Tom and Meg: Romance in Movies
Film studios have, of course, cast dozens and dozens of pairs of actors as “couples” in both dramatic films and romantic comedies. For the most part, the pairs are used only once, but on occasion the pairs are reunited for different movies (i.e. Bogie and Bacall, Hepburn & Tracy, etc.). Sometimes the actors’ first pairing is a hit, and they have good chemistry, but there’s likely no pair with as much success as Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, and their four onscreen appearances.
Having won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the romantic comedy, Moonstruck (1987), John Patrick Shanley cast Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in his directorial debut, Joe Versus the Volcano (1990). The film did only moderately well with critics, audiences, and finances, but despite that, writer/director Nora Ephron immediately saw the chemistry in Hanks and Ryan being together on-screen, and she cast them in her next film at the time, Sleepless in Seattle (1993). (Ephron had previously written and received an Oscar Nomination for Best Original Screenplay for When Harry Met Sally (1989), which also starred Meg Ryan. She received another nomination for “Sleepless.” Ephron also cast Tom Hanks’s real spouse, Rita Wilson, as his sister, Suzy in “Sleepless.”) Five years after “Sleepless,” Nora Ephron reunited Hanks and Ryan for a 3rd time in You’ve Got Mail (1998). (In both “Volcano,” and “Mail,” Tom Hanks’s character’s first name was Joe.) Recently, Meg Ryan, herself made her directorial debut with the indie drama, Ithaca (2016), which she also starred in and was paired with Hanks and her real son, Jack Quaid. Both Hanks and Ryan became close on “Volcano” and have remained good friends.
In addition to their four films together, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan both have been in a number of Disney-produced/distributed films both for the Disney label as well as other Disney-owned companies like Touchstone and Miramax.
Tom Hanks made his Disney debut in Touchstone Pictures’s fantasy/romantic comedy Splash (1984). (Because “Splash” was a hit for the studio, it ignited production on The Little Mermaid (1989)). Next, he starred in Touchstone’s Turner & Hooch (1989). Following that, he was hired by the Pixar Studios to provide the voice Woody in Pixar’s first collaboration with the Disney Studios, Toy Story (1995). He reprised the character for Toy Story 2 (1999), Toy Story 3 (2010), each of the Toy Story Toon Shorts (2011-) and television spin-offs, i.e. Toy Story of Terror (2013) and Toy Story That Time Forgot (2014), and is currently set to reprise the character yet again for the upcoming sequel, Toy Story 4, set to be released in 2018. In between the “Toy Story,” theatrical sequels, Tom Hanks starred in the Coen Bros. film, The Ladykillers (2004), which was also produced by Touchstone Pictures. And After voicing Woody for the 3rd time, Hanks portrayed Walt Disney himself in the “Mary Poppins,” biopic, Saving Mr. Banks (2013). Hanks’s most recent Disney film was Bridge of Spies (2015).
Meg Ryan made her Disney debut starring in the ABC original series Wildside (1985). Next, she starred opposite future husband Dennis Quaid in Touchstone’s D.O.A. (1988). She also made Touchstone’s When a Man Loves a Woman (1994) starring opposite Andy Garcia and Mae Whitman, who is Disney’s current voice for the Tinker Bell movie series (2008-). In 1997, Ryan lent her voice to 20th Century Fox’s animated movie-musical, Anastasia, in which she was under the direction of former Disney animators, Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. In 2001, she was paired Hugh Jackman in Miramax’s (then-owned by Disney) Kate & Leopold (2001).
The chemistry that Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan have in each of their movies has continued to entertain the world for nearly 30 years now. One might characterize Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan as a “modern Rock Hudson and Doris Day.” (Like Hanks and Ryan, Hudson and Day were good friends, and made three romantic comedies together, Pillow Talk (1959), Lover Come Back (1961), and Send Me No Flowers (1964)). Hanks and Ryan make it look easy, as real-life friendship appears to help their on-screen romance seem more believable and entertaining. Had they not befriended one another on “Joe Versus the Volcano,” they more than likely, never would have made “Sleepless in Seattle,” “You’ve Got Mail,” or “Ithaca,” which continue to entertain their fans!
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