The new film JULIET, NAKED is a delightful tale of friendship, love, and parenthood that elevates the romantic comedy genre. Yeah, I am a big fan of this adaptation of Nick Hornby’s novel, starring Rose Byrne (Annie), Ethan Hawke (Tucker Crowe) and Chris O’Dowd (Duncan). I recently had the pleasure of speaking with director Jesse Peretz (“Our Idiot Brother”).

Jesse Peretz – Photo credit Alex Bailey. Courtesy of Lionsgate & Roadside Attractions

It is refreshing to see a romantic comedy for adults that feels honest. Can you talk about how the movie explores life’s messiness and the challenges we face to reach our full potential?

Thank you for that question because that was always our goal. What attracted me to this project was how Tucker has made a mess of his life and now he is in a paralyzed state, unable to move forward. He feels like he has fucked up as a partner and as a parent, so he is desperately trying to save himself pouring everything into his 6-year-old son. For me, more than succeeding as a romantic comedy, it was about telling the story of a character that is forced to semi-redeem himself and get out of that paralysis. Annie is very important in that journey. She has been taking care of people, but not taking care of herself. Tucker facilitates her making big changes in her life. The main goal of the story is to explore what happens when you are in your middle age, and you suddenly wake up on day and say “I am not happy where I am.” The idea of they ending up together is secondary to the idea of them helping each other to get unstuck.

Ethan Hawke, Rose Byrne, Chris O’Dowd – Photo credit Alex Bailey. Courtesy of Lionsgate & Roadside Attractions

The relationship between Tucker and Annie starts and develops via emails and text. How challenging was to make those scenes interesting and engaging?

That was a scary, tricky thing. In the book you have that and it’s great, but we were a little bit nervous. We wondered if just having a voice over during those scenes would be uncinematic. We thought about accelerating the story so they would meet quicker. But I came back to what is so lovely in the novel: Two people sharing things about their lives, creating a strong bond, and falling in love without meeting each other face to face. So we trusted that people would feel these two characters getting closer, through the written word. I am pretty happy with the way that it came out, given how scared I was at the beginning.

Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke – Photo credit Alex Bailey. Courtesy of Lionsgate & Roadside Attractions

We all love and respect Ethan Hawke. But in a way I feel that he is underrated. I am happy that this year…

Yeah, this is going to be a big year for him. He is such a great actor but also, in working with him, I really felt his prowess as a writer, and he is also a director. He showed up in England a week before we started shooting, we went through all of his scenes, and he really pushes to make his character more mystifying and rascal. He assured us that he would do that and still find a way to make him likable and redeemable. I feel that, as he has gotten older, he has become more soulful. He now keeps hitting home-runs, one after another. Everything he does feels very special and unique.

JULIET, NAKED will be released in theaters this Friday, August 17.

Juliet, Naked is the story of Annie (the long-suffering girlfriend of Duncan) and her unlikely transatlantic romance with once revered, now faded, singer-songwriter, Tucker Crowe, who also happens to be the subject of Duncan’s musical obsession.