Hardcore survivalism and adventure with Meg Ryan

Sheridan Monkhouse is director of classics such as Hellmare, Platinum Desire, and The Canine Dimension. He writes exclusively for Screen Idle

Meg Ryan is a delight. An outstanding comic actor, and sorely underrated dramatic actor. Her performance as a helicopter pilot under investigation in Courage Under Fire is one of the finest performances of a helicopter pilot under investigation in cinema history.

However, what many people don’t know is that she is one of the most experienced survivalists on the planet.

At 21,just prior to starring in Top Gun, she survived on her own in the Brazilian rainforest for six months. She spent the time living up a tree and survived by biting the heads off lizards and drinking spider-monkey urine. When she was found she had a string of ears round her neck and communicated only in grunts and high-pitched whistles.

I first met Meg when we discussed the possibility of making an adaptation of Little Women set on the moon. Sadly, the film never got off the ground due to the prohibitively high cost of filming a costume drama in space. But I was lucky enough to see Meg in full survival mode.

She insisted on taking the meeting in the White Mountain forest in New Hampshire and I spent the day learning the rudiments of burying your own faeces, hunting rodents for food and urinating up trees to ward off bears whilst chatting about how Meg would tackle the challenging role of Marmee in a spacesuit.

It was one of the more unusual meetings I’ve taken, but a fascinating one with an outstanding woman.