Sydney Sweeney hosted Saturday Night Live last night and addressed the so-called elephant in the room straightaway in her monologue: did she and her Anyone But You costar Glen Powell have an on-set romance during (and potentially after) filming? (Their onscreen chemistry is palpable, as is their off-screen chemistry, particularly during the film’s press run.)
Costar romances are nothing new but, while Powell is single, Sweeney is engaged to businessman Jonathan Davino—hence the controversy. In her SNL debut, Sweeney cut to the chase and, during her monologue at the start of the show, jokingly addressed “some stuff I’ve seen about me online.” She admitted the “craziest rumor” she had seen online was “that while I was filming Anyone But You I was having an affair with my costar, Glen Powell.”
She added “That’s obviously not true,” and further explained that “Me and my fiancé produced the movie together and he was there the entire shoot, and I just want to let everyone know that he’s the man of my dreams and we’re still together and stronger than ever.”
But then, plot twist—“He even came tonight to support me,” Sweeney continued. “Can we cut to him?” The camera then cut to none other than Powell himself sitting in the audience, a cameo met with cheers from the crowd.
“Yeah, no, that’s not my fiancé,” Sweeney said, pretending to be flustered. “He’s in my dressing room!”
Sweeney and Powell are just friends, she declared to People, but the attention they received as an “are they or aren’t they?” pairing drew attention to their movie. “I mean, we sold a rom-com,” she said. “We were just filming a fun, amazing movie.” Sweeney told Variety she “felt beat up by” the persistent speculation, and Powell told Men’s Health that the rumors were “disorienting and unfair.”
“A great rom-com doesn’t survive without great chemistry, and Sydney is the easiest person to have chemistry with,” Powell told Entertainment Tonight. “I mean, immediately, it was like we’d known each other forever, and I think anybody that’s been on the set realizes I never get tired of talking to Sydney. We make each other laugh. She’s awesome—obviously one of the most talented actresses we have. This movie has felt like a rom-com in itself because Sydney is very easy to pretend to fall in love with.”
Last night’s monologue wasn’t the only place in the show where Sweeney and Powell poked fun at the rumors (which, to be fair, were rampant). In a sketch later in the episode—the final one of the night, so the show was bookended with Sweeney and Powell onscreen together—Sweeney confesses to her boyfriend that she cheated on him and breaks up with him. Suddenly, Powell appears by the table—apparently the man Sweeney cheated with—and says “Hey babycakes, want to get out of here?” before he and Sweeney depart together.
And Anyone But You might not be Sweeney and Powell’s last time working together. Powell told Variety that the two were reading scripts to find their next movie after Anyone But You grossed an impressive $200 million globally. “When you find somebody that you really jive with, Sydney is so easy to work with and so fun,” Powell said. “We’re definitely trying to find the next thing. Please send us all the scripts you got.”
Sweeney herself hinted, during an appearance this week on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, that there could be a sequel to Anyone But You in the works: “Maybe like a high nine chance,” she told the host.
