Meg Ryan to make directing debut with William Saroyan novel adaptationJanuary 30, 2014 - 15:16 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Meg Ryan is directing her first feature film, Ithaca, an adaptation of the 1943 William Saroyan novel The Human Comedy, The Guardian reported. She will also star in the film alongside Sam Shepard and Melanie Griffith, while Tom Hanks, who Ryan memorably starred alongside in Sleepless In Seattle and You've Got Mail, will be executive producer. Also starring will be Meg Ryan's son Jack Quaid, best known for his role as Marvel in The Hunger Games movies. The Human Comedy, written for the Ryan version by Band of Brothers producer Erik Jendresen, is about a teenage telegram delivery boy in small-town America during World War II, witnessing the impact of the conflict on those he delivers messages to. The novel was actually originally written as a screenplay by Saroyan, before he was fired from the project; he swiftly turned it round into a novel and published it before the film came out, which starred Mickey Rooney in the lead role. Ryan has been relatively quiet of late, focusing on family life and only appearing in a few episodes of Lisa Kudrow sitcom Web Therapy since her 2009 film Serious Moonlight. But in November it was also announced that she would take the lead in an upcoming sitcom for US TV network NBC, playing a single mum who returns to work at her publishing house with her former intern as her boss. In 2011, it was announced that Ryan would direct Into The Beautiful, described as "a contemporary Big Chill with longtime friends reconnecting", but it was never made. Top stories The creative crew of the Public TV had chosen 13-year-old Malena as a participant of this year's contest. She called on others to also suspend their accounts over the companies’ failure to tackle hate speech. Penderecki was known for his film scores, including for William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist”, Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. The festival made the news public on March 19, saying that “several options are considered in order to preserve its running” Partner news | Turkey extends military presence in Azerbaijan The Turkish parliament has adopted a bill submitted by Recep Tayyip Erdogan to extend the mandate of Turkish troops. Russia to begin assessing migrant workers' speaking skills Rosobrnadzor is planning to change the Russian language exam for migrant workers and include an assessment of speaking skills Armenian, Saudi Foreign Minister meet in Riyadh The two commended the positive dynamics of the development of political dialogue between Armenia and Saudi Arabia Pashinyan: Azerbaijan’s proximity shouldn’t worry border residents At the same time, he said that he “does not guarantee [the security of villagers] one hundred percent”. |