Sidney Sweeney is a marketing genius. This is the reason why Glen Powell's romantic comedy “Anyone but You'' went from being a less-than-successful success to becoming a box office and VOD hit for him.
“The two things you need to sell a romantic comedy are fun and chemistry. Sydney and I are so much fun to be together and we have so much chemistry together,” Powell told The New York Times. “People want what's on the screen to come off the screen, so sometimes you have to lean into the screen a little bit. And it worked wonderfully. Sydney is very smart.”
Sweeney also served as an executive producer on the film through his Fifty Fifty Films banner and was directly behind the “Anyone but You” marketing strategy. It included romantic photos of her and Powell, her longing looks on the red carpet, and plenty of flirting in interviews. And when Powell and her longtime girlfriend broke up (Sweeney remains engaged to Jonathan Davino, an executive producer on “Anyone But You”), the rumors heated up.
The NYT wrote, “The speculation played out exactly as they intended.”
“I was on every phone call. I was in text group chats. I just couldn't stop coming up with ideas and was probably keeping everyone in Sony's marketing and distribution department up at night.” said Sweeney. “When promoting this film, we wanted to make sure that we had an active conversation with the audience, because at the end of the day, they are the ones who are creating the entire story.”
Sweeney is also the EP who cast Powell and hired screenwriter Ilana Wolpert.
“Ilana put a really cool, modern spin on Shakespeare[‘s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’], it felt like I was reading an early 2000s romantic comedy,” Sweeney said. “I wanted to be kissed in the rain, I wanted to fall in love after reading the script, I wanted to cry, I wanted to laugh, I wanted to feel every emotion.”
Part of reliving the romantic comedy era of the early 2000s was also repurposing some of the most important marketing strategies of that era. Some were new, such as Sweeney sharing a fan-made video on TikTok of moviegoers dancing to Natasha Bedingfield's “Unwritten,” a hit song from the movie.
Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group Chairman and CEO Tom Rothman, who like Powell is also a director at Columbia Pictures, said everything was excellent.
“You have to get the ingredients in the meal right: the story, the cast, the filmmakers, the chemistry, the ending,” Rothman said, adding that creating any romantic comedy is “a delicate undertaking.” . So if you're going to make a movie and show it in theaters, it better be good. ”
