The younger readers out there may not remember how much of a box office powerhouse Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan once were. What started as playful chemistry in “Joe Versus The Volanco,” erupted into a pair of romantic comedy classics, “Sleepless In Seattle” and “You’ve Got Mail.” Now, sixteen years after they traded emails on the big screen, Hanks and Ryan are back together again, though not quite in the capacity you might expect.
Tom Hanks is set to produce “Ithaca,” the directorial debut of Meg Ryan. Based on the novel “The Human Comedy” by William Saroyan, and adapted by Erik Jendresen (“Band of Brothers“), the film tells the story of 14-year-old Homer Macauley, who is determined to be the best and fastest bicycle telegraph messenger anyone has ever seen. His older brother has gone to war leaving Homer to look after his widowed mother, his older sister and his 4-year-old brother, Ulysses. And so it is that as spring turns to summer, 1942, Homer Macauley delivers messages of love, hope, pain and death to the good people of Ithaca. And Homer Macauley will grapple with one message that will change him forever – from a boy into a man.
Ryan will star alongside Sam Shepard, Melanie Griffith and Jack Quaid, with production to get underway this summer.