The year is 1988 and a young actress named Meg Ryan has a choice to make: Stay committed to a vital supporting role in Steel Magnolias or drop out to star in When Harry Met Sally.
Of course, movie lovers all know what happened next: Ryan chose the latter, which proved to not only be a fateful decision for her career—When Harry Met Sally turned her into one of the world’s biggest movie stars—but for another star’s as well, with fellow romantic comedy queen Julia Roberts taking over her part in Steel Magnolias.
When Harry Met Sally was the first of many romantic comedies Ryan would front, with audiences unable to resist her comedic timing and charming personality. And, after a 14-year hiatus from the genre she helped elevate, Ryan returned to the rom-com world in this year’s What Happens Later, which the 62-year-old also directed.
Not that Ryan considers the movie, which pairs her with David Duchovny as exes who unexpectedly reunite at the airport, a conventional romantic comedy. Rather, she described it as a “love story.”
“These characters are in their 50s. It’s a different story than when you’re in your 20s,” she told Glamour. “I wanted to make something beautiful and offer a new way of thinking about what love is.”
