{"id":32763,"date":"2026-08-08T16:08:42","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T11:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=32763"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:08:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T11:08:42","slug":"one-night-only-director-removed-nudity-because-people-dislike-sex-on-screen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=32763","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;One Night Only&#8217; Director Removed Nudity Because People Dislike Sex on Screen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/one-night-only\/\" id=\"auto-tag_one-night-only\" data-tag=\"one-night-only\">One Night Only<\/a>\u201d director <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/will-gluck\/\" id=\"auto-tag_will-gluck\" data-tag=\"will-gluck\">Will Gluck<\/a> doesn\u2019t want you to overthink it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe filmmaker has been fielding <em>a lot <\/em>of inquiries about the premise, logic and loopholes of his new movie, a raucous romantic comedy about the one night a year where premarital sex is legal. (Think \u201cThe Purge,\u201d but for banging instead of murder.) Monica Barbaro (\u201cA Complete Unknown\u201d) plays Allie, an aspiring singer who channels her talent through embarrassing jingles in drug commercials. Callum Turner (\u201cEternity\u201d) portrays Owen, a pizza shop owner whose long-term girlfriend decides she wants to sleep with other people on this holy night. The two strangers keep running into each other during 12 hours of messy mayhem in New York City.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tGluck is aware the movie\u2019s setup is sparking more questions \u2014 <em>Why does the ban exist in the first place? What happens to people who break the law? How, exactly, is the government even tracking who\u2019s getting it on?<\/em> \u2014 than answers. But he maintains the particulars of this reality aren\u2019t really the point.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cYou can\u2019t really describe this movie,\u201d Gluck says. \u201c[The cast] goes on talk shows and spends 80% of the time explaining the rules of the world, and that\u2019s not what the movie is about. We have to just let people see it. That\u2019s the best tool we have, especially for something that\u2019s this crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tGluck, best known for directing 2010s teen classic \u201cEasy A\u201d with Emma Stone, knows all that matters is that people are talking about the film in the first place. Word-of-mouth fueled the success of his last rom-com, 2023\u2019s box office sleeper hit \u201cAnyone But You,\u201d starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cI learned from my last movie that people are going to discover this and say, \u2018Wow, that\u2019s not what I thought it was going to be,\u2019\u201d Gluck says. \u201cYou know how the acronym for word-of-mouth is WOM? I\u2019m calling it a WOM-com.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAhead of opening weekend, the director spoke to <em>Variety<\/em> about why audiences have become prudish about on-screen sex, his love of putting \u201ccringe\u201d songs in his movies, and why the theatrical rom-com isn\u2019t dead, after all.<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"heading larva \/\/   lrv-a-font-secondary-m   \">\n\t\tHow did you decide how much backstory to include to set up your premise?\t<\/h5>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tI did a lot of thinking about it, a lot of world building. These characters are living this little alternative world that could easily happen. We have to talk about it. But I really wanted the world to live in the background. I didn\u2019t want the movie to be about that. It\u2019s more about how our characters navigate life.<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"heading larva \/\/   lrv-a-font-secondary-m   \">\n\t\tWhat conversations did you have about the origin of the no-sex mandate?\t<\/h5>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tSomeone asked me \u201cwhy don\u2019t people just get divorced?\u201d Well, there\u2019s municipal signage very prominently in the movie that says you cannot get divorced unless you were married for one year, plus one day. It\u2019s like when COVID [started], there were rules, and then people started to do other stuff, so then more rules came out, right? That\u2019s what I imagine when this mandate was passed. They had to keep doing amendments to these rules because, yes, the obvious idea would be just get married and divorce.<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"heading larva \/\/   lrv-a-font-secondary-m   \">\n\t\tRecent studies have found that Gen Z and Gen Alpha <a rel=\"nofollow\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2023\/10\/25\/1208435267\/sex-teens-tv-movies\" data-type=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2023\/10\/25\/1208435267\/sex-teens-tv-movies\" target=\"_blank\">don\u2019t want to see sex on screen<\/a>. Was that a concern while making this movie?\t<\/h5>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe answer is 100% yes. I went through this on two movies. I have long pages of empirical data about it. The only thing is I don\u2019t think it\u2019s just Gen Z and Gen Alpha. I believe it\u2019s been a societal shift from taking nudity in adult situations and putting them on your phones at home for everybody. Now it\u2019s more of a private, intimate thing that people don\u2019t want to see when they\u2019re in a shared experience. Whenever people now see nudity or very adult situations in a big theater, they get uncomfortable.<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"heading larva \/\/   lrv-a-font-secondary-m   \">\n\t\tHow does that change your approach as a filmmaker?\t<\/h5>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tOnce I\u2019ve learned that, which was all through the editing process for my last movie, I applied it to this movie. But even so, I didn\u2019t apply it enough. I cut out so much. There was so much nudity in this movie that we shot on the streets. I felt we needed to show the world that way. As we started to show it to audiences, we felt it takes you out of the movie. You\u2019re engaged in the characters and what\u2019s going on, and then you pan over and there\u2019s two naked people having sex, and you watch the audience \u2026 it\u2019s a physical thing. They turn to who they\u2019re with and \u2026 the benefits do not nearly outweigh the negatives of it. So we just kept editing it out until we got a balance, and those comments went away.<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"heading larva \/\/   lrv-a-font-secondary-m   \">\n\t\tDid you use an intimacy coordinator? So many scenes had extras having sex in the background.\t<\/h5>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tYes, we had an incredible intimacy coordinator. And we cast real-life couples in various stages of relationships. It was never like we met an extra and were like, \u201cyou guys are kissing.\u201d It was fun because there were married couples, people who broke up during the movie and people who became couples so they could do that.