Ithaca (film)

Ithaca
Directed by	Meg Ryan
Produced by	Janet Brenner Laura Ivey Erik Jendresen
Written by	Erik Jendresen
Based on	The Human Comedy by William Saroyan
Starring	Alex Neustaedter Meg Ryan Jack Quaid Sam Shepard Hamish Linklater Tom Hanks
Music by	John Mellencamp
Cinematography	Andrew Dunn
Edited by	John F. Lyons
Production company	Apple Lane Productions Playtone
Release dates	October 23, 2015 (2015-10-23) (Middleburg Film Festival)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Ithaca is a 2015 American drama film directed by Meg Ryan and written by Erik Jendresen. It is based on the 1943 novel The Human Comedy by William Saroyan. The film stars Alex Neustaedter, Jack Quaid, Meg Ryan, Sam Shepard, Hamish Linklater and Tom Hanks.

Plot

In 1942, Homer Macauley (Alex Neustaedter) is a boy determined to be the best and fastest bicycle telegraph messenger of his city. His older brother, Marcus (Jack Quaid), along with most of the young boys of the city, has gone to war, leaving the families worried. His father died recently and the boy has to take care of his widowed mother (Meg Ryan), his older sister and his 4-year-old brother. Homer becomes the only telegraph messenger of the city, delivering the letters that bring messages of love, wishes, pain and death, hoping that one of them announces the return of his brother.

Cast

• Alex Neustaedter as Homer Macauley
• Meg Ryan as Mrs. Macauley
• Jack Quaid as Marcus Macauley
• Sam Shepard as Willie Grogan
• Hamish Linklater as Tom Spangler
• Tom Hanks as Mr. Macauley
• Christine Nelson as Bess Macauley
• Spencer Howell as Ulysses Macauley
• Zachary Webber as Horse
• Nick Williams as Texas
• Lois Robbins as Mrs. Beaufrere
• Robin Skye as Mrs. Brockington
• Scott Shepherd as Corbett

Production

On January 29, 2014, it was announced Meg Ryan would direct Ithaca, a film based on the 1943 novel The Human Comedy by William Saroyan, with Ryan, Sam Shepard, Hamish Linklater, and Ryan’s son Jack Quaid starring in the film. On June 25, 2014, Tom Hanks joined the cast. Principal photography began on July 21, 2014, and ended on August 22, 2014. It was filmed in Petersburg, Virginia, and also some opening scenes of the film were shot on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad.

Release

The film had its world premiere on October 23, 2015 at the Middleburg Film Festival.

Music

John Mellencamp, Ryan's former boyfriend, wrote the entire score for the movie. “Not one note of that is anything other than Mellencamp. He did everything,” Ryan said. In a May 6, 2016 Q&A after a screening of the movie at Geena Davis' Bentonville Film Festival, Ryan said: "The music is so beautiful. John Mellencamp wrote every note - everything - the tiny little needle drops you hear in the back. He wrote about half of it after I read him the script, and then the next half after he saw the movie. He's just incredible."

In addition to the score, Mellencamp also wrote a new original song for the film called "Sugar Hill Mountain" that is sung by Carlene Carter. "Sugar Hill Mountain" is said to sound like a 1940s standard, as that is the time period the movie is set in. "....the way John Mellencamp and I met was he invited me to come and sing this song he had written for the movie that Meg Ryan has coming out called Ithaca," Carter said. "That was when we became friends, when I went to Indiana and recorded with him and the guys this really cool song called 'Sugar Hill Mountain' that's in the movie. And the movie is wonderful. We got to see a rough cut of it and I was very impressed."

External links

• Ithaca at IMDb