Up next in 10
Interview With Writer/Director Julia Stiles For WISH YOU WERE HERE!
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May 19, 2025
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0:00
so um congratulations on the movie I
0:02
really enjoyed it um it's exciting to
0:04
see you kind of get behind the camera um
0:07
now I kind of have a two-parter first
0:09
question but um because you have such an
0:11
Eclectic career as an actress did you
0:14
always want to write and direct and why
0:16
this why now why this story I mean ever
0:19
since I was like 16 years old walking
0:21
down the streets of New York City with
0:22
my headphones on I would like visualize
0:24
movies um but it wasn't until maybe the
0:28
last 10 years or something which was
0:30
still a long time that I started to feel
0:31
like I want to I've been on a lot of
0:33
film sets I like want to make my own
0:34
movie uh but I needed to find the right
0:37
story and uh it was five years ago that
0:41
um I was sent the book wish you were
0:43
here and I I was like I can so see this
0:47
as a movie this has to be this is the
0:49
one um it grabbed me viscerally I was
0:53
laughing at moments and then I was
0:55
crying and I was also taken by I I like
0:58
the idea of uh love story because I'm a
1:00
romantic at heart but I I thought it was
1:02
really interesting that the the even
1:05
though the main characters are very
1:06
young the love story is a lot more
1:09
mature and touches on subjects that are
1:12
a lot more grown
1:14
up yeah there's definitely some uh some
1:17
very very serious things going on in the
1:19
film um but I think you did a fantastic
1:22
job of conveying that humor the the you
1:25
know excitement of love but also um you
1:28
know the seriousness of of what's going
1:30
on um so how closely would you say like
1:34
did you have to leave a lot out of the
1:35
book when you were adapting it or were
1:37
you able to stay pretty true to the
1:39
story I haven't read the book so um it's
1:42
a little bit of both I i' like to say
1:43
that I kept the spirit of the book I
1:45
there were elements of the book that I
1:46
seized on and really wanted to highlight
1:49
as um set pieces or like common threads
1:52
but then there was a lot that I had to
1:53
distill for the sake of a movie and I
1:55
was lucky that Renee Carino the novelist
1:58
was very trusting of
2:00
um she said that you you know this is
2:03
yours you can make it your own um for
2:07
example I needed like there the element
2:10
of the mural that was I think smaller in
2:13
the book it was just the mo it was just
2:14
the moment that they have uh on their
2:18
first date and she keeps walking by it
2:21
and and thinking that he's added to it
2:23
and maybe he's trying to reach out to
2:25
her but I really wanted to highlight
2:26
that in the film as like a visual
2:28
representation of their relationship
2:31
um a really
2:33
important part of the story is when or
2:36
pivotal moment is when Adam's in the
2:38
hospital and he says like I can't he
2:40
kind of breaks down and he's like I
2:41
can't just die here I can't just spend
2:43
my last days however long they are in in
2:45
this building I have to go out into the
2:47
world take me on a trip and in the book
2:49
they go all over the world and it's
2:51
lovely and fun to read but too frenetic
2:53
for the sake of a movie so I just wanted
2:55
to pick one special location and land
2:57
with the main characters
3:00
yeah that's interesting and um did you
3:02
also change it to a degree because
3:04
there's a large part of the film where
3:05
they're not together and you kind of
3:06
think he ghosted her um as you might say
3:09
it um did you kind of intend to make
3:12
that like only the last kind of act or I
3:15
guess it's like probably like 55 minutes
3:16
when they reunite um like for a reason
3:20
was it trying to like I'm just wondering
3:22
what you were trying to provoke with
3:23
that that was definitely part of the
3:25
book and it was something that I
3:26
remember connecting to when I first read
3:29
it because we were coming we were we
3:31
were in covid times um and we all had
3:34
that desire to like connect with other
3:36
people in a way that's not digital um
3:38
but the idea of ghosting is so so
3:40
familiar to anyone who dates nowadays
3:43
you or even just text messages like why
3:45
