After

**After** is a 2019 American romantic drama film directed by Jenny Gage which was released on April 12, 2019 by Avrion Pictures.

It is based on Anna Todd's 2014 adult fiction novel of the same name (which was originally released as fanfiction on Wattpad).

## Plot

The film follows college student Tessa Young (Josephine Langford), who begins a turbulent relationship with bad boy Hardin Scott (Hero Fiennes-Tiffin).

## Cast

* Josephine Langford as Tessa Young
* Hero Fiennes-Tiffin as Hardin Scott
* Khadijha Red Thunder as Steph Jones
* Shane Paul McGhie as Landon Gibson
* Samuel Larsen as Zed Evans
* Inanna Sarkis as Molly Samuels
* Dylan Arnold as Noah Porter
* Swen Temmel as Jace
* Pia Mia as Tristan
* Meadow Williams as Professor Soto
* Selma Blair as Carol Young
* Peter Gallagher as Chancellor Ken Scott
* Jennifer Beals as Karen Scott

## Production

### Background

In 2013, author Anna Todd posted the first chapters of a fanfiction titled "After" on fanfiction- and fiction-publishing website Wattpad.

The fanfiction's original storyline was loosely based on the boyband One Direction, and featured the band's members Harry Styles, Liam Payne and Zayn Malik, portrayed as students at Washington State University. The story followed Tessa Young, an "innocent good girl" who becomes involved in a relationship with "bad boy" Styles.

Within a month of publishing the first chapters, the story had acquired 544 million reads; Todd later landed a deal with Simon & Schuster to publish novelisations of the series with the lead male character's name changed to Hardin Scott; the novels were subsequently released in 2014. The books gained media attention and became New York Times bestsellers.

In 2014, Paramount Pictures acquired the rights to adapt "After" to make a film; before the expiry of the company's rights to the film production in mid-2017, the project was headed by screenwriter Susan McMartin. Following this, CalMaple Media and Offspring Entertainment acquired the filming rights, with writer Tamara Chestna hired to rework McMartin's script, and director Jenny Gage overseeing the script's final revisions.

McMartin, Chestna, and Gage all received final script credit. CalMaple Media's Mark Canton and Courtney Solomon, Offspring Entertainment's Jennifer Gibgot, Wattpad's Aron Levitz, Meadow Williams of Diamond Film Productions and Dennis Pelino were all credited as producers on the film, alongside Todd herself.

"After" was financed by CalMaple, Voltage Pictures and Diamond Film Productions, with executive production by Swen Temmel, Nicolas Charier, Jonathan Deckter, David Dinerstein, Jason Resnick, Scott Karol, Ian Brereton, Eric Lehrman, Adam Shankman, Brian Pitt and Vassal Benford.

Aviron Pictures distributed the film domestically, with Voltage Pictures handling foreign distribution.

### Casting

On May 8, 2018, Julia Goldani Telles and Hero Fiennes Tiffin were cast in the main roles of Tessa Young and Hardin Scott respectively. The actors were selected by the production team (including Todd herself), who was present at the castings and contributed to the casting decisions.

In July 2018, Telles announced her exit from the film due to scheduling conflicts. During that same month, Josephine Langford was announced to play Tessa Young. Todd would later state that once she saw Langford, she "knew right away that was Tessa."

Pia Mia was cast in the role of Tristan, a previously male character in the books.

Executive producer Swen Temmel was cast as Jace Shane Paul McGhie and Khadijha Red Thunder were added as Landon Gibson and Steph Jones respectively. Samuel Larsen was set as Zed Evans and Inanna Sarkis played Molly Samuels. Producer Meadow Williams was additionally cast as Professor Soto, another previously male character in the books.

On July 27, 2018 Peter Gallagher and Jennifer Beals were announced to play Ken Scott and Karen Gibson, Hardin's father and Landon's mother, respectively with Selma Blair announced for Carol Young, Tessa's mother, and Dylan Arnold announced for Noah Porter on July 30, 2018.

### Filming

Principal photography for "After" was due to begin in June 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. In early July, producer Jennifer Gibgot stated that shooting would begin on July 16, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia shortly after Josephine Langford had been cast as Tessa.

Principal photography was mainly conducted at Emory University, and production was completed on August 24 of the same year.

## Box Office

During its opening weekend, "After" grossed $6,002,349, $12,138,565 in the United States & Canada, and $57.6 million in other territories worldwide for a total of $69,756,455 against a production budget of $14,000,000.

## Critical Reception

"After" received largely negative reviews from critics, who felt that its screenplay and narrative glamourized abusive relationships.

On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an approval rating of 18% based on 37 reviews with an average rating of 3.58\10. The site's critical consensus reads, *"Tepid and tired, After's fun flourishes are let down by its generic story."*

The film has a weighted average of 30 out of 100 on Metacritic (based on eight critics) indicating "generally unfavorable reviews."

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Critics found the screenplay at fault with Owen Gleiberman of Variety writing that "After" was an *"innocuous teen pulp soap opera that flirts with 'danger' but, in fact, keeps surprising you with how mild and safe and predictable it turns out to be."*

John Fink of The Film Stage echoed this sentiment, commenting that *"the talented cast is burdened by a dead on arrival screenplay that waters down what could have been an intoxicating tale of first love,"* though he noted the film was *"beautifully shot"* and *"occasionally aesthetically pleasing."*

RogerEbert.com said that *"the performances are consistently monotone, and the dialogue is alternately treacly, in terms of romantic statements, and on-the-nose, in terms of giving Hardin a back story to explain his rebel act."*

Roger Moore from Movie Nation called "After" a *"a serious-minded first-real-love/first sexual experience coming-of-age drama which takes forever to make anything happen, and when it does (the “big reveal”), it’s so lame as to make you weigh your life up to this point, and what inspired you to waste 105 minutes on this drivel."*

## Sequels

In May 2019, a sequel to the film, "After We Collided" was announced and released in September of 2020.

In September of 2020, it was announced that two more sequels, "After We Fell" and "After Every Happy" are going into production; Castille Landon will direct both films.