Julia Stiles has revealed how her directorial debut ‘Wish You Were Here’ became more “meaningful” to her during the time spent developing the picture.
Julia Stiles says ‘Wish You Were Here’ has become more “meaningful” in the time she has spent developing the film.
The 43-year-old star has made her directorial debut on the romantic drama movie and she realised during the process of crafting it that the picture was perfect to make her bow behind the camera.
In an interview with Collider, Julia said: “I actually had been looking for a really long time for the right story to tell as a director, and I was sent the book five years ago by an actress who’s actually in the movie – she plays the best friend – and I fell in love with it. I guess she heard I was interested in directing, and she was totally right.
“The book really grabbed me. Actually, in the five years that we’ve set out to make it, it’s only gotten deeper and more meaningful to me and feels more relevant.”
The ’10 Things I Hate About You’ actress continued: “I read the book during Covid times, and I felt like even though the main characters are very young, the story is very grounded and more mature, and a lot of it touches on this feeling of wanting to be able to connect with another human being and feeling like that’s more and more difficult these days because of social media and everything being online.”
‘Wish You Were Here’ tells the story of Charlotte (Isabelle Fuhrman), who experiences a whirlwind night of romance with Adam (Mena Massoud) before discovering the next morning that he is terminally ill – and Stiles believes that the picture showcases the “fragility of human life”.
The star said: “I loved that it’s a meditation on how we should be so lucky to have a lifetime of memories with the person that we fall in love with, as opposed to how a lot of romantic movies are about the love-at-first-sight idea. It’s also largely about taking care of another person, which I think we need more of these days.
“The movie has taken on a life of its own since I first read the book. It’s kind of grown, and one of the things that really sticks out to me is it touches a lot on the fragility of human life and how every moment is precious, but then also it’s kind of two versions of a love story. It’s the love story that they have together in reality, but then it’s also the love story that they dream about.”
Stiles cast her ‘Orphan: First Kill’ co-star Fuhrman in the film after being impressed with her work on the psychological horror flick.
She recalled: “I was working with Isabelle on the sequel to ‘Orphan’, and I was also in my spare time, in my trailer or late at night when I got home, adapting the screenplay.
“I would go to set, and I’d watch her as a 23-year-old, I think at the time, playing an 11-year-old convincingly, and I thought, ‘Oh my God, this girl is such a good actress.’
“So I was delighted when she wanted to work with me again and she responded to the script.”
Stiles added: “I could also see that she’s such a workhorse. She was tireless, and when you have a lead in the movie who’s in every scene and has to open up their heart and emote that much, you can’t assume that everybody can do that. So I could see that Isabelle was really capable.”
Julia Stiles: Wish You Were Here was the perfect directorial debut
