Exclusive Interview: Emilia Jones and Nick Robinson on Love, Nostalgia, and Growing at Different Paces in ‘Charlie Harper’

Every so often, a film comes along that makes you wish you could watch it for the first time all over again. Charlie Harper is one of them. At its heart are Emilia Jones and Nick Robinson, whose chemistry makes Charlie and Harper’s connection feel immediate, even as the film reveals how much has changed between them. It’s a love story full of beautiful contrasts: heartbreaking and hopeful, intimate and expansive, with performances that make you feel the joy of finding each other and the pain of growing apart.

At an engagement party for mutual friends, Charlie and Harper appear to meet for the first time. Then a familiar song plays, and it becomes clear that they share a history neither has forgotten. Moving between their perspectives and across the years they spent together, Charlie Harper reveals what brought them close and how their hopes for the future began to diverge. What emerges is a portrait of two people who love each other, even as they struggle to grow alongside one another.

Pop Culturalist spoke with Emilia Jones and Nick Robinson about tracing Charlie and Harper’s relationship across time, the fears that shape their choices, and the people and memories we carry with us. They also shared what drew them to the film, how they found their way into these characters, and the keepsakes they took home from set.

PC: Emilia, early in the film, Harper talks about her passion for cooking and the art that can emerge when the right ingredients come together. That feels like a fitting way to describe Charlie Harper. What were the ingredients, whether in the story or in Harper herself, that made you excited to step into her world?
Emilia: That’s a great question. There was so much that drew me to Charlie Harper. I was attached to the film for about four or five years before we shot it, so I first read the script when I was much younger. I experienced a lot in that time, including a breakup, and found myself connecting with the story for a completely different reason by the time we began filming.

The script was one of those ingredients. I hadn’t read anything like it. I loved how it could feel so small and so big at the same time, and how relatable it was. I’d also never played a character like Harper before. I usually play people who are very different from me, so it was nice to play someone who didn’t feel so far away. I really wanted to work with Nick, too, because he’s amazing. This has been a passion project for me, and I’m so happy it’s finally coming out so everyone can see how special it is.

PC: It’s such a beautiful film. Nick, I love the conversation between Randy and Charlie because it captures the journey Charlie is on throughout the film. He’s a good kid, but not quite a good man yet, and so much of his growth is shaped by the way he relates to his past, present, and future. Can you talk about the character work behind that evolution and finding the connective thread between these distinct versions of him? Each stage feels so lived-in, which makes his journey incredibly rewarding to watch.
Nick: hat’s a great question. First, the script was incredible. Tom Dean did a wonderful job of making this character already feel very lived-in and real. His motivations were very clear. I felt, like you said, that he’s trying to reconcile his past and his upbringing with his present, and also reconcile it with Harper’s vision for his future, where those two things don’t quite align and the conflict that comes from that.

He says in the film, “They’re growing up at different paces.” That feels like such a common thing. It just took Charlie more time to fully understand himself, come into his own, and figure out what he wanted. He was very scared of failure, of the relationship not working out, or of just trying and failing. He couched it in this idea of being content, which isn’t necessarily wrong. But it was motivated by a fear of failure and judgment, or of getting too big for his upbringing and feeling like he was destined to stay in a certain place.

His journey is about unlearning some of the narratives he’s told himself and eventually growing up.

PC: There’s such a beautiful juxtaposition in this film. Charlie and Harper have an immense love for each other, but it feels like they may be at the wrong place in their lives. Emilia, Tom and Mac [Eldridge] have joked that you had a script filled with notes, which feels especially fitting for a film that moves back and forth through time and lets us see this relationship through different eyes. How did that preparation help you track Harper’s emotional journey and bring truth to every moment, even when we’re experiencing it through someone else’s perspective?
Emilia: Totally. We were lucky that, during rehearsals, we were given two scripts. One was in chronological order, and the other was structured like the film you see. I love a little Post-it note. [laughs] I try to map out an emotional graph. It helps me not peak too early with certain emotions, because you don’t want to cry for the whole film or be angry for the whole film. With Charlie and Harper, I wanted to make sure I was mapping their relationship and how she was feeling throughout, especially because we’re jumping through time.

Nick and I also wanted Charlie and Harper when they’re younger to feel quite different. The energy is different from the Charlie and Harper you see at the end of the film. A lot of that came from sitting down with Nick, Mac, and Tom and going through the script. The hair, makeup, and costumes really helped, too. The moment Nick had his skateboard and I had my Ugg boots on… [laughs]

Nick: My long hair and my spray tan. [laughs]

Emilia: Yeah. [laughs] Nick got a spray tan and didn’t tell me, so then I was really pale.

Nick: I think you were sitting next to me as I was getting it done.

Emilia: At that point, there wasn’t enough time for them to order me a spray tan.

Nick: You’ve got to self-advocate.

PC: The two of you have such incredible chemistry. Nick, another relationship that feels so compelling in the film is Charlie’s connection to literature. Books seem to give him a sense of his own place in the world and a way to understand the person he’s becoming. What did that connection reveal to you about Charlie, and how did it inform your performance?
Nick: Yeah. In the film, they talk about Charlie being a bit shy. He’s somebody who lives in his head a lot and escapes through literature and his imagination. That’s his safe space. It’s just for him, without any external judgment. He’s a very curious person in a lot of ways, and that’s probably what drew Harper to him. But I think his thoughts aren’t always backed up by action, so he can fall into a kind of inertia. That’s what he’s struggling with in the film: that feeling of being stuck.

But he’s got a great bookshelf. I haven’t read most of the books Charlie’s read. I haven’t read Swann’s Way. I loved to read growing up, though.

Emilia: A lot of the books on the bookshelf were the producer’s books.

PC: Oh, cool. They should release the reading list as part of the marketing for the film. There’s such a heartbreaking yet inspiring line toward the end of the film, when Charlie speaks about the importance of the people we carry with us. Outside of each other, who is someone you’ve carried into your art, and how have they shaped the work you create?
Nick: Wow. There are so many people I could think of who have touched my life, changed my path, and stayed with me in some way. It’s not something you’re consciously aware of day to day, but when you look back on your life, you realize how many people were there along the way. My family, my siblings, my parents, some early mentors in Seattle. There are too many to name.

Emilia: I agree.

PC: To end on something a little more lighthearted, I love how the film explores nostalgia and the memories we hold onto, particularly through Harper’s keepsake box. For each of you, was there anything you kept from the set to remember this experience?
Nick: I think I took a hat. There were some Polaroids.

Emilia: Nick got me this great lighter that said Charlie Harper on it. I don’t use it. It’s one of those things you love so much that it just sits there. I wish I carried it with me. We also got a lot of Kenny Rogers merch because he’s a big part of the film.

Nick: I have some Kenny Rogers T-shirts.

PC: You should have kept the CDs, too. Those would have been great keepsakes.
Emilia: I know!

Nick: Yeah.

Emilia: Mac and Tom, our directors, actually gave us CDs with a bunch of songs as a welcome gift when we started filming.

Make sure to follow Emilia (Instagram) and Nick (Instagram). Charlie Harper opens in select theaters September 25.