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Julia Stiles says directing 'Wish You Were Here' enhanced her problem-solving skills

The romantic drama was released on digital platforms Tuesday.

Isabelle Fuhrman (L) and Mena Massoud star in "Wish You Were Here," on digital platforms Tuesday. Photo courtesy of Lionsgate
1 of 5 | Isabelle Fuhrman (L) and Mena Massoud star in "Wish You Were Here," on digital platforms Tuesday. Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

NEW YORK, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Save the Last Dance, 10 Things I Hate About You, O, Dexter and The Bourne Identity actress Julia Stiles says she thinks making her feature film directorial debut with the romance Wish You Were Here will make her an even better performer in future projects.

"I joked in the editing room that I would never sit behind the camera again because you don't know how much the camera sees, but that's not true. I'll definitely [direct again]," Stiles, 43, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.

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"I think it'll free me up a lot as an actress because I can see how much you can trust your director. That's really what matters and, also, editing can shape so much that if you trust your director and the editor, you're going to be OK."

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In addition to directing Wish You Were Here, Stiles also co-wrote the screen adaptation of Renee Carlino's novel with the author. The film stars Isabelle Fuhrman and Mena Massoud as Charlotte and Adam, a waitress and painter who fall in love just as Adam is facing a devastating health crisis.

Jennifer Grey and Kelsey Grammer co-star in the movie, which is available on digital platforms Tuesday.

While Stiles loved the novel, she knew a lot had to be changed to bring it to the screen.

"It was a process," she said. "There was a lot to mine from the book and preserve from the book, but then there was a lot that we needed to shift."

The film marks a reunion for Stiles, Grammer and producer Molly Conners, who all worked together on the 2021 drama The God Committee.

"I remember as an actress, being on that set and I was like, 'I want to work with her and her partner again because these women get stuff done,'" Stiles said, referring to Conners, Amanda Bowers and Jane Sinisi from the independent film and TV production company Phiphen.

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"So, I sent her the script for Wish You Were Here and Molly had a really visceral reaction to it and distilled it in like one sentence and said that she had been up all night after reading the script, crying 'that good cry' and, to me, that was like, 'Oh, she gets it.' And here we are five years later."

Stiles said she and Conners make a good collaborative team because they don't "pull any punches" with each other.

"I mean that in a good way," Stiles laughed.

"So many times as an actress, you have to be a people pleaser and I knew that with Molly I wouldn't have to dance around what I was trying to say," she added. "If there's things that we're struggling with on set or in pre-production, whatever, she would just be real with me and I would be able to help work around it."

Conners said Stiles' years of experience as an actress and the rapport they developed on their previous movie made for a natural evolution of their collaborations.

"She understood all the different facets of filmmaking and you could really just speak honestly to her and didn't have to sugarcoat what was happening and how to problem solve," Conners noted.

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"She already kind of knew how to figure that out," she added. "There was just a shorthand in that."

Confronting obstacles was one of Stiles' favorite parts of making the film.

"I think that some of the best work came from that," she said. "An example is that there's a pivotal moment in the movie that's not in the book, actually, that I thought of three weeks before we were going to start shooting. It was because I needed to simplify things and it, actually, to me, makes the whole movie."

She recalled how there was another scene with a sailboat that she was really in love with and that everyone, including Conners and her friend, director Doug Liman, tried to talk her out of shooting because it would be so difficult to get right.

"You stuck to your guns and it made the movie so much better. It was a good decision," Conners told her.

Stiles said the movie also gave her the chance to work with her real-life friends, whom Conners described as an "amazing" ensemble of actors.

"I did all the things as a director with the actors that I swore I wouldn't do and I apologize to them for that," Stiles added.

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"You have lofty ideas of how you're going to come in and talk about intentions and inner monologues and not give any notes until after they get their first takes and, instead, I was like, 'Happier, faster, slower.' But that's just what you have to do for the sake of time. Luckily, they were all very great and professional."

Stiles also recalled how she was writing the script for Wish You Were Here while she was acting with Furhman on the 2022 thriller Orphan: First Kill.

"I would go to set every day and I'd see her -- a 23-year-old playing an 11-year-old -- and go, 'My God, this woman is so talented.' I saw she had incredible stamina, which I needed for [my star of] Wish You Were Here, if you're going to have this character be in every single scene, every day, and she was great."

Stiles said she is happy to be a part of projects that have become fan favorites over the past two decades, with parents now watching them with their teens.

"It's really nice. It really is. I don't get to the point where I get a big head about it, but I do now, in my old age, feel like, 'Wow, it's really special that people remember a movie that you were in years ago,'" she said.

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"That's what you want as a performer. You want to have it be meaningful, what you're making, and I do try to take that in and be grateful for it. I was very aware in making this movie -- in picking You Were Here as a book to adapt -- that it would appeal to people that liked the kinds of movies that I've been in."

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