This text accommodates spoilers from Individuals We Meet on Trip.
Individuals We Meet on Trip firming down Poppy Wright and Alex Nilsen’s steamy scene may need stunned readers, however creator Emily Henry has revealed the actual cause behind the change. In Individuals We Meet on Trip, the 2 lead characters reunite after years aside, however their friendship takes a romantic flip.
Poppy and Alex finally share an intimate scene, however the movie adaptation selected to not make it as spicy because the novel’s description. In an interview with Selection, Henry revealed that director Brett Haley did movie the scene precisely as written, which was “attractive and excellent.”
Sadly, in the course of the modifying course of and whereas take a look at screening Individuals We Meet on Trip, Poppy and Alex’s steamy scene felt misplaced as a result of it was a “laborious proper flip within the film,” particularly to those that hadn’t learn Henry’s e book.
The director approached Henry to debate how they need to proceed. Whereas the creator stated that the scene was vital as a result of “it is one thing we’re destigmatizing,” she in the end deferred to Haley since each scene ought to “serve the bigger film.” Viewers should not really feel like they “hopped rails into a special film.”
“I noticed the scene as he shot it, and it was attractive and excellent. I imply, I really feel just a little bit responsible as a result of I went and informed all of my associates, ‘It’s one of many sexiest intercourse scenes I’ve ever seen in my life.’ Like, genuinely it was like Titanic stage to me. It was so, so good and uncooked and tender. So when Brett first began contemplating slicing it, that was as a result of they’d began doing take a look at screenings and individuals who, particularly individuals who weren’t conversant in the books, felt form of prefer it was a tough proper flip within the film. And so Brett first introduced that to me and requested, how vital is seeing the intercourse scene to you and to your readers? And I used to be like, I feel it’s form of vital, in a manner, as a result of it’s one thing we’re destigmatizing, and so on. However in the end, my opinion can be that if it doesn’t match within the film, then it doesn’t work. It has to serve the bigger film. I don’t need anybody to really feel like they have been jolted out of the story, and really feel like they hopped rails into a special film.”
Whereas the Individuals We Meet on Trip ending is the ultimate minimize of the movie, Henry hopes {that a} director’s minimize might be launched sometime in order that audiences can see how Poppy and Alex’s intimate scene initially unfolded. “It’s actually so stunning. All of them simply outdid themselves,” she stated. “It feels so tender and actual, however very, very horny and romantic.”
With regards to future diversifications of Henry’s novels, the way in which intimate scenes are filmed will range from challenge to challenge, primarily as a result of not each story has the identical tone as Individuals We Meet on Trip. Whereas some motion pictures will embrace steamier moments, others could have a “conventional, traditional rom-com fade-to-black state of affairs.“
“So it’ll be fascinating, as a result of I do suppose that that might be one thing that may range from adaptation to adaptation. As a result of I feel the tone of the totally different initiatives usually are not essentially all going to be the identical tone as Individuals We Meet on Trip, identical to I don’t suppose the books are precisely the identical tone. So I do suppose we’ll have some sexier intercourse scenes, and I feel we’ll have others which can be extra a conventional, traditional rom-com fade-to-black state of affairs. I feel we’ll see the total gamut. And Brett and I’ve additionally talked about, I’m wondering if sometime there might be a director’s minimize the place individuals can see this scene? As a result of it’s actually so stunning, like, all of them simply outdid themselves. It feels so tender and actual, however very, very horny and romantic, and it simply didn’t match within the film. And that’s what they are saying, kill your darlings. Like, if it doesn’t work within the bigger challenge, it doesn’t actually matter how good it’s by itself.”
Throughout the identical interview, the director acknowledged the issue of efficiently pulling off a friends-to-lovers story. Whereas there is likely to be a want to have the 2 characters “get collectively,” Haley is aware of that when they’re shut associates, there’s an “inherent danger” in leaving the pal zone and coming into right into a relationship. “There isn’t any coming again in the event you cross that line,” he admitted.
When it got here to filming Individuals We Meet on Trip, Haley needed to make sure the 2 lead actors, Emily Bader (Poppy) and Tom Blyth (Alex), had each “friendship chemistry” and “romantic chemistry.” If these two key components have been lacking, viewers would not consider the journey that Poppy and Alex discover collectively all through the film.
“I feel this one is so distinctive as a result of it’s associates to lovers, and that’s a tough factor to get proper. I don’t suppose many movies have been profitable in it, as a result of I feel there’s an issue in going, properly, simply get collectively. You guys love every door, get collectively. However I feel good individuals know that when you may have a very shut pal, there’s an immense quantity of inherent danger, and there’s no coming again in the event you cross that line. So for me, it was vital that Tom and Emily had friendship chemistry after which romantic chemistry, and will we might really feel that.”
The chemistry between Bader and Blyth emanated off the display screen, however Haley nonetheless did not suppose their intimate scene labored, echoing what the creator had stated. “The extent of spiciness doesn’t match this tone,” Haley defined, including that he wanted to seek out the correct stability between “extraordinarily horny” and “extraordinarily candy.“
In spite of everything, there are many rom-coms, together with When Harry Met Sally and Notting Hill, that lean into the candy facet of relationships. Haley included a few of these components in his adaptation of Individuals We Meet on Trip whereas additionally “push[ing] this style ahead” by creating an attractive rom-com that does not go too far.
“By way of the steamier stuff, I feel it was a tonal query for me. I simply stored going again to the romantic comedies that I like. Like, I needed to do proper by Emily’s e book. And so we shot a scene that was actually, precisely what’s within the e book, and readers know what meaning. It, frankly, simply didn’t gel with the movie. It simply didn’t tonally work. So it was actually about discovering the stability. I do need to push this style ahead, and I do suppose that rom-coms could be extraordinarily horny. And I feel that this one is that. You will have your classics, like When Harry Met Sally and Notting Hill, the place there’s little or no intercourse there. I imply, it’s extraordinarily candy, and you are feeling the chemistry, and it actually works, however it doesn’t go too far. And I simply stored coming again to these movies like Jerry Maguire and all these movies that simply actually impressed this movie and saying, yeah, this doesn’t match.”
Ultimately, Haley is happy with the ultimate minimize that audiences at the moment are watching on Netflix. The film as an entire, and Poppy and Alex’s steamy scene specifically, stays “true to the spirit of the e book with out tonally breaking the movie.”
“The extent of spiciness doesn’t match this tone. You see them develop up, you see them as youngsters, and then you definitely see them as adults. And so it was actually vital to me to discover a stability. And I feel we did. I feel we discovered the stability within the steaminess and the sexiness versus simply the wholesomeness and the earnestness of their love. And I feel what’s there actually works and is true to the spirit of the e book with out tonally breaking the movie, which was actually one of many solely issues that I used to be like, oh, this, this concept that I had for this scene to be true to Emily’s e book simply, frankly, didn’t work.”
Regardless of making adjustments to the Individuals We Meet on Trip e book, the movie has obtained largely constructive opinions, with a 75% critics’ rating and a 78% viewers rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Together with Bader and Blyth, the Individuals We Meet on Trip solid additionally contains Sarah Catherine Hook, Miles Heizer, Lukas Gage, Lucien Laviscount, Alan Ruck, Molly Shannon, Jameela Jamil, and Alice Lee.
Individuals We Meet on Trip is now streaming on Netflix.
- Launch Date
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January 8, 2026
- Runtime
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109 minutes
- Director
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Brett Haley
- Writers
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Yulin Kuang, Emily Henry, Nunzio Randazzo, Amos Vernon
- Producers
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Wyck Godfrey, Marty Bowen, Isaac Klausner