Academy-award winner Anne Hathaway has revealed that early on in her career, she was encouraged to kiss 10 potential co-stars in a film she was cast in to establish who she had better chemistry with.
In an interview with V Magazine, Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada), who won the best supporting actress Oscar in 2013 for Les Misérables, described the encounters as "gross" but said it was normal practice back then.
"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," Hathaway said.
"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.
"And I was so young and terribly aware how easy it was to lose everything by being labelled '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 is promoting her new film The Idea of You based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Robinne Lee.
It's about Solène (Hathaway), a 40-year-old single mum who begins an unexpected romance with 24-year-old Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine), the lead singer of August Moon, "the hottest boy band on the planet."
The story goes that when Solène chaperones her teenage daughter's trip to the Coachella Music Festival, she has a chance encounter with Hayes and there is an instant, undeniable spark.
As they begin a whirlwind romance, it isn't long before Hayes' superstar status poses unavoidable challenges to their relationship.
Hathaway is a producer on the film, which took a very different approach to intimacy auditions.
"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."
Galitzine (Mary & George, Cinderella, Bottoms) who won the part picked the Alabama Shakes.
Hathaway said she had some positive experiences also as a teenager in Hollywood and was invited into the filmmaking process by the late director Garry Marshall (Pretty Woman, Laverne & Shirley), who valued her opinion as a 17-year-old when he directed her in 2001's The Princess Diaries.
"To be honest, it never occurred to me that I didn't have the power of a point of view, at least creatively as it related to my character. I'm really lucky," she said.
"My first substantial film role, the second film I ever did, was The Princess Diaries. I was so generously invited into that process by Garry Marshall; he valued my take on being a teenage girl and elevated me to such a valued status on set that it never occurred to me on other sets that I didn't have that same autonomy, or that same ability to collaborate.
"I always wanted to be pleasant. But I also always thought that having strong opinions meant I was doing my job."
The Idea of You will be available to stream on Prime Video from May 2
