Meg Ryan has shared her thoughts on a 2003 BBC interview that went down as one of British TV’s most awkward encounters.
Ryan, then America’s sweetheart and established queen of the rom-com, had around that time changed direction, appearing in Jane Campion’s erotic thriller The Cut, and UK interviewer Michael Parkinson grilled her on her decision to appear nude.
Ryan’s answers got increasingly shorter, and Parkinson more impatient, until he eventually asked what she would do if she were the interviewer. “Wrap it up,” was her response.
This weekend, in an interview with The Times of London, Ryan remembered the cringeworthy meeting.
“I thought it was so bad. In the States the talk shows have breaks every four minutes [for adverts], so I kept waiting for the break because I was gonna stand up and leave. But the break never came [because it was on the BBC].”
She added that she didn’t attempt to speak to Parkinson after the show. “No, I left. I was like, wow, I didn’t know who that guy was to begin with, and I don’t have to think about him again.”
Parkinson said in 2021 that he regretted becoming so angry with Ryan, and that he didn’t believe it was either of their best moments.
At the time of the interview Ryan had become one of America’s most successful actresses, especially for a string of rom-coms including When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail, all written by Nora Ephron. In the interview, Ryan remembered Ephron fondly, saying her sage advice was always right, from matters about the right type of dinner table (round so guests could speak to each other) to making sure one never married a man one wouldn’t like to be divorced from.
Ryan most recently directed a rom-com herself, What Happens Later, co-starring with David Duchovny as a former couple who come across each other in a deserted airport.
