Charm for days! Austin Stowell has been acting since he was a teenager, but his latest role in The Hating Game is poised to make him a rom-com star.
The Connecticut native, 36, appears opposite Lucy Hale in the film, released on Friday, December 10, and based on the novel of the same name by Sally Thorne. Fans of the book agreed early on that the Pretty Little Liars alum, 32, was the perfect choice to play Lucy Hutton, a notably petite publishing assistant competing for the same job as Joshua Templeman, her professional rival.
Stowell’s casting as Joshua, however, was a tougher sell, with some fans concerned that the initial trailer for the film indicated that the pair didn’t have much chemistry. After the film premiered, though, it became clear that the Dolphin Tale voice actor was an excellent pick to play the uptight coworker who keeps Hale’s character on her toes.
Some of the duo’s chemistry can be attributed to the fact that the actors are close friends in real life. “That was why I was so excited to do this movie: because I got to do a fun rom-com with a friend,” the Katy Keene veteran told Screen Rant in December. “The audience has to be right there with you, wanting these people to get together so badly. I knew that with Austin, we would have so much fun playing around.”
Stowell, for his part, is a fan of classic rom-coms, so he was eager to try his hand at the kind of banter immortalized in films like When Harry Met Sally — his “favorite” movie in the genre.
“It’s classic to me,” he told The List in December. “That’s what a good romantic comedy is, is that you know these people are going to end up with each other at the end, but it’s the journey to get there. How they figure it out, because we all want that in life. We all want love. We all want somebody in our life.”
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After breaking hearts in The Hating Game, the Catch-22 alum is set to appear in Showtime’s Three Women, based on the book of the same name by Lisa Taddeo. The new series also stars Betty Gilpin, Shailene Woodley and DeWanda Wise as the titular women alongside Blair Underwood and Lola Kirke. Stowell will play Aidan, described as an “Indiana James Dean” who inspires Gilpin’s character to make a major change in her life.
The Hating Game is in theaters now and is available for purchase and rental on demand. Keep scrolling for five things to know about Stowell:
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