Meg Ryan and David Duchovny Discuss 'Magical' New Movie and Reveal Their Personal Favorite Rom-Coms

Meg Ryan directed and stars opposite David Duchovny in 'What Happens Later,' in theaters Friday

David Duchovny and Meg Ryan New York Special Screening of "What Happens Later "
David Duchovny and Meg Ryan on Oct. 30, 2023. Photo:

Dave Allocca/StarPix/Shutterstock

Meg Ryan and David Duchovny are sharing their favorite romantic comedies.

After a special screening of their movie What Happens Later in New York City Monday, Ryan, 61, and Duchovny, 63, were asked to share their favorite "screwball comedies or rom-com ever."

"Last Tango in Paris," joked Duchovny, referencing a controversial 1972 drama that starred Marlon Brando.

Ryan — who's headlined some of the most iconic rom-coms like When Harry Met Sally..., Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail — answered, "I love Bringing up Baby," the 1938 film with Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant.

Elsewhere in the discussion, Ryan said she goes to the movies in order "to feel something."

"I'm not going to be taught anything or to... I'm not going for that. I'm going to have my heart opened or be thrilled or go on a ride," she said. "I just want to feel things. I think the movies are primarily about wonder. They're still gossamer."

"I remember the first movie I directed, I was at a film festival and I had an opportunity to be at the side of the stage down here and watch the light hit the screen," added Ryan. "I was really aware of the nothingness and everythingness of it and how everything meaningful about it was happening in the audience's part, in them. It's incredible that light and sound can do that, can conspire to do that."

David Duchovny and Meg Ryan New York Special Screening of "What Happens Later "
David Duchovny and Meg Ryan on Oct. 30, 2023.

Dave Allocca/StarPix/Shutterstock

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Ryan and Duchovny's What Happens Later follows two exes, Bill and Willa, who unexpectedly reunite for the first time in years at an airport, where they get snowed in, stranding them together overnight.

At Monday's Q&A, Ryan, who also co-wrote and directed the new movie, and Duchovny discussed whether What Happens Later is more of a romantic comedy or drama. (Duchovny jokingly suggested the term "rom-dram.")

"I got very interested in the idea that these are two people trying to make sense of a life not lived together and that for all this time, I always think of it as a kind of Hanging Chad," Ryan said. "The unresolved thing was, 'Why didn't you love me enough?' It's this unanswered question for 20 years and now they have this one night, this magical night."

"That's a mature issue," she added. "It's not something I think 20-year-olds think about."

Duchovny added to Ryan, "Though, I think they'd love the movie. Meg?" She replied, "Okay, yes. It's also for 20-year-olds."

Meg Ryan and David Duchovny in Bleecker Street's WHAT HAPPENS LATER
Meg Ryan and David Duchovny in 'What Happens Later'.

Bleecker Street

What Happens Later, which Ryan formally announced in 2022, comes eight years after she made her directorial debut with 2015's Ithaca.

She recently called the entire production "magical" while speaking with PEOPLE about the movie. (The film received an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA allowing publicity during the ongoing actors' strike.)

"It’s a little roller-coaster ride between these two people, and it asks the question in a way: Will they or won’t they end up together?" she said. "These are people who broke one another’s hearts way back when. And I think what they gained is that they have gratitude for that.”

What Happens Later is in theaters Friday.

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