Meg Ryan made a rare public appearance in New York this week to attend a screening with her longtime friend and fellow beloved actor, Michael J. Fox.
The You’ve Got Mail star was photographed Wednesday (May 3) at the Lincoln Center in Manhattan, posing and smiling while sitting on a couch with Fox and his wife, Tracy Pollan, according to People and Us Weekly.
Ryan’s last known public appearance was six months ago in New York, where she was seen celebrating her 61st birthday. On Wednesday, Ryan was among several celebrities, including Joan Jett, Debra Messing, Denis Leary, Bill Murray, Mariska Hargitay, Katie Couric and Elvis Costello, who showed up to support Fox’s new documentary film, Still.
The Apple TV+ documentary traces Fox’s life following his diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease at age 29 – at the height of his acting career. The 61-year-old Back To The Future star hid his struggle with the degenerative brain disorder from the public for nearly a decade.
Ryan is best known for her leading roles in iconic romantic comedies of the 1980s and 1990s – Sleepless In Seattle, When Harry Met Sally and City Of Angels – but has since taken a step back from the public eye. She most recently turned to directing and starring in her own films.
Acting alongside Tom Hanks and Jack Quaid, she made her directorial debut in the 2015 film, Ithaca. But the 1940s period piece was met with negative reviews and never saw a wide theatrical release.
Ryan recently directed her second film, What Happens Later, a rom-com she also co-wrote and stars in opposite David Duchovny (The X Files and Californication). Described as “evolved and nostalgic,” the Bleecker Street film is set to be released later this year.
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie is directed by Davis Guggenheim, who won an Oscar for his 2006 climate change documentary An Inconvenient Truth. The new documentary will be released in select theatres in the US and begin streaming May 12.
The Family Ties actor recently shared how he doesn’t think he’ll live to be 80 as his health continues to deteriorate.
“I mean, I’m not gonna lie,” Fox said during a CBS News Sunday Morning interview. “It’s getting hard ... it’s getting tougher. Every day it’s tougher. But that’s the way it is. I mean, you know, who do I see about that?”
Still examines how Fox dealt with the disease while continuing to act.
Even after his diagnosis in 1991 and subsequent announcement in 1998, Fox continued to rack up his screen credits. He starred in six seasons of the political comedy Spin City, voiced the memorable rodent protagonist of Stuart Little, played the titular character in NBC’s short-lived Michael J. Fox Show and appeared in supporting roles in the hit shows The Good Wife, Designated Survivor and Curb Your Enthusiasm. – Los Angeles Times/Tribune News Service