Emma Stone‘s significant move during her Crazy, Stupid, Love audition was to maintain her composure.

In fact, the film’s directors, Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, selected the Bugonia star for the role of Ryan Gosling‘s love interest because Stone remained unfazed by Gosling’s presence during her audition.

“Emma came in and Ryan said a line and he flubbed the line. He was reading with her offscreen, and Emma just, without missing a beat, was like, ‘Oh, you’re killing this. You’re doing great,'” Ficarra shared with People in an interview published on July 29. “She just flipped him the s–t right then and there, and we were all just like, ‘Okay, that’s it. That’s the person.’

After the 37-year-old, who was in her early 20s at the time, effortlessly connected with the Notebook heartthrob, the directing duo (also known for Whiskey Tango Foxtrot) was eager to “work with her desperately.”

“We conducted a full day of actresses reading with Ryan, and many of them were quite good,” Ficarra acknowledged. “But then, once Ryan stepped into the room, they seemed a little shaken,” despite the Oscar nominee “just being himself.”