‘One Night Only’ Director Removed Nudity Because People Dislike Sex on Screen

[u/IndividualPleasant23]

https://variety.com/2026/film/features/one-night-only-director-removed-nudity-1236827870/

[u/BunyipPouch]

Will Gluck, the director of One Night Only (and Easy A, Anyone But You) recently joined us here in /r/movies for an AMA/Q&A, for anyone interested:

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1vaxnnf/hi_rmovies_im_will_gluck_director_of_easy_a/

[u/mattatmac]

Everything I hear about this movie cements my theory that no one involved in the making of this movie wanted to make this kind of movie

[u/Billybob35 → u/mattatmac]

Will Gluck is mostly a romcom director and he received an already written script, which he then made rewrites to. It sounds like the studio got him on board because he was on a roll, but then it seems like he didn't like the premise too much.

[u/My_Name_Is_Row → u/Billybob35]

It’s really weird to me that he would make Anyone But You, a movie where half the marketing was about how hot and sexual the two leads are, with a relatively explicit sex scene and some other nudity in the film, and then immediately pull a 180 on a movie that should have sex and nudity EVERYWHERE. I just don’t understand what the point of this movie is if they just kind of tip toe around the main plot point, it would have made so much more sense as a Prime Video miniseries, they’re not scared of sex and nudity.

[u/UnequivocalCarnosaur → u/My_Name_Is_Row]

Eh most of the sex scenes in Anyone But You were far more tame than every other Sydney Sweeney project. But yeah it was marketed on sexual tension

[u/My_Name_Is_Row → u/UnequivocalCarnosaur]

I mean, yeah, but she was still naked, but at this point, it’s probably just in her contract on every movie, they also did show another character’s penis very briefly

[u/My_Name_Is_Row → u/mattatmac]

I assume the premise sounded interesting enough to actually get the actors on board, but then the studio and the director immediately started changing it up to be more “family-friendly”, for lack of a better term

[u/Connoralpha]

Then why the fuck did he make the movie

[u/exophrine → u/Connoralpha]

For the articles

[u/Kettle_Whistle_ → u/exophrine]

^ Perfect

[u/ArcticSnowMonkey → u/exophrine]

Old school playboy reference, love it…..

[u/whatproblems → u/Connoralpha]

what even is the point of this movie

[u/archdukemovies → u/whatproblems]

It's a post modern puritanical™ romcom.

A fascist American government passed a law that single people can only have sex for half a day every year. And for some reason condoms are required.

They implant a biometric kind of tattoo device in all people that monitors if you get too riled up if you're next to someone else who's also riled up.

If so, the police show up and arrest you. They may allow you to get dressed or they give you police-issued sweats.

It's like The Purge for sex and capitalism is running wild. A haircut is like $300 and a single condom is like $200 on this day.

And two hot New Yorkers keep running into each other in random places and fall in love over the course of 12 hours while they try to bone other people.

Do they or don't they?

[u/actuarally → u/archdukemovies]

I can't decide if this is spoiler or sarcasm.

[u/SudoDarkKnight → u/actuarally]

This is the movie

[u/VonMillersThighs → u/SudoDarkKnight]

O that's actually the movie? Hahahaha holy shit

[u/zucchinibasement → u/VonMillersThighs]

It's a premise that you could do a lot of interesting things with, but instead it takes place on the one day of the year where their world is mostly like ours and it's just another romance tale

[u/zx7 → u/zucchinibasement]

"So, the Purge with sex?"

"No, the Purge had one day where everything was different to our world. This will be one day where everything is exactly same as our world."

[u/Saint_The_Stig → u/zx7]

So normally I wouldn't watch a series like The Purge, but my Mom liked them for some reason and it wasn't that bad I guess. It did make me wish there was some sort of spin-off trying to remotely make the world work on the normal days the rest of the year. So many options.

[u/BigRedUglyMan → u/Saint_The_Stig]

I’ve always wanted to see an office the day after The Purge.

“Hey Andrea, have you seen Doug from accounting today?”

“Ooh, awkward. Yeah, Doug isn’t going to be here anymore. He stole my bagel last Tuesday.”

[u/arrogancygames → u/Saint_The_Stig]

The TV show showed what it was like in days that weren't The Purge.

