Emilia Jones & Nick Robinson Talk Charlie Harper & Its Messy Romance | Interview

Charlie Harper stars Emilia Jones and Nick Robinson spoke with ComingSoon’s Tyler Treese about the new romance movie. The duo discussed the film’s passage of time, their characters, and the film’s non-judgmental view. It is out in theaters nationwide on September 25.

“At an engagement party for mutual friends, Charlie and Harper seemingly meet for the first time, but when a specific song sparks old memories, their complex history is revealed. Through flashbacks from both perspectives, their story unfolds: from what brought them together to where they are today. Retracing the highs and the lows, the depth of their bond comes into clearer focus as they navigate their diverging aspirations for the future. Through the evolving relationship of Charlie and Harper, the film explores the tension between love, ambition, identity, and personal growth, and examines what happens when two people deeply connected to one another grow in different directions, forcing them to confront whether love alone is enough or if time may be something they cannot overcome,” says the official synopsis.

Tyler Treese: Thanks. So, congrats to you both on the film. I really enjoyed Charlie Harper. Emilia, this jumps around timeline-wise. It’s not like it’s 30 years or anything, but I was curious if, as an actor, you try to bring a different energy when you’re playing younger compared to when you’re a few years down the line in the relationship. How did you approach that?

Emilia Jones: Yeah, I mean, it was quite fun, actually, for Nick and I to kind of sit down and map out their relationship. And we kind of started, due to Nick’s hair, we started with all the really young scenes. It was long, and then he had to cut it.

So, we actually started with a lot of the kind of younger scenes, which was nice because we were still getting to know each other and getting to know the characters and their story. And it was quite nice to kind of, you know, when you start a film, you’re very fresh. It was nice to kind of come in with all the young scenes, and we were full of energy.

Nick Robinson: And then towards the end of the shoot, people at the end are haggard, you’re tired.

Jones: Just day 23. Yeah.

Robinson: It was fun to kind of map that out in the different time periods, the different clothing, and the different hairstyles. I was spray-tanned within an inch of my life for the early scenes.

Jones: Which I wish that someone had let me know you were getting a spray tan because I was so pale.

Robinson: Harper stayed inside in Florida.

Jones: Just nothing.

Robinson: Yeah, I was out skating. So yeah, it is fun, and you can kind of hopefully try and bring some—although for me, I’ve been out of high school a long time. It was like walking down those high school hallways, it’s like, “I am not meant to be here. I am too old for this. No one’s going to believe that I’m a high schooler right now.” But it was fun.

Well, I can assure you, neither of you look haggard at any point in this film.

Nick, we get a lot of sweet moments in this film, but it also shows the more difficult moments in a relationship. There’s a lot of arguments. How was it doing those emotionally draining scenes where it just escalates to you both screaming at each other?

Robinson: Yeah, I mean, it was a challenge at times, you know, trying to find the levels to it and trying to make it as truthful as you can without getting over the top. But I think the script was so good, and Tom Dean, our director-writer, did such an incredible job that a lot of that was kind of taken care of for you.

He had thought about it so much that it was like, “Oh, this is where this is supposed to go.” And it felt very intuitive. But yeah, some of those days were hard. If you’re just supposed to be breaking up, going through a breakup for 12 hours, that’s not fun. But no, I mean, it was always exciting to come to set and see what the day brought.

Jones: Mac and Tom, they had kind of shot the movie with Mac and Tom playing Charlie and Harper, our two directors. So that was always fun because they had so many ideas when we would finally get to set.

Robinson: “Okay, so when Tom was Harper, he stood over here, and—”

Tyler Treese: Emilia, your character’s a chef. I thought that was fun after Tony just came out. It’s not the focus of the film, but how was it filming the kitchen scenes early on in this? I know it’s a different industry, but they’re just so mean, you know?

Emilia Jones: I mean, yeah, it was a totally—I couldn’t cook before Charlie Harper came into my life, so I was delighted at the chance to be able to kind of learn. And I went into the Ritz kitchen and trained with some chefs in there.

It’s incredible what they do. I can’t believe how many hours they work and how hard it is and how they’re on their feet the whole time. It’s crazy. And I learned how to chop really fast, which was really fun. And actually, when I did Tony, I taught Dominic Sessa how to chop really fast, so I got to use the Harper knife skills in Tony, which was fun.

Nick, I really liked how this film didn’t really have a judgment for its characters’ shortcomings, but rather understanding. And just because you’re going through issues, it doesn’t make you a bad person. What did you like about those themes of growth and accountability that this film has?

Nick Robinson: Yeah, I agree with you, Tyler. I really loved the way the script handled both these characters and their points of view and never making them feel like they were wrong or bad. They just sort of were, and they were both right, often, they both had fair points.

Both these characters talk about in the script how they’re just growing up at different paces. It doesn’t make Charlie a bad person that he’s trying to figure it out on his own terms. And I think, again, they address it in the film. It’s like he had to go through that in order to get to the other side and have some perspective on it, have a better understanding of himself and the relationship.

So I loved the way that the script handled it. And I thought they did a really good job of kind of keeping both points of view in hand and portraying them both as valid.

Source: Comingsoon.net