'The Idea of You' star opens up about how being a producer has made it easier to advocate for herself in film projects.
Anne Hathaway has been in Hollywood since she was the tender age of 17, and as she takes more control behind the scenes of her latest projects, the 41-year-old actress is changing the way things happen during pre-production.
In an interview for V Magazine, Hathway opens up about the development of her upcoming film, Prime Video's The Idea of You. The mother of two serves as a producer and star of the film, in which she plays Solène, a 40-year-old divorced mother forced to chaperone her teen daughter's trip to the Coachella Music Festival.
In the movie, based on Robinne Lee's popular novel of the same name, a chance encounter with Hayes Campbell -- the 24-year-old lead singer of the most popular boy band in the world -- gets Solène wrapped up in a whirlwind romance.
Choosing the actor to portray Hayes was a significant moment in the development process, a process that Hathaway was determined to make comfortable for everyone involved.
"Back in the 2000s --and this did happen to me-- it was considered normal to ask an actor to make out with other actors to test for chemistry. Which is actually the worst way to do it," Hathaway tells V Magazine. "I was told, 'We have ten guys coming today and you're cast. Aren't you excited to make out with all of them?' And I thought, 'Is there something wrong with me?' because I wasn't excited. I thought it sounded gross."
Hathaway confesses that she pretended to be excited because she was aware of how quickly the tides of Hollywood can turn on those "labeled 'difficult.'"
"It wasn't a power play, no one was trying to be awful or hurt me. It was just a very different time and now we know better," she says."
In the spirit of knowing better, Hathaway shares that the audition process for The Idea of You involved a more creative method for chemistry testing.
"We asked each of the actors coming in to choose a song that they felt their character would love, that they would put on to get my character to dance, and then we'd do a short little improv," she reveals. "I was sitting in a chair like we had come in from dinner or a walk or something, we pressed play, and we just started dancing together."
Nicholas Galitzine, the 29-year-old British star who landed the role of boy bander Hayes Campbell, chose a song by Alabama Shakes.
"It was just easy. I heard [the lead singer of Alabama Shake's] Brittany's voice and I just started smiling," Hathaway tells the outlet. "And he saw me smile, so he relaxed, and we just started dancing. Nobody was showing off. Nobody was trying to get the gig. We were just in a space dancing. I looked over and Michael Showalter, our director, was beaming. Spark!"
The Idea of You also stars Ella Rubin, Reid Scott, Annie Mumolo, Perry Mattfeld, Jordan Aaron Hall, Jaiden Anthony, Raymond Cham Jr, Viktor White and Dakota Adan.
When ET chatted with Galitzine and Julianne Moore ahead of the premiere of their Mary & George series, the actor couldn't hide his enthusiasm for the upcoming release.
"I'm so excited for The Idea of You, you know, again it's portraying something that we're not really used to seeing on screen which is an age-gap love between a young man and an older women," Galitzine tells ET about the upcoming release. "I'm really thrilled that it's coming out and Anne is such an incredible actress... Very excited for people to watch it!"
The Idea of You premieres May 2 on Prime Video.
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