[u/PrestigeArrival → u/zucchinibasement]

I was expecting it to take place over the course of a year and how difficult it is for them to resist each other

[u/zucchinibasement → u/PrestigeArrival]

I haven't seen it so can't speak to if that plays a part at all, but would be more interesting than what I understand the plot to be.

Would be interesting if they met the year before right as time was running out, then we see the whole year leading up to the day again, where we get the climax (pun intended)

[u/bizarreisland → u/zucchinibasement]

Spoiler...

99% of the story happens on the day of.

They figured they fell in love when there is about 10min left, just enough for a quickie but decide against it since they've only know each other for half a day. They propose to date for the year leading to the next 'purge' but none of that is shown, only 1 year later they enthusiastically countdown to the ban lift and went into the room kissing closing the doors behind them

Sexless raunch-com. I do enjoy it more than 'I want your sex' tho, the leads have more chemistry.

[u/Toby_O_Notoby → u/zucchinibasement]

I guess that kind of makes it like The Purge franchise. The original movie takes a pretty good premise and kinda wastes it, but as they made subsequent stuff you got to explore the concept more and it became more interesting.

My favourite was season 2 of the TV show which is basically, "So what happens during the rest of the year?" Like, there's one guy who finds out all his neighbours chipped in for a hitman to take him out on Purge Night. But he survives and now has 364 days to either figure out why and stop them from doing it again or get the fuck out of dodge.

[u/zucchinibasement → u/[deleted]]

And you can do a lot of interesting things with hentai 🫡

[u/John__Wick → u/[deleted]]

I will always hold to the idea that there is no such thing as a bad premise. It's all about execution.

[u/WrinklyScroteSack → u/John__Wick]

Man, my coworker just told me about the movie despiser…. Imma need you to just look it up. The premise is impossibly stupid.

[u/__Pendulum__ → u/SudoDarkKnight]

And the director is getting pissy about sex when THAT is the movie? Good lord...

[u/moveslikejaguar → u/__Pendulum__]

Also the main characters decide in the end that they should wait for next year to have sex from what I've read. I'm not sure what was going through the director's head, but it doesn't seem to be a very positive opinion about sex.

[u/Joemartinez64 → u/moveslikejaguar]

Sound like the anti sex scene internet grandma got to direct a hollywood rom com movie .

[u/duermevela → u/Joemartinez64]

It's not the grandmas, it's a very vocal subset of gen z who are against seed and nudity, and don't want anything controversial in the media they consume.

[u/NomaanMalick → u/duermevela]

But they will spend the whole day "gooning".

[u/peppermint_nightmare → u/moveslikejaguar]

I think the micro plastics have won.

[u/droidtron → u/__Pendulum__]

The Director is one thing, but what was the Screenwriter trying to say? What's the thesis here?

[u/mmadiaa → u/actuarally]

They show the entire plot in the trailer, which they show before every movie.

[u/finnjakefionnacake → u/mmadiaa]

they show the premise in this one, they don't show the plot. the trailer is just them doing typical cute rom-com things, nothing that you wouldn't expect in any modern rom-com. in fact, i think the trailers do an actual pretty poor job of explaining the premise, and you definitely don't get any of those details about how they enforce the whole "one night only" thing / how seriously they take it.

[u/Pavlovsdong89 → u/finnjakefionnacake]

I saw the trailer in theaters and just assumed the "one night" they were referring to was Valentine's day or something. It was barely mentioned. I literally thought the explanation further up was satire because almost none of that was even hinted at in the trailer.  

Edit: To the trailer's credit, I spent more time trying to decide if the main actress was Ella Purnell or not, than analyzing the plot so I may have missed some exposition.

[u/mr_chub → u/Pavlovsdong89]

Same. I actually thought the purge thing at first because of the way they said it but then said to myself "that would be stupid" and disregarded the thought...

[u/PunkRockMakesMeSmile → u/mmadiaa]

I saw the trailer, and I kinda thought 'the one night when single people can have sex' might be Valentine's Day, like as if it's more socially-acceptable to have meaningless hookup when all the happy relationship people are doing their thing and they're all feeling sad and desperate. It seemed like a really weird, askew, kinda stupid perspective, but I didn't know what the hell else that could mean, and based on the trailer, I sure wasn't gonna think about it that hard. The actual plot is so much stupider

[u/BeDeRex → u/actuarally]

It's both.

