Tina Fey, Anne Hathaway & More Tease Their ‘Modern Love’ Characters (VIDEO)

Damian Holbrook September 12, 2019, 11:00 am

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The New York Times’ long-running “Modern Love” column, which features reader-submitted essays on breakups, makeups, marriage and more, fuels this star-studded eight-episode anthology.

Some of the adapted stories are sweet; others simply devastating. But they all have something to love about them, as do many of these characters jumping from page to screen.

(Credit: Amazon Prime Video)

Josh (Dev Patel)

Even though he’s in a new relationship, this dating-site creator still carries a torch for the woman (Caitlin McGee, currently on NBC’s new Bluff City Law) he instantly fell for years earlier at a job interview. A betrayal ended their initial courtship, but Josh revisits the failed romance while being profiled for, fittingly, The New York Times Magazine.

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Julie (Catherine Keener)

During her Times interview with Josh, journalist Julie recalls a missed connection from her days living abroad. This episode, the series’ second, “was a real challenge because you have these two backstories,” notes consulting producer Daniel Jones, who has edited the “Modern Love” column since its inception 15 years ago. “Most of the [other installments] are more straightforward.”

(Credit: Amazon Prime Video)

Sarah (Tina fey)

The 30 Rock vet stars as one half of a couple truly struggling in their marriage. “We’ve been going to therapy, but it’s not really clicking, so our therapist advises us to find a common hobby,” Fey says. “We start to play tennis.” One “superfun” bonus for the actress: To help get into the, uh, swing of things, she and costar John Slattery took lessons together!

Dennis (John Slattery)

As Fey’s actor husband in Episode 4, Slattery had an interesting source to pull from: The episode, directed by Catastrophe‘s Sharon Horgan, is inspired by an essay from Ann Leary, who is married to Rescue Me alum Denis Leary.

(Photo by James Devaney/GC Images)

Lexi (Anne Hathaway)

A New York City lawyer with bipolar disorder, Lexi is looking for, as she explains in Episode 3, “the one human being who accepts the two people” inside her. There’s a little misdirection, though: It winds up being someone we would never have pegged at the start. But, insists Hathaway, finding that patient, compassionate, loving person “changes everything for her. It gives her hope and gives her a future.”