Another thread is these wonderful actors and performances and that extends to “The Idea of You.” People have been raving about seeing Anne Hathaway back in a rom-com and how luminous she is here. Did you think of her right away?
The first person who came to my mind was Sandy [Bullock] but she wasn’t the right age. I’m not saying Anne wasn’t my first choice — I’m saying I was thinking about that girl who we can all put ourselves into their shoes. The girl next door thing. Meg Ryan also does it so well. And so does Anne. And I did that thing I always advise people not to do, which was develop something with one person in mind — because what if you don’t get them?

So I felt the character on the page was sort of the vintage Anne from “The Princess Diaries” or “The Devil Wears Prada.” And I missed that Anne, and I wondered if she misses it, too. But also she had mentioned to me that she wanted to do something when she was 40, where she could kind of stand on top of a building and scream, “I’m 40 and I’m still vibrant. And more than that, I can still have 𝓈ℯ𝓍, and I can still light up a room!” And it worked out perfectly because she was 39, about to turn 40. She turned 40 during filming. She was also someone very willing to delve into the truth of what it means to be a woman at that age. I felt like maybe America would be willing to grow up with her.

I’m fascinated by the Taylor Swift phenomenon, I’m a huge fan, and in “Lavender Haze” she has the lyrics “the only kind of girl they see, is a one-night or a wife.” And Taylor Swift is someone who has shared every stage of her life with her fans — we have seen her through these stages. And I liked the idea that you could take an actor that generations have grown up with and she would let us in for this maturation event — a divorce and self-realization and a new life. I knew she’d be the right actress to walk us through this investigation.

In the film, Anne’s character is subject to some online cruelty because of the relationship and I know she’s been very open about her struggles with that.
In the court of public opinion? Yes. That was a real character in the movie and Michael Showalter and I discussed it all the time. We were driven to accentuate the fact that it’s society at its worst. In many ways, their biggest obstacle is the media or this perception of what others think. We wanted to look at the crushing pressure of that court of public opinion that needs to take down women for being happy.
I don’t want to speak for her, but she talks about that period in her life and how she needed to recover, and I’m just so glad that people are rediscovering her because she put her heart and soul into this movie. She plays a strong character, but I really admire the vulnerability she allows us to see.

Nicholas Galitzine has broken through in the last year, but that wasn’t the case when you cast him.
It’s funny — we had narrowed it down to two choices but there was this other young man we were supposed to meet that kept lurking in our minds. There were so many scheduling conflicts and changes and finally, we decided to keep casting open one more day so we could see Nicholas. Michael spoke to him the night before the audition and he told me, “I just had a phone call with this kid, and I have this instinct that I just found him.”

The next day at the audition, it was so obvious. He and Anne clicked instantly. We made the guys do this improv where they had to try and get Anne to dance. You’re in a dry audition room with a bunch of people sitting at a table watching you and you have to figure out a way to get this accomplished actress to dance with you. And he did it — partly because he could sing himself and play his guitar. So he sort of seduced her by guitar — which by the way, always works with women.