According to his costar Kate Hudson, she had to fight for the actor to land his role in the film.

“I’m such a cheerleader for actors in our industry, but for rom-coms, you need that guy to have chemistry with,” Kate explained.

She continued, “We had an energy together; I wanted to play with him. It felt kinetic.”

Kate noted that they both have a “competitive spirit” and are “super athletic,” making it easy for them to “push each other.”

“I just love Matthew’s commitment to everything; he’s razor-focused. What you think he is, he is,” she shared.

Unfortunately, Kate and the studio didn’t quite see eye-to-eye on the choice to cast Matthew.

“We just kept hitting our heads against the wall, and the studio and I weren’t agreeing,” Kate explained.

But since Kate had a lot of creative control on the flick and got “approval of everything,” she was able to fight back and get Matthew cast.

Clearly, it all worked out, considering the film became one of the most iconic rom-coms of the early 2000s!

You can read all that Kate had to say here.

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