Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney actually admit they leaned into all those affair rumors

"It worked wonderfully," Powell said of the pair's steamy Anyone But You marketing scheme

By Emma Keates | April 24, 2024 | 8:29pm

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Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney actually admit they leaned into all those affair rumors

Evil geniuses Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney Photo: AFF-USA

Even amid the summer of many divorces, Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney’s alleged affair on the set of Anyone But You maintained a stranglehold on both headlines and the hearts of gossip-hungry viewers across the nation. The two really looked like they wanted to rip each other’s clothes off every time they stepped onto the red carpet, a state of affairs that was only exacerbated by the two posting intimate, giggly videos on Instagram and certainly by the fact that Powell’s then-girlfriend, Gigi Paris, broke up with him in the middle of all of the drama.

But now, Powell and Sweeney are claiming that they deliberately flaunted their fake relationship to drive sales, and we all played right into their hands just like their families did in the recent Shakespeare adaptation. Of course, the fact that these two industry veterans knew a little off-screen drama would get more butts in seats isn’t remotely surprising. What is shocking is the fact that they’re just coming right out and saying it.

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“The two things that you have to sell a rom-com are fun and chemistry. Sydney and I have a ton of fun together, and we have a ton of effortless chemistry,” Powell said in a recent interview with The New York Times. “That’s people wanting what’s on the screen off the screen, and sometimes you just have to lean into it a bit—and it worked wonderfully. Sydney is very smart.”

If “it worked wonderfully” sounds like something a villain in a heist movie would say while sifting through his piles of change, that image isn’t too far off. Sweeney and Powell’s play worked, leading the film to an astounding $219 million haul at the global box office (via Box Office Mojo), a sum more than eight times its initial budget.

This evil genius tone wasn’t helped by Sweeney’s own confession. “I was on every call. I was in text group chats. I was probably keeping everybody over at Sony marketing and distribution awake at night because I couldn’t stop with ideas,” she said. “I wanted to make sure that we were actively having a conversation with the audience as we were promoting this film, because at the end of the day, they’re the ones who created the entire narrative.” Still, even if that’s true, it was Sweeney who all but shoved her fans in the right direction. She was the one, for example, who pushed Sony to take “a leap of faith” and release a TikTok video featuring herself and Powell reading ASMR pickup lines to each other, which now has over 25 million views on the app.

Sweeney and Powell are probably so comfortable admitting to this duplicitous scheme because they know fans will keep coming back no matter what. “We’re definitely trying to find the next thing,” Powell said of the partnership in February. “When you find somebody that you really jive with, Sydney is so easy to work with and so fun.” Stay strong, people—we can’t let them keep getting away with this! (Or maybe we can… Anyone But You was honestly pretty fun.)