Meg ryan interview

IN THE CUT

Meg Ryan's body has been the centre of attention recently. 'America's Sweetheart strips!' cried the attendant press when her new film In The Cut was premiered at the recent Toronto Film Festival. And it's true. This ultra-realistic, gritty thriller directed by Jane Campion (of The Piano fame) sees Ryan playing Frannie Avery, a dowdy bookworm who embarks on a passionate sexual relationship with the cop (Mark Ruffalo) investigating a local murder.

Perched in her suite at the Dorchester, Ryan seems totally relaxed while talking exclusively to Tiscali. She is frank about the nude scenes - which her and Ruffalo pull off with some conviction - and the reasons for doing them. 'Yes, the film is a thriller and a love story', she says. 'But it also explores the contemporary mythology of love and sex amidst the chaos and energy of the city'. But surely such intimacy must have been very hard to achieve? Ryan pauses and begins to lavish praise on her director, whom she has previously compared to an 'atomic bomb' going off in her life. 'Jane's idea was to remove artifice and show people in the middle of passion by just letting it evolve before the camera. It's as if you're peering through a camera at the characters' private lives.' The result is one of the most startling and explicit portrayal of sex in recent Hollywood history.

Ryan is unrecognisable in the film from the chocolate box characters more familiar to viewers from films such as When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle. Not just because of the nude scenes but because of the sheer complexity of her character - a lonely and introspective woman trapped in a life that appears to be going nowhere. In many ways it's a turn comparable to De Niro's Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. Was it difficult for her to find the character and turn up for work every morning to play someone so different from the norm?

'Well, there was a moment in rehearsal when I had a big 'aha' experience and found my character, ' says Ryan. 'But I kept it private, because she is a very private person.' She refuses to be drawn on what that moment exactly was. 'I want to keep it private because it's in keeping with the character - she has a lot of secrets. But we also had an unusually long rehearsal period for this film - three weeks - and being there every day allowed me to get a feel for both Frannie and her relationships with all of the other characters.'