Julia Stiles on Embracing Directoral Feature Debut

Posted in: Interview, Lionsgate, Movies | Tagged: julia stiles, lionsgate, Wish You Were There

Julia Siles (Chosen Family) spoke to Bleeding Cool about her directoral feature debut in Lionsgate’s Wish You Were Here, casting & more.

▶” style=”border: 0px;” allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; fullscreen;” loading=”lazy” src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/pr_nVsfoUm8?feature=oembed” title=”Youtube Video”>

Julia Stiles has built an impressive body of work with her 30+ years on screen since her debut on the PBS series Ghostwriter and the Cyndi Lauper music video Sally’s Pigeons. Appearing in over 60 titles, some of her most memorable roles were in Touchstone’s 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), Paramount’s Save the Last Dance (2001), and Lionsgate’s The Prince and Me (2004). While she’s still active on screen, Stiles has occasionally directed, with her debut in the 2007 short Raving and the WIGS web series Paloma, and her latest is her feature debut in Lionsgate’s Wish You Were Here. Based on the Renée Carlino novel of the same name, the film follows Charlotte (Isabelle Fuhrman), a woman searching for a spark in her life who experiences a whirlwind night of romance with a man (Mena Massoud) she meets. The next morning, she discovers he is terminally ill and commits to helping him spend his remaining time meaningfully. Stiles spoke to Bleeding Cool about why the novel was the perfect opportunity, collaborating with Carlino on the script and asking if her previous experiences directing shaped her time on Wish You Were Here and casting.

Wish You Were Here: Julia Stiles on Why Renée Carlino’s Story Was a Perfect Opportunity to Make Her Feature Directing Debut

Bleeding Cool: What intrigued you about ‘Wish You Were Here,’ and what made you decide to direct this as your feature debut?

I wanted to direct for a while but looking for the right story to tell. I was slightly shy about directing at first, and then somebody, an actress (Gabby Kono-Abdy) in the film, sent me the book five years ago, and I was like, “This is it! I can totally see it visually as a movie.” I had a visceral response to it.

I laughed at moments, then cried, which gave me the confidence to say, “Okay, now is the time.” In the five years since I set out to make it, the movie only got deeper and more meaningful. Some things have bubbled to the surface I didn’t anticipate when I first read the book, specifically the maturity of the love story, even though the main characters are young. It touches on ideas and emotions much more grown up and universal, then when I went to adapt it, I was pulling elements of the book and highlighting them. The thing I responded to the most was this playful game the two characters play together, where they tell the story of their imagined relationship. It’s two versions of a love story. It’s the love affair they have in real life, and then it’s the love affair they dream about.

Did you adapt this script on your own, or did you collaborate with Renée on it?

Renée had her script I read, and then I talked to her, and I was like, “As a director, I need to dive in with a fresh start.” Part of my work as a director is to visualize this on my own, work on the screenplay, and visualize it from moment to moment. She was very trusting and let me do that. When I had the first draft, I showed it to her. She gave me notes, and then, in the years toward production, I did some rewrites on my own and then looked to her for approval.

What were the most invaluable lessons you’ve learned in your time directing ‘Paloma’ and the short ‘Raving’ (2007) that you took to offer when you were there?

My God! My short ‘Raving’ and the ‘Paloma’ series were so long ago that I look back on them, and I’ve learned a lot since then. They were good experiments because the first thing that I learned was, “You can’t have a bazillion locations because that’s not practical for a shooting schedule.” I went into thinking ‘Wish You Were Here’ about what I could accomplish. That’s one thing. I also spent so much time on films as an actress; I was soaking in what I saw what the directors were doing on the film set, like in blocking rehearsals, watching a director and the cinematographer talk about where they’re going to put the camera that you take a lot.

Did you pencil Isabelle from the get-go as Charlotte? Was it because of your shared experience in ‘Orphan: First Kill,’ or was it a coincidence? Also, can you talk about others like Mena, Gabby, and Jimmie and how they fit in with the cast?

Not a coincidence. I was adapting the screenplay for ‘Wish You Were Here’ while working on ‘Orphan: First Kill,’ it was paying attention to my job as an actress. It was COVID times, so you couldn’t do anything. You can go out, but you can’t socialize. I’d come home from set and had downtime to work on the screenplay. I go to set every day, and I’d watch [Isabelle] as an actress, a 23-year-old playing an 11-year-old. I thought, “Wow! She’s so talented!” I also saw she was a real workhorse, so dedicated and tireless, and I needed somebody with that stamina for ‘Wish You Were Here.’ If you’re in every scene all day long, every day, emoting, pouring your heart into it, and transforming, you need somebody who will be dedicated and has the energy to do that, and I knew she would.

Mena, I didn’t know him personally. I saw ‘Aladdin’ (2019) and I watched his TV show [‘Evolving Vegan’], which is not scripted, but it gives insight into maybe who he is. I felt like he was an old soul, and I wanted that grounding with [him as] Adam. I thought maybe the two of them would get along, and luckily, I was right, and then I wanted to cast my friends. There weren’t enough parts, but a lot of the smaller parts were friends of mine or people I worked with before. Jimmie Fails, I didn’t know, but I loved him in ‘Last Black Man in San Francisco,’ and I needed that part of Seth to be like, “Oh my God! He’s the perfect guy, and he’s so kind.” He sees her, he’s patient, and he’s showing interest in her, but he’s not pushing it too far. He wanted to get to know her, and I felt Jimmie would embody that.

Gabby is the genesis of this whole project. She slid into my DMs five years ago and then went through my agency. She said, “I’ve read that you are interested in directing. What about this book?” She was 25 years old but had a vision and chutzpah, and she was right. I loved the book, and she is why this whole movie started.

Wish You Were There, which also stars Kelsey Grammer and Jennifer Grey, is now available in theaters and on digital February 4th.

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!