Advertisement

10 behind the scenes secrets from After We Fell

Photo credit: Amazon Prime
Photo credit: Amazon Prime

It's officially time for another After movie! The third film in the series, After We Fell, drops on 22 October so there's not long to wait at all. And if, like us, you've been patiently counting down the days, you're in for a treat.

The third film follows on from the first two movies, After and After We Collided, which are all based on the books written by Anna Todd - with the series famously starting off life as a steamy Harry Styles Wattpad fan fiction.

Cosmopolitan UK caught up with lead cast members Hero Fiennes Tiffin and Josephine Langford (aka Hardin and Tessa) to spill their behind-the-scenes filming secrets from the After We Fell set. Prepare to become obsessed with the series all over again.

1. The hot tub scene wasn't actually that hot

If you know the After movies, you'll know to expect a fair few steamy scenes - and After We Fell is certainly no exception.

The third film sees Hardin and Tessa enjoying a night in a fancy hot tub together, but it turns out the whole experience was actually way less glamorous in real life.

"There's one scene in a hot tub that was minus temperatures. It was freezing outside, literally," Hero explained. "And we had the hot tub at lukewarm, because apparently that's better for you, so you don't go from hot to cold, hot to cold. It's better to go from cold to freezing, cold to freezing. And we actually had a doctor on set for that as well. So that took its toll on us."

"But yeah, that was definitely challenging to shoot that one," he continued.

2. Hero hasn't read any of the After books, but Josephine did

Whether to read the books that a movie is based on is often a debate among actors, and Hero says he chose to avoid reading Anna Todd's novels ahead of working on the film.

"I personally made a conscious decision not to," he told us, "to avoid confusion with the script and the adaptation."

"Unfortunately that's not our job, to adapt the books to the script, so I go solely from the script, personally," he explained.

Photo credit: Amazon Prime
Photo credit: Amazon Prime

However, Josephine chose to read up on Tessa. "I tried to read as much as I could before I said yes, just so I knew what I was getting into. And then I finished the series early on as we were shooting the first movie," she revealed.

3. Author Anna Todd helped out on set

Eagle-eyed viewers will have spotted Anna Todd's cameos in After and After We Collided, and it turns out she had some input on set too.

"Anna was on set with us every day on the first one," Hero shared. "She was there with us all the time every day. And I wouldn't have been able to not read the books if that wasn't the case.

"I was very aware that she would be there as my crutch and go-to, so I would've had to if that wasn't the case. So yeah, she being the mother of this whole franchise and all the characters, she’s the go-to, she’s the keymaker when you need the answers."

Photo credit: Amazon Prime
Photo credit: Amazon Prime

4. The cast are all friends in real life, playing pranks and games together during filming

Of course, when characters seem to vibe so well on screen, it's always a shame to hear that the actors don't get on IRL. However, that's not the case with After We Fell, as the cast all had fun behind the scenes, even living together during filming.

"We were all friends," Josephine told us. "We all got along really well. Because of Covid, we all went a little bit stir crazy. But what was nice was that we kind of had a dorm room environment, so there was lots of pranks and hanging out and Monopoly Deal and cards and stuff."

Speaking about living together while shooting, Hero added, "It was the 24th floor crew. We did have one kind of communal room that we did use for watching films and stuff. And yeah, Monopoly Deal.

"This is the best promo Monopoly Deal is ever gonna get," he joked, "because it’s all we did in the free time that we had when we weren’t actually filming. It got pretty competitive in there but it got us through it."

Photo credit: Amazon Prime
Photo credit: Amazon Prime

5. Fans managed to find the set

After fans can get *pretty* dedicated, it seems, with the cast revealing that fans even managed to track down the set during filming.

"We were on a college campus and because it was a college campus and somehow people found it, by the end of the day it was, I think it was more fans than we’ve ever seen on a set or at a hotel or anything," Josephine explained.

"There were shots when they had to say like ‘we’re rolling, please try and keep it down out there,'" Hero added. "But we massively appreciated all of the support, and they were massively respectful in every encounter, so it was all good."

6. An intimacy coordinator was brought in for sex scenes

The first two After films both saw their fair share of sex scenes, and the cast have revealed that an intimacy coordinator was brought in to continue the trend for the third movie.

Photo credit: Amazon Prime
Photo credit: Amazon Prime

"I think the fact that we had an intimacy coordinator this year... It’s just like, it makes you realise 'Why didn’t we have one [before]?'" Hero explained.

"It’s like having a stunt coordinator. It’s a different scene to what you usually do. It’s more physical, and it makes a lot of sense to have someone to block through that."

"Sometimes we do a little fist bump at the end and say 'good work team', which is always a good little ritual," he joked. "But I would say they feel like every other scene now that we’ve done number one and number two and we’re here doing three and four. It’s quite seamless now."

7. Hero didn't take any inspiration from Harry Styles for the role

With After's Hardin being based on Harry Styles in the original fan fictions, you'd be forgiven for wondering how much of Harry still exists in the character.

However, Hero explained that he didn't take any inspo from Harry in order to get into character.

Photo credit: Amazon Prime
Photo credit: Amazon Prime

"I feel like because Anna Todd had created such a wholesome character with Hardin, I didn’t feel like I needed to get any external inspiration or anything. I think it was a very well-rounded character there," he told us.

8. The film's London set was actually fake

After We Fell features scenes in Hardin's hometown of London but, in true movie style, Hero has revealed that the whole set was actually false - adding that it was still pretty believable.

"I FaceTimed a couple friends from the London set. I was like, 'Guys, I'm back' ... And they all thought I was in London because the backdrop was so authentic," he explained.

9. The cast kept clothes and jewellery from their characters

We know actors are big fans of stealing bits and bobs from film sets, and the After We Fell cast are no exception.

"I kept a lot of costumes and Hardin's ring," Hero told us, "but I'd love to get my hands on his car," he laughed.

Photo credit: Amazon Prime
Photo credit: Amazon Prime

Meanwhile, Josephine's the same. "I took some of her wardrobe, whatever was available at the end of the shoot," she said, jokingly adding, "Yeah there's a BMW i8 I very much would like."

10. The cast shot After 3 and 4 at the same time

Filming for the fourth After film, based on book no.4 After Ever Happy, is already underway, with the cast shooting both After 3 and 4 at the same time.

However, for the cast, it means things can get confusing. Sharing a handful of details on what we can expect from the fourth movie, Hero told us, "There’s one scene that might actually be in a later movie as well, might be number four as well, that has a lovely rural roadside location that I can’t wait for them all to see next year."

Keeping up the mystery, Josephine joked, "We don’t know where we are, where we shoot. New York? What about it?"

Watch After We Fell from 22 October on Amazon Prime Video.

You Might Also Like