Entertainment

Anne Hathaway recalls chemistry test that required kissing 10 men to find prospective co-stars

Actress Anne Hathaway revealed the 'crude' method filmmakers once required her to undergo to test chemistry with male candidates.

In an interview with V magazine, Anne Hathaway recounted her early career experiences.

Hathaway shared in a recent interview with V magazine that the process of selecting suitable co-stars for actors nowadays has seen significant improvements compared to the 2000s.

Back then, she was asked to kiss up to 10 men for the film crew to find the perfect co-star.

"Going back to the 2000s, requiring an actor to kiss other actors to test chemistry was considered normal. It happened to me too. It was really a terrible thing to do," she said.

The Princess Diaries actress recalled a casting session: “I was told, ‘We have 10 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.”

“And I was so young and terribly aware how easy it was to lose everything by being labeled ‘difficult’, so I just pretended I was excited and got on with it. 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 added. 

However, fearing being labeled as difficult, Anne Hathaway pretended to be interested and went through with it.

The actress noted that filmmakers didn't use power to coerce or intend to harm her, but it was a very bad suggestion to find compatible co-stars.

Discussing The Idea of You, Hathaway mentioned that instead of having to kiss numerous people, each actor participating in casting would be asked to choose a song they think their character would love. 

Then the two would dance, and interact a bit. Like "We're sitting next to each other as if we just had dinner or get my character to dance, and then we’d do a short little improv," she said.

Now, with experience, Anne stated she no longer has to do such things and there are better testing methods.

For her new film The Idea of You, where Anne plays the lead role and serves as a producer, the 41-year-old actress revealed she knew co-star Nicholas Galitzine was right for the role immediately, especially after reading lines with him.

“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!”

In this romantic film, Anne Hathaway plays a 40-year-old art gallery owner named Solène who develops a romance with 24-year-old singer Hayes Campbell while taking her teenage daughter to a concert.

The Idea of You received positive reviews at the SXSW Film Festival last month. The film streams on Amazon Prime Video starting in May.