William Shakespeare has inspired modern day cinema for many years, including films like 10 Things I Hate About You (The Taming Of The Shrew), West Side Story (Romeo and Juliet), Clueless (Emma) and now, Anyone But You (Much Ado About Nothing). Directed by Will Gluck (Easy A) and starring Sydney Sweeney as Bea and Glen Powell as Ben it tells the story of two people destined to be together. (The character names are quite deliberate).
Screenwriter Ilana Wolpert (High School Musical) spoke with Creative Screenwriting Magazine about leveraging her literary hero and re-invigorating the romantic comedy genre. Wolpert was the Shakespeare equivalent of the “Swiftie” during her college days. “I was an English theatre major, so a lot of my studies revolved around Shakespeare. There was Shakespeare before 1600 and Shakespeare after 1600, a whole class just on The Winter’s Tale, and another class on his comedies,” recalls Wolpert.
Much Ado About Something
“I was in a Shakespeare theater troupe, so I was really immersed in the way that he wrote, his dialogue, and his idiosyncrasies. The thing that I had always loved about Much Ado About Nothing is that it was so fun and light.”
It’s a classic enemies to lovers rom-com
“I wanted to take the inspiration and the gist of the character dynamics, the story, and the relationships, and of transform it into something that felt really modern and relatable to my life.” The screenwriter initially wrote a draft of Anyone But You when she was in her twenties. Many of her family and friends were getting married, and if they bucked that expectation, or had just come out of serious relationships, they felt lost.
Ilana Wolpert. Photo by Hadley Rosenbaum
Shakespeare’s play is noted for its playful banter. Wolpert emulated these conversations as best she could in her earlier drafts of the script. Beatrice says to Benedict [paraphrasing], “I would rather hear a dog bark at a bird than a man swear that he loves me.” It’s a way for them to constantly snipe and state they are both averse to a relationship or spending any time with each other.
“No matter how much they’re snapping at each other, they are constantly in conversation, and it’s so obvious they’re obsessed with each other. Even when they’re arguing, it’s clear that they’re actually flirting.”
Writing An R-Rated Romantic Comedy
When Will Gluck boarded the project and sold it to Sony Pictures, he had a clear vision of pushing the boundaries of Anyone But You into R-rated comedy territory. Ilana Wolpert rose to the challenge and rewrote accordingly.
“I think it’s really natural for people in their twenties to curse and talk about sex. I credit Will (Gluck) with Bea and Ben consummating their relationship. I love that we get to see them get rid of all of that tension and finally come together in that way. Finally, they’re going to hook up and it’s going to be a very sweet moment.”
“I like that we got to do these bigger, funnier, theatrical moments such as finding a spider on Ben. He has to rip all his clothes off and he’s standing there naked. Things like that elevated it a little bit and made the stakes feel higher and also fun.”
Anyone But You specifically winks at the romantic comedies of the eighties and nineties for inspiration. “They were wackier with more physical situations and big beautiful locations. I think that ‘How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days’ is such a wonderful movie that I thought about a lot when we were making this. It is about two people who are testing each other’s limits without explicitly knowing what the limit is,” adds the screenwriter.
Ilana Wolpert had been working on Anyone But You for several years with producer Natalie Sellers before the project gained any industry traction. The working relationship of writing and rewriting lasted for about a year before the script was sent out to more established producers to increase the chances of signing on Sydney Sweeney and getting the film made.
“We always knew that we wanted the character to be in her mid-twenties and to be in a very particular place in life.” Once Sweeney quickly agreed to play Bea, Glenn Powell signed on soon after as Ben.
The Bea And Ben Character Journey
The characters of Bea and Ben are based on Beatrice and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing. Consequently, there are strong parallels between the two couples.
“We know they have a history and they always fight. There’s a ‘merry war’ going on because they are always sparring. I really love to see how these characters met and why things sour between them. It was a misunderstanding and a case of being in the wrong place, wrong time. There was always this spark between them,” says Wolpert.
The screenwriter captures this nicely in Anyone But You. The audience isn’t privy to the full background, only that something happened in the past to break them apart. “All we know is that it’s only a matter of time before they recognize that they have romantic feelings for each other.”
This is a constant source of tension between Bea and Ben. Wolpert wants to explore the relatable feeling of “returning to past loves” in her film and deciding whether things didn’t work out due to situational reasons, bad timing, or incompatibility. Perhaps they could try again with a better chance of success?
Ben also has another love interest in Margaret (Charlie Fraser) to navigate. Margaret challenges Ben with questions regarding how they got together and why they broke up. A holiday romance isn’t always a solid basis for a durable relationship.
“There’s a moment where Margaret kisses Ben and it’s everything he wants. But later he realizes this isn’t actually what he wants anymore. He says, ‘Things have really crystallized for me and I was holding on to the memory and the hope of what could have been. Now I need to look toward to the future, because if I don’t, I’m going to miss out on this chance with a girl who I really think I love (Bea).’”
Writing the Bea and Ben characters can only be successful when the audience is invested enough to see how the story moves forward. You also need big set pieces in each act to keep the momentum going.
Anyone But You follows a specific plot to examine these characters. There’s the setup where they meet and it’s clear they have history and don’t like each other. Then they need to pretend to be in love for the wedding in Australia, eventually leading to the vulnerable moment where they declare their love for each other.
“I think that Bea really feels this pressure from her parents, especially at this time in her life, to be a certain person that they expect her to be. They expect her to go to law school and they expect her to marry this guy (Ben) that she’s been with since she was in sixth grade.”
“It’s really hard to be the person that you’re not any more. She is finally in a position where she’s starting to break away from that, but everyone (including herself) is holding her in place.” These are feelings that Ilana Wolpert strongly relates to, especially from her twenties. “You’re really unsure about what you want, and know you’re going to figure it out. But whenever people put pressure on you and put you in this box, it gets really suffocating. It’s a very confusing time even though you feel like you should be an adult and you should have your life together, but certain things have happened in the meantime.”
Amidst all the confusion of life getting in the way, Wolpert declares, “When you love someone not much else matters.” Over-thinking time, place and other circumstances don’t matter. Take that leap of fate and make that grand romantic gesture.
I always wanted to make movies that gave people hope and make people happy
Ilana Wolpert’s Writing Career
Ilana believes she’s still too early on in her career to have fully found her voice. One recurring thread in her work is “dealing with romance or the fallout from falling in love. I’m interested in exploring romantic comedies from lesser-seen pairings. I write a lot about queer romance and sexuality and dealing with that as someone who came out later-ish in life.”
Creative inspiration comes from many sources for Ilana. “I watch a lot of TV and I read a lot of books, so when I see or read something that’s particularly poignant or special to me, it can unlock so many things.” The source material needn’t be related to what she ultimately writers. She cites Everything Everywhere All At Once as a prime example of a film that jolted her creative spark. Walking and music also help galvanize her “moving thoughts” into tangible stories.
