Anyone But You Director on His Rom-Com Return: ‘I Really Wanted This To Feel Big and Epic’

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Anyone But You Director on His Rom-Com Return: ‘I Really Wanted This To Feel Big and Epic’

After spending much of his time creating family-friendly movies like Peter Rabbit and Annie, Will Gluck — the filmmaker behind two beloved romantic comedies, Friends with Benefits and Easy A — has recently returned to his rom-com roots with Anyone But You. On his latest project, Gluck shares that he wanted it to be “big and epic,” and one that will guarantee audiences a good time.

While Gluck’s rom-com features in the early 2010s garnered massive followings, audiences have certainly changed over the past decade. And that is why, for him, it is a “huge obligation” to come up with a movie that will give moviegoers a good experience.

“I really did feel a huge obligation to maybe make the last romcom in the history of cinema and theatricality. I really wanted this to feel big and epic and musical and funny and sexy and edgy and adult in order to get people to experience it in the theater with their friends and their dates,” Gluck told The Hollywood Reporter.

He added, “I sound like a pitchman, but I guarantee that when you walk out of this movie, you will have had a good, fun experience, which romcoms always deliver. We need a fun movie, especially now, and this is a fun movie.”

What is Anyone But You about?

Based on a screenplay Gluck co-wrote with Ilana Wolpert, Anyone But You stars Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell as two pretend lovers who would rather be with anyone but each other.

The synopsis for Anyone But You reads: “After an amazing first date, Bea and Ben’s fiery attraction turns ice cold – until they find themselves unexpectedly reunited at a destination wedding in Australia. So they do what any two mature adults would do: pretend to be a couple.”

Starring alongside Sweeney and Powell are Alexandra Shipp, Darren Barnet, GaTa, Dermot Mulroney, Rachel Griffiths, Michelle Hurd, Bryan Brown, and Hadley Robinson.