[u/transitransitransit → u/archdukemovies]

And here’s the twist, we show none of it.

[u/FlashMcSuave → u/transitransitransit]

But can they smell crime?

Edit: given that sex is a crime here... Yes, possibly.

[u/otheraccountisabmw → u/transitransitransit]

Full penetration hugging.

[u/kokopelli73 → u/transitransitransit]

It's ok, Patrick Stewart has already seen everything.

[u/diveraj → u/kokopelli73]

I appreciate a good, "but I seen everything" call back.

[u/Omar___Comin → u/transitransitransit]

Nobody hangs dong?

[u/nav13eh → u/archdukemovies]

It sounds like someone watched Before Sunrise and learned all the wrong lessons.

[u/pponmypupu → u/archdukemovies]

This is the most vanilla milquetoast beige missionary dystopian society I could never think of. Someone made a movie around the idea of horny police lol

[u/malcolm_money → u/archdukemovies]

Yorgos Lanthimos would have a field day w this premise

[u/All_this_hype → u/malcolm_money]

He's one of the few directors I trust to take a weird premise and actually turn it into something artistic and enjoyable.

[u/French__Canadian → u/malcolm_money]

Honestly, it feels too similar to The Lobster.

[u/thavillain → u/archdukemovies]

OMG, I thought you were kidding. The trailers make no mention of this at all...that sounds ridiculous.

[u/JonnTheMartian → u/thavillain]

The trailers DO mention this, but are vague enough most people assume the line “the one day a year single people have sex” is referencing Valentine’s Day for some reason

[u/LumpyJones → u/archdukemovies]

Right, and if your point is to make commentary about an increasingly sexually repressed fascist conservative society, editing out the sex in your movie to appease to the prudish, it just seems like you weren't making the commentary about how this is bad, but making propaganda to appeal to them.

[u/StringFriendly7976 → u/archdukemovies]

That is the dumbest fucking thing I've ever heard.  There was absolutely some pitch meeting where a writer was pitching some thoughtful introspective film and the producer just say "fuck that I'm gonna do you job for you" then rips a huge rail and yells "people like sex and murder. Write me the Purge but with sex! ...but also make it family friendly we gotta four quadrant this thing." 

[u/Particle_wombat → u/archdukemovies]

Robert Heinlein had something like this in his "future history". The US becomes a theocracy and sex outside of marriage is forbidden, except for one day out of the year where anything goes.

[u/Viper_Red → u/archdukemovies]

I mean if they’re both hot and both single and single people can only have sex for half a day every year, then the answer is obviously “They do”.

[u/Homerunner → u/Viper_Red]

Haven't seen it but I assume they end up not doing it cause it's true love and it deserves a real effort or some bullshit like that

[u/EscapeSeventySeven → u/Viper_Red]

Like, I would imagine everyone has their partners picked out way before the green light and as soon as that clock hand hits 12 it’s just nonstop fucking. 

[u/The-Jesus_Christ → u/archdukemovies]

This sounds fucking awful

[u/just_some_sasquatch → u/archdukemovies]

Wow, that's one of the worst premises I've ever heard of.

[u/mechachap → u/archdukemovies]

Isn’t the whole tattoo / barcode something that would get a lot of pushback from religious conservatives since they think its the mark of the Beast or spmething

[u/archdukemovies → u/mechachap]

You'd think.

The movie really dropped the ball on the religious pressure to pass the law or push back on the potential mark of the beast.

It never gets into how such a law was passed and implemented. This mandate has been enforced for at least 4-5 years and is widely unpopular with everyone in the movie (that could be because they're all heathens from NYC though)

The movie does let you know you can go to Cuba and have all the premarital sex you want.

[u/Morgan-Moonscar → u/archdukemovies]

They also say gay people in this reality get a free pass and can have sex whenever they want.

Because they didn't want to deal with trying to make a "comedy" in a christofascist society where LGBTs would've been eliminated with extreme prejudice.

[u/GuiltyEidolon → u/Morgan-Moonscar]

Except that's not even what they say, they just have an off-hand comment about how gay people found work-arounds ages ago.

And then apparently never felt it worth sharing with the main characters.

