2023/11/02 - Good Day Atlanta

Meg Ryan and David Duchovny team up for 'magical' new film

By Paul Milliken
Published November 2, 2023 12:16PM
Good Day Atlanta
FOX 5 Atlanta

Meg Ryan, David Duchovny talk about movie

Meg Ryan and David Duchovny talk to Good Day Atlanta about their new movie named WHAT HAPPENS LATER, which is opening Friday.

If anybody knows romantic comedies, it’s Meg Ryan.

The star of classics including Sleepless in Seattle and When Harry Met Sally is back on the big screen this weekend, doing triple duty as star, director, and co-writer of the new film What Happens Later. The film features Ryan and David Duchovny as a pair of former lovers who reunite while snowbound at a particularly dream-like and visually striking airport.

"That’s all on Meg as the director, with her visual sense," says Duchovny. "Because…half the airport was a museum."

Indeed, much of the film was shot at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, founded by Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton and located in Bentonville, Arkansas.

"I just felt like it was one most peaceful, beautiful places I’d ever been…It’s the third most endowed art museum in the country," says Ryan. "And the only stipulation was that we leave our sets up. We shot at night, so our sets during the day were actually art exhibits at the museum."

What Happens Later is Ryan’s second directorial effort — and the first time she and Duchovny have teamed up on-screen. Both stars say the experience was as enjoyable as it appears on-screen.

"I mean, part of it is just that Meg, as a scene partner, there was no tension coming back at me," says Duchovny. "Everything was just really flowing and easy, and we settled into a rhythm with these scenes that was, I don’t know…it was magical in many ways."

What Happens Later opens in theaters nationwide on Friday, November 3rd.


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