Posted in: Interview, Lionsgate, Movies | Tagged: Gabby Kono-Abdy, isabelle fuhrman, julia stiles, lionsgate, Mena Messoud, wish you were here

Wish You Were Here Stars Fuhrman, Massoud & Kono on Stiles & Themes

Isabelle Fuhrman, Mena Massoud, and Gabby Kono-Abdy spoke to Bleeding Cool about Lionsgate's drama, Wish You Were Here, themes & more.

Love is hard enough to navigate in life, and sometimes, the difficulty can be exacerbated in the face of extreme adversity. It's something that Wish You Were Here stars Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan: First Kill), Mena Massoud (Aladdin), and Gabby Kono-Abdy (Baker's Dozen) searched deep from within their souls playing Charlotte, Adam, and Helen, respectively in the Julia Stiles film. Wish You Were Here follows Charlotte, a woman searching for a spark in her life, who experiences a whirlwind night of romance with a man (Mena Massoud) she meets. The next morning, she discovers he is terminally ill and commits to helping him spend his remaining time meaningfully. Fuhrman, Massoud, and Kono-Abdy spoke to Bleeding Cool about the pitch to director Julia Stiles to adapt the Renée Carlino novel to screen, how Fuhrman's time with Stiles in the Paramount horror prequel film led to her romcom lead in the Lionsgate film, whether they felt Stiles' background as an actor helped her in her directing feature debut, and if there's anything from within their lives that inspired their characters externally from the Carlino book.

Wish You Were Here Stars Isabelle Fuhrman, Mena Massoud, and Gabby Kono-Abdy on Making Sure Julia Stiles's Directorial Feature Debut Was Successful

Bleeding Cool: What intrigued you about 'Wish You Were Here?' Were you familiar with Renee's novel before getting cast?
Kono-Abdy: I fell in love with the book back in 2016. It was an incredible story that resonated with me so deeply, so finding my way of bringing this book to life on the big screen was like my mission. I'm so happy eight years later, we're here, celebrating, and the world gets to see it.

Fuhrman: Julia offered the role to me after we worked on 'Orphan: First Kill.' She sent me the script and said she wanted me to read it and consider playing Charlotte. She hoped that by working together with this movie, people could see me in a different light in this role and in the way she got to know me, and I appreciated that, so it was a no-brainer for me. It's such a beautiful story about love and Julia being the person to direct it.

Massoud: These films aren't made that often, so when I read the script and knew Julia was directing it, I wanted to be involved. Julia has such a rich history of doing this genre, so to have her be the director, I knew I would learn so much by being involved. It was a fantastic decision, and I hope everybody loves this film.

Isabelle, you've worked with Julia as a co-star, but since she's behind the camera and adapted the script as director for 'Wish You Were Here,' how do you feel you both bonded? Did she show similar initiative and leadership on set when you were filming the 'Orphan' prequel?

Fuhrman: I feel like Julia, as an actress, has a lot of certainty as to who this character is that she's playing. She is decisive and intentional with her choices; I felt that was the same energy she had as a director. You're managing so many more things when you're a director, and she was fantastic at managing the set but also finding time to play with us as Adam, Charlotte, and Helen and find new things we could kind of mine from the script to the moments. I just felt like it was so clear she knew this genre, not just the story, and she was very intentional with the choices she made, from casting to our lines in the script to any sort of prop or costume. It was beautiful to watch her step into that. She's like a born leader, truly.

Do you feel Julia offers a unique advantage in terms of how she handles her set as an actor-turned-director in her feature debut?

Kono-Abdy: You can tell that after the years of experience and expertise that Julia has as an actor in this film. She's probably had the opportunity to work with a bunch of different types of directors, so bringing what she loved versus what maybe didn't work for her as an actor, and we're the beneficiaries of that experience and that education 20-plus years.

Aside from the characters in the book, did you draw from personal experiences from friends and family to inspire your performances?

Fuhrman: I would say in certain aspects, like my grandmother. My mom and I were her primary caregivers for about two years, and taking care of somebody who needs help but also doesn't want to ask for it, doesn't know how to ask for it, or even still is resistant to it is hard to live your life, be independent, and then one day need so much help. I resonated with the later and more intense scenes between Adam and Charlotte, and what it means to take care of somebody at that time is unconditional love. It's hard for Adam to accept that somebody still wants to be there when somebody like Charlotte wants to be there with him while he's in that place. I felt like that was something I had experienced in my own life before going into making this film. It was emotional because of that, but I also understood the other side of it.

Massoud: Yeah, I've certainly gone through moments in my life where you must accept things that you can't control, and you feel powerless because there's something happening you can't control, and you so badly want it to be different. You so badly want it to be something else, but it's something that's outside of your control. How do you accept that? How do you try to live in the moment and be present, and make the most out of a shitty situation? That's something we all go through, and that's also one of the messages of the film.

Kono-Abdy: On a lighter note, the willingness and openness to fall in love with someone so quickly and easily, as Helen does with Roddy (Josh Caras), really hit me because that was my experience with my husband. I think it all plays together, right?

Wish You Were There, which also stars Kelsey Grammer and Jennifer Grey, is now available in theaters and on digital February 4th. You can also check out our interview with Stiles.

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