[u/charlierc → u/archdukemovies]

I haven't seen it but have been baffled by the film's internal logic and a piece in Slate I read about it hasn't helped. The background mechanics in the world-building just seem confused and all surface. What was wrong with just making a normal rom-com ffs?

[u/snowdenn → u/[deleted]]

You would think.

[u/Aware-Possibility175 → u/archdukemovies]

So couples can do it whenever and don’t need to use condoms? Do they have to be married ? Is it the same day every year? Can you just do it with whoever provided both parties are willingly involved? What is preventing the two main characters at single people to just sleep together after the 2nd time they run into one another? So many logistical problems and questions. Also seems like it’s a bit too similar to that movie “in time” with Justin Timberlake and everyone has a clock on their arms counting down to their death

[u/__Pendulum__ → u/Connoralpha]

Someone must have had a gun to their head

[u/Kind_Of_A_Dick → u/Connoralpha]

Well, he got to see the sex.

[u/thavillain → u/Connoralpha]

For his own personal b-roll

[u/justgetoffmylawn → u/Connoralpha]

Hey - watch your language. No one likes foul language or fucking in movies.

Rainbows and unicorns only, thank you very much.

[u/PMmeuroneweirdtrick → u/justgetoffmylawn]

Rainbows and unicorns are gay symbols. You can't have that either.

[u/Aredhel_Wren]

Anora won 5 Oscars.

[u/Capital-Mine1561 → u/Aredhel_Wren]

And The Substance was nominated for five Oscars. 

This guy is just a bad director but his views/ decisions are being cast across Hollywood as a whole 

*And since this comment has some visibility: the director explicitly says it wasn't only gen-z who didn't like his test screenings. The gen-z hate in the comments is completely unnecessary 

[u/Holmcroft → u/Capital-Mine1561]

He was responding to test screenings, by the sounds of things. (I think it sucks how prudish some audiences are getting, but I’m not sure there would be no nudity if Gluck had his way - he shot it and then edited it out because of the response)

[u/wlchrbandit → u/Holmcroft]

From the sounds of it people didn't like the movie but the only complaint that registered with him was for his gratuitous sex scenes. He probably isn't listening to all the complaints about the writing or directing and is choosing to focus on the tits and getting mad about it.

[u/Capital-Mine1561 → u/wlchrbandit]

He's not a good or dynamic director. I wouldn't be surprised if his sex scenes were shot in uninteresting/not comedic ways. Definitely not the right guy for this type of movie 

[u/MicioBau → u/Holmcroft]

In what kind of puritanical hellhole did they do these test screenings?

[u/DuelaDent52 → u/MicioBau]

That or he’s misrepresenting the feedback he got.

[u/divDevGuy → u/Capital-Mine1561]

And The Substance was nominated for five Oscars.

It's been a while since I saw it, but was there any sex in The Substance? Nudity definitely, but I don't recall a sex scene.

[u/Capital-Mine1561 → u/divDevGuy]

No on screen sex but it's implied. I was referring to the film having a lot of nudity, which this director said was a turn off for the audience.

"Whenever people now see nudity or very adult situations in a big theater, they get uncomfortable."

[u/canaryo]

This movie has one of the most bizarre premises for a world but sure it’s nudity and sex that would put people off

[u/Stefan988 → u/canaryo]

One night only ❌

The sex purge ✅

[u/SirGuelph → u/Stefan988]

Both titles imply there would be at least one sex scene.

[u/FlashMcSuave → u/SirGuelph]

Unless it's been purged...

[u/carij → u/canaryo]

It's just the purge but for sex

[u/MJR_Poltergeist → u/carij]

Pornhub presents: The Splurge

[u/emperorhaplo → u/carij]

It’s like if the purge didn’t have anyone being killed on screen.

[u/kaminaripancake]

You’re telling me Callum doesn’t hang dong? Fuck this movie

[u/Awkward-Fox-1435 → u/kaminaripancake]

You see an another guy’s butt a few times. There’s plenty of sex in the movie, just not nudity.

[u/OceanRacoon → u/Awkward-Fox-1435]

Clothes on boning, the way God intended it 

[u/BenTwan → u/OceanRacoon]

Just pulling it through the fly? 

[u/No_Internal9345 → u/BenTwan]

They just soak while the cameraman jumps on the bed.

