Anne Hathaway says she was required to kiss 10 potential male costars for a "chemistry test" 20 years ago, and found it "gross."
The 41-year-old Oscar winner recalled the experience during an interview published in V Magazine. It took place in the 2000s, back when she was riding a wave of fame that followed her major break in 2001's "The Princess Diaries."
"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," Hathaway told the magazine.
"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," she said.
But despite being young, she said she was "terribly aware how easy it was to lose everything by being labeled 'difficult.'"
"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," she said.
Hathaway began her career as a teenager in the TV series "Get Real," before landing her breakout film role in "The Princess Diaries." She went on to star in several hits that decade, including "Ella Enchanted" (2004), "The Devil Wears Prada" (2006), and "Love & Other Drugs" (2010). She won her Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for 2012's "Les Miserables."
She is currently promoting her latest film, "The Idea of You," a romance in which she plays a woman who gets into a relationship with a much younger pop star, played by Nicholas Galitzine. It is set to release on Prime Video on May 2.
In an interview with Porter last year, Hathaway recalled being told that she, like other women in Hollywood, wouldn't have a career left after she turned 35.
"When I started out as a child, I was warned that my career would fall off a cliff at the age of 35, which is something I know a lot of women face," she told the outlet. "The thing that has evolved during [that time] is that more women are having careers deeper into their lives, which I think is fantastic."
But she said that "doesn’t mean we should have a ticker-tape parade."
"Someone said this to me the other day: 'There’s so much to be proud of and there’s so much to fix'," she said.
Story via TMX