Long before Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner became two lovelorn strangers who crash into each other through New York City in One Night Only, the two stars spent two weeks rehearsing through dinners and long chats. It didn’t take long for them to feel there was on-screen chemistry between the two actors, and by the time filming started, they had already created the chemistry any romantic comedy needs to succeed.
In an exclusive interview with Where Is The Buzz, Barbaro said that she could remember exactly the moment when the connection was born. “When we first sat down and said the first two lines, it just felt so easy,” she explained. Turner listens carefully and responds in real time. This back-and-forth was “an immediately easy volley,” she added. Rehearsal week wasn’t about learning lines but about seeing whether they could improvise, joke, and build on each other’s responses without missing a beat. And yes, they could. “It just felt so natural,” she pointed out, mentioning how director Will Gluck threw ideas all the time during rehearsals. What Barbaro liked most was watching how Turner used Gluck’s ideas and made them even better.
She already knew Turner’s work, and the confirmation gave her great pleasure. “That just was so exciting to then have that really confirmed and then learn that we can be snappy and have a good band.” Turner also noted that the chemistry between the two appeared to develop quite quickly. “It was quick for sure,” he said. “It was quick.”
That chemistry creates the base of One Night Only, the new romantic comedy directed by Will Gluck. Earlier this year, Gluck celebrated the genre with the movie Anyone But You. And now, this summer, Gluck again returns with the witty and charming original about seeking love on the least romantic day of the year. Oscar-nominated Barbaro (A Complete Unknown, Top Gun: Maverick) and BAFTA-nominated Turner (Masters of the Air, the Fantastic Beasts franchise) star as Allie and Owen, two love-hungry singles who collide in a slightly fictional New York City on the one day when single people are allowed to have sex.
The premise of the movie is rather outlandish, but according to Barbaro, it wins audiences right from the beginning. “The premise of it is so crazy, but as soon as you watch it, it’s a beautiful rom-com,” she noted. Recently dumped Owen and hopeful romantic Allie seem to be the only singles in the city who seek more than just a hook-up. They feel the spark at their first meeting, but a series of accidents pushes them apart. Chasing and dodging each other in the city, they may learn that the most important thing for them is not so far away as it seems.
Both Barbaro and Turner said that Gluck’s spontaneity on the set keeps them constantly surprised. The director is famous for script changes and changing locations at will, and Turner said the wildest one happened during a van scene that now appears in the trailer. “The van thing, for me anyway,” Turner said, answering the question about the biggest surprise of the shooting that Gluck has thrown his way.
What was meant to be a single line became a long improvisation once actors stepped into the van. The scene was initially designed to take them from the pickup point in the van to the party location, nothing more. But Gluck changed everything once actors were already inside the vehicle. “As soon as we got in the van, he was like, right, I want you to say this, this, this, this,” he remembered. He asked Turner to start a monologue about no longer being interested in the girl and to give him some direction. “I build it, build it, build it, build it,” Turner said. Barbaro tossed something back, Turner responded, and the volley kept growing. Nine or ten tries were needed to shoot that scene, but eventually, it was shot in one go. “But I think we got it in the end in one,” he said. “Thank God.”
At the same time, Barbaro had almost nothing to say and became the hero of the end of the scene. “I got in the van being like, hey man, we’re just going to do this one shot,” she laughed. “And then he was like, right, we’re doing this thing.” While Turner was making a monologue and the van was moving across the city, Barbaro offered to help him with some material. But Gluck denied it. “He’s like, no, no, no, just do what you’re doing,” she explained. Her only phrase in the scene: “Hey”. That was enough, she said, jokingly angry about the fact that she had to listen to the entire monologue without saying anything.
The line that followed was the pay-off that compensated for the situation. In the scene, Owen says that Allie is “just cute when you’re angry,” and, according to Barbaro, this line gave her a real heart attack, even though she knew it was coming. “I think my heart actually skipped a beat when that line came because I was like, oh, that’s a cute line. Definitely fall for someone,” she said. She credited this line to Gluck’s comic sensibility. “That’s Will Gluck, you know? That’s his humor, and he really made sure that was our banter the whole way through, which I just loved. I loved playing it.”
That play of words and wittiness, both actors agreed, creates the basis of their chemistry. Turner said that Allie and Owen wouldn’t have fallen in love had they simply dated after their first meeting. Instead, they begin hating each other, become rivals, and then need to work together toward a common goal. From that comes the so-called “bitey friendship,” he said. “You see them develop this bitey friendship that is just so fun to act and live in,” he added, “and it makes it so fun to watch.”
Asked what the worst place to meet your one-night stand in New York City is, the actors made a game out of this question. Turner mentioned the subway, adding that it’s just because of the short distance, but it’s more of a joke than a suggestion. “I don’t know, it’s just a game,” he laughed. Barbaro said the club could be the answer because of the loudness, which made it impossible to speak, but then changed her mind. “Maybe a library,” she said. “Can I change mine into a library?” Told that a library, where it’s impossible to speak, might not be the best place for a meet-cute, given the one-day rules of the game, she decided to change it once again. “Maybe couples can write notes to each other,” she said with a bright smile on her face. “I’m hacking the system. Maybe the next rom-com.”
One Night Only is written, directed, and produced by Gluck from a script by Travis Braun, produced through his Olive Bridge Entertainment, together with Olive Bridge VP Jacqueline Monetta, an executive producer on Anyone but You. The movie has a great supporting cast, including Maya Hawke, Julia Fox, indie-pop star King Princess, Ben Marshall, Ziwe, and Ella Loudon, as well as legendary actors Molly Ringwald and LeVar Burton.
One Night Only opens on August 7th.
