Yes, Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney leaned into romance rumors ...
It seems that there are some “Unwritten” rules for fan engagement.
Glen Powell has finally admitted that he and Sydney Sweeney pulled one over on moviegoers while promoting “Anyone But You.”
“The two things that you have to sell a rom-com are fun and chemistry. Sydney and I have a ton of fun together, and we have a ton of effortless chemistry,” he told the New York Times in an interview published on Tuesday.
“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.”
Last August, Sweeney opened up about the flick in an interview with Variety, saying, “It’s a rom-com. That’s what people want! Glen and I don’t really care. We have so much fun together, and we respect each other so much.”
While Sweeney was (and still is) engaged to restaurateur Jonathan Davino, Powell’s single status added fuel to the fling fire.
Amid talk last April that Powell, 35, and then-girlfriend Gigi Paris were breaking up, she unfollowed Sweeney on Instagram, with popular gossip account DeuxMoi speculating that the relationship had been on the rocks in the months since filming with Sweeney began.
“Gigi only unfollowed Sydney on social media because Sydney never followed her back. This had nothing to do with Glen and Sydney. Gigi is aware that Glen and Sydney never hooked up,” a source told People at the time. “He takes his work very seriously and it was tough on the relationship.”
Sweeney, 26, defended their close friendship — and addressed the cheating allegations — in the Variety interview. “Sometimes I feel beat up by it. It’s hard to sit back and watch, and not be able to stand up for yourself,” she said.
“Glen and I don’t really care,” Sweeney continued. “We have so much fun together, and we respect each other so much; he’s such a hard worker, and I’m a hard worker.”
She said of the alleged affair headlines: “We talk all the time, like, ‘That’s really funny.’”
Two months later during an appearance on the “Today” show, host Hoda Kotb asked the duo if there was “a little romance” between them.
Powell replied: “No, but we do love each other. And, honestly, this is one of the most spectacular humans I’ve ever met. She’s really great.”
Throughout the speculation, Sweeney had been spotted on multiple occasions not wearing her engagement ring — even though she co-executive-produced the film with Davino.
“It’s amazing having someone who cheers you on and someone who fully just supports what you do,” she told Entertainment Tonight right before the film’s premiere.
Sweeney even poked fun at the rumors when she hosted “Saturday Night Live” in March.
“The craziest rumor I’ve seen is that while I was filming ‘Anyone But You,’ I was having an affair with my co-star Glen Powell,” she said while laughing. “That’s obviously not true. Me and my fiancé [Davino] produced the movie together and he was there the entire shoot.
“And I just want to let everyone know that he’s the man of my dreams and we’re still together and stronger than ever. He even came here tonight to support me.”
Looking at the camera crew, Sweeney continued, “Can we cut to him?”
The camera then cut to Powell, who was sitting among the audience and had a stunned look on his face when the camera panned to him.
“That’s not my fiancé!” the actress quipped. “He’s in my dressing room and we have a great show for you tonight!”
All their hard work paid off — literally — as the December film grossed $219 million worldwide at the box office. (It also gave a big bump to Natasha Bedingfield’s 2004 song “Unwritten,” earning it over 1.3 million official on-demand streams during the period of Dec. 29 to Jan. 1.)
Powell and Sweeney’s promotion revelation comes a week after Hollywood producer Carol Baum went after the actress onstage at the Jacob Burns Center in Pleasantville, NY. “I said to my class [at the University of Southern California], ‘Explain this girl to me,’” Baum told the crowd. “‘She’s not pretty, she can’t act. Why is she so hot?’”
She concluded: “Nobody had an answer.”
But according to TMZ, after online backlash Baum now feels “regret” over the remarks she made during a talk with film critic Janet Maslin.
“She wishes she never would’ve made her original comments,” the outlet said, “and that crapping on an actor like that in public usually isn’t her style.”
Before issuing her “apology,” Sweeney’s reps responded to Baum via The Post: “How sad that a woman in the position to share her expertise and experience chooses instead to attack another woman. If tearing down another woman is what Carol has learned during her decades in the business, and she feels it appropriate to pass that on to her students, then that’s truly shameful. To unjustly disparage a fellow female producer speaks volumes about Ms. Baum’s character.”
