Meg Ryan returns to the screen for the first time in eight years in What Happens Later, but the actress will forever be known for her role in 1989’s Harry and Sally.
In the romantic comedy, starring Billy Crystal, 75, as Harry, Meg’s character Sally loudly fakes an orgasm while sitting in a restaurant booth, just before enjoying a turkey sandwich.
In a chat with Carol Burnett, 90, for Interview Magazine, Meg, 61, revealed that her children Jack Quaid, 31, and Daisy Ryan, 19, have experienced some red-faced moments due to the shame.
“It’s funny,” she told the comedy legend, “my son just called me this morning and he’s staying in New York in a hotel that’s right across the street from Katz’s Deli.”
“My daughter was here and everyone was on the loudspeaker and they said, ‘Mom, this is a very special embarrassment,'” she added.
Notorious: Meg Ryan is known for faking an orgasm in the 1989 romantic comedy Harry and Sally
Arrow: Meg said her son told her that at Katz’s Deli, where the scene was filmed, there was an arrow pointing to the booth where the Billy Crystal scene was filmed
“He said, ‘You know you can walk into this deli and there’s an arrow pointing to the table where you filmed that scene,'” she added.
Meg revealed that she had to say “Yes!” Yes! Yes!’ a lot while I was filming that scene.
“We probably did that over and over again,” Ryan said.
Meg has returned to the romance genre that made her a star in her latest project, in which she not only starred but also directed and co-wrote the screenplay.
“The easiest part was actually playing in it,” she said.
The sophomore director, who cut her teeth as an actress and director with 2015’s “Ithaca” alongside co-star David Duchovny, said she focused on preparation.
“A lot of it was done in two takes.” I’m proud of that. I set everything up in advance so that when David and I got there, we were just trying to tell the truth.”
Much of the film was shot at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas, which included the set in its exhibition.
Embarrassment: Speaking to Carol Burnett for Interview Magazine, Meg revealed that her children Jack Quaid and Daisy Ryan consider being famous in the scene to be “a very special embarrassment.”
Romcom: Meg returns to the romcom genre in her latest film, What Happens Later (pictured in Paris in July 2019).
Triple Duty: Meg co-wrote, directed and starred in What Happens Later, starring David Duchovny as two former flames who reunite when they get snowed in at an airport overnight. The film opens on October 13th
“They allowed us to use it at night.” And then throughout the day they had the parts of the set that we couldn’t take down as part of an exhibition – for example: “This is what a set looks like.” They even have art in Art transforms,” she said.
The Elle Women in Hollywood Award winner revealed that she has been working on the script for What Happens Later during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“They sent me the script – it was a first or second draft by the playwright.” [Steven Dietz]– based on a play called Shooting Star,” the actress explained.
“I had just moved to California at the beginning of the pandemic and it was this big collective pause, and this script got me thinking about what was going on in the world and how we were all kind of under lockdown,” she remembers.
“I started working on it and over the course of a year and a half the script evolved and David came on board.” “We met on those Zoom calls and some of those conversations found their way into the script.”
Meg and David play former flames who meet at an airport and reconnect when they’re snowed in overnight.
What Happens Later hits theaters on October 13th.