Allison Williams, Dave Franco Tried to Work Together in ‘Last 10 Years’ (Exclusive)

Allison Williams and Dave Franco had tried starring together for years — but fate had other plans.

Williams, 37, revealed to PEOPLE that she and Franco, 40, almost worked together on several occasions, but nothing panned out until they both got cast in the Colleen Hoover-inspired rom-com film Regretting You.

“I’ve always wanted to work with him,” the actress told PEOPLE in an exclusive chat at the New York City screening of Regretting You in October. 

“We’ve been cast in a bunch of things that never came to fruition over the last 10 years,” she explained, adding that they “were movies that almost happened and then fell apart at the last second.”

The M3GAN 2.0 star also shared that she “actually never met” the Now You See Me actor until they worked together on Regretting You — and that their eventual collaboration felt destined.

“It felt like fate that eventually we would get to work today,” she explained.

Regretting You director Josh Boone noted that Williams — who Hoover originally had her sights on for the lead role of Morgan — had great chemistry on the set with Franco, and the pair also got along well off-screen.

“They had a great time,” Boone said, nothing their “very similar temperaments.”

It seems the long-awaited collaboration was well worth it — Franco praised Williams in an interview with ABC News in late October, saying he had “the best” time working with her and was especially impressed by her range as an actress.

“She’s so good at going back and forth between comedy and drama… and the movie is very dramatic. It has these heavy moments, but Allison is so funny naturally in real life so she really came in and tried to bring in levity whenever she could,” he recalled.

That on-screen chemistry reflected what was happening behind the camera too. Williams shared with Entertainment Tonight that the Regretting You set was “a very emotionally healthy place to work,” noting how the director and crew helped create a supportive and cohesive environment.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“It felt like such a delight [working on Regretting You], and part of that is that Josh Boone, our director, set the tone for our whole crew that was so positive,” she shared. “And we had an amazing first AD that had the crew gather every morning and people shared anything that was on their mind, and it just set this tone… it felt very cohesive.”

“It felt like a family, and the cast benefited from [it]. It was a very free place. It just felt like everyone’s very loving,” she added.