'A Love Like This' Interview: Emmanuelle Chriqui and Hayes MacArthur

(L to R) Emmanuelle Chriqui and Hayes MacArthur star in ‘A Love Like This’.

Premiering on digital and On Demand on April 3rd is the new romantic drama ‘A Love Like This’, which was directed by John Asher (‘I Hate Kids’) and stars Emmanuelle Chriqui (‘Entourage’) and Hayes MacArthur (‘Angie Tribeca’).

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Emmanuelle Chriqui and Hayes MacArthur about their work on ‘A Love Like This’, their first reaction to the screenplay, their characters, shooting in Malibu, working together, collaborating on set with director John Asher, and what they’ll remember most about making the movie.

Emmanuelle Chriqui stars in ‘A Love Like This’.

Moviefone: To begin with, Emmanuelle, can you talk about your first reaction to the screenplay and why you wanted to be part of this project?

Emmanuelle Chriqui: When they first sent me the script, I was kind of shook. I was very emotional. I think on some levels, I related to Leah, in certain ways that had happened in my life, and it scared me too. It scared me a lot to tell a story like this. But I just knew that if we could get the right person, this could be a cool experience and a kind of deep story to tell that would create interesting conversations at the very least.

MF: Hayes, what was your first reaction to the screenplay, and did you understand and relate to your character right away?

Hayes MacArthur: So, I got a call from John Asher kind of out of the blue, and he said, “We’re making a movie”. He didn’t tell me what it was about, but he told me the way he wanted to shoot it and the constraints of what the production would be. He said he wanted it to look like a Mike Nichols movie, like a fly on the wall for this couple for this weekend. I read it not knowing what it was about, which was a very cool way to not have it described to me first. No log line or anything. It’s funny to hear Emmanuelle say that she was scared. I was terrified too of stepping into this because when I looked at the circumstances around how these two characters were getting together and what was unfolding over this weekend, I didn’t know how it would play out and how to make that accessible and likable to an audience. But going into that house in Malibu and seeing that there was already this filmmaking organism in place of everybody just showing up. It was on right away. We had a very small crew to make this. Everyone was doing multiple jobs, but I could just immediately feel that we were going to pull it off. It was a crazy process to be shooting these very emotionally intense scenes and then going into another scene immediately after and switching gears and just being joyous and laughing the whole time. I don’t think I would have done this unless I knew Emmanuel was doing it because we have a long friendship. We’ve worked on projects together before and we have so many mutual friends. I think it would have been hard to step into material like this with someone that I didn’t really have a history with.

MF: Hayes, did you and Emmanuelle create a backstory for your characters’ relationship history, and if so, how did that help your performance?

HM: I think a lot of it was in Jeffrey Ruggles‘ script, and taking what was there. It was built in with a lot of backstories that you learn as the story unfolds, information is parsed out in a very clever way. So, knowing that you were telling a story about a relationship, about a couple that’s been in love since high school, and they’ve gotten together every year. There was like a built-in nostalgia to it.

(L to R) Emmanuelle Chriqui and Hayes MacArthur star in ‘A Love Like This’.

MF: Emmanuelle, did the fact that you and Hayes already knew each other help you build the relationship between the characters in a way that would have been more challenging with an actor you didn’t have a history with?

EC: For sure. In addition to that, I think there is magic when you’re doing a project with somebody and the chemistry is there and the history is there, and the friendship is there. It fills in all the blanks. There’s this organic thing that happens on set. It’s like, you can’t expect the unexpected and that’s the beauty of having history coming into this, knowing each other, already having worked together, and having a great time. That also just filled it all in, which was great.

MF: Hayes, you’ve done a lot of comedy throughout your career. Were there moments where you felt yourself relying on your comedic instincts and you had to pull back a bit?

HM: I think that’s a natural default mode of mine in life, and I love doing studio movie comedies and network television. But, as you get older, a lot of life is drama too. I haven’t had a place to put that really in any of my work prior to this. It was a great experience to be able to use that stuff. But again, I think it is about the people that you are doing it with that can bring out the best of it.

MF: Emmanuelle, what was it like shooting at one location and filming a movie again in Los Angeles?

EC: The best! Listen, Malibu is like a dream. Like I said before, everybody was in an outstanding mood every day, and you’re like, “Well, this has got to be the view and the water and all the things that contribute to this other than just wanting to be there.” It’s a love letter to Malibu. There was like twelve years of my career where I only shot in LA. Then, in the last decade, I’ve shot one thing in LA. So, to be home and to shoot and have this experience, it was everything and I would do anything to have more production come back to LA. It’s so sad to me that it is what it is right now.

Hayes MacArthur stars in ‘A Love Like This’.

MF: Hayes, is it true that you also lived in the house in Malibu while you were filming?

HM: I lived in the house downstairs with Mike Manasseri, who was a producer on the film. I would wake up in the morning, go upstairs, shoot, the crew would all leave, and Mike and I would clean the house, cook each other dinner, talk about the day, and then go back down to bed and wake up the next morning and shoot again.

MF: Emmanuelle, what was it like working with director John Asher?

EC: John was a dream. I mean, I know I keep saying that, but really these two weeks were spectacular. John was the absolute master of the ship, and he created such a safe place for us. All Hayes and I had to do was show up and lay it on the ground. John went out of his way to make sure that we felt that there was a safe place to do that. He was so good at raining it in. There were times where this could have easily been a romantic comedy. John would be like, “Hold on, that’s not the movie we’re making.”

MF: Hayes, what was your experience like collaborating with John on set?

HM: I think it really helps that John’s an actor too, and he’s come from that background. So, it was the shorthand and the way he helped because this is pretty much just a two-person piece. So, it was this intimate triangle, the three of us figuring out all these moments together. John was right on our level in terms of the tone of the scenes and what’s really happening. So, John was like a puppeteer pulling all these different strings at the same time.  It was fun.

Hayes MacArthur stars in ‘A Love Like This’.

MF: Finally, Emmanuelle, what will you remember most about making this movie?

EC: Oh, so much. Seriously, there have been so many times in the past two years where I was like, “If I could snap my fingers, I would go back there. Bring me back to those two weeks of Malibu.” I think I walk away with a lot, and I think that the thing that’s so cool is that we made this movie during a strike. We got a waiver, and I think we were able to execute a story that is going to make people think and feel, and show that you don’t need a million dollars to make a movie. You just need like a lot of heart and soul and people who want to be creative. There are loads of people that want to be creative. So, find your people, and do it. You can do it and the fact that our movie is coming out, is just like, we can do it!

‘A Love Like This’ opens in theaters on April 3rd.

What is the plot of ‘A Love Like This’?

Follows Paul (Hayes MacArthur) and Leah (Emmanuelle Chriqui) in a tale of two lovers who rent a Malibu beach house for the weekend, but there is more to their relationship than it seems.