Austin Nichols is opening up about how “weird” and “wrong” it was for him to kiss a 15-year-old Mary-Kate Olsen while filming a movie together.
In the 2001 film Holiday in the Sun, Nichols played Griffen Grayson, a love interest to Olsen’s Madison Stewart. And on a recent episode of the Drama Queens podcast, hosted by his former One Tree Hill costars Sophia Bush, Hilarie Burton Morgan and Bethany Joy Lenz, the actor reflects on playing the part.
“I was definitely nervous because Mary-Kate was 15, and I was, I think, 18 or 19, or maybe even 20. I don’t remember, but I was too old,” he said. “It felt weird and it felt wrong.” Nichols was 21 years old when the movie was released.
He continued to describe how he “looked very young,” so he believes the age difference may not be so noticeable for people watching it. “I’m real tall and skinny and nerdy, but I don’t think you can tell there’s a big age difference,” Nichols said. “But for my brain, I was like, ‘she’s 15, this is not — this is weird.’”
“I remember talking to producers, and I remember talking to, even her dad was there,” he continued to recall. “I was like, ‘Is this OK with you guys?’ And they were all like, ‘Oh, don’t worry about it.’ Nobody seemed concerned, and I was very concerned, but it turned out fine. It was all very G-rated.”
Bush then applauded the actor for addressing the situation. “That really speaks to your character though because listen, they’ve been acting since they were little. It’s not like a 15-year-old girl was going to have her first kiss ever with a guy five years older than her,” she said. “But the fact that as the older actor in the room, you were like, ‘Hey, how are we going to address this? Because yes, this is our job, but also, we got to acknowledge what’s happening here and I respect that about you so much.”
