Summary

Collider’s Britta DeVore speaks with Julia Stiles for her directorial debut Wish You Were Here.

Based on the novel by Renée Carlino, Wish You Were Here is a romantic drama starring Isabelle Fuhrman, Mena Massoud, Kelsey Grammer, and Jennifer Grey.

In this interview, Stiles discusses why the book was the perfect adaptation to tackle, how she cast the roles, the next idea she’s eyeing as a director, and which of her iconic movies she’d like to revisit.

A New York native, Julia Stiles has been in the entertainment industry since childhood, cutting her teeth on stages across Manhattan before jumping into television and film. If you — like this millennial — found yourself growing up with movies like 10 Things I Hate About You, Down to You and Save the Last Dance, Stiles played a pivotal role in your budding cinematic taste. As an actress, she never slowed down, continuing to charge forward with her on-screen career over the next two decades with performances in projects such as the Bourne franchise, Hustlers and Orphan: First Kill. Shifting her focus in the new year, 2025 offers audiences a chance to see Stiles turn a new chapter and earn a new title — director.
Friday, January 17, welcomed the arrival of Stiles’ feature-length directorial debut, Wish You Were Here, an adaptation of Renée Carlino’s novel of the same name. On top of directing, Stiles also co-penned the project’s big-screen makeover alongside Carlino and even joined as a producer. The film tells the story of a young woman named Charlotte (Isabelle Fuhrman) who is drifting through a purposeless phase of life when her path crosses with vibrant artist Adam (Mena Massoud). Immediately falling head over heels, the couple’s path to a happy and long life together seems untouchable, but this isn’t that kind of romance movie.
During a recent conversation with Collider, Stiles opened up about all things Wish You Were Here, from what first called her to the story to how she gathered a killer ensemble that — along with Fuhrman and Massoud — also features Kelsey Grammer, Jennifer Grey and Gabby Kono-Abdy. We also snuck in a question about what movie from her past she’d like to see receive a sequel — for the rest of the millennials out there.
‘Wish You Were Here’ Was a Story That Needed To Be Told

“We should be so lucky to have a lifetime of memories.”

COLLIDER: We’ve seen you in front of the camera for such a long time, and it’s awesome to see you making the jump behind the camera and doing some directing. I guess to start things off, there are a lot of great projects and a lot of great books out there to adapt, so what was it about Wish You Were Here that you thought, “I’m going to jump in on this one for my first film?”
JULIA STILES: I actually had been looking for a really long time for the right story to tell as a director, and I was sent the book five years ago by an actress who’s actually in the movie — she plays the best friend — and I fell in love with it. I guess she had heard that I was interested in directing, and she was totally right. The book really grabbed me. Actually, in the five years that we’ve set out to make it, it’s only gotten deeper and more meaningful to me and feels more relevant. I read the book during COVID times, and I felt like even though the main characters are very young, the story is very grounded and more mature, and a lot of it touches on this feeling of wanting to be able to connect with another human being and feeling like that’s more and more difficult these days because of social media and everything being online.
Also, I loved that it’s a meditation on how we should be so lucky to have a lifetime of memories with the person that we fall in love with, as opposed to how a lot of romantic movies are about the love-at-first-sight idea. It’s also largely about taking care of another person, which I think we need more of these days. The movie has taken on a life of its own since I first read the book. It’s kind of grown, and one of the things that really sticks out to me is it touches a lot on the fragility of human life and how every moment is precious, but then also it’s kind of two versions of a love story. It’s the love story that they have together in reality, but then it’s also the love story that they dream about.
I really enjoyed those sequences of what they’re coming up with and how they envision their lives and their relationship that you know isn’t going to play out.
STILES: The thread in it that I seized on in adapting it was this imaginary world that they create. I don’t want to give it away, but this storytelling that they do together, they play a lot of games together, but he asks her to tell him the story of how they first met, and then they just sort of make up this lifetime of romance together, and I thought that was really touching.
How ‘Orphan: First Kill’ Earned Isabelle Fuhrman Her Role in ‘Wish You Were Here’

“She was tireless.”

Image via Paramount+

Definitely. The ensemble is terrific. I know you’ve worked with a couple of them before, so when you started making this, were you always envisioning Isabelle [Fuhrman] as Charlotte or Kelsey [Grammer] as her dad, or did those things just fall into place?
STILES: I was working with Isabelle on the sequel to Orphan, and I was also in my spare time, in my trailer or late at night when I got home, adapting the screenplay. I would go to set, and I’d watch her as a 23-year-old, I think at the time, playing an 11-year-old convincingly, and I thought, “Oh my god, this girl is such a good actress.” So I was delighted when she wanted to work with me again and she responded to the script. I could see also that she’s such a workhorse. She was tireless, and when you have a lead in a movie who’s in every scene and has to open up their heart and emote that much, you can’t assume that everybody can do that. So I could see that Isabelle was really capable.
Kelsey I had worked with before. Actually, I worked with Kelsey on a movie called The God Committee with the same producers that helped with Wish You Were Here. It was an indie movie, and we kind of had our little cubicles instead of trailers, but he was rehearsing for Man of La Mancha, which he was going to go and do in London, and he would be singing all the time, so I knew he had this great opera voice, and I was like, “Well if Kelsey is going to be in the movie, I have to have him sing opera.”
That was a great scene.
STILES: Thank you. Then, I was just a fan from afar of Mena [Massoud] and Jimmie Fails, and, of course, Jennifer Grey. Some of the smaller roles, like Jon Jon, the manager at the restaurant, is a good friend of mine from the New York acting scene, and my sister plays the neighbor who comes back. Oh, and Jordan Gavaras I had worked with on a TV show.
Julia Stiles Knows What Film She’d Revisit from Her Past

“I would love a do-over…”

Image via Paramount Pictures

That’s amazing. Now that you’ve dipped into romantic dramas, are there any other genres that you’re eyeing up next, or do you already have anything lined up?
STILES: I don’t have anything lined up just yet because we just finished the movie over the summer, and I’m, like, surfacing creatively, but I would love to direct again. I feel like for genre, I’m really feeling a musical. I think it would be really awesome to take an existing album and make a musical story to it. I love the music of this movie. Vanessa Carlton did the score. She and her husband composed the original score, and then we also pulled some existing songs, and I absolutely loved putting music to the picture.
I think I would really enjoy that part of the process, dropping the tracks in. Before I have to let you go, reboots and remakes have been really big recently. As a teenager who grew up watching your teen movies, I was just wondering if you would like to revisit any characters. In my mind, I have a Save the Last Dance 2, where we get to find out what happened to Sara after she got into Juilliard, but do you have anything in your mind?
STILES: I would love a do-over on Save the Last Dance in some ways. As a performer and amateur dancer, we’re always really critical of ourselves, and I would love a do-over, specifically with the dance training.
There’s a lot for you to pick from.
STILES: Thank you. A reboot of something… Maybe, like, Sara’s a teacher at Juilliard now or something.

Yeah, definitely.
STILES: Something like that.
I would love that.
STILES: “You want fame? Fame costs!”
Wish You Were Here is now playing in theaters.

Wish You Were Here

A woman searching for a spark finds a whirlwind night of romance with a man only to discover he is terminally ill and commits to helping him spend his last days living life to the fullest.

Cast

Isabelle Fuhrman
, Mena Massoud
, Jimmie Fails
, Gabby Kono
, Jennifer Grey
, Kelsey Grammer

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