The movie Meg Ryan called a nightmare to make: “The extras hated me”
Whether unknowingly or not, Meg Ryan has had to figure out the perils of a life in the spotlight on her own. Although she accrued a filmography more diverse than she’s perhaps given credit for, most people still attempt to fit her into the archetypal girl-next-door figure, or worse, they forget she is, in fact, a complex person beneath the judgemental gaze of the outside world.
Although attitudes and general views have adjusted somewhat since the 1990s, Ryan’s everlasting fight in Hollywood proves that audiences are still very much fixated on age, especially when it comes to women who were once celebrated more for their youthful beauty than any of their accompanying assets or ability to leave a lasting cultural impact.
Ryan has known the insidiousness of being a so-called sex symbol since she started out in the 1980s, leading to an unfortunate, though necessary, realisation as the decades have gone by. For someone like Ryan, it generally goes like this: audiences love you when you’re young and impassioned, and begin to turn away the moment you pivot to independent movies or show the first signs of ageing.
That said, Ryan has learned to view the natural process of growing older as some sort of secret weapon, and knows how to switch off from the misogynistic views and remarks that lurk in almost every corner of the film business. As she once put it during an interview with Glamour: “I love my age. I love where I’m at. Ageing is not that terrifying. We’re all doing it. I wish someone had told me earlier, ‘Just relax. It is what it is. Don’t pay attention to the obstacles.'”
While that attitude is easier said than done and more likely to come into play with someone who has learned how to quash external negativity, this drive to navigate an increasingly difficult industry has existed in subtle, albeit purposeful ways since day one. For instance, although her first role in 1981’s Rich and Famous taught her a lot about working with people she didn’t know, it was also an experience that contributed to the makeup of her story, no matter how embarrassing it felt to reflect on.
In 1995, the actor looked back on this time with her signature off-hand charisma, recalling how much of a “nightmare” the entire process felt. “It was such a big nightmare,” she said, continuing, “I was like, ‘Why am I doing this?’ I had to go to LA, I’d never flown on a plane before. I couldn’t remember my lines. It was the middle of summer and we were pretending it was winter. I couldn’t remember my lines, all the extras hated me, because I had this huge coat on in 96-degree weather.”
Though evidently far from a pleasant memory, Ryan’s re-telling signalled another, more inherent aspect of her personality, centring around the idea that, no matter how difficult or undignified first ventures may seem, all of it seems worthwhile in one way or another. And though she had yet to get into the crux of an industry filled with the drive to take its female stars down, it no doubt readied her for the unpredictability of venturing on set, not knowing the challenges that lay afoot.
