In their second rom-com together since 2020’s Holidate, stars Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey reunite in Maybe I Do as Michelle and Allen, a young couple at a turning point in their relationship. Trying to figure things out, they get their parents — played by Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon, Richard Gere and William H. Macy — together one night for dinner. What they don’t realize is that they all already know each other, and not in the way they would expect.

During this interview with Collider, Roberts and Bracey talked about how they chose another project to work on together, how this film is different from Holidate, and what drew them to the characters. They also talk about Marvel’s Madame Web, Elvis, and which rom-coms they consider their favorites. For all of this and more, check out the interview in the player above, or read the full transript below.
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COLLIDER: So this is your second rom-com together, the first one being Holidate. So I was wondering, what were the advantages of doing that second rom-com together?

LUKE BRACEY: Well, I think that it was an evolution in the work that we did on Holidate. I really enjoyed that it was different in the way of the subject matter we were tackling and also the position–

EMMA ROBERTS: Tone.

BRACEY: The tone and the position each other’s character was in in their life. And it just felt like Emma and I really, really wanted to work together again after Holidate. We had such a good time making it, but we were really conscious that we wanted to make the right one next. And this was just perfect. Emma found the script and sent it through and sent me a message saying I had to do it. And yeah, I duly agreed and did as I was told, and I think it worked out really, really well.

Image via Vertical Entertainment

So that was intentional then? Because they are very different in tone.

BRACEY: Yeah, we wanted the ones that we were doing to not be the same thing. We wanted it to be an evolution, I think, in what we’d done before. And I think this was certainly it.

So what is it about Allen and Michelle that drew you two to these characters, into this script?

ROBERTS: I mean, for me, I’m excited for people to see this movie because I feel like so many people I know are at this point in their lives. I think it’s my generation of like, “Okay, am I moving forward with someone, or am I starting over? Or is marriage still relevant?” [There are] just all these questions that are in the ether for people my age that I think Michelle and Allen are tackling. And I think that there’s no right or wrong answer. It’s something that everyone needs to figure out for themselves. But Michelle and Allen are an example of how that can be unfurled in Maybe I Do.

Michelle has this great moment where she spells out what loving each other for the rest of your life is going to look like. I found that particularly resonant. So I want to know, [is] that something that the two of you found important as well?

BRACEY: Yeah, I think Emma’s got a really beautiful line in the bit you’re talking about where she says something along the lines of, “How can we guarantee we won’t go crazy when we’re already crazy,” kind of thing. And I kind of love that sentiment. That, “What are you looking in the future for if every day you’ve got to wake up and find the love in each day?” And I thought that was a really beautiful sentiment.

I think that was a really nice lesson. But that’s probably my character’s issue is that he’s too worried about what could go wrong rather than what is going right at the moment, and what will continue to go right if you keep your heart and mind in that spot. So yeah, I think that’s a really beautiful sentiment that Emma’s character has.

Image via Vertical Entertainment

So Emma, I have to ask, you’re going to be appearing in Madame Web next year, and I want to know what it was like getting that call from Marvel?

ROBERTS: I thought it was very unexpected. It’s so funny, one day you’re just walking around your house, and then you get a phone call that they want to meet you for a Marvel movie. It was so weird because I remember being like, “What’s the audition process? What do I have to do?” And then I talked to the director, and I was in Boston a couple [of] weeks later filming, and we had a lot of fun on it. It’s obviously such an amazing cast, and it’s such a unique take on a Marvel movie. So I’m really excited for people to see it because I think it’s going to be very unexpected, how they tell the story.

Luke, you were in Elvis recently, speaking of big projects. Are Baz Luhrmann films really as larger-than-life up close as they seem from our end?

BRACEY: Yeah, they might even be bigger. I mean it’s pretty crazy when you walk up to work and then you just see 500 people dressed like it’s 1971 walking past you into a giant sound stage that’s like the rebuilt international hotel theater. Yeah, it was absolutely insane. And it just kept going. Then there’s Tom Hanks there as well. It was pretty special. Every day on that set was so exciting, and Baz is such a genius. It was crazy. It was wild. I haven’t really thought about it in a while actually. So now thinking about it, I was like, “Yeah, that was quite an amazing experience.” It was surreal.

ROBERTS: It’s so good. I love that movie so much.

Obviously, the two of you like rom-coms, this is your second one that you’re doing together. What is your go-to rom-com that isn’t one of yours?

ROBERTS: I mean I love My Best Friend’s Wedding, I absolutely love. And then I love Bridesmaids. It always makes me laugh every time.

BRACEY: Mine’s a bit more com, but it’s definitely got rom in it, and it’s Wedding Crashers. It’s definitely Wedding Crashers, I think is so awesome.

ROBERTS: So funny.

BRACEY: But also I watched, when we were filming this and Emma and I were talking about it, I watched Runaway Bride. And that’s so good, that movie.

ROBERTS: Love Runaway Bride.

BRACEY: That movie’s amazing. So yeah, they’re the ones that are in my mind.

Image via Vertical Entertainment

Okay, so all of these are wedding themed. So this is a great tie-in to my last question, which is, Allen and Michelle’s story kind of kicks off with what is, quite possibly, an extremely embarrassing event. One of the most embarrassing events you could have at a wedding. So what is the most embarrassing thing you’ve seen at a wedding? Like mine is, I fell down the stairs at my cousin’s wedding in my bridesmaid’s dress.

ROBERTS: That’s good. I was a bridesmaid and my girlfriend had us all wearing white, even though she was wearing white. And somebody knocked over a bottle of red wine that went all down my dress before I had to give the speech. And it looked so bad that I had to wear someone’s suit jacket over it. But then I actually hung it up later and it looked almost like art. It was so bad that it was good. It just looked like this Gothic, romance horror bridesmaid dress. I still have it hanging in the closet with the wine stains.

BRACEY: Oh, that’s great. I won’t name names, because I would never do that, but I certainly know of this moment when a guest at a wedding was just tearing the dance floor up, and then accidentally tore their tuxedo pants from arse to front, and spent the whole night with their underpants hanging out of their tuxedo pants. And–

ROBERTS: I feel like this was you.

BRACEY: It was really funny. And it wasn’t me, it wasn’t me, but it was really, really funny. This person took it in great, great humor and it was, yeah, very, very funny.

So it didn’t stop them from cutting up the dance floor the rest of the night?

BRACEY: No, I think they were like, they’re in for a penny in for a pound now.

Maybe I Do hits theaters on January 27.