Interview: Emilia Jones and Nick Robinson Find the “Chaotic Good” in the Couple at the Center of ‘Charlie Harper’

A love of romance films and 2000s wardrobe poured into the process of bringing Charlie Harper to life. The stars of the new romantic drama, Emilia Jones and Nick Robinson, noted they clearly did their homework before shooting began. “We watched The Notebook together, which is a really good one,” noted Robinson in our discussion. Their shared list bridges classic romance, complex indie gems, and offbeat cinema, running the gamut from Blue Valentine, Punch-Drunk Love, and In the Mood for Love to Harold and Maude and Terrence Malick’s Badlands.

To help the lead duo skip the awkward icebreaker phase, directors Mac Elridge and Tom Dean handed them the New York Times “36 Questions to Fall in Love” questionnaire. The experiment paid off: working through the questions opened up an easy rapport that carried straight onto set. When I asked them about which icebreaker questions they think are most important on a first date, Robinson humorously responded, “Have you ever killed a man?” while Jones and I agreed that a love of dogs is essential to a strong dynamic with another person.

Capturing the film’s evolving timeline, which kicks off in 2009, required an extensive wardrobe effort to pinpoint the distinct visual language of the late 2000s. Between Charlie’s “skater era” outfitted in DC, American Apparel hoodies, and skinny jeans, the duo weathered marathon fittings to track their characters through time. “We both had like three or two eight-hour costume fittings over the week of prep because there are so many montage scenes,” they recall, with Emilia Jones noting it was the most costumes she had ever worn for a single film. “There was some great thrifting in New Orleans… it was a fun process.”

Charlie Harper focuses on the oddness, persistence, and challenges that come with love. The film hits theaters nationwide this Friday, September 25.