c. The Sunday Telegraph
July 02, 2000

AMERICA'S sweetheart Meg Ryan has been pictured with Australia's bad boy, Russell Crowe.

They were photographed leaving a restaurant in London's swanky Park Lane, with the normally up-front Crowe looking coy and walking a few steps behind Ryan.

News that the talented pair are a couple has reverberated through the celebrity circuit in London, where they have been filming Proof Of Life together, and caused a ruckus in Hollywood, where Ryan reigns as the quintessential girl next door.

After reports of Crowe and Ryan's romance began appearing in British papers last week, Ryan, 38, announced she was separating from her actor husband, Dennis Quaid, 46, after almost 10 years as a celebrity pairing. They have an eight-year-old son, Jack.

News of the bust-up stunned those close to the couple, who believed Ryan and Quaid had one of the most stable marriages in Hollywood.

Industry sources said the chemistry between Ryan and Crowe, 36, was instantaneous.

"Meg and Russell are relieved this is out in the open," a friend said. "They are extremely close and he had been a real shoulder to cry on after what's been going on with Dennis."

Ryan was first spotted arriving at Crowe's trendy Covent Garden Hotel in February, before the shoot moved to Ecuador.

"She and Russell are incredibly fond of each other, and are sick of sneaking around and playing cat and mouse," the friend said.

"They just click.

"She feels young again and they've been having a wonderful time in London. It's as if Meg is a new woman."

Recently, Ryan and Crowe were also spotted partying backstage at a secret gig by David Bowie. They were dancing together and making no attempt to hide their affection for each other. "At one stage, she sat with her head in the 36-year-old New Zealander's lap," one report said.

"They were dancing and seemed very close. It was obvious there was real chemistry."

A crew member on the set of Proof Of Life said Ryan had eyes only for Crowe.

"We often saw them brushing hands and even cuddling. It wasn't in the way co-stars normally would - it was obvious they were falling for each other big time," the crew member said.

"They were very affectionate in a warm, gentle way - like mature lovers."

In the movie, Crowe plays a hostage negotiator who falls for the wife of the man he is trying to free. The wife is played by Ryan.

Proof Of Life is due for release in the US in December.

Despite their different on-screen personas, Ryan and Crowe are more compatible than many would believe.

Crowe, a bona fide movie star after the success of Gladiator, has a tough-as-nails reputation.

"I have heard he's very difficult to work with," Saving Private Ryan and The Patriot producer Mark Gordon told The Sunday Telegraph. "But he's an incredibly talented leading man. And that's what Hollywood will always be looking for."

Ryan captured the romance market with Sleeping In Seattle and You've Got Mail. In both movies, she starred opposite Tom Hanks.

Yet despite the pleated skirts and twinsets, the petulant pouts and happy endings, Ryan, a $16 million-per-picture star, knows her clout and plays hardball.

"Meg Ryan knows what she wants and knows how to get it," You've Got Mail director Nora Ephron told The Sunday Telegraph. "She's very direct."

Last year, Ryan said: "I've been in this business since I was 17. I'm very straightforward - I like people to talk very straight to me and I like to be able to be straight with them."