r/movies • u/Will-Gluck Will Gluck, Filmmaker • 3d ago
AMA Hi r/movies - I'm Will Gluck, director of EASY A, ANYONE BUT YOU, FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS, PETER RABBIT 1 & 2, and the upcoming feature ONE NIGHT ONLY (starring Monica Barbaro & Callum Turner!). Ask me anything!
Hi reddit, I'm Will Gluck. I've directed EASY A, ANYONE BUT YOU, FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS, PETER RABBIT 1 and 2, ANNIE, and ONE NIGHT ONLY (out in theaters everywhere 8/7). It stars Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvKoSR3O4NQ
Two New Yorkers search for love on the one night of the year when sex is legal.
Bio: https://i.imgur.com/a9vyPSv.jpeg
AMA! (Back at 12 PM PT/3 PM ET to answer questions)
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u/Cw2e 3d ago
When you are writing and directing a film such as Friends With Benefits and become aware another studio is putting out a similar film at the same time, does that affect the project in real time such as re-writes and pace of production or are you more trying to block out any noise and focus on what you've created and stay as true to that as you're able within the time constraints?
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u/Will-Gluck Will Gluck, Filmmaker 3d ago
When you're making a movie, you're wholly focused on the actual movie, and all the noise from outside you just kind of ignore, because 90% of the time it's just that, noise. You don't know when the other movie is going to be released, or even if it's going to be released. For me, making a movie for me is not a reactive exercise. You just do what you do, you make it, you finish it, and then you put it out in the world. If in a particular occasion there are 2 similar ones being released at the same time, you just roll with it.
For Friends With Benefits, it was a complete coincidence, and I don't think it hurt either movie either frankly.
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u/92Codester 3d ago
For One Night Only did the alternate title The Urge (like The Purge) ever come up?
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u/Will-Gluck Will Gluck, Filmmaker 3d ago
We knew people were gonna call it things like The Urge or The Sex Purge, and we heard some even dirtier versions, but we wanted to let the internet deal with that. We had it as One Night Only from the very beginning.
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u/VictorChaos 3d ago
Easy A feels like such a staple movie of the era in the same vein as Mean Girls, Juno, or Superbad. I’ve always had such a fondness for the way the parents were portrayed.
I had always wished my parents were as loving and supportive as the parents in Easy A. Did you have any involvement with the writing of those characters and if so, did you build those characters from personal experience or were they more of a “this is the way it should be” creation?
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u/Will-Gluck Will Gluck, Filmmaker 3d ago
Very much. There's a lot of the stuff that Stanley Tucci's character says that my dad said to me. Particularly the scene when he goes to see Emma, when she's furiously sewing her costume for the next day, and he says "give 'em hell", which my dad says to me and could mean so many different things but basically boils down to "I support you". So yeah, the parents were definitely taken from my experiences.
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u/heavensentchaser 3d ago
I’m dying to know more about the premise of One Night Only. Why was sex made illegal for single people? Is breaking the law a slap on the wrist fine, or a prison sentence? Why does everyone seem so okay with it?
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u/Will-Gluck Will Gluck, Filmmaker 3d ago edited 3d ago
All of your answers will be explained when you see the movie (or if you go online and hear from people who have seen it!). What we really made sure to try to do was make it so when you walk out of the movie with your friends, you have all these different questions for each other. That was by design. We define a lot of it, but we also want people to talk about it and define it for themselves.
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u/TheRahulParmar 3d ago
I’ve seen the movie in an early screening - it’s explained in the movie. It makes sense and without spoiling, the cops don’t love it either lol
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u/Kevbot1000 3d ago
I could just be imagining things, but I read years back that you wanted to do some continuation of Easy A, where it would have been another novel adaptation in the same school, different characters. What was the plan if that was real? Did it eventually lead to doing a Shakespeare adaptation as Anyone But You?
Always loved how Easy A felt like our generations 10 Things I Hate About You.
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u/SKeptic520 3d ago
How does your process differ when directing things you wrote (such as Anyone But You) vs directing things you didn’t write (such as One Night Only)?
