From director Jesse Peretz and based on the novel by Nick Hornby, the dramedy Juliet, Naked follows Annie (Rose Byrne), the curator of a museum in a small English town, and Duncan (Chris O’Dowd), an obsessive fan who aspires to be the world’s foremost expert on reclusive American singer-songwriter Tucker Crowe (Ethan Hawke) and spends all of his free time maintaining a website dedicated to the rocker. Feeling stuck after 15 years together, Annie acts out, sparking a fight with Duncan, which surprisingly and unexpectedly lands her straight into the path of Tucker Crowe.

During this 1-on-1 phone interview with Collider, actress Rose Byrne talked about the appeal of Juliet, Naked and the work of Nick Hornby, what director Jesse Peretz brought to this project, as a musician himself, working with Chris O’Dowd and Ethan Hawke, her most fun scene to shoot, and what music means to her, in her own life. She also talked about what drew her to Instant Family (out in theaters on November 16th) and her experience working with Mark Wahlberg, and her hope that she’ll be teaming up with Tiffany Haddish for Limited Partners.

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Image via Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions

Collider: I really tremendously enjoyed this film and thought it was just delightful!

ROSE BYRNE: Aww, thanks so much! I’m so pleased. I’m glad you liked it.

How did this come your way?

BYRNE: I had read the book, and then, when the film started to float around, I immediately put my hand up and said that I would like to meet on it. So, I met pretty early with Jesse [Peretz], the director.

What was it about this story and character, in particular, that made you want to throw your hat into the ring for it?

BYRNE: It’s an unlikely love story. It’s very witty and very entertaining. There’s a tone that Nick Hornby captures that is quintessential, and I think it’s really hard to do. There’s not that many writers that you immediately know their tone and voice succinctly. It’s incredible that he’s carved that out for himself. I’ve been a fan. I’ve enjoyed his novels. I’ve enjoyed his films. He’s such an accomplished screenwriter, as well. There were many aspects to it. And the character of Annie was challenging to try to bring to the screen, with these two big personalities. I wanted to try to make sure that she wasn’t lost in their noise, but instead came out like the victor. I really hope we achieved that.

Definitely! Was it ever hard to find the level of frustration that she has with her boyfriend, but to have her be so internal with frustration and not just completely explode?

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Image via Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions

BYRNE: How much do we put up with, in relationships? You put up with these things because a person is the sum of a lot of parts. But then, if it’s starting to erode and infringe upon your communication and you can’t function because you’re only talking about Tucker Crowe, it becomes impossible to stay in the relationship, and we meet them at that point. She also does a very rebellious act, by writing this review. It’s like her protest, to be heard, to be seen, and to say “enough.” It works, in the sense that it was the first step to the beginning of her adventure.

I think that by the time that the person you love has a room dedicated to somebody else, you’re entitled to get upset and act out, and be forgiven for that.

BYRNE: Exactly! You should be slightly concerned.

I love how the film’s director, Jesse Peretz, is a musician himself. What made him uniquely qualified to tell this story, and how did you find the experience, working and collaborating with him?

BYRNE: I loved working with Jesse. He’s so collaborative. He’s funny. He’s got great knowledge about music, great taste in music and great experience, since he’s done it live, being in bands, and he’s directed a gazillion music videos. He’s a cultured guy, but he’s not pretentious. He’s very experienced, particularly with female protagonists. He’s been nominated, just recently, for the Emmys for the pilot of Glow, and he was a producer and director for Girls, for so many years. Judd [Apatow] is very good at matching directors with material. He did the same thing with Bridesmaids and Paul Feig. I think he was very clever, in the way he gravitated towards bringing Jesse to this project.

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Image via Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions

You spend a lot of time with Chris O’Dowd and Ethan Hawke in this. How was it to work with each of them? Is their approach to things very different, or do they have any similarities in the way that they work?

BYRNE: They’re totally different, like every actor. If you line up 10 different actors, they’re all going to be completely different about how they approach the work, which I love. For me, it’s much more interesting and challenging and entertaining to work with people who are completely different. But I do think they were both very well cast for their parts.

I love how we get to know your character through what each of these different men bring out in her. She gets to be very different with each of them.

BYRNE: She does. It’s endearing to see her with Tucker, and how nervous he makes her. It’s that feeling of being seen again because she wasn’t seen by Duncan anymore. With Tucker, she gets seen again, and that’s such a lovely feeling. When you have that in your life, it’s very satisfying.

Did you have a most fun scene or moment during this shoot?

BYRNE: The scene on the beach was a lot of fun to shoot, when Tucker meets Duncan, and Duncan doesn’t believe that it’s him. That was very funny and fun to shoot, but also hard because there was a lot of improv and it was windy. All of those elements were going on, but we had a lot fun shooting that.

Have you personally, or have any of your friends, ever obsessed over a musician or suck down that rabbit hole a little bit too far?

BYRNE: I’ve got a friend who’s a total Deadhead (a Grateful Dead fan) that goes to the concerts. She cracks me up, but she loves it, though. It’s her social time. It’s her hanging out time. She doesn’t even drink. She just loves going for music and the vibe. It’s pretty funny.

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Image via Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions

I’ve learned that there is no half-way with Deadheads. Are you someone who has had music impact your life?

BYRNE: The thing about music is how much it’s associated with different times in your life. It’s literally the soundtrack of moments of your life, and that’s so powerful that it’s transcendent. I can remember when Nevermind (from Nirvana) came out. I was 13 or 14, but I can still remember that album. I remember everyone playing it in Sydney, and everyone playing it when we were going out Byron Bay. And then, they played at the Big Day Out Festival. I still remember that summer and who I was with, on the cusp of becoming a full teenager. It’s very, very vivid to me.

You also have Instant Family, for writer/director Sean Anders, coming out, and that sounds like a fun, crazy and chaotic story. What was the appeal of that project for you, and what was it like to do a comedy with Mark Wahlberg?

BYRNE: Sean Anders reached out to me about that. He and his wife fostered and adopted three kids, so it’s his story. I had just had a baby and was recovering from being a new mom again, but I wanted to be a part of it because it is such a personal story that’s so important to him. There were so many things that I didn’t know about the system and about kids in the system. It’s such a passion project for him, and I just wanted to be a part of it. And Mark is great. He doesn’t have to do much to be funny. He’s just serious, but he’s got a great take on things. He’s such a matinee idol, and he’s also really diverse. He does a lot of different stuff, and I know he was really passionate about the subject matter, too.

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Image via Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions

Do you have any idea what you’re going to be working on next?

BYRNE: I’m not sure. We’ll see. Instant Family is going to be coming out a little bit early (in November, instead of February 2019), so we’ll be doing press for that. 

There have been talks that you might team up with Tiffany Haddish for Limited Partners. Is that something you’re going to do?

BYRNE: Yes, I’m hoping. I think she’s extraordinary, so I hope so.

You’re so good at doing dramatic work, but you’re also very good at doing comedy. Do you find yourself personally drawn to one over the other, or do you try to find a balance between the two?

BYRNE: Well, first of all, thanks. This business is so bonkers. It’s many different things. It’s just what comes your way and where you’re at in your life. When you have children, what you want to do and what you don’t want to do becomes much clearer. There’s no planning. I just take it on a case by case basis. Anytime you start feeling pigeonholed, you start to feel a little frustrated, so as long as I can keep being creative, I’m thrilled.

Juliet, Naked is in select theaters on August 17th.

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Image via Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions
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Image via Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions