Anne Hathaway details ‘gross’ chemistry tests she did in the 2000s
By Lianne Kolirin, CNN
(CNN) — Oscar-winning actress Anne Hathaway has said that she had to kiss a series of actors during the audition process in the 2000s to “test for chemistry” on camera.
Now 41 and with dozens of movies to her name, Hathaway has revealed how early on in her career she went along with the “gross” request to “make out” with male actors to test their suitability for an unnamed movie.
Speaking to V Magazine in an interview published Monday, Hathaway said: “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.
“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.
“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 won a best supporting actress Oscar for her turn in 2012’s “Les Misérables,” is currently promoting her new film “The Idea of You.”
In it she plays single mother Solène, who begins an unexpected romance with the lead singer of a popular boy band after meeting at Coachella.
The singer, Hayes, is played by British actor Nicholas Galitzine. When asked how he was chosen for the role, Hathaway – who is also a producer on the movie – said: “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.
“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.”
Galitzine, who also stars in “Mary & George” with Julianne Moore, selected The Alabama Shakes, according to Hathaway.
“And it was just easy,” she said. “I heard [the lead singer of Alabama Shakes] Brittany’s voice and I just started smiling. And he [Galitzine] 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.”
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