‘The Last Letter From Your Lover’: Are Shailene Woodley and Callum Turner Friends In Real Life?
Shailene Woodley and Callum Turner play the lovers in the Netflix original film The Last Letter From Your Lover. Since the film premiered on the streaming service, viewers have discovered their passion. Perhaps viewers are also wondering if Turner and Woodley are actually friends outside of filming?
The Last Letter From Your Lover director Augustine Frizzell spoke with Showbiz Cheat Sheet by phone on June 15. Frizzell discussed the casting of Woodley and Turner and how they got along so well on and off screen.
What is ‘The Last Letter From Your Lover’ about?
Present day journalist Ellie (Felicity Jones) discovered written correspondence between Jennifer (Woodley) and Anthony (Callum Turner). Anthony and Jennifer are in love, but Jennifer is already married to Lawrence (Joe Alwyn).
As Ellie reads more letters, she learns the story of Jennifer and Anthony’s affair. Ellie also learns of the tragic circumstances that kept them apart. But, Ellie continues investigating the authors of the letters to see if there’s still time to reunite them.
Callum Turner and Shailene Woodley remained friends after ‘The Last Letter From Your Lover’
Woodley and Turner share some passionate, intimate scenes in The Last Letter From Your Lover. Frizzell said the actors connected on set, and have remained friends since.
“To be honest, during filming they became really good friends,” Frizzell said. “Still to this day, I just saw Shailene yesterday, and she said they’re still best buds, texting all the time. So they had such a natural rapport and having met with both of them, I kind of suspected and hoped that’d be the case. And was very grateful that it was.”
Shailene Woodley and Callum Turner hadn’t met before
Frizzell said Woodley and Turner didn’t know each other prior to filming The Last Letter From Your Lover. Frizzel had intended to test Woodley and Turner together to observe their screen chemistry, but ultimately that was not necessary.
“When I set out to cast it I was like ooh, everyone needs chemistry tests,” Frizzell said. “And then it just ended up happening, everyone was all over the world for whatever reason. I felt intuitively, hoped intuitively that they would have chemistry. I had spoken with both of them separately and they are so similar.”
Directing Shailene Woodley
Once Frizzell had cast all the roles, she did have time to rehearse with the actors. Though portraying different halves of the story, Frizzell said Woodley and Jones had similar approaches.
“I did rehearsals with Shailene and Callum and Joe, and then secondly I did them with Felicity and Nabhaan,” Frizzell said. “It was all pretty similar. I think we all just wanted to hear the scenes and retouch their characters. They’re both actors who love to know in depth about their characters’ past and their backstory and all of those things that build the roles. So they were very similar in that regard.”
