Tom Hanks may reunite with Meg Ryan in her directing debut, ‘Ithaca’

Meg Ryan could have a familiar face on the set of her directorial debut, “Ithaca.” Tom Hanks is in talks to make a cameo in the film, an adaptation of William Saroyan’s 1943 coming-of-age novel “The Human Comedy,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.

As rom-com aficionados well know, Hanks and Ryan previously shared the screen in Nora Ephron’s “Sleepless in Seattle” (1993) and “You’ve Got Mail” (1998), as well as John Patrick Shanley’s “Joe Versus the Volcano” (1990).

Set in a small town in the San Joaquin Valley in 1942, “Ithaca” tells the story of a 14-year-old bike messenger whose life is changed as he delivers messages to local residents during World War II and cares for his widowed mother and younger siblings.

Ryan is directing from a script by Erik Jendresen and will play the boy’s mother. Hanks, who is already involved with the film as an executive producer, would play the boy’s father.

“Ithaca” is set to start shooting next month in Virginia and also stars Sam Shepard and Melanie Griffith as well as Jack Quaid, Ryan’s son with actor Dennis Quaid.

Hanks’ other upcoming movies include Tom Tykwer’s “A Hologram for the King” and a yet-untitled Steven Spielberg Cold War thriller.

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