Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney certainly know how to sell a rom-com.
The duo sparked widespread rumours of an on-set romance while filming their movie Anyone But You (2024) and delivered seemingly real flirtation during its promotion.
In a new interview with The New York Times, however, Glen confirmed it was all for show — to sell tickets.
“The two things that you have to sell a rom-com are fun and chemistry,” he told the outlet.
“Sydney and I have a ton of fun together, and we have a ton of effortless chemistry,” Glen continued. “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.”
Sydney was certainly invested in their chemistry as an executive producer and told the Times she was “on every call” about the film with the marketing department.
Her playful banter with Glen at CinemaCon last year certainly helped cement the romance narrative.
“I wanted to make sure that we were actively having a conversation with the audience as we were promoting this film,” she told the Times, “because at the end of the day, they’re the ones who created the entire narrative.”
Glen previously told ET that making the movie “felt like a rom-com in itself,” however, and said Sydney was “very easy to pretend fall in love with”.
He added that “ideas of love are swirling through your head” while making a rom-com, making it “harder to differentiate between real life and fake life”.
It was much harder for fans to do so, however, as Glen and his ex-girlfriend Gigi Paris broke up during production. While Sweeney remains engaged to producer Jonathan Davino, she did share fan videos on social media about her rumoured romance with Glen while filming.
In the end, the approach worked — as Anyone But You grossed $219 million worldwide, setting a record for a film based on a William Shakespeare play.