Meg Ryan sat down for a wide-ranging conversation with Busy Philipps about her career.
The discussion, hosted by Geena Davis and the Bentonville Film Festival, took place on the occasion of the anniversaries of Ryan’s classic film “Sleepless in Seattle” and “You’ve Got Mail”.
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Ryan shared her opinion of the influence of social media on how people communicate, telling Philipps, “I think it’s great not to have an intermediary because if you really want to say something clearly, it’s best to use your own voice.
“And as women, it’s necessary, for our health, you know, to use your own voice, but it’s a fine line because there is – the most expensive thing in the world right now is mystery. It’s hard to have, and it’s so great to have,” Ryan said. “And privacy, it’s the end of privacy. We’re living in a time where there is no more, so when you give away just a little, you gotta be careful.”
The 56-year-old actress also opened up about the negative press she’s received over the years.
“I understand something about me is archetypical, there’s a certain archetype I fit into and when I don’t behave according to that archetype, it really irritated a lot of people,” she said. “But, what am I supposed to do, not be me? So, I just took the good with the bad.”
Ryan and Philipps also shared a personal connection to Tom Hanks.
“He’s easy, you know, and he’s so smart, and he’s so fun, and he’s so funny, and he’s so generous – he’s more than what you think he’s going to be, you know, he’s better than you think – don’t you think?” Ryan said.
Philipps talked about her experience meeting Hanks when she was dating his son Colin. “I was nervous to meet him and Rita and he opened the door and he was like, ‘BIIIIZ!! Get in here!!!'” she recalled. “He just like hugged me and was like, ‘you wanna hold the Oscar?’ and I was like ‘YES!'”
Philipps also shared a story about her friend Seth Rogen’s love for “You’ve Got Mail”.
“When I worked with Seth on ‘Freaks and Geeks’, he was always talking about ‘You’ve Got Mail’ – it was the greatest movie of all time. He truly holds it as a perfect film, a perfect romantic comedy, he has like a whole thing about it. He’s like ‘My only goal in life is to make a film that’s as good as ‘You’ve Got Mail’.'”