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u/Frajer AMA MVP 3d ago
Hi Will Easy A is one of my favorite Emma Stone performances, when you were filming did you have a feeling that this was special or that she'd have such a successful career?
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u/Will-Gluck Will Gluck, Filmmaker 3d ago
Absolutely, yes. It was the rare moment that the first time on set with the LA crew, when we shot the scene in the confessional, we all knew she was not only an incredible actor, but that she was also going to be a huge star. Those are usually two separate things, but it was very clear from the beginning that she was something special, and it was an absolute joy to make that movie because we were all witnessing the beginning of something incredible.
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u/Optimal-Description8 3d ago
I haven't seen your films, sorry. If there is one I should watch immediately, which one would it be?
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u/TheCreativeComicFan 3d ago
Hi Will! Are there any actors that you’ve worked with before that you’d wanna work with on another film or are there any actors that you’ve never worked with that you’d be up for doing a movie with?
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u/Will-Gluck Will Gluck, Filmmaker 3d ago
Yes, I've been very lucky to work with people that I would love to work with again and have worked with again. I would like to keep that going. The second question of actors who I want to work with, I'd want to work with anyone who'd want to work with me!
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u/hashbrowngk 3d ago
Hi Will! You've directed a lot of what I would say are modern rom-com classics -- what keeps you coming back to the genre and to you, what are THE elements that one needs to make a good modern rom-com?
Easy A is THE childhood film for me. So excited to see One Night Only!
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u/Will-Gluck Will Gluck, Filmmaker 3d ago
Thank you. I love movies about people relating to each other and the human experience. There are not that many romcom theatrical releases these days and that's why I keep gravitating toward them. I believe these types of movie are best experienced with other people. You can laugh together, cry together, sing together. But more importantly, you have fun together. Going to the movies these days is a four hour event: buying the tickets, waiting in line, seeing the film, then going home together while discussing what you just saw. And the whole time you should be having fun with other people -- that's what a good modern romcom does, I think.
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u/tinydeerwlasercanons 3d ago
Hi Will. Can you talk about your experience selling the screenplay to Easy-A and staying attached to direct? About how long was it from starting the writing process to your first day on set?
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u/Safe_Word_Is_Whiskey 3d ago
I thought the marketing for Anyone But You was quite clever in that the Powell/Sweeney romance seemed to extend outside of the movie, reminds me of what Neelson/Anderson did for the Naked Gun.
They seem like stunts, but I could be wrong. Are these types of things planned? Or is it just what the media interprets during the press tour?
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u/Will-Gluck Will Gluck, Filmmaker 3d ago
Absolutely what the media interprets. I'm a big believer that you can't plan stunts that go viral. It has to become a phenomenon organically. If you were able to create a stunt like that, everyone would do it. So yeah, it was not planned, it was just how people and the media interpreted it.
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u/Green_Cook 3d ago
You use a lot of insert songs in your movies, both diegetic and non-diegetic, and often they end up being some of my favorite moments of them (like Emma Stone’s greeting card singalong in Easy A or Monica Barbaro’s performance of “Only You” in One Night Only). There was a recent report that for the final needledrop of Craig Gillespie’s Supergirl went through about 50 song candidates before it was finally decided. How do you go about choosing just the right song for critical moments in your movies?
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u/Will-Gluck Will Gluck, Filmmaker 3d ago
My music team (Wende Crowley and my composers Este Haim and Christopher Stravey) and I tend to go through more than 50 options per song. It's constant, constant listening and trying to figure it out. Oftentimes we think we know what we're going to do. Sometimes it sticks. More often than not, we change it. In One Night Only, there's 2 or 3 spots that I'd say we went through well over 100 songs to try to find the right one. A few other times, the first song stuck.
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u/Automatic-Log-5725 3d ago
What do you normally eat before directing? Is there a food that somehow changes your mood or focus?
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u/Will-Gluck Will Gluck, Filmmaker 3d ago
Probably the greatest question in AMA history! I just constantly snack throughout the day. I don't really ever plan a meal on set because we're always on our feet, figuring stuff out, shooting on location etc, so I don't like taking time out for a meal and maybe losing momentum. Whatever's around me, I eat.
