Vibrant Doha impresses Meg Ryan

Doha: On her first visit to Qatar, Hollywood actor and director Meg Ryan was impressed of Doha and welcomed the idea of collaborating with Doha Film Institute (DFI) in the future.

Ryan described her experience in Doha as extraordinary. “We went to the Museum of Islamic Art yesterday which was perfect and had lunch on Banana Island. I’ve seen great things so far,” said the star of romantic comedy hits When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and You’ve’ Got Mail.

“I’m a filmmaker. That’s all we do. Yes,” she said, in response to a question from The Peninsula on whether she was open to a future collaboration with DFI, during a press roundtable on Monday at Marsa Malaz Kempinski, The Pearl-Doha.

Often dubbed America’s Sweetheart, Ryan was in Doha for the screening of her directorial debut “Ithaca” at the just concluded fourth Ajyal Youth Film Festival during which she addressed the young jurors.
Ryan was deeply moved by William Saroyan’s novel “The Human Comedy” that she decided to bring the novel on screen. 

“I didn’t think that I really wanted to direct but this story came along. I read the book when my son was young. I just felt that as a mother it’s a story I could tell more than as an actor,” she told reporters.

Set in a 1942 fictional town of the film’s title, this period piece tells of a coming-of-age story of a boy who takes on a part-time job as a bicycle telegraph messenger who delivers messages most of which are worst news for the families of soldiers. “The protagonist to me is a very moving little character. All he really wants is to make sure everyone he loves never gets hurt and I found that a very compelling story that a protagonist has a desire like that. I also love how imperfect the adults in the story are that life presents very complicated questions and they don’t really have perfect answers to them,” she explained.

The novel has Homeric reference and alluding to CP Cavafy’s poem Ithaka, Ryan said that “Ithaca is not really about a place of home but the journey home and who you become on the way.”

Comparing her first experience behind the camera to acting, she said: “I learned the most about acting by directing the movie. I learned more about acting in 23-day period than in all the movies that I did because I recognised that the actors in the movie all work differently. The real variable on the set is an actor, whether or not they can bring something to life. All they are asked to do is come to the set and bring life to a moment and the crew await for this sort of magical moment.”