Tom Hanks Producing New Film – Directing? Meg Ryan!
Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan together again? Yes!
Tom Hanks has Virginians clicking their collective heels as he’s bringing a new film production to the Old Dominion. And who’s directing the new Tom Hanks film? None other than Hollywood legend, Meg Ryan, who starred with Hanks in the 199o’s romantic comedy classics, Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail.
Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe announced plans to shoot the Meg Ryan directed Tom Hanks film in the state on Friday, along with casting calls for hopeful actors and all the other trappings of tinsel town, reports Richmond’s CBS 6:
“We couldn’t be happier that Meg Ryan has chosen Virginia as the location for her directorial debut,” Governor McAuliffe said in a statement. “We are excited to have the opportunity to work with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks on this film about an important time in American history.”
The Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan film, titled Ithaca, is based on a 1942 book by William Saroyan.
From IMDb, we get the following description:
“In a small town in California’s San Joaquin Valley, 14-year-old Homer Macauley 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. Based on Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Saroyan’s 1943 novel, The Human Comedy, ITHACA is the quintessential wartime tale of the Home Front. It is a coming-of-age story about the exuberance of youth, the sweetness of life, the sting of death and the modesty and sheer goodness that lives in each and every one of us.”
That the Tom Hanks film is being shot in Virginia, even though its setting is in California and just over the hill from Hollywood, is another sign of how unattractive California has become to filmmakers, despite the state passing a recent tax incentive.
Meanwhile, Virginia is obviously pretty attractive to Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Hanks is bringing Ithaca to the state on the heels of Lincoln, Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winning blockbuster. This means more big Hollywood bucks for Virginia as the state will be showered with tax revenue generated by the Tom Hanks production.
The Tom Hanks film will be eligible for a Virginia Film Tax Credit and Grant, reports the Richmond Times Dispatch. Exactly how much money the credit will provide the Tom Hanks production will be determined by the number of Virginia workers hired, the amount of Virginia goods and services bought, and even how well Tom Hanks and company are able to promote Virginia tourism.
The film and television industry brought Virginia $328 million in 2012, along with 3,061 jobs and $50 million in tax revenue.
Andy Edmunds, Director of the Virginia Film Office, said that the Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan film supports the office’s mission of “bringing jobs to the commonwealth and expanding our workforce in television and film production.”
Not to mention, Ithaca promises to be a great film. I mean, how can you go wrong with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks?
[Images Via Bing]