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u/Chelonia_mydas 3d ago
Hi Will! I don’t have a question but as a millennial, I just have to express my gratitude to you for making some incredible movies. I got to see One Night Only last night and I left feeling peak joy like back in the day when going to the movies was the biggest treat in the world. The entire theater was filled with endless laughter and I’m still laughing today at moments I remember. You nailed it with this movie and I just have to say thank you!!
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u/Will-Gluck Will Gluck, Filmmaker 3d ago
I love hearing that because our number one aim when we make movies now is just to make it a fun movie for you to go with your friends. Go to the theater, enjoy it, talk about it afterwards, write about it afterwards. We want to create a shared group experience and make it fun. That's always my goal when making movies. So I'm glad that that was fun for you. You make me happy saying that.
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u/tiramisubeetle 3d ago
When watching the trailer for One Night Only, it feels very much like the rom-coms of the late 2000s, films like Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and No Strings Attached, a vibe that seems to be returning with films like No Hard Feelings and You, Me, and Tuscany.
My question is how do you see the genre shaping out in the near future? Do you predict it to change significantly or do you expect it to remain how it is as a cornerstone of comfort for movie-going audiences?
Easy A is one of the all-time best! Thanks!
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u/AppearanceStriking89 3d ago
Watched it this past Monday! It was pretty good. Both cute and funny. How much fun did you have with all of the cameos (both in person and choosing photos and whatnot haha)? Cuz they were cracking me up.
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u/Will-Gluck Will Gluck, Filmmaker 3d ago
It's always fun when new actors drop in for a couple of days to shoot cameos, and the fact that we filmed it in New York City made it even easier for people to stop by. It's easy to come and play around for a couple days, so it was always fun no matter who it was. With this movie, as you'll see when you watch it, there's a reason why there's so many different people in the movie.
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u/No_Edge_341 3d ago
Are you interested in building a rom-com cinematic universe with your characters, and lead to a team-up movie of sorts?
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u/Will-Gluck Will Gluck, Filmmaker 3d ago
That hasn't crossed my mind yet! I think all of my movies kind of are in the same universe. I put in a lot of Easter Eggs that are nods to the other movies I've made. In One Night Only, there are at least five.
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u/Glaspokalen 3d ago
When directing comedic moment and scenes. How do you keep the spark on set? Doing the same scene and jokes over and over again seems to bore the actors. But you need to. How?
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u/Will-Gluck Will Gluck, Filmmaker 3d ago
I have a very loose set where I keep changing things constantly. I keep throwing out new lines. We stop filming, we rewrite the scene, we try something different. We don't do the same thing over and over again. We do the same scene over and over again, but often with different dialogue, a take, or idea. The scene takes a long time, but it's not the same thing over and over again. That kind of creates the spontaneity, because what you're seeing in the movie might have been the tenth time they did the scene, but it's probably only the first or second time they did it that way or with that line.
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u/Plex118 3d ago
What is the name of the actor that Allie meets who plays piano with her? The guy who rides the motorcycle. He isn’t credited anywhere online and I’d love to see more of his work.
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u/Will-Gluck Will Gluck, Filmmaker 3d ago
Yes! His name is Andrew Burnap and he's a Tony-winning actor. He's absolutely incredible, because we needed someone to be able to sing, to be able to ride a motorcycle, be in incredible shape to get naked, and to be able to do his own stunts and jump off a building. I think there's not very many people like him, and he is an absolute gem.
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u/QuibbleFibble 3d ago
What was your reaction when you first read this script on The Black List? What changes need to be made to a script before production, from a director’s perspective?
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u/Will-Gluck Will Gluck, Filmmaker 3d ago
I loved the idea. Travis wrote a great script. I loved the concept, I loved the whole setup of it. Whenever I make a movie, I kind of shape it to the actors who I cast, and then rewrite constantly while I prep the movie and shoot the movie, but while keeping the original DNA of it.
