Movie Scene
Meg Ryan loves her life on, off screen

By Kelly Carter
USA Today

Meg Ryan's latest film is the romantic comedy "Kate & Leopold," which opened Christmas Day. "I'm like a compulsive romantic-comedy doer," she says. Ryan plays Kate, the same sort of adorable woman who charmed audiences in her other romantic flicks. Rene Macura • Associated Press

"Now that you've turned 40, do you worry about what could happen to your career?"

Then again, why should she worry? She exudes youthfulness as she sits in a hotel suite talking about her romantic comedy, "Kate & Leopold," which opened Christmas Day.

Although she's wearing clashing colors — a burnt-orange sweater, a green skirt and funky purple leather Yves St. Laurent boots — her outfit works. Kind of like her life, which was in turmoil over the past year and a half but now seems to be in sync.

She endured a very public split from Dennis Quaid after nine years of marriage, then a fling and breakup with Russell Crowe right after her separation. Single again, she says she's content.

"I really love the way my life looks right now," she says. "I have a really good thing going on. Life is nothing but good at the moment."

The love of her life is son Jack, 9, who for her 40th birthday on Nov. 19 wrote a little book of his impressions of his mother.

"It was amazing because he illustrated it," says the proud mom. "It was like a little poem, too. It was incredible. He hasn't gotten to the stage where he's not an affectionate kid, either. He's a hugger. He's not too cool to not hold my hand."

That day will come, but for now Ryan is spending as much time with Jack as she can and making only one movie a year. "Even that is a lot," says the actress, who keeps residences in Manhattan and L.A. She has been in L.A. much of the fall with Jack, who goes to school here, while Quaid, 47, is on location in New York.

Last year she disbanded her production company, Prufrock Pictures, because she felt overextended. Prufrock's recent efforts included "The Wedding Planner," with Jennifer Lopez, and "Lost Souls" with Winona Ryder.

"They were producing things that I didn't really like, particularly because I wasn't there," she says. "I felt like it didn't reflect me, and my name was on it and I wasn't happy about that."

While balancing work and her personal life is of utmost importance to Ryan, it's not a big concern to the character she plays in "Kate & Leopold."

Kate is a career-driven marketing exec whom Ryan describes as "somebody who is out of balance, out of whack. She just puts too much energy into her ambition and career. She's irritated all the time because nothing in her life is right. I understand that feeling of really being out of whack if you put too much energy in one sector and not enough in another."

Although Kate has a slightly harder edge than some of Ryan's other characters, she's still basically the same sort of adorable woman who charmed audiences in "When Harry Met Sally ...," "Sleepless in Seattle" and "You've Got Mail." In the film, Kate falls in love with Leopold (Hugh Jackman), a 19th-century gentleman who is brought to the present.

"I'm like a compulsive romantic-comedy doer," she says hopelessly. "I need a support group. I need a 12-step program. I can't stop."

She was reluctant to take the role. But director James Mangold persuaded her one day as they sat in his car and listened to Henry Mancini, Elvis Costello and other music that inspired him to make the movie. He says he shared the same reservations about her doing a "romantic comedy."

His goal? To get her to see the movie as he did, as a fairy tale. Not that there's anything wrong with Ryan doing adorable.

"I really admire that talent in her," he says. "I don't think you should ever shrink from one of your strengths. I think the press and world can anoint you and make you self-conscious and create these names for you like 'America's Sweetheart' and 'Queen of Romantic Comedy.' We didn't do that to Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn and Claudette Colbert."

No one will call Ryan perky in her next film, which goes into production in March. She's preparing to play real-life boxing manager Jackie Kellen. Her days are spent hanging around Kellen, watching tapes, reading books and frequenting boxing gyms, where she observes sparring matches and even throws a few punches herself.

"I like (boxing)," she says. "My trainer says, 'Look, it's not about power. It's finesse.' Because I'm throwing really hard, not beautifully and not well, but I'm throwing hard. It's so much harder than it looks."

Just like turning 40.