Anne Hathaway recalls "gross" chemistry test from the 2000s

Anne Hathaway is adding her own story to the growing archive of all the ways Hollywood was an even bigger minefield for women before the Me Too era. As she goes back to her rom-com roots in upcoming boy band fantasy The Idea Of You, Hathaway recalled how chemistry tests used to look a lot different than they do now—especially before she had the power to steer the ship herself.

“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 in an interview with 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. 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.”

Hathaway didn’t name the movie or director who initiated this particular test, and specified that “it wasn’t a power play, no one was trying to be awful or hurt me.” While people will likely be drawn to speculate, that feels like it’s also missing Hathaway’s point entirely. This icky process was the standard back in the day, one it sounds like many young actresses were forced to endure. “It was just a very different time and now we know better,” Hathaway explained.

Luckily, more movies are helmed now by people like Hathaway, who understand that chemistry translates to the screen in a myriad of ways apart from merely the physical. It’s not a given that two actors can pretend to stand each other, much less relax and actually have fun sharing the screen. In this vein, the casting process for The Idea Of You—which Hathaway produced and stars in as a 40-year-old single mom who falls in love with the younger frontman of a One Direction-esque boy band—sounds like a genuine blast.

“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,” Hathaway said. “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.”

First of all, a dance party with the Mia Thermopolis? So fun. In Hathaway’s description, Red, White & Royal Blue’s Nicholas Galitzine quickly secured the role as she could tell he was “so ridiculously perfect” for it the minute he walked in the room to play a song he’d chosen by Alabama Shakes. “It was just easy,” Hathaway said. “I heard [lead singer] Brittany [Howard]’s voice and I just started smiling. 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 premieres May 2 on Prime Video.