The “After” movie is only days away, but fans of Ann Todd’s romance novel of the same should keep in mind that the two won’t be exactly the same.
When books are turned into movies, there are often small changes made during the adaptation process. Sometimes certain quotes don’t sound exactly right when they’re said aloud and sometimes characters and storylines need to be updated to catch up with the times.
Here, Todd breaks down how the “After” movie, which follows the all-consuming college romance between naive Tessa (Josephine Langford) and mysterious bad boy Hardin (Hero Fiennes Tiffin), compares to the One Direction fanfiction novel it’s based on, including what had to be changed and what she fought to keep.
“There are some things where I knew, and I wanted and very much supported, and sometimes even drove the change from the book because… it’s six years later and times are different. Everything is different [from what] it was,” Todd told International Business Times.
Some of the updates being referred to by Todd, who is also a producer on the film, include gender changes for a couple of the characters. Steph’s (Khadijha Red Thunder) love interest, Tristan, and Professor Soto, who were both originally men in the books, which started off as stories on Wattpad, are now women, played by Pia Mia and Meadow Williams, respectively.
“I really feel Tristan, I love his character, now her, and I feel like it makes so much sense,” Todd said of the changes when she announced them during an author event last year. “Also, we need to be more diverse in race, in sexuality, it just, it fits and it makes perfect sense for me.”
While some characters are different in the movie, others had to be cut completely because “it’s impossible” to fit all of the elements from the first “After” book into the movie, Todd told IBT. Logan and Nate, who were inspired by One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan, are not in this first film at all. Christian Vance, who runs Vance Publishing, where Tessa gets an internship, is also not in the movie.
“[Some] fans are like, ‘Oh, we want Christian Vance,’ but it’s like, ‘Do you want seven minutes less of Hardin and Tessa? Nope, you don’t. So, you’ll wait for the next movie,” the author said. “So, there were these things where at first I was like, ‘Oh, wow, we have to change all these things,’ but, actually, it ended up being really fun in a separate storytelling way.”
After everything was said and done, what ended up being the biggest change to “After,” going from book to movie?
“The bet reveal,” Todd said. “I won’t say exactly what it is ‘cause I don’t want people to know the twist, but it’s just a different way because there are some things that just don’t translate onscreen.”
She continued: “The sheets, for example. Every time I think of them or read about them, I’m like, ‘Ugh, why did I do that?’ So, that’s something that I was like, ‘Never happening.’ But I like the bet change. There’s still a bet thing happening, but it’s just a different, better way that doesn’t make Hardin so unforgivable.”
While there were a few scene and character changes, it was still very important to Todd to give fans a movie as similar to the book as possible.
She proved that even on the very first day of filming. The first scene she got to see come to life was the first fraternity party Tessa attends, but the character’s dress wasn’t quite right, and Todd knew how important this piece of clothing was, so she made sure it was fixed.
“The dress was purple, and then we had to have [the costumer] remake it the same day because it needed to be maroon because you can’t — we can’t change the color of that dress,” the “Brightest Stars” author said. “She literally had to hand-make a whole new dress because it looked too purple in person.”
Aside from making sure memorable clothes from the book stayed the same, Todd also made sure no one ever did anything out of character.
“There was this one scene [where] everybody — well, except for the actors and me — thought that [Tessa and Hardin] should kiss in this moment, and it was the literal worst idea,” Todd said. “Like, they should never kiss in this time. It made no sense, and no one wanted to do it. And so that was the only time that I pushed-pushed back.”
She continued: “It was just that one day that I was like, ‘They can’t kiss,’ and Hero and Jo, we were all just like, ‘No.’ So, it wasn’t that hard, but the rest of the stuff, it was mostly collaborative, where any dialogue I didn’t like, I knew beforehand and we would just change it.”
Speaking of Langford, Todd shared that the actress really took it upon herself to make sure “After” fans were getting the movie they wanted and the one that they’d envisioned while reading the novel.
“There were some times where it would be something that just doesn’t make sense,” Todd said, “and Josephine was really good at being like the Tessa police or the ‘After’ police, where she’s like, ‘No, that wouldn’t happen.’”
Langford originally auditioned for the role of Molly, which later went to Inanna Sarkis, and Julia Goldani Telles was originally set to play Tessa before she dropped out and Langford took over the role. Despite the windy road that led to her landing the gig, Todd remembered thinking Langford was always meant for the role, which is why she wasn’t surprised by how determined she was to keep everything in check.
“Josephine, to be honest, the moment we saw her, even before the recasting, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s Tessa. Okay, interesting,’” Todd said. “Honestly, [the recast] went seamlessly. And Josephine, immediately, she auditioned for another role, so she already knew about the project, had already started reading the books, so she was so excited and so prepared and ready when she got to Atlanta [for filming]. She had her binder and everything, so it was so seamless. I literally forget that we recast [the role] sometimes, to be honest.”
See Langford seamlessly take on the role of Tessa, as well as all of the changes made, when “After” hits theaters on Friday. The movie tie-in edition of Todd’s novel is now available.
