Back in November, the Anyone But You publicity shuttle began to heat up with a joint appearance from stars Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell. The pair beamed at each other in a manner that instantly inspired rumors that the two were secretly dating. This speculation surfaced despite Sweeney’s engagement to Jonathan Devino, and of course part of the chatter only grew more fierce when Powell and girlfriend Gigi Paris called it quits.
Anyone But You then experienced a slow start at the Christmas box office, although it’s gone on to exceed $218 million at the global box office, which is much more impressive than that of big-budgeted superhero fiasco Madame Web. As of April 23, Anyone But You has finally arrived on Netflix, and now, those rumors are popping up in a conversation with the New York Times.
Would you be surprised to learn that Sweeney and Powell “intended” for that fuss to happen in the first place? Those stinkers:
The speculation played out, the stars said, exactly as they intended.
“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 an interview. “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.”
What did Sydney do? As a producer, she had an especially vested interest in, well, making sure that interest in the film flourished:
“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.”
In retrospect, not too surprising! And yes, the tactics most certainly worked, and hopefully, this film’s success has invigorated people’s appetites to leave the house a little more often to see romcoms — and ideally, that trust will also be in good Hollywood hands.
(Via New York Times)