Glen Powell had no issue pretending to fall for costar Sydney Sweeney while filming their romantic comedy, Anyone But You.
“A great rom-com doesn’t survive without great chemistry, and Sydney is the easiest person to have chemistry with,” Powell, 35, told Entertainment Tonight in an interview published on Thursday, December 7. “I mean, immediately, it was like we’d known each other forever, and I think anybody that’s been on the set realizes I never get tired of talking to Sydney.”
Powell referred to Sweeney, 26, as “one of the most talented actresses we have,” noting that the pair get along well because they like to “make each there laugh.”
“She’s awesome,” he said. “This movie has felt like a rom-com in itself because Sydney is very easy to pretend fall in love with.”
Powell and Sweeney were first announced as the stars of Anyone But You in January. The film follows Ben (Powell) and Bea (Sweeney) as their relationship sours after an amazing first date. They later unexpectedly find themselves at a destination wedding in Australia, where they are forced to pretend to be a couple to keep up appearances.
“The wild part about being in a rom-com, all the ideas of love are swirling through your head while these big romantic moments are happening,” Powell told ET of shooting the film. “So, sometimes [it’s] harder to differentiate between real life and fake life.”
Sweeney and Powell first jetted off to film the movie in the land down under in April. When photos surfaced of the duo getting cozy in bathing suits on set, rumors began to swirl that they had started dating despite their respective relationships. Sweeney has been engaged to Jonathan Davino since 2022, while Powell was dating Gigi Paris at the time.
Us Weekly confirmed in April that Powell and Paris had called it quits after three years together. The following month, a source exclusively told Us that the romance rumors were a “huge test” for Sweeney’s relationship with Davino, but that she and Powell remained professional despite getting close on set.
“When all that stuff happened, you know, publicly, it felt disorienting and unfair,” Powell told Men’s Health magazine in November of the rumors. “But what I’m realizing is that’s just a part of this gig now.”
Sweeney, meanwhile, told Variety in August that chemistry is what “people want” when it comes to filming a romantic comedy — and claimed she and Powell “don’t care” about any buzz around them.
“We have so much fun together, and we respect each other so much; he’s such a hard worker, and I’m a hard worker,” she explained. “We’re excited for the press tour, and I literally just left ADR with him. We talk all the time, like, ‘That’s really funny.’”
When asked about her time with Powell on set, Sweeney told ET that the twosome had an “amazing” experience together.
“It’s special because you actually get to see the amount of fun that we all had making it,” she continued, adding that she hopes viewers can feel the “love and friendship that was made on this film.”
Anyone But You hits theaters on December 22.