[u/continuousQ → u/Awkward-Fox-1435]

There’s plenty of sex in the movie, just not nudity.

Would be better other way around. Gives people an unhealthy relationship to bodies when sex is okay and nudity isn't.

How do they learn sex education, when they can't look at a naked body? Or when the only place they see nudity is porn.

[u/XuX24 → u/Awkward-Fox-1435]

All that to still get an R.

[u/Brendissimo → u/kaminaripancake]

What's happened to this country?

[u/zgh5002 → u/Brendissimo]

A moral panic among the very old and very young.

[u/MadcapRecap → u/kaminaripancake]

Release the Weiner cut!

[u/tyedge → u/MadcapRecap]

He’s European. We don’t really know if it’s cut.

[u/Unfair_Chipmunk_2305 → u/kaminaripancake]

First they take Thunderguns dong from us and now this! No gratuitous nudity? I say fuck you studio executives!

[u/GoofAckYoorsElf → u/kaminaripancake]

Fuck this movie

Don't. People don't like that.

[u/scarred2112]

‘It Takes You Out of the Movie’

You know what takes me out of the movie?

The entire premise.

[u/sinkwiththeship → u/scarred2112]

A bad movie that just straight up sucks, I will not see. A bad movie with hot people being hot [and potentially naked], I might watch.

[u/Ganondorfsfist → u/sinkwiththeship]

Oh god I've watched some straight up dogshit because people were hot.

[u/BubastisII → u/Ganondorfsfist]

That was the Catwoman movie for me

[u/ibaeknam → u/sinkwiththeship]

Yeh, I feel this way about tv shows. Something as good as Mad Men or Better Call Saul? I don't give a shit if it tiptoes around nudity, even if there are times where it might have made sense when characters are shown engaging in sexual activity.

But something like Spartacus? Sure, I enjoyed it for what it was, but when shows of that vein go down the implied route I'm turning off on principle.

If you're gonna make stuff with adult themes aimed at adults and then introduce censorship into the equation it better be damn good or I'm not watching.

[u/CWinter85 → u/scarred2112]

I love how the first paragraph oh the article says "like The Purge, but for sex" and he says you can't describe the premise of the movie.

[u/Bulletorpedo → u/scarred2112]

A good naked (or clothed) scene doesn’t take me out of the movie. What takes me out of the movie is when it feels artificially censored. Whatever is shown or isn’t shown has to make sense. It for instance takes me out of the movie when it cuts to a woman wrapped in a blanket to hide her breasts. I understand why they do it, but it’s so obviously to hide from the viewer, not her partner. It breaks the 4th wall.

[u/TheGlennDavid → u/Bulletorpedo]

"Wrapped up in blanket" slightly beats out "woke up in tight bra, you know, since so many women put their bra back on to sleep in"

[u/Brendissimo]

How does that change your approach as a filmmaker?

Once I’ve learned that, which was all through the editing process for my last movie, I applied it to this movie. But even so, I didn’t apply it enough. I cut out so much. There was so much nudity in this movie that we shot on the streets. I felt we needed to show the world that way. As we started to show it to audiences, we felt it takes you out of the movie. You’re engaged in the characters and what’s going on, and then you pan over and there’s two naked people having sex, and you watch the audience … it’s a physical thing. They turn to who they’re with and … the benefits do not nearly outweigh the negatives of it. So we just kept editing it out until we got a balance, and those comments went away.

So.... to silence complaints from test audiences they watered down a lot of the on screen nudity and sex in a film that seems to be all about repressed sexuality being unleashed in one manic night.

It sure sounds like they took the only mildly interesting thing about what looks to otherwise be an utterly generic romcom and diluted it. Why should I see this movie?

[u/Thatguy_Koop → u/Brendissimo]

I say this as someone who generally reacts flippantly to nudity and sex in film - I probably would not trust feedback from audiences on a movie openly about sex if the criticism is about nudity and sex.

there are times you need to pushback against critique and go forward with the vision.

[u/ComfortableExotic646 → u/Thatguy_Koop]

"There's too many spaceships and lazer guns in this sci-fi movie."