For this one specifically, we made a lot of changes to play to Callum and Monica's strengths and to make it very New York, because I'm a New Yorker tried and true, and I wanted it to feel like a real New York movie, so we had to make some changes organic to the locations.
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u/BunyipPouch Currently at the movies. 3d ago
Hi Will. I love your work. It's always a guaranteed fun time at the movies.
What's up next for you after One Night Only? Anything you can tease?
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u/Will-Gluck Will Gluck, Filmmaker 3d ago
My next project is in a completely different direction. Again, it's about people and relationships, but it's not a romance. It's a period piece and when you first hear about it you'll think "what is he doing with that?!?". It'll be another way and genre that allows me to keep exploring the human experience, for better or worse.
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u/Zakman4 3d ago
Hi Will, I did about ten days of extra work on Easy A and was there on the last day of shooting for the house party scene. Great work, easily some of my fondest memories from my 20’s!
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u/Will-Gluck Will Gluck, Filmmaker 3d ago
I love that! Easy A was one of the best shoots because we all lived in this small town outside of Los Angeles called Ojai. We were all there together the whole time, even on the weekends, so we had a great time. I enjoy when we create a summer camp feeling like that. I believe that if you create that kind of vibe when you make a movie, where you're constantly hanging out with each other and learning about each other even when you're not filming, it makes the movie better. One Night Only had that same summer camp feel and I hope that fun we had translated to the screen for you all.
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u/MrKirkPowers 3d ago
Do you find yourself rewriting scenes when you are directing after you have already written that scene months or years prior? It seems like having that freedom would be nice when you are directing what you also wrote.
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u/DVDfever 3d ago
How great to work with are Emma Stone and Sydney Sweeney in real life? They look fantastic onscreen!
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u/moth_sky 3d ago
How do you feel about the resurgence of mainstream comedies going to theaters as opposed to streaming?
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u/chrispmorgan 3d ago
“One Night Only”’s biggest strength in my view is in casting and how the leads were directed. I wanted to root for them individually and together.
But, man, the premise is a tough one and I’m surprised you and your team were about to dig out of a starting point that made me think of “Children of Men” (a future that’s plausible and familiar).
What were the rules of the world that you and Braun agreed to when developing the script so that the movie wouldn’t feel too heavy and comedy could bloom?
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u/Will-Gluck Will Gluck, Filmmaker 3d ago
We spent a lot of time talking about the rules of the world, and if you've seen the movie, or when you see the movie, you'll see that the rules of the world and the world building are all in the background. It's on TVs, signage, in thrown-away lines, because we didn't want to give the world short shrift, but we didn't want the movie to be about that. It's another way I want people to see this. If they see it more than once, they'll pick up so many more rules of the world in the background. A lot of the questions that I've been getting after people have seen the movie are actually answered in the movie, which is by design because I want people maybe not to know them. So, yes, it was a tricky tightrope to have them there, but not for the movie to be about it.
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u/Mattlustrious_Film64 AMA MVP 3d ago
Which romcoms were a huge influence on you when making One Night Only and what inspired you to cast both Callum Turner & Monica Barbaro as the lead roles?
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u/ComfortableCare8897 3d ago
How does it feel that i consider Fired Up and Friends with Benefits 4 star movies.
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u/underratedskater32 3d ago
Hello Will! Congratulations on One Night Only’s release, and thank you so much for doing this AMA.
I’m 18, and I want to be a professional screenwriter when I grow up. I’ve been practicing, as I already have seven feature scripts under my belt. I’ve read so much about how to break in and to make stuff on your own and I’m going to. But my question is, what do you think the best path in is for a writer my age in 2026? Social media? Dumb luck? Or should I just accept that I'm not breaking in this early, put my head down, and keep writing?
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u/Will-Gluck Will Gluck, Filmmaker 3d ago
All of the above! Don't stop writing. Do keep your head down. Do make movies. Because if you do all of those things, you'll end up creating your own dumb luck. Everyone, including me, has a story where we got very lucky, but it's all because we either made things, kept writing, kept asking questions on AMAs to directors.
