Anne Hathaway has described an audition during the early days of her career, where she had to kiss 10 men to test for chemistry, as “a very different time”.
The Oscar-winning actress, who did not specify the film, reflected on the experience when discussing the process of casting her co-star in upcoming romantic comedy The Idea Of You, in which she plays a 40-year-old single mum who begins an unexpected romance with a 24-year-old boy band singer.
“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,” 41-year-old Hathaway told V Magazine.
The actress said 29-year-old British actor Nicholas Galitzine chose the Alabama Shakes and the audition was “just easy”.
“I heard (the lead singer of Alabama Shakes) Brittany’s voice and I just started smiling. And he saw me smile, so he relaxed, and we just started dancing,” she said of Galitzine, who starred in Red, White, & Royal Blue.
“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 audition was compared to a chemistry test Hathaway experienced two decades ago.
“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,” she said.
“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.”
Hathaway, who made her name in 2001 after the release of the original The Princess Diaries film opposite Dame Julie Andrews, also addressed rumours of a third film in the franchise.
“We’re in a good place…That’s all I can say. There’s nothing to announce yet. But we’re in a good place,” she said.
The US star also said “there’s no hiding” the fact that she would love to appear on Broadway during her career.
“(Being on Broadway) was my first dream, you know? And so many amazing, extraordinary things have happened to me but not that one yet. It’s a goal that is very, very much alive inside of me,” she added.