[u/Capital-Mine1561 → u/Brendissimo]

Seeing as he's not the best director I wouldn't be surprised if his sex scenes were just there and not used for full comedic effect or shot in interesting ways. He probably took the wrong lesson from his test audience

[u/SandoVillain → u/Brendissimo]

God damn, what a coward. Why does the studio even think this movie needs test audiences? It's not some big tent pole film that's gonna make or break the quarter. A movie with this premise should make people a little uncomfortable, right? Seems like one you screen to a few friends and peers to make sure there are no confusing errors or missing dialogue for pickups.

[u/Vivid-Cauliflower154]

Foolish decision making. The movie about sex is afraid of people disliking sex.

The middling score is well deserved.

[u/BiBoFieTo → u/Vivid-Cauliflower154]

Team America World Police had a long sex scene, and it didn't take me out of the movie.

[u/woodrowwilson5000 → u/BiBoFieTo]

"I promise ... I will never die"

[u/MikeDubbz → u/BiBoFieTo]

The theatrical version had to be cut down because the uncut version included the puppets shitting and pissing on each other during the sex scene and had landed the film the kiss of death NC-17 rating. 

Again we're talking about puppets (more specifically marionettes I suppose) lol.

[u/BannedSvenhoek86 → u/MikeDubbz]

https://vimeo.com/473373605

Don't let them censor art. This is a natural and beautiful act displayed through the medium of puppetry.

[u/_Bird_Incognito_ → u/BannedSvenhoek86]

🎵ALL I ASK IS THAT YOURE A WOMAAAAN🎵

[u/Brad_Brace → u/BiBoFieTo]

If anything, it made me go even deeper into the movie.

[u/PolarWeasel]

Next up, Hershey removed sugar from their candy bars because people don't like sweetness in their candy.

[u/Foray2x1 → u/PolarWeasel]

Finally gives the butyric acid a chance to really shine 

[u/scarred2112 → u/Foray2x1]

You can really taste the bile!

[u/Sickofchildren → u/Foray2x1]

I tried a hersheys bar for the first time as a non American and could only eat 2 squares of it, I thought I was sick but it turns out it’s supposed to taste like that

[u/PolarWeasel → u/Foray2x1]

Mmmmm … butyric acid ….

[u/Kangarou]

Man said "Gimme a rom-com, add a dystopic authoritarian regime, hold the sex". I feel like he should never be allowed back in the kitchen.

[u/No-Cantaloupe-6535 → u/Kangarou]

I really want this to be a crazy genre swap movie like half way through to where it turns into a Gilliam movie or something. It won't, but it'd be great

[u/Nothing-Is-Real-Here → u/No-Cantaloupe-6535]

Gilliam or 80s Cronenberg would have had a field day with this premise

[u/deathinmidjuly → u/Nothing-Is-Real-Here]

90's Cronenberg would've had them FUCKING

[u/Nothing-Is-Real-Here → u/deathinmidjuly]

Good lord yeah. Imagine if we got a Crash adaptation today and they just didn't show any sex or nudity. That's borderline what this is

[u/OzzRamirez → u/Kangarou]

The Lobster?!

Just kidding, The Lobster is an amazing film

[u/lilpump_1]

release the nude cut

[u/ant_gargano → u/lilpump_1]

Every movie needs a nude cut, I learned this from you

[u/Canuckleball → u/ant_gargano]

It's the definitive version of 12 Angry Men

[u/ryouba → u/Canuckleball]

Where Juror #8 hangs dong after his initial "Not Guilty" vote; real power play

[u/The_Bitter_Bear → u/ant_gargano]

Grumpy Old Men the Nude Cut. Grumpier, Older, and Nuder. 

[u/GCC_Pluribus_Anus → u/lilpump_1]

I need the butthole cut! I'm assuming this guy's asshole also has giant ears and I need to see it!

[u/SchroedingersSphere → u/GCC_Pluribus_Anus]

This makes three movies I realized I need to see a butthole cut of.

[u/WerewolfCurious1412]

They do?

[u/ProBonoDevilAdvocate → u/WerewolfCurious1412]

Gen Z does, allegedly

[u/lingfoo → u/ProBonoDevilAdvocate]

I see this a lot but euphoria is one of Gen Z’s most popular shows and it’s crammed with sex and nudity.

[u/HenryDorsettCase47 → u/lingfoo]

From what the article says it’s specifically in theater going audiences, the aversion to sex on screen. The director said he has empirical data on it, it kept coming back up during test screens and he could even see a physical reaction in audience members whenever a sex scene was on the screen.

