'We Played Husband And Wife In The Worst Movie': Josh Hartnett's Meet Cute With His Real-Life Wife Is The 'Most Hollywood' Story Imaginable

Josh Hartnett and Tamsin Egerton in The Lovers
(Image credit: IFC Films)

After successes with Trap and Oppenheimer, Josh Hartnett is back in the spotlight showing everybody that the former Hollywood teenage heartthrob is still as talented as ever. While some may be wondering if the handsome leading man is single, he most certainly is not. Hartnett has been married to actress Tamsin Egerton since 2021, and they’ve been together since 2012. Apparently, their love was undeniable when they first met, and now Hartnett is sharing the story of their meet cute.

Hartnett recently participated in a profile for Interview Magazine where he spoke to O co-star Julia Stiles. The former scene partners reconnected, and the Pearl Harbor actor opened up about his decision to take a break from big Hollywood productions before re-entering the spotlight. He also got candid about how he met his wife, whom he met on the set of the 2013 movie The Lovers, saying:

The most Hollywood way imaginable. We played husband and wife in the worst movie either of us have ever made. No offense to the director, it’ll remain nameless. It just got lost in post-production. We were shooting here in London and both had significant others, and both realized that wasn’t going to work because we really liked each other.

Even though the movie may not have worked, their chemistry was clearly there. Many love stories have started on the set of bad movies, like Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez on Gigli, and Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds on Green Lantern. Maybe there is something about the bond created when two people make a bad movie that brings them closer together. This cosmic connection between Hartnett and Egerton was so strong, they both left their current relationships to be together, as The Virgin Suicides actor explained:

So I broke up with my girlfriend, she broke up with her boyfriend, and then after we stopped filming, we started to date. But I was living in New York and she was living in London, so we went on a few vacations together. Then she came out to the States and we went on a long road trip where she met my parents and it kept going. And then she kept staying with me and I kept staying with her. We were living a lot of the time between houses together, and then she got pregnant and then we got married.

Talk about a love story! This whole thing sounds like a movie Josh Hartnett would actually star in, and one I would definitely want to see. Even though their previous movie together didn’t work, it’s always fun seeing real life couples onscreen, so maybe this isn’t the end of Hartnett and Edgerton’s cinematic collaboration. A different project may allow their chemistry to shine through their characters and give the audience something to root for. Someone has to put pen to paper and make this happen.

While they lived between houses a lot, as Hartnett says, the couple ended up mainly residing in southeast England, not far from where Egerton is from. This follows the trend of many celebrities choosing to move out of Hollywood and live more normal lives elsewhere. They have four children and travel a lot for their work, considering they are both actors. It’s great that something wonderful came out of a movie that didn’t work, and I’m sure neither of them regret signing on for The Lovers.

Fans of Josh Hartnett can see him in his latest movie, M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap, which is currently playing in theaters nationwide. It's one of the buzziest original films of the year, so make sure to check it out on the big screen while you can. For more information on other highly-anticipated titles heading to cinemas this year, make sure to consult our 2024 movie release schedule.

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Caroline Young
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Writer, podcaster, CinemaBlend contributor, film and television nerd, enthusiastic person. Hoping to bring undying passion for storytelling to CinemaBlend.