Hollywood actress recalls ‘gross’ audition where she had to kiss 10 men-Kitty Chrisp-Entertainment – Metro

This Hollywood romcom icon had to kiss 10 men in one audition in the early days of her career (Picture: Dave M. Benett/WireImage)

Anne Hathaway has opened up about a ‘gross’ audition in the early days of her career. 

The Devil Wears Prada actor, 41, described how she had to kiss 10 men in chemistry tests before landing the part and reflected it was ‘a very different time’. 

The Oscar-winning actress, who did not specify the film, recalled the experience while discussing the process of casting her co-star in upcoming romantic comedy The Idea Of You, in which she plays a single mum who begins an unexpected romance with a 24-year-old boy band singer.

‘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,’ she told V Magazine.

She explained how the 29-year-old British actor Nicholas Galitzine chose US band Alabama Shakes – fronted by Brittney Howard – and the audition was ‘just easy’.

‘I heard Brittany’s voice and I just started smiling. And he saw me smile, so he relaxed, and we just started dancing,’  she said of Galitzine, who starred in Red, White, & Royal Blue.

Anne Hathaway remembers thinking it was ‘gross’ but says times have changed (Picture: Jacopo Raule/Getty Images)

Anne shot to fame after the 2001 release of The Princess Diaries (Picture: Ron Batzdorff/Brownhouse Prod/Botnp Inc/Kobal/Shutterstock)

‘Nobody was showing off. Nobody was trying to get the gig. We were just in a space dancing. I looked over and Michael Showalter, our director, was beaming. Spark!’ 

Anne then compared this joyful experience to one she had two decades ago.

‘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,’ she 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.’ 

The star reflected that now ‘we know better’ than to test intimacy in that way (Picture: Matt Baron/BEI/REX/Shutterstock)

The star recently reflected that she stopped being offered romcom leads in her 30s (Picture: David Lefranc/Kipa/Sygma via Getty Images)

The Interstellar star, who shot to fame in 2001 aged 19 after the release of the original The Princess Diaries film opposite Dame Julie Andrews, also addressed rumours of a third film in the franchise.

‘We’re in a good place…That’s all I can say. There’s nothing to announce yet. But we’re in a good place,’ she said.

For the shoot alongside the interview, Anne ditched her signature brown locks for a short, slicked-back crop of hair twinned with a bold, masculine white shirt and dark trousers.

After The Princess Diaries, Anne went on to star in films like Ella Enchanted, Becoming Jane, Love & Other Drugs and One Day, which Netflix has recently re-adapted.

This recent reflection comes after the mum-of-two revealed to Metro.co.uk and other media at the press conference for new film The Idea of You that she stopped being offered romantic lead roles in her 30s. 

‘I didn’t notice that it was happening, but I had received a lot of romantic scripts in my 20s,’ she said. 

‘And then in my 30s, I was so focused on my family life and motherhood and trying to find whatever my path was going to be, being an actress while having this really rich personal life, and so I didn’t notice [that] I hadn’t been sent a romantic script in a really long time.’

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