Motherhood has changed Julia Stiles — and it sounds like for the better.
In an interview with the Times of London published Saturday, May 17, Stiles admitted that being a mom to three kids (she shares sons Strummer, 6, and Arlo, 2, as well as a third child whose name and sex has not been revealed with husband Preston Cook) has softened her.
The pair’s third child arrived three months before Stiles took on her first director role for Wish You Were Here. “I feel so much more raw and emotional,” she told the outlet.
The movie is an adaptation of the novel by the same name from author Renée Carlino.
“I had a really visceral reaction to the book,” Stiles added. “I was laughing and crying and then laughing through my tears.” Despite that, she wanted to be careful with the movie. “These romance movies can become sentimental very quickly,” she explained.
The timing was tough — Stiles didn’t intend to make the movie so soon after giving birth, but it took her half a decade to get the script and producers organized. “Then the SAG [Screen Actors Guild] strike happened,” she said. “Then I had a baby. And when we were finally able to get back in production, I just thought, I have to do this now.”
Her husband had to go back to work at the same time, and Stiles also found herself “kind of solo parenting three kids.”
“But my parents were immensely helpful — they came to live with us — and I had a wonderful nanny,” she added. “I was certainly overwhelmed at times, but I just kept saying to myself, ‘You can do this because women do it all the time.“Women with jobs equally if not more complicated or demanding than mine.”
Stiles spoke exclusively to Us Weekly about the film in December 2024. The romantic drama is based on the bestselling book by Renee Carlino and follows the story of Charlotte, a woman who, while searching for a spark, spends a whirlwind night of romance with a stranger. When she discovers that he is terminally ill, she commits to helping him spend his last days living life to the fullest. Isabelle Fuhrman, Mena Massoud, Gabby Kono, Jimmie Fails, Kelsey Grammer and Jennifer Grey also star, with Stiles also serving as co writer.
“It has been a career-long dream of mine to direct a movie. It took me about five years from reading the book to finally being in production, and it was extraordinary,” Stiles told Us. “I loved every minute of it.”
“When we were actually filming, I was able to be on set and think, ‘Oh yeah, I know how to do this,’ because I’ve been on a bazillion movie sets,” she explained. “[Wish You Were Here] is a love story, and even in the five years it took to get it made, it feels even more relevant now. We need a movie like this more than ever because it’s so hopeful about connection and falling in love.”
