Before the film found its winning co-leads, there were apparently several actresses with the project in mind, but each of them wanted to change the film drastically, according to Neustader. “For a while there were a lot of actresses circling it who kept saying that if you flipped the perspectives and turned it into a woman – you basically turned Tom into a woman – then they’d be more inclined to dive in” he told Entertainment Weekly earlier this year. “Neither of us wanted to do that, so the script was kind of languishing.”
However, when Webb met Gordon-Levitt in a meeting, the actor made a suggestion that set the film off. “I asked him who he thought Summer was and without missing a beat he told Zooey [Deschanel]”Said the director of the magazine.” And finally we hired Zooey first and then, very quickly, Joe. Both have something that feels real. I thought that was important to make the film accessible. I really believe that you can’t just cast a person. Especially in such a situation you have to fill a chemistry, you have to fill a dynamic, you have to fill two people who work well together. “
