Ilana Wolpert, the brilliant mind behind the blockbuster rom-com Anyone But You, has reinvigorated the genre with her refreshing storytelling and wit. Grossing over $200 million at the box office, her film proves that audiences still crave the charm and magic of a well-crafted love story. Without Ilana’s vision and words, this comical yet enchanting story would remain unwritten!

On March 6th, 2024, I had the opportunity to interview Ilana at the height of her movie’s success. My aim was to uncover the inspiration behind the film and to explore the comeback of the romantic comedy. Moreover, I was curious about her experience creating a movie that garnered such widespread appreciation, drawing fans from all corners of the globe.

Therefore, to begin our interview, I asked Ilana how high school set her up for her career today, to which she replied: “As most high schools do, we did a lot of focus around Shakespeare, and we were asked to write a short-story incorporating all of the women from Shakespeare’s work in one story, making his plays come together in an alternate reality. It was just so much fun, and I think it was one of the first times I could really be creative. I definitely credit my high school experience of Shakespeare for something that was a very formative part of writing this movie, which was based on Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing, because I always say that that was the original rom-com. I also wrote for my high school newspaper, I wrote a play for school, so I was definitely very creative, but I definitely was not into film as much, I was more into theater and English.”

I then asked Ilana what her inspiration was to write Anyone But You. She responded: “As mentioned before, I always found Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing to be the OG rom-com, so I really drew a lot of inspiration from that play. I was very inspired by movies that had used Shakespeare plays and made modern movie adaptations out of them like She’s the Man or 10 Things I Hate About You, and even Easy A, which is the Scarlet Letter and Emma, which is Clueless ! It made me way more interested in Shakespeare after I saw these movies because I wanted to read the original text, the book that the movie is based on, so-to-speak. It really did inspire me and my love for writing and theater so much more.” Laughing, Ilana added, “If all I do is inspire people to read Shakespeare, then I am good!”

Next, I asked Ilana what her “Aha!” moment was to follow her dream to become a screenwriter, to which she answered: “For this movie specifically, I was already working in the entertainment industry as an assistant, and shortly afterwards I was hired to be a writer for the hit-series High School Musical: The Series, and had sold a few shows as a writer, but I wrote the script in 2020-2021, and honestly I did think that this movie could definitely be one of those movies that did not get made, but I had a very wonderful producer who sat with me and was like, ‘This has to be made, no matter what!’” Ilana followed up, saying, “It takes a very long time to make a movie and everything is about timing and finding the right talent!”

Moving on, I asked Ilana how she got into the screenwriting field. She explained: “I went to Duke for college, and I took a screenwriting course my senior year in the fall, and as soon as I took that course, everything really clicked for me. I thought I would graduate from college and then go to graduate school to get my PHD or pursue something more creative, but after I took that screenwriting course, that really crystalized what I wanted to do. It all made sense to me. I moved to LA and just took a chance!”

Being one of my most anticipated questions, I asked Ilana what it was like to film Anyone But You, and with excitement, Ilana replied: “I came up with the idea, I wrote the first draft of the script. So, we met with Sydney Sweeney, and she came onto the script, we met with Glen Powell, and he came onto the script. Then when we hired a director, Will Gluck, he made a lot of production changes, such as reflecting the script to be filmed in Australia. However, the end product reflected the script that we both revised together, so we both got credit for the screenplay.” 

Next, I asked, when casting the characters, how did that process work, to which she answered:

“Sydney was really our first person to play Bea, and she read it right away, and came on right away! However, it was definitely more difficult to figure out who was going to play Ben, our male lead. Glen was already on our radar, but we heard that he was focusing on other film projects, not so much the rom-com space; however, it was not until Sydney and Glen met, and Sydney was like, ‘Oh! It has to be him! Let me send him the script and call him.’ Sydney was a producer on the project, and she could really see the vision of the movie. I mean, the two of them had such great chemistry, so she really did have a slam dunk with that!” 

I then asked Ilana if she is still close with the cast and without hesitation, she replied: “During the filming process, it was just so fun! It took around 10 weeks to film, and it was so amazing! I am still very much in touch with everyone, and I would love to find another project to work with all of them again, but I think the beautiful thing about this movie is that we all became very, very busy after, which is amazing because that means people really enjoyed the movie. These stars are those types of people that audiences will see movies for, so it is very exciting for me to see that all of us are too busy to do anything right now. It is really special!”

Segueing, I asked if there were any fun behind-the-scenes moments Ilana would share with us. She answered: “The koala in the movie was actually a koala from a zoo, so he got very nervous when we started filming, causing him to climb to the top of the tree, halting our production for a while! He really became a star at the end, you know, after his stagef right.”

Near the end of our interview, I asked Ilana if she could provide some advice in general for students following their dreams. Smiling, Ilana answered: “When what you see yourself doing one day feels inevitable, that is when you know to follow your path. You know, the most successful endings are those that are surprising but inevitable, so that is always something I try to think about.”

And as Ilana is a rom-com writer, I had to ask her what her number one rom-com would be besides Anyone But You. Without hesitation, she replied: “When Harry Met Sally!”

Concluding, I asked Ilana who her role model is. After some pondering, she replied: “A role model for me for a career I want to have and with the type of movies that stand the test of time, I would say Nora Epheron because her movies are so powerful and resonate with me deeply. Also, a lot of my friends are writers, so I love that I have such a strong community to work with and look up to as well!”

I wanted to thank Ilana Wolpert for taking the time to talk to me and the Lion’s Roar. Without you and the power of your words, our many great stories would be unwritten (literally). So, thank you for connecting our generation with Shakespeare and cultivating a truly incredible screenplay. Your work ethic is admirable, and I can confidently say that I am so eager to watch more movies by the one and only Ilana Wolpert. Thank you so much, again!