The Idea of You Star Ella Rubin on Playing Anne Hathaway's Fangirl ...

The Idea of You star Ella Rubin has often heard that she could be Anne Hathaway’s doppelgänger. “People always told me that I resembled her so I was like, ‘Oh, man, this would be awesome,’” the 22-year-old tells Teen Vogue over the phone from outside of Toronto, Ontario, about joining the cast of the new Prime Video rom-com, out May 2.

She isn’t new to landing roles with some of Hollywood’s most powerful actresses. Rubin has starred alongside Marisa Tomei — not once, but twice; first in the 2014 rom-com The Rewrite and again in her theater debut in 2019’s The Rose Tattoo. She’s also had recurring parts in The Girl from Plainville alongside Chloë Sevigny and Elle Fanning, The Chair, with Sandra Oh and The Sweet East with Ayo Edebiri.

But 10 years after her film debut — with no others in between — Rubin has perhaps landed her dream gig: playing Hathaway’s spirited teen daughter Izzy in The Idea of You. Directed by Michael Showalter and based on the 2017 romance novel by Robinne Lee, The Idea of You chronicles the steamy age-gap romance between Solène (Hathaway), a 40-year-old art gallerist, and Hayes (Nicholas Galitzine), a 24-year-old frontman of a boy band. Rubin’s Izzy happens to be a diehard fan of Hayes’ band August Moon — and the catalyst for the pair’s meet cute.

Of course, having a mom dating the lead singer of a boy band comes with some complications — and Izzy’s relationship with Solène becomes collateral damage in the throes of the spotlight. “It's incredibly heartbreaking to see what sort of this unnatural media-driven and massive amounts of attention can due to somebody's relationships and their mind,” she says.

Ahead of the release of The Idea of You, we spoke with Rubin about fangirls, her relationship with Hathaway and her upcoming role in Fear Street: Prom Night.

Teen Vogue: How did you know you wanted to be an actor?

Ella Rubin: I got cosmically lucky. I was never really interested in acting — my main interest and passion as a kid was painting. I was always passionate about art but never had thought about acting, and my best friend Mia, who's still my best friend now, wanted to do this afterschool theater class. She was a bit nervous to audition and asked me to go with her for moral support, so I ended up auditioning, got in and decided to take the class with her. We did Seussical, and then I just had a really fun time doing it. I felt sort of understood and kind of calm, perhaps, for the first time in my life. Then, my agent, who's still my agent now, was at the show and called us up. I was about 11, so my parents were slightly hesitant, but I begged, and they let me have this slow start. It was crazy, and Mia, my best friend, was immediately like, "I will never do this class again. I hate this." So, it worked out in a really funny, wonderful way.

TV: How did you land your first role?

ER: My first role might have been a commercial, but my very first film ever was called The Rewrite. I was on set for three days. Marisa Tomei was playing my mom and ended up playing my mom in a play we did like 10 years later, which was very funny and serendipitous, but I was much more fearless as a child than I am now. The stakes felt really low and really fun, which was very lucky for me. I just got sent to this audition, and they told me to dance — and I am a horrendous dancer — and I went a little wild. I truly had no inhibitions at that age. I got the call about it, and I was just so excited at the prospect of being on set. Then I got to set, eating trail mix, and I thought I was living in a dream.

TV: What was your experience working with Marisa Tomei?

ER: Well, I first worked with her when I was 11, and then when I was 17 or 18. When I was 11, we truly only had one scene together. For my role, I don't even think I had any lines. In terms of doing the play with her, it's funny and it sounds a little bit esoteric, but the primary advice she gave me throughout the play was to ground myself and be a tree, which really shaped my performance. It was constantly centering yourself because the frenetic energy of being on stage was really new and difficult for me when there's so many moving parts. So it was a lot about planting my feet in the earth and growing roots to be able to express from there, which was incredibly helpful and something I tried to take with me.

TV: Tell me how you landed the role of Izzy in The Idea of You.

ER: It's so funny. I remember I was on my phone on my couch at home and I saw the announcement [of] Anne Hathaway doing this book adaptation, and I saw that there was a daughter role. I didn't even look at the age or anything, but I just texted my agents, [took] a screenshot of it and wrote, "I have to audition for this." Because she's always been one of my favorite performers. People always told me that I resembled her and so I was like, "Oh, man, this would be awesome," and very, very serendipitously as I sent the text, I got the email for the audition. Luckily, they were aging up the role, which in the book was 13. So I got the chance to tape for it a couple times, and then I had a chemistry read with Anne and [I] was truly on my knees praying the entire time. I was dying to get the chance to do it. So really I'm still pinching myself and trying to constantly remind myself when I so desperately wanted what I have now.

Ella Rubin and Anne Hathaway in The Idea of You.Alisha Wetherill/Prime Video

TV: Did you bond with Anne to prepare for playing her daughter?

ER: I just love her so much. I think it would be impossible not to bond with her. She is such a warm, inviting person who's not just interesting but interested, and she makes it incredibly easy to form a relationship because she's so genuinely invested in what you have to say. Being as nervous as I was, her presence was a balm over that. There was less intentional, "Let's get close" and more of a natural progression because she's a mom in real life and a mother to many around her. I felt that presence very strongly, and she made it really easy.

