Stone and Bynes starred in the hit 2010 romcom directed by Will Gluck

NEED TO KNOW

• Easy A, directed by Will Gluck, was led by Emma Stone and featured Amanda Bynes
• Gluck recalled in a new interview that it was “tough” for Bynes to play “second banana” to Stone
• He also praised Bynes’ work on the 2010 movie, her last screen credit before quitting acting

The director of Amanda Bynes’ last Hollywood movie is recalling how she was “100 percent a pro.”

Will Gluck, director of the 2010 comedy Easy A starring Emma Stone, recalled that Bynes was at the time “a huge star” during his appearance on the Plus One podcast on Wednesday, Oct. 21. The Bert V. Royal-written romcom inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter also starred Penn Badgley, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Cam Gigandet, Lisa Kudrow and Stanley Tucci.

“She didn’t audition,” Gluck recalled of the former Nickelodeon star, now 40, who played devout Christian high school student Marianne Bryant opposite a Golden Globe-nominated Stone, 37, as outcast Olive Penderghast. Bynes, who had worked for years since breaking out as a child star, “was one of the few people who didn’t audition on that movie,” the filmmaker told host Jess Lucero.

“She was great on that set,” said Gluck. “It was kind of tough, I think, for her because she was a huge star and then she had to play, like, a second banana to Em.”

PEOPLE has reached out to Bynes’ social media for comment.

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Bynes quit acting and stepped out of the spotlight not long after Easy A‘s release. She has since publicly struggled with mental health, substance abuse issues and legal troubles. The She’s the Man star was placed under the conservatorship of her parents, Lynn and Rick Bynes, from 2013 to 2022, and spent time in mental health facilities. 

“I was shocked after all this happened,” said Gluck in reference to Bynes’ “strange” time after the release of Easy A. The star’s parents were on set with her, he added. “Everyone said to me, ‘During the time did you see anything?’ I said, ‘Literally not at all.’ She was 100 percent a pro.”

Bynes has since dabbled in podcasting, fashion design and music, and launched an OnlyFans account in April 2025. This past April, she released a song called “Girlfriend” with Zabba and rapper Fenix Flexin. 

Gluck recently directed the Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner rom-com One Night Only.

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