How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)

Comic-book movies? Dime a dozen. But a film based on a stick-figure book? Michele Alexander and Jeannie Long's 1998 humor tome is now a live-action romance about a columnist (Kate Hudson) who meets an ad exec (Matthew McConaughey) and, in the name of research, proceeds to do ''every hideous, irritating, annoying, repulsive thing that a woman can do to drive a man away,'' according to producer Lynda Obst. ''She calls his mother, she forces him to go to couples therapy, she brings a love fern to his house.'' The role's comic possibilities initially attracted Gwyneth Paltrow and director Mike Newell (''Notting Hill''). ''To get Mike to commit to a date was beyond my ability, so then Gwyneth took 'View From the Top,''' says Obst. ''Then we saw 'Almost Famous.''' Once cast, ''Famous'' Oscar nominee Hudson prepped by spending a day with Vogue editor Anna Wintour. ''I tore out all of these how-tos in Cosmo and Glamour,'' she says. ''Those are the kind of things that I skip over.'' Obst almost skipped over McConaughey. ''[At first] we thought he was old for her,'' she says. ''He's 33, she's 23.'' The age difference never bothered Hudson, whose real-life hubby is Black Crowes' singer Chris Robinson. Says the actress: ''I'm married to a 36-year-old, and it's not like he's ancient.'' (Feb. 7)