Actress Ryan praises ‘energy’ of Edinburgh’s global arts hub
MEG RYAN has said that being in Edinburgh has helped her understand why the Scottish capital is such a global arts hub.
The US screen star praised the “energy” of the city as she launched her latest movie Ithaca – her first feature film as a director – at the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF).
Ryan described the Second World War picture as “a simple movie about complex things” and said she was delighted the festival had chosen to feature it in this year’s programme.
She said: “I understand it now, being here, why the arts come here, and so many different kinds of artists. There’s something about it. It’s absolutely beautiful but there’s a certain type of energy, or a throb, that happens here.
“I feel happy to have brought it (Ithaca) here. You have so many different kinds of arts festivals and it feels like an honour.”
The actress and director was speaking on the red carpet at the EIFF in the capital’s west end, where she met fans and posed for pictures. She said the “singleminded focus” needed to be a director was the hardest part about getting behind the camera for the first time.
But Ryan – well-known for her on-screen achievements in the likes of When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless In Seattle – said she would “absolutely” consider directing again.
Asked about the biggest challenge she faced in the job, she said: “The kind of single-minded focus. When you act in a film you’re there for three, four months tops. This was a good long 18 months of concentrating on one thing.
“And I think the biggest surprise was not what I didn’t know about directing, but what I did, just by osmosis from being on a film set, acting on a set.”
The film, an adaptation of William Saroyan’s novel The Human Comedy, is a coming-of-age tale. Described as an elegant Second World War story, it follows 14-year-old Homer, played by Alex Neustaedter, as he delivers telegrams in the early-1940s, with his life changing as he starts delivering bad news.
“The story is very moving to me,” said Ryan. “It’s a story that the author dedicated to his mum. I felt like it was a story a mother could tell and I could bring a perspective to it that would fit the content.”
The film also features a small role for Tom Hanks, something which saw Ryan reunited on set with her co-star in 1990s hits Sleepless and You’ve Got Mail.
“He’s so dear and fun,” said Ryan, who also takes an on-screen role in Ithaca. “I noticed, taking the film around the world, he is like a goodwill machine. People just love to talk to him and talk about him and he did me a great big favour by being in the film.”
Other stars walking the red carpet at the Cineworld venue in Fountainbridge included actor Billy Boyd and director Benjamin Turner, whose film White Island is also on as part of the film festival.
Also starring Billy Zane, the movie tells the tale of a former DJ who is dragged back into the drug-fuelled world of nightclubs.