Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell Filmed “Anyone But You” Scenes in Shark-Infested Waters, Says Director

Director Will Gluck recalled to EW the tense feelings when the actors had to film "at a place where sharks like to hang out" in Australia

Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell went to dangerous lengths to shoot their upcoming romantic comedy Anyone But You.

In a conversation with Entertainment Weekly ahead of the film's December release, director Will Gluck recalled the tension as the actors shot scenes in "a huge shark area" — in the dark!

"A big part of the movie was filmed in Sydney Harbor on a boat with them floating on a buoy in the middle of the harbor at night," said Gluck, 45. "Initially they wouldn't give us permission because it's a huge shark area and people get hurt by sharks all the time there."

A shark tank had to be used to keep the cast safe, which the filmmaker described to EW as "floating buoys with a cage."

“It was a little bit scary and strange at 3 in the morning with our actors swimming into a shark tank, knowing that they're at a place where sharks like to hang out," Gluck said.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human-interest stories.

Related: Anyone But You Teaser: See Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell in Steamy New Poster (Exclusive)

Anyone But You follows Sweeney, 26, and Powell, 35, as Bea and Ben, whose initial attraction to each other fades quickly "until they find themselves unexpectedly thrust together at a destination wedding in Australia," according to an official synopsis. "So they do what any two mature adults would do: pretend to be a couple."

In order to do that, the pair must pretend they actually enjoy each other's company and summon the initial mutual attraction from when they first met. As the wedding weekend moves forward, Ben and Bea's fake-couple hijinks grow more ridiculous, and they begin to wonder whether they actually do belong together.

Anyone But You has been on romantic-comedy fans' radars for months after Sweeney shared a number of snapshots from the film's production in Australia back in April. That same month, the costars appeared together at CinemaCon 2023 in Las Vegas, where they pitched the movie as revolving around "two people that hate each other."

"Sydney plays a character [who is] a real nightmare," the Scream Queens alum quipped to the audience gathered at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. And Powell's character, Sweeney said, is a real "a------."

"And what better place to put a nightmare and an a--h--- than on the other side of the world in the most romantic setting imaginable?" Powell teased of the film.

Powell's split from ex-girlfriend Gigi Paris, around the same time the movie filmed in the spring, fueled rumors that the costars were engaged in an offscreen romance.

"When all that stuff happened, you know, publicly, it felt disorienting and unfair," the Top Gun: Maverick actor said for a recent Men's Health's December cover story. "But what I’m realizing is that’s just a part of this gig now."

When the Euphoria actress — who remains engaged to fiancé Jonathan Davino — appeared on the cover of Variety's Power of Young Hollywood issue herself in August, she indicated that she and Powell are unbothered by the speculation.

“It’s a rom-com,” Sweeney said at the time. “That’s what people want! Glen and I don’t really care. We have so much fun together, and we respect each other so much; he’s such a hard worker, and I’m a hard worker."

“They want it,” she added of fans' reaction to the rumors that surrounded the making of the movie. “It’s fun to give it to ’em.”

Anyone But You is in theaters Dec. 22.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.