orgasm scene was written in because the movie was starting to focus too much on Billy Crystal’s Harry. Nora Ephron suggested a scene in which the two leads are talking about women faking orgasms and Ryan herself came up with the idea to act it out. However, Daisy and Jack may find a kindred spirit in Rob Reiner. The director has said in interviews that while he was showing Ryan what he wanted from the scene, he did his own fake orgasm, explaining, “I realized, this is embarrassing, I’m having an orgasm in front of my mother.” Uniquely embarrassing experiences all around!

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David Duchovny Meg Ryan Movies

Meg Ryan and David Duchovny star as exes stuck at an airport in ‘What Happens Later’

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I love rom coms and am always down for a good Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts, JLo, or the non-Hallmark holiday movie. The Queen of Rom Coms, Meg Ryan, is back in a romantic comedy that she directed and co-stars in with David Duchovny called What Happens Later. The movie takes place in an airport with a former couple running into each other when their flights are delayed. It’s based on Steven Dietz’s play Shooting Star and Ryan co-wrote the screenplay with Dietz and playwright Kirk Lynn.

Meg Ryan is throwing it back to her rom-com heyday. On Wednesday, Bleecker Street debuted the first trailer for What Happens Later, in which Ryan, 61, and David Duchovny, 63, star as a former couple who unexpectedly reunite after decades apart when a snowstorm strands them at the airport. Their separate flights delayed indefinitely due to weather, Willa (Ryan) and Bill (Duchovny) catch up on the more than two decades that have passed since their breakup.

A synopsis for the film describes Willa as a “magical thinker” and Bill as a “catastrophic one.” When they 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 was made to recapture the “cheeky magic of Ryan’s rom-coms of the 90s,” according to the synopsis. 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.”

“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 conducted prior to the actors’ strike. “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.”

The star also shared how What Happens Later “evolves” the familiar genre.

“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.”

At the Tribeca Film Festival in June, Duchovny teased the movie to PEOPLE: “It’s really good. What Happens Later, and it’s really a good movie. I mean, it’s just me and her, the whole damn movie, and it’s just a kind of throwback sweet film.”

[From People]

The trailer looks super cute. Sign me up! I have seen every single episode of “The X-Files,” so you had me at “Mulder in a rom com.” Anyone else love a good rom com and plan on seeing this? Even the film’s tagline of “They missed their connection” is hooking me.

I also kinda love that this new generation of romantic comedies just kinda picks up with the same actors who were doing them 20-30 years ago and adjusts for their age/place in life. (See also: Ticket to Paradise.) Oh, and for all of you X-Files nerds out there, What Happens Later is out in theaters on October 13, which coincidentally happens to be Fox Mulder’s birthday. Yup, I knew that fact off the top of my head. Anyway, in keeping with our theme of rooting for female directors, I hope this movie is successful for Meg’s sake. I’m definitely planning on seeing it.

photos credit: Avalon.red and screenshots via YouTube

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Kelly McGillis Meg Ryan Movies

Top Gun: Maverick director confirms Kelly McGillis & Meg Ryan weren’t asked back

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Top Gun: Maverick’s opening is almost here. As most know, this has been a long time in coming. I think I’ve felt it more than most because my parents live across the bay for the USS Midway and every time a new premiere date was announced, they’d call me as if I could somehow secure them a ticket. I kept suggesting that since Dad was the high-ranking naval officer and Mom’s family has naval aviators, they stood a better chance than me of scoring a ticket.

Of course, none of us got a ticket, including two of the original film’s biggest stars: Meg Ryan and Kelly McGillis. Joseph Kosinski, Maverick’s director, confirmed that neither was asked to come back for this film. We know Kelly was not asked, she graciously explained a few years ago that no one had reached out to her. But now we have confirmation that Meg was left out too.

Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski says filmmakers never considered bringing back the female characters played by Meg Ryan and Kelly McGillis in Top Gun for the film’s 2022 sequel.

“Those weren’t stories that we were throwing around,” Kosinski said in an interview with Insider published Tuesday.

McGillis, 64, previously played Top Gun instructor Charlie Blackwood while Ryan, 60, portrayed Goose’s wife Carole Bradshaw in the 1986 action movie.

However, according to Kosinski, filmmakers wanted to do something different with Top Gun: Maverick compared to the original film.

“I didn’t want every storyline to always be looking backwards,” Kosinski said. “It was important to introduce some new characters.”

[From People]

I’ll warn you now, Imma both sides this. I have no idea what the story is, beyond what we’ve seen in the trailer. But after all this time, it would make sense to progress the story and focus on new characters, like Kosinski said. Having Maverick in the role of a TG teacher was always interesting and the fact that he’s got Goose’s son in his class is a great way to tie in that story with a current-day angle. We know that Tom Cruise insisted Val Kilmer have a role in Maverick, which is a lovely act as a friend. And, Val’s character, Iceman, makes sense. That was the key relationship in TG. I like taking it into Maverick’s current career and seeing how Ice, who played by the rules, outranks Mav, who played by his own rules (and realistically would have been discharged about two years into active duty, but hey, this is Hollywood). I’m interested to see what they do with that and how Jon Hamm, who has to follow Ice’s orders, factors in as the new antagonist to Mav. Kosinski’s right. It’s a fine line between a complete nostalgia piece that works in a bunch of sentimental cameos and a movie that’s trying to movie the story forward.

But – and it’s a big but – we know Meg and Kelly weren’t asked back because they are 60-year-old women. Charley (Kelly) came back to Miramar to be with Maverick. She gave up everything she’d worked for to, what, teach some more? Charley could’ve graced the cover of a magazine as Business Person of the Year somewhere in the film. But Meg’s omission is the most egregious, she’s one of the main characters, Rooster’s mom. Meg could have had a voice cameo with a phone call to Maverick, telling him to take care of Rooster. She could pop up at the end to thank him. Granted, Meg was not a big star when TG was made but she certainly became one. It would’ve made sense to have her do something in this film. Although it sounds like women, in general, weren’t a priority in this film. So at least Kosinski kept that storyline from the first film.

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Nicole Kidman wore Rodarte to the AMMP opening gala: Halloween chic?

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Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Opening Gala

Saturday night was the opening gala for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in LA. They got a better A-list turnout than this year’s Emmys and Oscars combined. And yes, everyone was vaxxed and Covid-tested! Since it was a night of Hollywood types celebrating themselves and the history of Hollywood, the fashion was great! This definitely counts as “early Oscar campaigning” too, especially since a lot of the attendees will likely be up for Oscars next year. Nicole Kidman wore this Rodarte which really stood out. I like the tea-length although I definitely think the bottom hem could be cleaner. And it feels very… Halloween? It’s the orange-and-black combo. I’m okay with her curly hair – this is the texture of her natural hair before she fried it and dyed it blonde for years. I suspect this is either a wig or she’s getting significant help from a weave.

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Opening Gala

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Opening Gala

Meg Ryan wore Ulyana Sergeenko. The dress is fine, the hair needs a significant update though. I also think she’s stopped messing with her face as much as she used to, and that’s a welcome relief.

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures: Opening Gala

Marlee Matlin in Armani. Black velvet feels so wintery to me and I’m not sure we’re there yet! She looks nice but I wish the neckline was just a tad lower. Still, it gives off a vintage flapper kind of vibe, which fits with the event.

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures: Opening Gala

Camila Moronne in Louis Vuitton. This is awful for the event! She looks like she’s going to an album release party. At least wear full-length pants for the love of God.

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Opening Gala

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.