Hollywood bombshell Anne Hathaway recalled how in her early acting days, she faced “gross” auditions. In the name of chemistry tests, she was made to kiss 10 men in a single day. But those were weird days, she agrees that things have now changed for the better. The “Princess Diaries” star opens up about being scared of getting a “difficult actor” label.
Couldn’t afford to lose everything
As a newbie in the industry, Anne was afraid of getting typecast and labelled as difficult to work with. Hence, she went along with the weird happenings in the name of chemistry auditions. In the 2000s, “It was considered normal to ask an actor to make out with other actors to test for chemistry,” she revealed, “which is actually the worst way to do it.”
Recalling an incident in the same vein, Anne Hathaway shocked everyone by saying that in one day, she had to kiss 10 potential co-stars to see if they had chemistry. “I was told, ‘We have 10 guys coming today and you’re cast. Aren’t you excited to make out with all of them?’ But I wasn’t excited.” Anne thought there was something terribly wrong with her.
Even if this whole situation seemed gross, Anne put up with it because she was scared of losing her chances. The “Les Misérables” Oscar winner pretended to be excited and just went with the flow and kissed all 10 of the guys.
However, she doesn’t blame anyone on the crew for this trauma. “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 closes this discussion by saying that Hollywood has evolved.
Anne Hathaway understands how to do it now
Anne has recently turned into a producer, and in her latest film “The Idea of You,” she ensured that actresses felt comfortable. For the romantic comedy, Anne Hathaway engineered such chemistry tests with ease and fun. “We asked each of the actors coming in to choose a song that they felt their character would love,” she said.
Compared to what she has gone through, this new way seems like a breath of fresh air and a fun task. Nicholas Galitzine, who starred opposite Anne in the film, also said this method worked well. Although the process was incredibly intimidating, he said that the whole thing felt like a breeze. “Something almost spiritual happened, where I felt this immediate connection to Annie, and we shared a sense of humour and it was just very easy.”
Anne Hathaway also observed that she started to get fewer rom-com roles when she turned 30. Hopefully, the new film will bring her back in all her glory. Prime Video’s “The Idea of You” will stream from May 2.