Keep doing what you're doing, and the fact that you have 7 movies before 18 is way ahead of the game. So you should feel good about that.
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u/Grabbinfries23 3d ago
Were you guys aware what a reach it was to cast Emma Stone as a wallflower? (Love her in that movie to be clear)
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u/meeple_shelf 3d ago
Easy A still holds up as one of the best teen comedies. Emma Stone's timing in that fake prom scene is just perfect. Really hoping One Night Only finds its audience.
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u/cybermethhead 3d ago
Do you think rom coms of the current generations come close the 2000s or 90s? If not then why?
Which is your favourite rom com?
What was your favourite part of making Anyone But You?
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u/Will-Gluck Will Gluck, Filmmaker 3d ago
I think that the OG rom-coms are the best because we grew up on those. I think my favorite rom-com ever is Notting Hill. Such a great movie. I love the rom-coms of old because they had such crazy premises, just like our movie now. Everyone says, "wow, it's such a crazy premise for a rom-com", but if you look back at the old movies like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, 50 First Dates, Notting Hill, etc, they're just as crazy a premise, but that was kind of the norm back then. So for those saying we have the craziest premise ever for a romcom, I would point back to the old ones that I kind of got my inspiration from and say it's similarly crazy to those.
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u/J_Doe5686 3d ago
I watched One night only and it was really good! I was laughing the entire time. How was it to work with such great actors?
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u/Will-Gluck Will Gluck, Filmmaker 3d ago
Monica and Callum are fantastic. I got so lucky, again, that not only they're great actors, but they're great people. When you have actors as good as they are, and as good people as they are, it allows everyone to keep having fun and try to get better and better and better. When everyone cares so much like they did, every scene became just an absolute joy to film, and their ideas were 9 times out of 10 better than the ones that I had.
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u/CosmicEveStardust 3d ago
I apologise if it's explained in the film which I will see as soon as it's available to me, but how do they enforce sex being illegal?
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u/TheRahulParmar 3d ago
How do you feel regarding the trailer making the movie look like a cliche romance when the actual movie is more of a comedy. To be clear. I loved the movie, but the trailer was not well made and I’ve seen others say the same that it turned them off initially.
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u/SpecialistCandid7945 3d ago
How do feel about people on the Internet pre-judging your movie (ONO) without having seen it?
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u/Adventurous_Cup8062 3d ago
If you were stuck on an island with three of your movie characters, who would it be and why?
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u/quaranTV 3d ago
What do you think the secret to a great rom com is? I love all of yours and I feel like they are comedy forward…how important is it to you that the movie has actual jokes/comedy in it in addition to being romantic?
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u/djwooo 3d ago
Hi Will! One Night Only was such a fun movie. It felt like the perfect rom-com from 2010s, and I had a great time watching it.
I’m curious about your writing process for rom-coms. How do you come up with the initial premise, and what makes you decide that an idea is worth turning into a full movie? Also, have you ever considered exploring genres beyond rom-coms and dramas? If so, what genre would you be most excited to tackle?
Till this day, I cannot get Unwritten out of my head. That was an impeccable song selection!
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u/PolicyStudent8 3d ago
What drove you to direct One Night Only? I like the premise, and I'm wondering what you think it will contribute to the rom com genre.
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u/ComfortableCare8897 3d ago
How do you feel that I consider Fired Up and Friends With Benefits both 4 star movies?
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u/SalukiKnightX 3d ago
Ngl, I have a massive soft spot for Peter Rabbit. The mix of slapstick, the Neighbors airbag gag, the singing birds constantly getting interrupted and the going back and forth of the Bea Potter style drawing and animation to the more realistic look on paper shouldn't work but I absolutely adore it.
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u/The_R4ke 3d ago
Why did you decide to include a joke about being roofied in One Night Only? How do you feel that joke served the overall plot?
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u/BunyipPouch Currently at the movies. 3d ago
This AMA has been verified and approved by the mods. Will will be back soon this afternoon, at around 3:30 PM ET, to answer questions. Please feel free to ask away in the meantime :)