‘GROSS’

Anne Hathaway Recalls Kissing ‘10 Guys’ for 2000s ‘Chemistry Tests’

The “Idea of You” star opened up about going along with it so that she wouldn’t be “labeled difficult,” in a new interview.

Anne Hathaway is glad times have changed. In a new interview for V Magazine, the star talked about how casting the male lead for her film The Idea Of You, which she co-produced, was very different from how it was done when she started out in the 2000s. “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,” she told the magazine, “Which is actually the worst way to do it.” She also said she’d pretend that she didn’t find the practice “gross.” She continued, “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.” Hathaway added that she knew pushing back would cause her to be labeled “difficult,” so she “pretended I was excited and got on with it.” The chemistry tests weren’t a “power play,” and “no one was trying to be awful or hurt me. It was just a very different time and now we know better.”