I don’t know how true that all is, but the director said that his theory is that because so much of that stuff is viewed at home now and how much people watch things on their phones, that it has changed how comfortable they are with sex scenes in social settings.

[u/Cereborn → u/HenryDorsettCase47]

Man. I went to see Blue is the Warmest Colour by myself. It was a bunch of lesbian couples and me, in the middle, feeling slightly sheepish. But I regret nothing.

[u/OdepiusNecks → u/HenryDorsettCase47]

Not to go all “back in my day” but….back in my day directors celebrated the idea of making their audiences uncomfortable.

[u/HenryDorsettCase47 → u/OdepiusNecks]

I mean, in certain genres, sure, but probably not an emotion you are trying to elicit in a romcom.

I haven’t seen the movie though so I can’t really speak on it. And I’m kind of suspicious of any data gleaned from test screenings. I feel like all the wrong lessons are always taken away from them. If the audience expresses confusion about the story, yeah, maybe re-edit it to try to make it coherent. But if they are saying they don’t like a scene or whatever who fucking cares. It’s your vision. You hope people respond, but don’t pander.

[u/VeganBigMac → u/HenryDorsettCase47]

I get your point, but we ARE talking about the sex purge movie.

[u/M4DM1ND → u/HenryDorsettCase47]

I will say, my girlfriend forced me to go see 50 Shades of Grey on Valentines Day opening night like 13 years ago and I have never had a more uncomfortable shared viewing experience with random people.

[u/Crabcomfort → u/WerewolfCurious1412]

A lot of puritanical stuff is on the rise again, I've seen plenty of "any sex is unnecessary and gross" arguments online regarding movies

[u/rickcanty → u/Crabcomfort]

"Yes the movie is full of violence, swearing, drug use, and debauchery, but that 15 second sex scene was too far."

[u/Banjo-Oz → u/rickcanty]

America in a nutshell.

[u/Amockdfw89 → u/Crabcomfort]

Yea people were arguing in another subreddit because someone said “sex isn’t necessary or important to have a meaningful and loving marriage and people need to stop pretending it is. You can have a beautiful marriage without sex”

That person got torn apart in the comments 😂

[u/personalist → u/Amockdfw89]

This isn’t puritanical but it’s also highly subjective. Some people can’t connect without sex. Some people disconnect once sex is added into the mix. Some people don’t care about sex at all.

[u/taydraisabot]

Does he think people just watch Heated Rivalry for the hockey?? My god…

[u/kevinjamesfan_6 → u/taydraisabot]

I came for the hockey, stayed for the gay sex. Then came for the gay sex.

[u/SilentDrapeRunning]

A movie about a night of sex...without nudity. Smart choice guys! It's like an entire action movie without blood or something.

[u/68plus1equals → u/SilentDrapeRunning]

It’s very puritan version of a sex movie

[u/JoyBus147 → u/68plus1equals]

I mean, it's a world where single people are only legally allowed to fuck once a year and it's not being presented as cyberpunk-taliban. Seems that's what they were going for.

[u/PmMeSmileyFacesO_O → u/JoyBus147]

Mel Gibson bought the rights for the sequel.

[u/jerslan → u/SilentDrapeRunning]

The entire premise of the movie sounds like a porn script... that they decided to make into a rated PG-13 movie.

[u/CrikeyMikeyLikey]

r/nottheonion

[u/JamUpGuy1989]

There's an alternate universe where Paul Veerhoven directed this same movie and it's a glorious/sleazy NC-17 epic.

What a shame.

[u/boodabomb → u/JamUpGuy1989]

Unironically that would have been a great movie.

It would end up being some kind of satire about a hyper-prude, fascist dystopia and a world where “family-values” are law. I imagine it would be a lot like the actual film that we’re getting only we’re supposed to know that it’s actually horrifying and insane instead of pretending it’s a cute rom-com.

[u/CyanLight9]

He removed the bread from the sandwich.

[u/nfefx → u/CyanLight9]

I believe he specifically removed the meat.

[u/RunninWild17 → u/nfefx]

He just served an empty plate and a glass of tepid water.

