Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SCADMeg Ryan made a welcome return to the red carpet Thursday night.
The New York-based actress attended the Ithaca screening during the 18th Annual Savannah Film Festival at the Trustees Theater in Savannah, Ga. The coming-of-age movie is Ryan's directorial debut and stars her 23-year-old son, Jack Quaid, as well as Tom Hanks, Danny Jolles, Hamish Linklater, Christine Nelson, Alex Neustaedter, Lois Robbins, Sam Shepard, Robin Skye, Zachary Webber and Nick Williams. Appropriately, Ryan and Quaid play a mother and son.
Ryan was also given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the event.
During a Q&A after the screening, Ryan said the film was inspired by William Saroyan's 1943 novel The Human Comedy. "My parents were divorced and I know how hard it is. I thought how do you cultivate integrity in a young man? How's this going to work? I read and read and read, and I talked and talked and talked," she said, according to People. "I came across this book and I felt that there was a lot of wisdom in the book—the great questions that were being asked."
"The grownups and the community didn't necessarily have all the answers," Ryan said, "but they were always there for the transitions this young man has to make."
Casting the movie was relatively easy as several cast members, including Jolles and Williams, had known each other for several years. "They are all friends of mine and friends of my son," Ryan, 53, revealed. "I'd been a big fan of their comedy stylings for a long time, and they agreed to be in the movie."
Ryan's comments echoed those she made earlier in the week when Ithaca had its world premiere at the Middleburg Film Festival. "I found the book when I got divorced [from Dennis Quaid], and my son was 8 years old. And I was, like, lost; I thought it was going to be so hard. 'Who is he going to look to? How is he going to be a man?' When I read it, I found that there were so many people in Homer's [Neustaedter] community who are invested in his integrity," the filmmaker explained, according to IndieWire. "My first in to the material was as a mom."
So, what did Ryan think of working behind the camera?
"I always thought about directing but I'm so glad I didn't do it until now. It takes so much of you," the When Harry Met Sally... and You've Got Mail star said, later adding, "The satisfaction of directing is completely comprehensive. You feel so responsible, because you're the emotional conduit. It's very important the story gets felt."