<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"heading larva \/\/   lrv-a-font-secondary-m   \">\n\t\tThere are a lot of fun and funny posters and advertisements about \u201cthe mandate\u201d and \u201cone night\u201d all around the city. Were those actual props, or were they edited in later?\t<\/h5>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThis is all practical. That was the fun part of the world building. We had a huge document with every scene, not only what signage was there, but what graffiti was there and who would be in the background kissing. And the funny thing about the products, I\u2019ve gotta stop reading the internet, but everyone says, \u201cIt\u2019s a product placement fiasco. How much money did they make on that?\u201d It was the opposite. We had to beg products to allow us to take them and twist it to the \u201cone night.\u201d Because, as you can imagine, not every corporate America consumer product was into this idea. So when I read stuff, like, \u201cHow much money did they get from Dunkin or Durex?\u201d I\u2019m like \u201cNothing!\u201d<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"heading larva \/\/   lrv-a-font-secondary-m   \">\n\t\tSo you had to get permission to make the fake ads?\t<\/h5>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tOf course. You can photograph anything that\u2019s in the real world, but you can\u2019t take something like Coke ad and say \u201cthere\u2019s dirt in it.\u201d We had a big list and it was \u201cno, no, no, no.\u201d And then we were surprised \u2014 well, the condom companies didn\u2019t surprise us that they said yes \u2014 but Duolingo sure did. That was a shock. I was like, \u201cReally?\u201d So that\u2019s why you have products like Duolingo, Red Bull, Dunkin and Equinox. Every time they would say \u201cyes,\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cThey did?\u201d And then they would have to approve our take on it.<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"heading larva \/\/   lrv-a-font-secondary-m   \">\n\t\tWhat are some of the challenges of filming in New York City?\t<\/h5>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tMany times, we had actors in a car, half naked, and you\u2019d have people just walking and staring. We\u2019d say, \u201cHey, do you mind moving on?\u201d A couple of people said, \u201cNo, we\u2019re not going to move.\u201d We were like, \u201cWell, if this really did happen in real life, people <em>would<\/em> be staring.\u201d So there are a couple scenes where people are looking in the windows.<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"heading larva \/\/   lrv-a-font-secondary-m   \">\n\t\tHow much of Monica\u2019s character was built around her actually being able to sing?\t<\/h5>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tI always rewrite the script completely once I have the actors. Once I cast Monica, I was like, \u201cShe has to be a singer.\u201d We talked for a long time, and she does have some stage fright, which is crazy, because she has the best voice. So I just wrote that for her. And I\u2019ve always been obsessed with drug commercials, so it was this great confluence.<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"heading larva \/\/   lrv-a-font-secondary-m   \">\n\t\tDid Callum actually learn how to make pizza?\t<\/h5>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tYes, he spent five days at that pizza place being taught how to make pizza. He was really good at it. The one bummer about pizza is it doesn\u2019t look great on film. It\u2019s impossible because pizza gets cold so quickly. During that scene, we were constantly putting out a new fresh pizza. That\u2019s a lesson for me. From now on, I\u2019ll choose a different food that does not congeal that quickly.<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"heading larva \/\/   lrv-a-font-secondary-m   \">\n\t\tHow quickly did everyone get sick of pizza?\t<\/h5>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tYou can tell during that scene but Monica and Callum, they ate. They didn\u2019t chew and spit. Because I don\u2019t cut. I just keep rolling. They were both at the end like, \u201cOh my god.\u201d<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"heading larva \/\/   lrv-a-font-secondary-m   \">\n\t\tSydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, your stars from \u201cAnyone But You,\u201d don\u2019t exactly have cameos, but they pop up in funny, unexpected ways. Did you get their permission to include them in the movie?\t<\/h5>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tYes, I did. They were both trying to do cameos, but their schedules didn\u2019t work out. So this was great.<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"heading larva \/\/   lrv-a-font-secondary-m   \">\n\t\tMusic plays a big part in many of your films. I can\u2019t hear \u201cPocket Full of Sunshine\u201d without thinking of \u201cEasy A,\u201d and \u201cUnwritten\u201d went viral on TikTok after the release of \u201cAnyone But You.\u201d How do you choose which songs to feature?\t<\/h5>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tFor the drug commercials, I have a pretty good take on songs that were really popular that people <em>think<\/em> they hate, but they can\u2019t stop singing. I\u2019m kind of obsessed with those songs, and a lot of my movies have them in it. You\u2019ve mentioned some of them, and I think it\u2019s because people don\u2019t want to admit they like popular music, so they call it cringe or lame. But they\u2019re bangers. After my last movie, if you ever go to any bar or club all over the world, when \u201cUnwritten\u201d comes on, it\u2019s like the biggest banger in the world. It always was, but now for some reason, it\u2019s now OK to be a banger. I love those songs.<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"heading larva \/\/   lrv-a-font-secondary-m   \">\n\t\tPeople often say the theatrical rom-com is dead. What were your takeaways from the box office success of \u201cAnyone But You\u201d?\t<\/h5>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tIf you\u2019re not a superhero movie or gigantic IP, it\u2019s really hard to cut through. The only way you really can cut through, if at all, is letting the audience do it. No matter how much you market it or tell people what it is, you have to let them see it and tell their friends and family about it, which is scary. If you\u2019re spending all this money on something, you can\u2019t just <em>hope<\/em> people talk about it. But the key is telling people it\u2019s going to be in theaters for a while. And I think this one is going to be in theaters for a while. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cOne Night Only\u201d director Will Gluck doesn\u2019t want you to overthink it. The filmmaker has been fielding a lot of inquiries about the premise, logic and loopholes of his new movie, a raucous romantic comedy about the one night a year where premarital sex is legal. (Think \u201cThe Purge,\u201d but for banging instead of murder.)&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MCDONNI_UV008.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}