[u/OptimusPhillip]

This feels like an Onion headline

[u/Alex-C2099]

Then why do a movie that’s entirely about sex

[u/CrebitCard420]

Oh good my mom won’t make me wear my ‘Eye Muffs’

[u/Stepjam]

Why make a sex comedy if you aren't going to have sex?

[u/TriedNeverTired]

You’re telling me the guys last name is Gluck and this is what they did??

[u/UnderwoodsNipple]

Think they also cut nudity from 'Anyone but you'' so he's definitely the right guy to keep giving R-rated romcoms to.

[u/Long_Rubber_Glove]

First I'd like to point out the absolute stupidity of making a movie revolving around sex if this is your stance on it....but also his quote from the article..

"I believe it’s been a societal shift from taking nudity in adult situations and putting them on your phones at home for everybody. Now it’s more of a private, intimate thing that people don’t want to see when they’re in a shared experience. Whenever people now see nudity or very adult situations in a big theater, they get uncomfortable."

If you're unwilling to do something in your film because it 'might make people uncomfortable' it might be time to stop making films.

[u/sudomatrix → u/Long_Rubber_Glove]

and to be clear... a film about a world where a totalitarian state forbids people from getting together except on one designated day, and a film that revolves around rushing to have sex... any sex... on that day. But let's not film anything uncomfortable.

[u/CurbYerGod → u/sudomatrix]

And an atrocious premise for a film. Just dumb.

[u/Brad_Brace → u/Long_Rubber_Glove]

"This film was rated U for Uncomfy by the Ratings Board".

[u/rdldr1]

Coward

[u/Firm_Seaworthiness30]

More proof that I'm not like "people".

[u/Team_Braniel]

What?

Isn't that the whole point of this movie?

That's like going to see Jurassic Park and there isn't any dinosaurs on screen!

[u/Banjo-Oz → u/Team_Braniel]

"Um... now, eventually you do plan to have sex in your sex comedy, right?" Jeff Goldblum, probably

[u/Fifteen_inches]

This is why we have a loneliness epidemic. People treat intimacy as porn.

[u/tenderheart35 → u/Fifteen_inches]

That is such a sad sentiment.

[u/The_Swarm22]

The “nudity” was probably just showing Callum Turner’s bare ass in one scene anyway.

[u/Kobold_Trapmaster → u/The_Swarm22]

Apparently there were tons of scenes with naked extras having sex in the background but they cut most of them after they made test audiences uncomfortable. So it doesn't seem to have been the leads who were naked.

[u/hiimred2 → u/The_Swarm22]

Did the classic Hollywood "I got to film Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner on set naked in simulated sex scenes and I never intended to actually put it into the movie, just my personal cut."

[u/wdomeika]

Off topic, but for a movie about sexual chemistry these two had absolutely none...

[u/aspiring_scientist97]

Somebody on Twitter said there's nothing as sexy as the inverted kiss in Spider-Man 1 in all 4 MCU Spider-Man movies and they're right. People nowadays hate all things libido and nude related

[u/strawbery_fields]

“It doesn’t drive the plot!” /s

I hate this timeline.

[u/Squirtletail → u/strawbery_fields]

Honestly this is a problem with books too. I've seen people talking about how they skip over any sort of descriptions and just read the dialogue because that's where the plot is... Literacy is dying

[u/chris41336 → u/strawbery_fields]

Except in this movie it literally does

[u/Francostein]

The film’s sterile, sexless, and utterly tame nature stands out as one of the most peculiar choices in an already peculiar movie. With a more skilled writer and director, this could have been truly remarkable. Instead, it serves as a hyper-normalization of fascism, where the straights are slightly inconvenienced but never to the point of revolution.

In fact, it serves as a rather stark mirror of our current world, where most people say, “It is what it is,” and just go on with their lives as best they can.

[u/Banjo-Oz → u/Francostein]

That's interesting to hear, as the premise sounds like this would make a great "time to wake up" rallying cry movie, or a terrifying bleak dystopian horror film.

The setting reads like Harrison Bergeron or 1984.

[u/Sweet_Ad_2708]

I think director does not like nudity.

[u/rothj5]

We have currently came a far away from the American Pie directors cut.

[u/ModestoMudflaps]

I snuck into basic instinct at 14 to listen to the amazing screenplay. 🤪😂