Glen Powell says flirty behavior with ‘Anyone But You' co-star Sydney Sweeney was a marketing ploy

Glen Powell knows that fans who saw his flirty behavior with his "Anyone But You" co-star Sydney Sweeney last year suspected they were having an affair.

Turns out, that's exactly what he and Sweeney, who was also one of the film's executive producers, wanted them to believe. The two actors deliberately turned up the dial on their chemistry while promoting the hit 2023 rom-com as a marketing ploy, Powell told The New York Times.

“The two things that you have to sell a rom-com are fun and chemistry. Sydney and I have a ton of fun together, and we have a ton of effortless chemistry,” said Powell.

“That’s people wanting what’s on the screen off the screen, and sometimes you just have to lean into it a bit — and it worked wonderfully. Sydney is very smart,” he added.

Powell and Sweeney inspired online gossip about themselves in part by acting cozy during their interviews and in videos promoting the R-rated movie, now streaming on Netflix.

The rumors were also sparked by reports that Powell had split with his girlfriend, model Gigi Paris. Sweeney is engaged to Jonathan Davino.

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A post shared by Sydney Sweeney (@sydney_sweeney)

For her part, Sweeney told The New York Times she was involved in every aspect of the rom-com’s marketing strategy. “I was on every call. I was in text group chats. I was probably keeping everybody over at Sony marketing and distribution awake at night because I couldn’t stop with ideas,” she said.

"Anyone But You," loosely based on Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing," tells the story of a prospective lawyer named Bea (Sweeney) and a former Goldman Sachs employee named Ben (Powell) who choose to pose as a couple at a destination wedding in Australia a couple of years after their one and only date ends terribly.

When Sweeney hosted “Saturday Night Live” for the first time in March, she jokingly addressed rumors about an affair between her and Powell during her monologue.

Sweeney told viewers that her fiancé also produced "Anyone But You" and was "there the entire shoot," adding that he was also sitting at that very moment in the "SNL" audience. But when the camera cut to show Davino, it landed instead on a smiling Powell.

Powell also appeared again in the show’s final sketch as a boss having an affair with his employee, played by Sweeney.

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