From Shakespearean inspiration to on-screen chemistry, peek behind the curtains of Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell’s rom-com film, Anyone But You.
When Euphoria’s Sydney Sweeney and Top Gun: Maverick’s Glen Powell were spotted in Australia filming together, anticipation began to build for their rom-com film, Anyone But You. And as behind-the-scenes clips, teasers, and details were released over the past year, rom-com enthusiasts can’t help but feel excited over the film’s release.
It’s not hard to see why. Anyone But You, a film directed by Will Gluck, is an enemies-to-lovers story about two college arch-nemeses who reunite years later for a destination wedding. To mislead meddling relatives and make exes jealous, the pair pretend to be a couple which ultimately leads to them falling in love. Like many beloved romcoms (think 10 Things I Hate About You, She’s The Man, and Clueless), Anyone But You takes inspiration from a classic piece of literature: Shakespeare’s play, Much Ado About Nothing. Scriptwriter Ilana Wolpert calls it “the perfect enemies-to-lover story,” taking it as inspiration for the story and referencing the play throughout the film.
To top it all off, Sweeney and Powell’s chemistry and acting skills have kept interested audiences on their toes. Throughout their interviews and behind-the-scenes clips together, the two seem to be having the time of their lives, always laughing, smiling, and giggling around each other. But when watching the trailer, the hatred between Sweeney and Powell’s characters can be felt through the screen. “Bea and Ben’s relationship when they arrive in Australia is definitely not on the best of terms. They haven’t spoken for a couple of years now, and they’re very caught off-guard when they see each other,” Sweeney says, speaking of their characters’ relationship. “It doesn’t go smoothly. It does not go smoothly at all. It actually ruins the entire weekend.”
With two enemies pretending to be in love, the film trailer teases the hijinks and hilarious situations the two main characters find themselves in. One of the popular scenes has Sweeney interacting with a spider, which bit her while they were filming. “Watching Sydney wrangle that spider, then getting bit by that spider, you know, that’s my nightmare,” Powell shares. He jokingly adds, “I was like, ‘Nope, not me.’ Glad that was Sydney.”
Scary spider bite aside, Sweeney expresses her joy over working on the film, particularly her experience with working with Gluck. “Will Gluck has been a blast. He has directed such iconic rom-coms that I grew up watching, Easy A, Friends With Benefit. And I was really, really excited to work on this project with him. He is so quirky in his own right, I love it,” she says. “He never likes to call cut, so there’s just hours of footage of everybody. He was a blast. He was really fun.”
The film also stars actors Dermot Mulroney, Rachel Griffiths, Alexandra Shipp, Michelle Hurd, Bryan Brown, Darren Barnet, and Hadley Robinson. Mulroney, who starred in the 1997 rom-com film My Best Friend’s Wedding, shared advice to Powell while filming. “I remember after we watched My Best Friend’s Wedding as a cast, Dermot looked at me and he said, ‘You know, really take this job seriously and really take every moment seriously because the beauty of being in a rom-com is you represent love to people, you know,’” he says. “And he goes, ‘Don’t take that thing lightly and don’t brush it off because if you can represent love to people in movies, that’s the most beautiful thing you can do.’”
Powell seems to have taken Mulroney’s advice. Reflecting on his experience working on the film, he says, “The wild part about being in a rom-com is all the ideas of love are swirling through your head while these big romantic moments are happening.” He adds, “This is not a rom-com that’s meant for two hours and you forget about it. This is a theatrical rom-com that really breathes with the universal language of love and scope that you haven’t seen in a long time.”
For Sweeney, the fun of the film is what makes it worth seeing. “I think that it’s super special because you actually get to see the amount of fun we all had making it. We truly had an amazing experience together. I really hope that comes off and everybody can feel that love and friendship that was made on this film,” she says.
Anyone But You opens in the Philippines on January 17, 2024.
