From here to eternity

THE COSTARS PONDER LIFE'S EXISTENTIAL QUESTIONS IN THEIR SOUL-STIRRING NEW FILM

- Jenny Cooney

Playing a couple married for 65 years in their new romantic comedy-drama, Eternity, Elizabeth Olsen and Miles Teller's onscreen chemistry really has that feeling of a long-lived union. And that alchemy appears to extend off screen, too.

"We had the best time together making this movie," Olsen, 36, tells WHO. "My favourite thing that I watched him improvise was adding these one-liners at the end of scenes, just a different way every time. Every time it made us laugh."

The pair's characters, Joan and Larry, face an impossible dilemma. After arriving in the afterlife, Joan must choose between spending eternity with husband Larry - who got there just before her - or reuniting with Luke (Callum Turner), her first love who died young and has waited decades there for her to return to him.

Here, the actors share how they navigated this emotionally complex love triangle with humour, heart and philosophical depth.

Let's start with the big question: what does eternity mean to you?

MILES TELLER I think it's a beautiful thing. I'm a fairly spiritual person, and as a young kid, I was very obsessed with death. I was constantly doing the maths: "When I'm 30 years old, Mum, you're gonna be this age, Grandma, you're gonna be that age." It speaks to the infinite. I believe that we're here for a short time, and you certainly want to make the most of it.

I hope to one day be reunited with everyone that I love that I've lost. When I hear "eternity", it makes me smile. It's a wonderful way of looking at the complexities of life and the choices we make about what goes beyond - which nobody knows. And I think that's the beauty of it as well.

How did making this film change how you think about the afterlife?