New Sex Comedy One Night Only Cut ‘So Much Nudity’ for One Major Reason

Director Will Gluck slashed extensive amounts of nudity from his new sex comedy, One Night Only, for a reason. He now believes a major societal shift has made shared theatrical spaces hostile to graphic on-screen sex.

Will Gluck removed much of One Night Only’s nudity after audience tests

Gluck shot abundant naked background action on the streets of New York for One Night Only. Monica Barbaro plays Allie, an aspiring singer who channels her talent through humiliating drug commercial jingles. Callum Turner plays Owen, a pizza shop owner whose long-term girlfriend decides to sleep with other people during the one night each year when premarital sex becomes legal. The film tracks these two strangers over 12 messy hours.

The filmmaker packed scenes with extras simulating public sex, believing the chaotic world required visual proof. Audience previews killed that instinct fast. “I cut out so much. There was so much nudity in this movie that we shot on the streets,” Gluck told Variety. He observed a physical reaction ripple through the room whenever naked bodies appeared. Viewers turned to their companions instead of watching the screen. “The benefits do not nearly outweigh the negatives of it,” Gluck concluded. His editing team kept trimming until the complaints stopped and the central love story held focus.

Will Gluck hired an intimacy coordinator and cast real-life couples for those explicit background roles. Some pairs were married. Some split up during production. Others formed relationships specifically to land the gig. None of that careful preparation changed what test audiences rejected in One Night Only.

The director traces this squeamishness far beyond Gen Z. He collected what he calls “long pages of empirical data” while editing his previous hit, Anyone But You. He saw the same pattern come up then. “I believe it’s been a societal shift from taking nudity in adult situations and putting them on your phones at home for everybody,” Gluck explained. “Now it’s more of a private, intimate thing that people don’t want to see when they’re in a shared experience,” he added.

Fans can now judge for themselves as One Night Only is released on August 7.

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