Bryce Dallas Howard loved working alongside Joaquin Phoenix in her breakout role in 2004 film, The Village.
The actress, 44, confessed on the Thursday, June 18, episode of podcast, “Podcrushed,” that she had a huge crush on Phoenix as a kid so she couldn’t have been happier to play his love interest as an adult.
“I had the biggest crush on Joaquin Phoenix when I was seven years old, and he was Leaf Phoenix, and he was in Parenthood,” Howard told co-host Penn Badgley, 38. “And it was insane being like, ‘Oh, you want me to play a character who’s been in love with this guy, like, her whole life? Sure.’”
Howard played Ivy in the film, which was directed by M. Night Shyamalan, while Phoenix portrayed her love interest Lucius. The actress was cast by Shyamalan after he saw her perform in As You Like It at the Public Theater in New York — an experience Howard described as a “career-defining moment.”
Praising the director, Howard added, “That was very, I mean, incredibly courageous of Night to cast me, and he was really supportive.”
In the two decades that followed, Howard has gone on to score roles in The Help, Spider-Man 3, the Twilight Saga, Jurassic World and Argylle.
Her most recent film, Deep Cover, premiered earlier this month at the Tribeca Festival on June 10 and costars Orlando Bloom, Nick Mohammed and Sean Bean.
The action-comedy centers around her character, an improv teacher, and two other improv performers (Bloom and Mohammed) as they are hired by an undercover cop (Bean) to invade London’s underground gang scene.
Howard, who shares two children, Theodore Norman, 18, and Beatrice Jean, 13, with husband Seth Gabel, admitted improv has become a helpful tool when dealing with her teenagers.
Related: Bryce Dallas Howard Recalls ‘Reading About Euthanasia’ as a Child at Disney
Bryce Dallas Howard is reflecting on her childhood — which included having some unusual interests. “When I was growing up, I had a lot of difficulties learning and communicating,” Howard, 44, told U.K. newspaper The Independent in an interview published on Saturday, June 7. “I was always very happy and smiley, but not extremely verbal. […]
“I think improv comedy is an incredible training ground for being a parent because you’re not really going in there with an agenda, per se,” Howard exclusively told Us Weekly at the premiere. “You’re there to listen, to respond, to be playful and to hopefully say yes.”
“The thing that’s tricky with kids is that — I don’t know if it’s an evolutionary thing, I don’t know if it’s just me — but my kids are smarter than me, they’re faster than me, they’re quicker than me,” Howard told Us. “I think that improv helps you develop the interpersonal skills to find a win-win, especially when it comes to your kids.”
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