VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Katie Aselton Reveals The ‘Most Diane Keaton’ Moments On ‘Mack & Rita’

In Mack & Rita, 30-year-old writer Mack finds that she has been magically transformed into her 70-year-old self during a wild weekend in Palm Springs. 

Director Katie Aselton recently sat down with Erik Meers to discuss the “most Diane Keaton moment” of working with the legendary actress.

“Every single moment with Diane Keaton is the most Diane Keaton moment ever!” Aselton said. “That is exactly who she is all the time. The kiss moment is such a great moment for her. She’s just so open and vulnerable and everything is all right there. Her giddiness and her excitement and excitability with Dustin [Milligan] was just palpable. I said to her in the moment, ‘Diane, remember that moment in Baby Boom and you’re kissing Sam Shepard and you just kind of melt. What if we did something like that here?’ And she gave it to me and it was just like watching one of you your favorite, most iconic moments in film come to life. It was really beautiful.”

Aselton also shared what makes Keaton stand out from other actors.

“I think a lot of actors of her caliber don’t necessarily want to be directed,” she revealed. “They just have a sense of what they’re going to do, and they’re going to show up and they’re going to do it. The director is just there in name only. Diane isn’t like that at all. She’s incredibly collaborative and incredibly willing to go anywhere I asked her to. She was a real joy.”

The director also spoke about her transition from acting to her role behind the camera.

“I really love filmmaking. My first two movies were very small, independent movies that we made on our own and brought to Sundance and that’s hard! It’s really hard,” she revealed. “I found after that making movies as an actor was really gentle and nice and that combined with the ages of my kids at that point felt like the right thing, but as time went on, I really, really got called back to directing. I love the collaboration of filmmaking. I love what the process is. It was calling my name and this just came at the right time and had Diane Keaton attached. When that gets plated to you, you can’t say no.”

Mack & Rita is playing in theaters now.