TV: Did she give you any advice while you guys were working together?

ER: Mostly to take care of myself. When you're an actor, you're the vessel for your work. So if you're not putting yourself first, filling your own cup and taking care of yourself, your work will suffer, and to do your best work you have to feel your best. She helped me in a way that didn't make the work any less important. She helped me lower the stakes a bit. I was nervous, and I was really intent on doing a good job in a way that sometimes hindered me. So I think I cared a little bit too much at times, and she helped me maintain that level of care, intention and intensity towards my work, while also kind of letting the bullshit go a little bit.

TV: The mother-daughter relationship is such an anchor in the book, how did you translate that onto the screen?

ER: I mean, everyone — and Annie and Michael — especially were really sensitive and careful about being loyal to the book and the book's fans. But my character aged significantly from 13 to 16 and 17, and that shifts a mother-daughter relationship. The primary thing I had to think about in terms of the book to screen translation for my own character [was] in the later years of your teenagehood, you have a relationship with your parents that you obviously can't have when you're 13. So it was these slight shifts in intimacy and openness. Robinne Lee wrote such rich characters, and it really lent to being able to understand how that person would age, not just who they were at that moment. She really created an entire world, which I really admire.

TV: The spotlight that comes from Solène dating Hayes is something that cuts through Izzy and her mom's relationship. Did you relate to that aspect of the film?

ER: The level of fame and scrutiny that she's dealing with in the film and in the book is completely disparate to anything I have ever been close to witnessing on any level. So, reading the book and then the script, you feel for this young person who isn't even a subject of fame but sort of collateral damage. It's incredibly heartbreaking to see what sort of this unnatural media-driven and massive amounts of attention can due to somebody's relationships and their mind. So, you see Izzy and Solène, really start to have a gap between because of the complications of wanting her mother to be happy and being so miserable in the spotlight while also her heart breaking over the fact that Solène is doing her best. Fame and attention are kind of other characters in the film. I really couldn't relate at all to that sort of thing. My work [has been] luckily quiet and internal, and the people I've worked with have been very supportive. It was more sympathizing and empathizing, rather than drawing from any real experience.

Emma Beiles

TV: Izzy is a huge August Moon fan. Were you a big fan of boy bands growing up?

ER: Weirdly, growing up, I was never a huge fan girl. I actually always wanted to be. I always wanted to have an allegiance to a cultural moment or fan base. Oddly, I never got super attached. I think I've always been pretty enamored and obsessed with the idea and the fact that teenage girls run the economy and the world through their fandoms. It's the coolest, most interesting version of power, and it goes, unbeknownst to a lot of people. So I felt lucky to get to play that up a bit because it's such an interesting aspect and facet of our culture. We joke, "Teenage girls run the world," but in the literal sense, they do. So I loved the idea of this thing that is often written off as [a] silly fandom, being incredibly significant and incredibly significant in this story. And I definitely was a fan of certain things growing up, I just never [had a] room full of posters.

TV: Nicholas is also a rising actor. Did you guys bond over that?

ER: Definitely, we were both really intent on honoring the story and doing a good job especially. Both being slightly newer, me being newer than him. We shared a lot of nerves and feelings about what was going on and shared fears about navigating being an actor in something that you really want to do justice. We were both a comfort for each other in that way.

TV: Do you have any funny or untold stories about filming?

ER: My mom came to set at the end, and it was really fun getting to see my mom and my [movie] mom interact — Anne talking about her kids and my mom talking about me and my sister. Watching them have this conversation as mothers and as women when that's what the movie is about as well, was a really fun day for me.

TV: The Idea of You isn't the only project you have coming down the pipeline. You're also set to star in Fear Street: Prom Night. What can you reveal about your role in the show?

ER: It's based in the ‘80s, and I think that that's such an incredible era to do horror because it really lends itself to fun gore and absurdity that's somehow also grounded which is my favorite type of work to get to do. Getting to be in this big hair, '80s horror world is a lot of fun. I don't know how much I can say about my role, but every actor working on this is so incredible. It’ll be slightly unexpected what happens in the film. Obviously, it's based on the R.L. Stine book, but they're taking some extremely fun, interesting turns with it. It's gonna be this cool, technicolor horror. And I've never done horror before, so that's really fun for me.

TV: At this juncture in your career, what are your aspirations?

ER: I want to be a really versatile actor who gets to try and do everything. Obviously, that's ideal for everyone and always the dream. But I would like to work on stuff that fulfills me creatively. I really want to explore new avenues, new characters, things that would challenge me and characters that would be scary to play. The ultimate answer to that question is, if I got a script or a character description in my inbox that I immediately was really scared to do, that's exactly what I want to be running toward. I've always wanted to do something zany, slapstick or ridiculous because that's what shaped my tastes growing up. Like, Drop Dead Gorgeous, or something like The Sweet East. I think every single actor would give an arm and a leg to be on The White Lotus. I would play a palm tree if you let me. I would love to work with Mike White, Rachel Dratch, Parker Posey, or Isabelle Huppert. To do anything even at that level. I will count myself the luckiest person forever. But as long as I get to keep working, that's my ultimate dream.