isn't my friend responding to this is it
3:47
something I did
3:49
um so I wanted to keep that but it was
3:51
tricky with a film because a lot of
3:53
people were like well wait where is Adam
3:54
for so long and so I wanted to keep his
3:56
memory alive with that mural um I felt
4:02
like it would it one of the things that
4:04
I liked about what Renee did is that
4:07
we're not in the hospital for so long um
4:10
and so I didn't want to like pull up her
4:12
knowing that he I want to the more he's
4:14
absent the more important his presence
4:16
is at the end sense yeah it does I think
4:19
that's a lovely way to say it and I I
4:21
love the mural aspect I think that that
4:23
and it continues to grow throughout the
4:25
film as he adds to it which is uh which
4:28
is really beautiful um
4:30
so as a director I mean you know you've
4:32
been in a lot of films um is did you
4:34
ever pull from any experiences as a
4:37
director like did you pull from past
4:39
films and relationships Etc to use as
4:42
your kind of skill as a director I think
4:45
it managing a set is something that I
4:46
like absorbed through osmosis by many
4:49
many years of being on film sets and
4:52
also the blocking rehearsals like it's a
4:55
crash course in cinematography to be
4:58
rehearsing a scene and listening to your
5:00
director in DP talk about where they're
5:01
going to put the camera um and then
5:04
specifically I called directors that I
5:06
had worked with before for advice I
5:08
called Doug
5:09
Lyman um the director of the born
5:11
identity when I was in pre-production
5:13
because uh I needed to know how you film
5:15
on water and I knew that he had done
5:19
many action sequences and he is a sailor
5:21
and has his own boat so I was like
5:23
asking for advice on that practically
5:25
and I remember sort of um talking about
5:30
the like how do I work around these
5:31
constraints and I don't know that we
5:33
have enough time to do that or the money
5:34
to do that and he was like remember this
5:37
because when they start giving you more
5:39
money they start telling you what to do
5:41
so enjoy this time and that was such a
5:43
nice piece of
5:45
advice and did you have um you know the
5:47
casting is fantastic um what was that
5:49
like did you have uh Isabelle in mind um
5:53
haven't worked with her before
5:55
definitely I actually was adapting the
5:57
screenplay when I was working with her
5:59
on orphan first kill and uh while I was
6:01
very much paying attention to my job as
6:03
an actress it was Co times so uh you you
6:06
weren't allowed to socialize there's
6:08
nothing going on outside so you come
6:10
home from work and you're alone in your
6:11
apartment and um I would go to set every
6:14
day and I'd watch her as a 23-year-old
6:17
playing an 11-year-old and I was like
6:19
wow this girl is so talented and she was
6:21
also such a Workhorse she I could see
6:23
that she had so much stamina and
6:24
dedication to come in and be in every
6:26
scene day after day and that's what I
6:28
needed for wish you were here yeah and
6:30
they have fantastic chemistry um the two
6:33
leads as well which I really uh really
6:36
came through on the screen even when he
6:37
was absent like you said you kind of
6:39
feel his presence um what was the
6:41
casting like with with him I had watched
6:44
Mina's work from AAR I'd seen Aladdin
6:47
and I watched his TV show which is is
6:49
not scripted but it it like kind of
6:50
gives you insight into his personality
6:52
or I I I feel like I could see that he's
6:55
like an old soul and and very grounded
6:58
which I thought was important for Adam
7:00
and I just had a hunch that the two of
7:02
them would get along uh but you never
7:04
know when you get on set and you know
7:06
luckily they're both both such pros and
7:08
such kind respectful people that I think
7:10
they really trusted each other and it
7:12
was electric to watch and so do you see
7:16
more films on the horizon for you more
7:18
uh are you writing directing planning I
7:20
I would love to do I mean I'm hooked as
7:22
a director um and I do have ideas I'm
7:25
still sort of surfacing from creatively
7:27
from the wish you were here experience
7:29
that I think it it might take some time
7:31
but um love to do it well thank you so
7:34
much for taking the time um I really
7:36
appreciate it
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