‘One Night Only’ Director Claims Gen Z and Gen Alpha “Don’t Want to See Sex on Screen”

Will Gluck believes younger moviegoers have changed the way they feel about sex and nudity on screen.

The director of One Night Only recently spoke with Variety about his new romantic comedy, which takes place in a world where premarital sex is legal for just one night each year. While the movie has plenty of adult humor, Gluck said he had to rethink how much sex and nudity should actually appear on screen.

According to Gluck, research played a major role in that decision. When Variety asked whether the reported shift among Gen Z and Gen Alpha was something he considered while making the movie, the director gave a direct answer. “The answer is 100% yes,” Gluck said.

He explained that he has looked at a large amount of data about how audiences respond to nudity and sex in movies. However, Gluck does not think the change is limited to younger generations.

“I don’t think it’s just Gen Z and Gen Alpha,” he said, arguing that society as a whole has become more private about sexuality.

Gluck believes smartphones and the easy access to adult content have also changed what people want from a trip to the theater. In his view, audiences can become uncomfortable when explicit scenes suddenly appear during a movie they are watching with other people.

That became clear during the editing process for One Night Only. Gluck said the production originally filmed much more nudity, including scenes shot on the streets of New York. But early screenings convinced the filmmakers that some of those moments were distracting viewers from the actual story.

“There was so much nudity in this movie that we shot on the streets,” Gluck explained. He said the team eventually removed much of it after seeing how audiences reacted.

The director recalled watching viewers physically react when explicit moments appeared in the background. “The benefits do not nearly outweigh the negatives of it,” he said.

Instead of allowing those scenes to take attention away from the characters, Gluck and his team continued editing until they found a balance that worked better for audiences.

One Night Only follows Allie, played by Monica Barbaro, and Owen, played by Callum Turner, as they find themselves caught up in a strange 12-hour period when the movie’s unusual law allows people to have premarital sex.

Gluck admitted that the movie’s strange premise has led to plenty of questions about how its fictional world works. But he does not want audiences to get too caught up in explaining every rule. “We have to just let people see it,” he told Variety.

The filmmaker also revealed that the production used an intimacy coordinator and even hired real-life couples for some of the scenes involving intimacy. Despite the unusual premise, Gluck sees One Night Only as another example of why theatrical romantic comedies can still work. His previous film, Anyone But You, became a major box office success through strong word of mouth.

Gluck hopes the same thing happens again. “You have to let them see it and tell their friends and family about it,” he said.

For now, his comments about changing audience attitudes toward sex scenes are likely to spark another conversation about what younger moviegoers actually want to see in theaters.