Courtney Howard // Film Critic
It may seem like an impossible task to create crackling chemistry between two superstars when they both don’t appear in the same room together throughout much of a film’s run time. However, for the two leads of Aline Brosh McKenna’s directorial debut YOUR PLACE OR MINE, it was easy. In the cute, breezy romcom, Debbie (Reese Witherspoon) and Peter (Ashton Kutcher) have remained best friends for the past 20 years after they hooked up for a one-night stand. Their journey together has taken expected routes and unexpected detours, however, it’s not until the pair decide to swap houses on opposite ends of the country do they begin thinking maybe they’re right for each other.
Though Witherspoon and Kutcher share screen time together, shown in split screen during their daily chats on the phone and FaceTime, the actors filmed these scenes separately. This unique scheduling was surprisingly easy they explained to journalists at the film’s recent virtual press conference. The dynamic duo had met once before in person at a party long ago where Witherspoon admits she thought Kutcher was “quirky, but I really thought weird.” She says,
“We decided probably a month before we started shooting…I had sort of a little panic attack because we didn’t know each other. I was like, ‘I don’t know this guy, and we’re supposed to be best friends for 20 years.’ So we started sending each other videos every day [asking] ‘Who’s your best friend? Why are they your best friend?’ And it was good. It was really, actually kind of fun. And then our kids would get in the videos and our dogs.”
Kutcher joins in.
“Every day, we would send back and forth videos of, ‘How’s your day going? What’s going on? What’s happening with you? What are you afraid of? If you had pancakes, would it be syrup or hot?’ I met your dad. We hung out on your porch quite a bit. And then, by the time we started shooting it, we were sort of used to communicating this way. It felt really natural.”
Kutcher states,
“When we’re in a scene together, and we’re both there, we’re very improv-y with one another, given the way that this was done. One side of the coverage was done before the other person even began to shoot their side of the coverage. So we were acting against a video of the other person. You couldn’t make a choice that would dictate the choice that they had already made. There was no sort of Meisner play of playing off… there was none of that sort of affecting the way the other person reacts to the thing that you said.”
McKenna remembers the scene where her actors were in each others’ bathtubs was the trickiest.
“You did some of it on the phone. One we did the bathroom and the closet… You guys almost quit. Both of you almost quit.”
Witherspoon agrees.
“Oh my God, the bathroom.”
Kutcher says,
“The bathtub. And then you say, ‘I’m never doing this again.’ And then we didn’t do it again.”
It’s not unusual that a director assigns research material or extra-curricular homework to their actors to help better inform their roles. Here, McKenna didn’t assign films to watch, but books to read. Witherspoon, similar to her character, is an avid reader. She jokes,
“It’s not on brand at all. [laugh] I was like, ‘Will people know that I like to read?” And [Aline was] like, ‘I think you can do this. I think you can make them believe.’”
She continues,
“Aline sent me 25 books. And I did not read any of them. I called her, and I said, “I have three children. I’m running a company and I have a full-time other job. I’m not reading these books. But they would look really good on the set.” And they did.”
Kutcher elucidates,
“I don’t read a lot of fiction. And [Aline’s] like, ‘Yeah, but this character’s a novelist, so he’s gonna be very well-read in fiction.’ And so, I ended up diving in. Aline sent me 10 books prior to the film. She’s like, ‘You need to read all of these.’ And every one of the books had notecards in them about what Peter got from this book – specifically what he got as a writer from this book.”
His list included books like “When Breath Becomes Air,” “Permanent Midnight,” “High Fidelity” and “Nothing to See Here.” McKenna admits,
“I didn’t expect you to read them all. You did read them all. I also gave you books I thought Peter would think were over-rated, was over-rated.”
Kutcher re-emphasizes,
“I actually fell in love with reading fiction again from this experience. So that was kind of fun and refreshing.”
YOUR PLACE OR MINE streams exclusively on Netflix on February 10.
